Tag: photography

Posted on
by

In reply to gratefully inspired by joe jenett.

Hi Joe, glad you are good. Your dedication to linking certainly inspires me!

Thanks for the comment. I think of taking photos more like a notepad than ‘photography’. I use my camera for recall, identifying things and quite often instead of binoculars. I use a bridge camera with a 60x zoom. Always shoot auto. My framing is often pot luck especially zoomed in. I occasionally think I should get a DSLR (or some-such) and a big lens, but I’d never learn to use it and could not really justify the cost.

A name for something I knew about, canopy shyness, but didn’t know.

“When the leaves are almost gone, the branches show their ‘canopy shyness’ – a phenomenon observed in many species of trees in which the crowns of mature trees do not touch each other,” says Niven.

wildlife photo award

I love trees from below. The photographs on the British Wildlife Photography Awards are amazing.

Posted on
by

I just paid my annual Flickr pro fee. Very happy to do it. I like taking pictures although I don’t think of myself as a photographer. I am not really interested in the technical aspects. I use photos in the same way as blogging. To think about something, or note it, remember it, share it, or collect it for later. A diary or commonplace if you like.

I was also really pleased to see Flickr’s blog around it’s continuing support for Creative Commons and the announcement of the Flickr Foundation.

We believe the establishment of a non-profit Flickr Foundation will combine with Flickr to properly preserve and care for the Flickr Commons archive, support Commons members to collaborate in a true 21st-century Commons, and plan for the very long-term health and longevity of the entire Flickr collection. We’re also in the early stages of imagining other educational and curatorial initiatives to highlight and share the power of photography for decades to come.

The other thing I love about Flickr is it’s API. I am no more a programmer than I am a photographer. But I have had a lot of fun with the Flickr api.

One of the reasons I’ve managed to play with this API is its consistency. Other APIs I’ve used with have gone away, changed or added authentication too difficult for me to grasp. Given that I use them occasionally I am often flummoxed by changes. I only notice then when something that worked stops working.

What I love about Flickr is then threefold: a solid and consistent service that I pay for, the api(solid & constant too) and Creative Commons I get for free.

Flickr’s future has been in doubt a few times since I started in 2004, Interface changes caused some consternation. Flickr has managed to continue when other services have gone. I hope I’ll be paying for it for a good few more years.

 

Posted on
by
Gannet on Bass Rock

Over a year ago I started looking for a new camera. A few weeks ago I finally bought one. The compromise was the lack of a view finder.

I used the camera for a week then sent it back. The first time I’ve every done that!

There was a lot to like about it. It was the same size as my old PowerShot SX10 IS. Fitted in its case but was lighter.

Some of the photos I took were as good as I could hope for. I don’t really think or know much about photography. The idea was to have a zoom for when things were to far away for my phone.

Unfortunately the lack of a view finder made taking photos completely hit or miss. Even in fairly dull days I couldn’t see through the screen. When the zoom was out this got worse. I pointed half-depressed the shutter to hopefully focus and clicked! This was too auto even for me.

So back it went. I am now trying to make my mind up about an alternative that suits my budget. I’ve not had much luck reading reviews which seem to be aimed at a more technical reader and not really opinionated. If there was a SX 540 with a view finder I’d get that.

This post was inspired by Andrew Canion’s Blogvember Prompt List. This arrived in micro.blog at he same time as #mbnov, microblogvember.