Show Your Snaps...January 2, 2023

This is the weekly Show Your Snaps thread where we invite you to show your own snapshots or even choice pictures. I'll be sure to comment about your photos, if you choose to share.

When you are posting your own images please submit them as a reply to this post. Otherwise your pictures may be overlooked. You might also consider describing your pictures in the subject title. See my own photos for this week as a reply.

Remember it's all about the enjoyment of taking pictures regardless of what we have. We can learn from each other and it's fun to share too. Thanks everyone for your participation.

This is open to all camera systems and skill levels.

I had a lot of fun taking pictures at night at a Christmas parade in early December of last year. The camera I used is remarkable in its ability to take these kinds of pictures in a nearly dark environment. Wow...have things progressed over the years so we can do things like this. I hope you like the series.

Photo No. 1 - All the stores looked ready for Christmas. So did the people as they waited for the parade.

Photo No. 2 - They lined up along the street.

Photo No. 3 - As you can see, it wasn't quite 100% dark yet.

Photo No. 4 - Before the parade began, I thought I would take some "street photos".

Photo No. 5 - I had fun with this camera taking these in such low light conditions.

Photo No. 6 - Again....

Photo No. 7 - Well, the parade started soon enough.

Photo No. 8 - It was really neat to see such a large parade.

Photo No. 9 - There was quite a variety.

Photo No. 10 - The things that had lighting like this were the easiest to photograph.

Photo No. 11- I liked the really cool trucks that I saw.

Photo No. 12 - What a nice display!

Photo No. 13 - People walked along the exhibits.

Photo No. 14 - Some passed out candy.

Photo No. 15 - This was a neatly decorated bus.

Photo No. 16 - Another nice display....

Photo No. 17 - Again...another one.

Photo No. 18 - Nice VW bug!

Photo No. 19 - When the parade ended I tried a few more "street photos".

Photo No. 20 - What I found was that I still needed a faster shutter speed in some cases. But a lot of the pictures turned out really well.

Went to a friend's acreage to take pics of birds but these two critters caught my eye instead. Could not get a good focus lock so went the manual route instead. Only their movement gave them away.

Mike

That's super...wow...great photos.  We have coyotes near where I live but no foxes.  I wonder if they are about the same size.

Excellent!  I like those a lot.

On the last day of the year I was able to get a nice closeup of a male red-winged blackbird.  It was very cloudy and just starting to rain.  I was fortunate to find it at a lower level, instead of being high up in the trees.  It flew off a few seconds after I took this.

Thanks.  The ISO was high at 6400.  I wasn't expecting that, but then it was darker than I knew, as it began to rain.  I only had my small umbrella with me, so I had to continually wipe off the sprinkles from the lens with my cloth.  If I knew it was going to rain like that, I would have brought my giant umbrella.

Umbrellas work good if there's little or no wind.  Otherwise, it's time to sit by the fire and sip hot chocolate.

Saying that...really it's neat taking pictures in light rain.  It's a challenge and you can get some interesting photos.  I did manage to get a few photos of the wood ducks too and you can see the rain hitting the water.

Thanks.  I was impressed with what the camera and lens could do at ISO12800 and F3.5.  But I had to keep the focal length short, so that I had enough depth of field.  I think it was actually darker to my eyes at the time, but the camera exposes it to be brighter if that makes sense.  I was pushing it to the limit...wide open...very high ISO levels.

Next year's blooms and the coot are excellent.  I sure love to see your scenery, as seen in the first photo.  If you are up to it, you'll have to find some hiking trails towards the top of some of these hills and mountains.  I should do the same, but we are in the rainy season.  There's flooding to the south of us in drought-stricken California.  I hope to visit some more waterfalls.