Pretzel's learning curve...

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Pretzel

Senior Member
This "Crab Spider" (as they call it in Florida) is actually the Jeweled Spider, and before the webs were cleared from the back porch (yet again) and this wee little spider met an untimely demise, I transferred it to the patio for some close-ups before letting it run free for another day. ;)

Spider1.jpg

Spider2.jpg

Spider3.jpg
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
Here's another gull shot I found interesting, just because of the backlit wing structure. She was hovering over some tasty treats, I bet!

Gull6.jpg

Then a pelican flew by as if to say his backlit wings were prettier! (and to scope out the same tasty treats the gull was watching, I'm sure)

Pelican3.jpg

In fact, the pelican hung around for a moment to give me quite a few stunning shots, like this dripping silhouette.

Pelican1.jpg

Then, almost before I could react, he went into a dive. (right in front of the gull) I was lucky enough to catch the stoop...

Pelican4.jpg

...and I also caught the splash!

Pelican5.jpg

I can't help but wonder what this seagull was in a tizzy about, and I wonder if my ears would burn if I knew what it was saying? Extracting the few birdy expletives, I'm willing to wager it was something about the rude way he just plopped in and stole breakfast. ;)

Pelican2.jpg
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
Switching from birds, I caught a few of the smaller lizards that like to play around in the back yard. The first is showing off his mad camo skills.

lizard1.jpg

This little guy was actually hanging tail up on the screen, but I got close then did a little pic rotation. ;)
lizard3.jpg

This one actually earned the nickname "Stubby" from the boy and I, and he was quite the feisty fellow. Every day, he and a slightly smaller lizard on the other side of the screen would do their dance, *TRYING* to fight it out to no avail.
lizard4.jpg

This actually shows the display the lizards would make before they would go to war. It was an odd little dance with jerky bobbing of the head and tail before flashing their bright red "warning flag".

Lizard5.jpg

...and finally, the rarely seen Ghost Lizard, straight from the "Forgotten Canal!" ;) PICTURES DON'T LIE!!!

Lizard6.jpg


Well... ok... the EDITS might... here's the beasty in true form before the creative editing.

Lizard7.jpg
 
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Bill16

Senior Member
Love the pelican shots! Awesome catch! :D
Pretzel said:
Here's another gull shot I found interesting, just because of the backlit wing structure. She was hovering over some tasty treats, I bet!

View attachment 47141

Then a pelican flew by as if to say his backlit wings were prettier! (and to scope out the same tasty treats the gull was watching, I'm sure)

View attachment 47143

In fact, the pelican hung around for a moment to give me quite a few stunning shots, like this dripping silhouette.

View attachment 47144

Then, almost before I could react, he went into a dive. (right in front of the gull) I was lucky enough to catch the stoop...

View attachment 47145

...and I also caught the splash!

View attachment 47146

I can't help but wonder what this seagull was in a tizzy about, and I wonder if my ears would burn if I knew what it was saying? Extracting the few birdy expletives, I'm willing to wager it was something about the rude way he just plopped in and stole breakfast. ;)

View attachment 47142
Click to expand...
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Pretzel said:
Switching from birds, I caught a few of the smaller lizards that like to play around in the back yard. The first is showing off his mad camo skills.

View attachment 47273

This little guy was actually hanging tail up on the screen, but I got close then did a little pic rotation. ;)
View attachment 47274

This one actually earned the nickname "Stubby" from the boy and I, and he was quite the feisty fellow. Every day, he and a slightly smaller lizard on the other side of the screen would do their dance, *TRYING* to fight it out to no avail.
View attachment 47275

This actually shows the display the lizards would make before they would go to war. It was an odd little dance with jerky bobbing of the head and tail before flashing their bright red "warning flag".

View attachment 47276

...and finally, the rarely seen Ghost Lizard, straight from the "Forgotten Canal!" ;) PICTURES DON'T LIE!!!

View attachment 47277


Well... ok... the EDITS might... here's the beasty in true form before the creative editing.

View attachment 47278
Click to expand...

Love the lizard shots.
 
Marilynne

Marilynne

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Pretzel said:
S


This actually shows the display the lizards would make before they would go to war. It was an odd little dance with jerky bobbing of the head and tail before flashing their bright red "warning flag".

View attachment 47276




QUOTE]

The red/orange thing is called a dewlap. There must have been a female around.

From Wikipedia - Lizards which have mobile dewlaps usually accompany their dewlap movement with head bobs and other displays. Scientists are unsure about what this is meant to communicate, but it is prevalent when the lizards are courting.
Click to expand...
 
P

Pretzel

Senior Member
Marilynne said:
The red/orange thing is called a dewlap. There must have been a female around.

From Wikipedia - Lizards which have mobile dewlaps usually accompany their dewlap movement with head bobs and other displays. Scientists are unsure about what this is meant to communicate, but it is prevalent when the lizards are courting.
Click to expand...

The one I captured above would actually bob his head and tail and flash it at me whenever I would make him scurry a few inches by getting too close, so I was able to make him pose for the shot! :D A couple of others (Stubby, also from above, as a prime example) would flash them at each other before going on the attack. We got to watch him and another male on the outside of the screen circle and try to fight each other through the screen for about 10 minutes every morning. Seems each one had staked out the same spot with nothing but a pesky screen in between. I couldn't ever catch Stubby flashing his dewlap, but here was his opponent on the other side:

Lizard8.jpg

At times, they would hit the screen hard enough to make their opponent on the other side go flying off. It was the source of quite a few chuckles each morning!
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Marilynne said:
Pretzel said:
S


This actually shows the display the lizards would make before they would go to war. It was an odd little dance with jerky bobbing of the head and tail before flashing their bright red "warning flag".

View attachment 47276




QUOTE]

The red/orange thing is called a dewlap. There must have been a female around.

From Wikipedia - Lizards which have mobile dewlaps usually accompany their dewlap movement with head bobs and other displays. Scientists are unsure about what this is meant to communicate, but it is prevalent when the lizards are courting.
Click to expand...

My lizard shots always started like that.

D5100_04604.jpg
Click to expand...
 
P

Pretzel

Senior Member
It's about time I posted one of my "more favored" gull shots.

Seagull2.jpg

Plus an extra photo which happens to be one of the more in-focus shots I got of tonight's waxing crescent moon. I had a bit of a scare, as Picasa decided to quit handling my RAW files nicely, so actually took quite a few shots trying to sort out what the heck was happening. Many were "almost" focused as I was trying to dial in manually through the tiny little viewfinder... LOL. Shoot, tiny adjustment, shoot, tiny adjustment... repeat about 20 times. This one just happened to come out ok.

WaxingCrescent.jpg
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Pretzel said:
It's about time I posted one of my "more favored" gull shots.

View attachment 47578

Plus an extra photo which happens to be one of the more in-focus shots I got of tonight's waxing crescent moon. I had a bit of a scare, as Picasa decided to quit handling my RAW files nicely, so actually took quite a few shots trying to sort out what the heck was happening. Many were "almost" focused as I was trying to dial in manually through the tiny little viewfinder... LOL. Shoot, tiny adjustment, shoot, tiny adjustment... repeat about 20 times. This one just happened to come out ok.

View attachment 47579
Click to expand...

Glad we got it all figured out.
 
P

Pretzel

Senior Member
This was, by far, one of my favorite shots from my Florida trip. It was my first real attempt at capturing a candid street portrait. Here it is in B&W and a color edit (which I tend to prefer), both with a little bit of vignette edited in. Comments and/or criticism?

StreetPortrait2.jpg

Streetportrait1.jpg


This was one I shot RAW format, so may re-visit the edits once LR 5 arrives, just to see what I can do. :)
 
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Bill16

Senior Member
I like the color one! Cool shot! :D
Pretzel said:
This was, by far, one of my favorite shots from my Florida trip. It was my first real attempt at capturing a candid street portrait. Here it is in B&W and a color edit (which I tend to prefer), both with a little bit of vignette edited in. Comments and/or criticism?

View attachment 47677

View attachment 47675


This was one I shot RAW format, so may re-visit the edits once LR 5 arrives, just to see what I can do. :)
Click to expand...
 
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