Pretzel's learning curve...

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RookieDSLR

Senior Member
A 68' Camaro REALLY I am soooo jealous I had the chance to own one when I was younger and passed for a big mudder truck instead. My mistake there huh. Congrats on the car and enjoy it. Great pics too!

Jeremy V
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
Here's a few of my Arkansas pics to start... plus I posted 3 in the monthly challenge. ;)

"Critters" ABOUND in Arkansas! 1st, the Daddy Longlegs (some call 'em Grandaddy Longlegs)

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Then, we had deer that visited every morning and evening, but the fawns (like these 2) only came out in the evenings.

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Mom was always close by keeping a watchful eye.

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This large flock of wild turkeys would wander back and forth throughout the day. There were actually 16 in the flock, altogether.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Some more Arkansas pics... Caught all of these wandering down the VERY LOW Buffalo River.

Beautiful flora everywhere...


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This Bald Eagle flew VERY close overhead, but behind some trees. By the time I could get a clear shot in focus, he was almost too far away to tell what he was!

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THIS is why you don't swim where the debris is. :)

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Caught this cool blue dragonfly resting in the sunlight.

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...and I found a catalpa tree! With catalpa worms!! My grandparents used to have one of these trees in their yard out at the farm, and I used to mess with these things all the time. They make GREAT fish bait!!

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Couple more edits from the Arkansas trip:

The 1st set, just a couple of "scenic" shots from an area we found to get near the Buffalo River.

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NO IDEA what this was, but we found it in the sand where the river normally flows when it's not so low. Glad I didn't step on it!

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Found a little buddy along the water's edge. Tiny little toad!

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Pretzel

Senior Member
A few more taken as I was wandering around, a couple of which were still on the Buffalo River, and a couple from a walk in the small town of Jasper, AR.

1st, a couple of folks near and dear to my heart soakin' their tootsies in the water. ;)

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Attempt to "freeze frame" skipping rocks...

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I found this "discarded angel" in a flower pot with no blooms.

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My FIL's service dog found a friend!

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Poor Buster couldn't figure out why his new buddy wasn't doing much.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Here's a few from Jasper, AR. Just random scenes that caught my eye as I wandered the tiny little town...

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This one just "felt" better as a B&W. Former prison converted to something a bit less dark?

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Then the next few were from my ride through the twistier sections of Scenic Highway 7. This sign IS a sign that you're in for a fun ride. :)

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It didn't disappoint.

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A stop near the top gave some scenic views...

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Pretzel

Senior Member
How about a little bit of "exposure" photography? :)

I started out trying to capture some of the night sky and Milky Way with the kit lens. 18mm, wide open at f3.5, ISO 400 and trying HARD to focus to infinity with the not so easy to adjust manual focus. The first 2 were right around 50 seconds each, the 3rd was around 30 seconds... Not so happy with 'em, but it was practice, right?

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Then headed back to the campfire to watch the boy do what boy's do, which is to say he was poking the fire with a stick and making sparks. :) Same settings as above, but just a 2 second exposure and easier to get a focus.

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...then, after a LONG night of gallivanting around in the dark, and nearly worn out, I had the chance to catch a pic of the "sunrise" moon sometime a little after 7 a.m. I had the ISO at 1600, shutter speed at 1/1600 and f8. Don't ask me why I chose those settings, but it came out ok. ;)

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Pretzel

Senior Member
More "critter" shots from the hills of Arkansas...

A carpenter bee, workin' the wood.

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...and a honey bee, gatherin' the good.

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These yellow bugs were everywhere! Here in camouflage...

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...here, not so much.

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And a wee little something gathering goodness from some wee little flowers.

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Anywhere else and I probably would have missed this stick with legs. He just needs to learn to hang out on the UN-CUT logs. :)

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Then, caught this near translucent spider in the woods one evening, and came back the next morning, hoping she'd still be around and in some better light. Just happened to catch her at just the right time, as a sunbeam found it's way down through the canopy...

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Pretzel

Senior Member
How about some "artistic" shots from the hills? :)

Ok, I might have staged this one... a pine cone on one of the logs used to build our cabin.

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The rest were NOT staged. ;) I just came across them as I wandered one morning. Starting with one of the lights from the ceiling fan out on the back porch, as I was up a little early. All of the rest are just scenes that caught my eye as I took a bit of a walk through the woods, etc.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Last of the Arkansas pics for a bit...

Here's the cabin we stayed in for 4 days, 3 nights.

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And a small pond not too far from the cabin. I got a chance to catch a nice reflection! :)

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There were lots of trails to walk, and if you ever got lost, there was always a way to quickly find your way...

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...but most of the trails were rather easy to spot!

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We weren't the only critters walking the trails!

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The view from the back porch (pictured above) was due west, over a valley and a line of hills farther out, and made for AMAZING sunsets.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Decided I'd run down to my local park hangout for some shots of the geese, since they're comin' in by the gaggle...

This is usually where I go to get some pics of the Great Tailed Grackle, too, but they were all strangely absent today. Horribly overcast day, but I just dialed up the right ISO, went on auto white balance for a bit, made sure I was shooting in RAW, and... CLICK CLICK CLICK!

Caught a few on the bank to start. They were all wary of the bald freak with the big lens.

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I think I might have interrupted a nap with this one. She looked a bit frazzled... Cool catch of water beaded on the body.

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Come out HERE, bald boy! I dare ya!

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Another cool shot catching the spray as they evacuated onto the spillover. I had to edit out a couple of large chunks of trash... didn't do TOO bad, did I?

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Flexing in FREEDOM! Another bald goosearazzi evaded!

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I think maybe she was chewing out the goose that was supposed to be on lookout?

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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Pretzel said:
Decided I'd run down to my local park hangout for some shots of the geese, since they're comin' in by the gaggle...

This is usually where I go to get some pics of the Great Tailed Grackle, too, but they were all strangely absent today. Horribly overcast day, but I just dialed up the right ISO, went on auto white balance for a bit, made sure I was shooting in RAW, and... CLICK CLICK CLICK!

Caught a few on the bank to start. They were all way of the bald freak with the big lens.

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I think I might have interrupted a nap with this one. She looked a bit frazzled... Cool catch of water beaded on the body.

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Come out HERE, bald boy! I dare ya!

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Another cool shot catching the spray as they evacuated onto the spillover. I had to edit out a couple of large chunks of trash... didn't do TOO bad, did I?

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Flexing in FREEDOM! Another bald goosearazzi evaded!

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I think maybe she was chewing out the goose that was supposed to be on lookout?

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Click to expand...

Very nice shots


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
Artistic eye, or obsessed photographer? Shooting pics of the geese at LaFortune Park, I saw this on the side of a big drainage ditch nearby, and it was my fave subject of the short lunch trip. LOL

1 with selective color, the other in full color glory, with just a touch of vignette.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
About once a week, I flip over a large dog house in the back yard and look for interesting things underneath. In the spring, it's usually grass snakes and roly polies, in the summer it's usually spiders and centipedes, and at the beginning of fall it's usually slugs... but THIS week, I found a new friend! At first, he was a little shy, but it gave me the opportunity to do the photographer's thing and change lenses a couple of times... ;) I could only see the full color when he was rolled up and playing dead.

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But after he got used to me, he was quite quick, and he made the jump to the patio. It probably amused the neighbors as I started crawling all over the patio on my belly to get a couple of action shots! :cool: Afterwards, I returned him back to where I found him, which was an adventure since he was no longer afraid of me and working on his escape.

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