Photography
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities
Streets.
Walking around city streets in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
bnsullivan | August 5, 2009It is probably safe to say that when most people think of colorful things in the sea, tropical reef fishes come to mind first, followed perhaps by nudibranchs or sea stars. While most reef fishes, nudibranchs and sea stars are not only colorful but beautifully patterned, as a photographer, my favorites among colorful things in the sea are soft corals of the family Nephtheidae -- especially those of the genus Dendronephthya. They come in an incredible array of hues and color combinations, ranging from soft pastels to brilliant reds and golds.
Nephtheids are plentiful on tropical reefs…
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Streets.
Narrow city streets in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Trachyphonus erythrocephalus, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Trachyphonus erythrocephalus, photographed in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 August 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, Nikon 200-400 VR lens at 400 mm. ISO 200, 1/200, f/7.1.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Inside St. Olav's Church
Photographed in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
This image would also benefit from a little Photoshop intervention to tone down the bleaching effects of the brilliant light pouring in through the windows.
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Old Courtyard (with Hotel Marriott)
This is not the best image but I really like the clouds and the contrast to the buildings (This courtyard really IS this uneven, by the way!) This is a situation where I should crop the raw image. Photographed in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: Superb Starling, Lamprotornis superbus, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Superb Starling, sometimes known in American aviculture as the Spreo Starling in honor of its previous genus name, Lamprotornis (Spreo) superbus, photographed in Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, Africa. This species is the most common bird in its taxonomic family that the photographer encountered in Tanzania and Kenya. These birds were literally trash birds, he writes, hanging around trash cans, picnic tables etc. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen,…
grrlscientist | August 3, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Courtyard.
Restored courtyard in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
What do you suppose those two signs are pointing at? They provide distance, but no context for those distances. For example, the "15 M" sign looks to be pointing to the dumpster .. hrm.
bnsullivan | August 3, 2009We see this happen all the time here in Hawaii: Tourists go snorkeling -- sometimes for the first time in their lives -- and they are excited by what they see. They decide they want to take pictures of all the pretty fishies and corals to show their friends back home. They buy a single use waterproof camera, they snap away, and they are sorely disappointed when they see the result. Most of the photos are blurry, and though they thought they were shooting in color, all of the images are monochrome -- blue monochrome.
For quite a few reasons, taking photos underwater is very different from…
awild | August 3, 2009
Swooping from the top of a saguaro down to the desert floor: Howard Bourne swings the crane while Martin Dohrn drives the camera. Tucson Mountain Park.
What was I doing in Arizona last month?
Thanks for asking. I was helping a film crew wrangle harvester ants for an upcoming National Geographic documentary. The crew, an all-star cast of nature cinematographers including Martin Dohrn, Howard Bourne, and Gavin Thurston, is still in the field- you can follow their progress by blog. The program is tentatively titled "Planet of the Ants" and should be on television in 2010.
If there's one…
grrlscientist | August 3, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Streets.
Cobblestone streets in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | August 3, 2009tags: Mocking Cliff-Chat, Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mocking Cliff-Chat, Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris, photographed near Lake Manyara, a shallow alkaline lake in Tanzania, Africa. Lake Manyara was described as the "loveliest [lake] ... in Africa," in Ernest Hemingway's 1953 nonfiction book, Green Hills of Africa. it is also the home of a diverse set of landscapes and wildlife. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 9 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X camera, Lens was the Nikon 200-400 VR…
laelaps | August 3, 2009
An osprey (Pandion haliaetus), photographed while I was kayaking in Cape May, New Jersey.
bnsullivan | August 2, 2009New month, new topic here on Photo Synthesis: underwater photography.
For the next four weeks I will be presenting photos of marine invertebrates and fishes from warm water locations around the world. These photos are the product of what has been, for me, a long journey of discovery -- about the sea, about marine life, and about photography.
My photos are documentary in nature, rather than works of art. That is not to say that I don't strive for a certain level of eye appeal, but my purpose always has been to record which creatures live where, what they look like in their natural…
grrlscientist | August 2, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Doorway.
Wooden doorway in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | August 2, 2009tags: American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, photographed in Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
laelaps | August 2, 2009
An osprey (Pandion haliaetus), photographed while [I was] kayaking in Cape May, New Jersey.
grrlscientist | August 1, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Glass-Winged Butterfly.
Glass-Winged Butterfly (endemic to Ecuador) in the
Natural History Museum in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Yes, you are reading the actual specimen tag through
the butterfly's wings.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)