Much just say I love that this forum is so much more than just about our cars
....
It has evolved into a very caring and sharing community, albeit male dominated. Long may it continue [but not meaning the male dominated bit].
I'm very glad I started this non-car Topic and it's about time I contributed something:
^ My small approx 2'6" x 7' wildlife (no fish) pond a couple of days ago.
I've done a simply enhanced version just to see how it looks online but didn't want to lose too much of the dark 'creature-from-the-black-lagoon' atmosphere.....
^^ Which shot do you photogs prefer? ^^
At this time of year the sun is very low and so the camera more often confronts having to be shot into the sun and all the uncontrollable* play of lighting artifacts and effects on the result. Advice for the average amateur snapper is never to take photos into the sun. However, ignore such advice from the 'experts' and the results can add drama and, in this case, atmosphere, and that's what this thread is all about. In this photo I personally like the blue hex which draws your eye into the perspective and the 'rays' of light and dark parts. Such artifacts are not usually desirable when photographing cars or many other subjects.
*I say "uncontrollable" but if you manage to see enough of the image through the viewfinder/screen you can slightly move your camera position and angle (more critical) to place these lighting effects to your advantage.
I shot this on my only camera, a Fuji FinePix F500EXR 16mega compact digital which is invariably on me everytime I go outdoors anywhere, even to take out the dustbin. As I have said many times, I accept its limitations but it has the one very great advantage of being easily pocketable and portable, meaning that I don't experience many of those moments when I wish I had a camera to capture and share this and I don't have a camera to hand. Mr Woodpecker in my garden is still too fast for me though! Should I go back over 50 years when I was only 10yo, and before I was interested in girls, and build a hide from cardboard boxes in the garden to watch birds, thinking naively that they didn't know I was there. In those days I had a plastic Kodak Box Brownie with roll film - I knew the right people and even photographed the likes of Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, etc with pit passes to F1 races at Silverstone. I wish I still had the negs or photos!
For those more technically interested, I shot this at ISO 100, 4.4mm, f/3.5, 1/800.