If I get my head tilted just right to find the sweet spot in my bifocals . . .

2 hours from a cruise ship is not the way to experience the gardens. Glad we had the chance to spend the better part of a day there on a separate trip prior to our cruise excursion. The gardens have some charm at night, but are best viewed in daylight - as the colors in these photographs attest.

If your only chance is a cruise excursion, plan in advance. Get a copy of their map and look at the photos others have posted online to find the places where you want to catch the last sunlight. Some parts of the garden are truly dark at night.

Colorado Mike,

I think the second is one of the best uses of panorama that I have seen. It's easy to use panorama to catch more than a normal lens will permit. But the subject here is best expressed in the panorama format. The background mountains provide the movement to set the scene while the spreading out of the bales describe its expanse. Kind of like when westerns went from normal screen proportions to Cinerama - the format fit the subject in a new way that improved both the image and experience of it.

Great example.

The Grand Master, Bob Ross, couldn't have painted it as well. A wondrous image for its paint-like quality.

A late reply, but here's two of my favorites of my grandson and granddaughter on our backyard swing. Both taken with my phone. I really like panned motion photos (used in moderation). Given the limitations of both my phone and normal camera in some situations, they're often the best choice for kids in motion.

The composition, use of color, lighting, and sharpness are outstanding.

The kind of shot I too often see in my minds eye but can't seem to get into the camera. Thanks for sharing.

Just for information, Series filters are threadless and had a retaining ring that was threaded. There were various adapter rings for fitting larger filters to smaller optics.

A Series V filter had these dimensions:
Filter Dia (inch/mm) Adapter Dia (in/mm) Lens Dia (mm)
Series V / 5 1 3/16 30.2 1 5/16 33.3 19 – 30

https://www.apotelyt.com/photo-accessory/series-filters is a succinct description of Series filters and has a list of sizes. It warns that many Series filter adapters have a different thread pitch than modern lens threads and are not compatible.

Series filters permitted a photographer to have a filter set that could fit several different lenses, often by purchasing the largest size needed and using step-down adapters to their other lenses or cameras.

Slightly off topic, but in response to the last lines of ORpilot on page 1, above:

The favorite working camera in my collection is a 1937c. Zeiss Icon Super Icomat (530) 4.5x6cm. A wonderful little (large pocket size 2-1/4 inch format, 120 roll film) rangefinder. I've never been disappointed with its optics, accuracy, and image quality for its age.

Too bad I stopped shooting roll film quite a few years ago. That took a number of well performing cameras out of service.

The Almost Ansel preset is very effective. Sets up a good question - do many/any digital photographers use the Zone System for setting their exposures, or do image sensors react differently from film? Does post-processing, like this, make the Zone System unnecessary?

For those who are interested, you can go to spaceweather.com to see the latest northern hemisphere aurora map and news about solar events that affect auroras.

Everyone is looking at your photos - I'm thinking about you shooting with the more rare and unusual Ektra.

This plane was formerly at the McClain Military Museum in Anderson, IN. It was in flying condition when initially purchased, but had an incident landing that damaged the landing gear, as I recall. It had been sitting outside at the museum slowly deteriorating for quite a few years - a sad thing to see. Glad to see "where it landed". The museum has closed and some, if not all, of the equipment has been sold off. I saw the Huey going down the road on a flatbed one day.

McClain had a good armor collection and several of his pieces were used by Hollywood. I hope they have all found good homes.

It's funny how the last photo takes away all of the drama in the first 3 - shooting angle can be so critical to making the shot. Thanks for giving us multiple views. Glad you got to take advantage of the opportunity for some well composed pictures.

I Use Planets 4.0. It has a 3D feature that is a sort of enhanced reality light - it shows you what you are seeing as you look at it. In other words, as I hold the app up and look at the sky, it shows its sky map in the same orientation and direction. It has a 2D map function, but the 3D is great for identifying what's in front of you (or beneath you, even, if you look down.)

They're very large, make 3/4 inch diameter holes with mounds of excavated dirt around them, and are the least aggressive wasps you'll probably ever encounter.

It is interesting to see them flying, holding a cicada (sorry, no photos), and then trying to land - more like a bombing. Then they drag the cicada down into their burrow.

They're marvels of productivity and have infested my front yard for about 5 years.