Shot of the Week August 2020 - Iggy Tavares

[Iggy]

S31 Duck basking in sun beams under a weeping willow

Challenge: Water. Extra Credit: Use an ND filter

The suggestions in the extra credits implied that I should go to a Park.
It was a lovely warm Saturday morning with plenty of cloud intermingled with sunshine.
I knew that Beddington Park had a selection of waterworks to fulfill the brief.

It was wonderful to get out and take some images under changeable conditions.
No ND filter, but I tried different exposures to turn moving water milky.
And then there was the long pond with waterfowl to check out too.

The weeping willow overhanging the large pond cast a magical light on the water.
Several different waterfowl swam through this maze of lights and shadows.
Fortunately, one duck was languishing half asleep in some sun beams for my Shot of the Week!


By the way, watch out for the new car parking restrictions advertised by several big signs.
Cars need to be registered on the iPad at the Grange pub. No need t buy a drink.
Failure to register results in a £100 FINE that will arrive by post.
I saved 4 drivers from being fined!

[Mike Farley]

Aaaaaargh!

[Iggy]

Thank you Mike.
I am delighted to have had the expected response from you for my duck.
It was starting to get rather quiet out here on the western front.

I thought that you were actually warming up to those creatures as one of you images contained almost a dozen of them.

The ducks are a purely incidental but necessary part of the image

was your excuse.

My excuse was that I was seduced by the light.

Hope to see more of your images.
Stay safe,
Iggy

[Mike Farley]

I am delighted to have had the expected response from you for my duck.

I did not want to disappoint ......

My excuse was that I was seduced by the light.

Well, the light and translucence in the water is kind of interesting but, you know, it is a duck.

Hope to see more of your images.

I must do some more about that. These days I seem to be more interested in taking shots than processing them. There are a couple of new ones on my Flickr photostream which I did not post here.

[Iggy]

Alternative image - Challenge: Water. Extra Credit: Use an ND filter

No ducks in this image that I shot from distance last Sunday.

Fireman Wash Down happened after they had extinguished the fire that consumed the shed and fence.
Burning rubbish in the garden can be dangerous!
Luckily no one was injured.

[Iggy]

S32 Princely Frog

Challenge: A New Experience Extra Credit: Bucket List

I considered trying the multiple exposure feature on the Canon 70D.
However, I just couldn't bring myself to read up on how to do it.
Just too hot!!

In the garden, currently we just have the nervous cabbage white butterflies in season.
Peacocks, red admirals, comas, and even holly blues have come and gone.
One evening this week, a cabbage white finally settled for the night on a hydrangea flower.
It looked well camouflaged as I took a few shots in poor light and even tried flash.
Five minutes later I found the butterfly flip flopping on the ground.
On closer examination, I saw that a wasp had grabbed the butterfly by its wing.
I could have let nature takes it course and tried to capture a photographic assay.
Instead, I used a twig to squeeze the wasp into releasing its hold on the butterfly wing.
Fortunately, both butterfly and wasp flew off to live another day.
I then realised that a fair few wasps were searching under the leaves for insect snacks!!

Next day, while tiding up the garden, a beautiful frog made its way on to our patio.
I calmly moved some of the garden furniture to give me a few clear shots.
No princess here, but four large leaps later and the frog was safely back in the undergrowth.
So a princely looking frog is my SOTW.

[Iggy]

S33: Impressionist Sunset in a Mirror

Challenge: Night photography Extra Credit: Astrophotography

I was not too keen to wander the streets of Croydon in the dark with my camera!
A safer option perhaps was to capture a sunset in Norbury.
The afternoon certainly looked promising when the plan was formulated.
But as the evening came on, so did a sky full of clouds with no sun!

Sitting in the semi dark I was enjoying watching the world snooker championship.
Suddenly, a semblance of colours in the large mirror reflected my sunset.
The Lumix FZ1000 had a mind of its own in manual focus,
Automatically selecting 6 shot multiple exposure HDR that I had little control over.

Behold my Impressionist Sunset.

[Iggy]

S34: Rose Hip Trio

Challenge: Rule of Odds Extra Credit: Symmetrical Framing

Currently working hard on Tropical Fish feature books that are taking a lot of time and effort.
Then a fair amount of trimming down trees and hedges is giving me a bit of exercise.
Hence, haven't been spending much time on photography.
Trying to do most things in camera to reduce processing time post shooting.

I was pleased to see that the challenge was "Rule of Odds".
Plan was to go out to a park once a week, but this has not happened.
I could fulfill this challenge easily enough using the fruitful bounty of our garden.
That said, the Rose Hip Arrangement still took some time to get everything together to my liking.

[Iggy]

S35: My Lumix FZ1000

Challenge: Common Object. Extra Credit: One light source

This week's challenge of photographing a common object had me thinking.
I decided that it could be common but also rather special to me.
My common object which is rather special is my Panasonic FZ1000 camera.

The 5-year-old FZ1000 raises my spirits whenever I use it
Turning dull, cloudy and even rainy day into brilliant days.
Every day out with this camera is an adventure.

I couldn't do a camera selfie and had to call on my Canon 70D to take the shot.
The single source of light was the sun streaming in occasionally through the window.
I rendered the image of my Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 to portray sunshine and joy!

[davidb]

Interesting image. I don't know why but I like it!