Cafe Thursday January 16, 2025

[Mark Keefer]

Welcome to Cafe Thursday!
This is a weeklong thread open to all camera types and brands. All are welcome here.
This week's subject will be performing
but if you don't have one of those, anything from your travels will be fine.
Please tell us a little about the shot and gear used.

My camera this week is the Canon 5D MKIV
This shot from a blues club in Memphis.

 

[Gerald Cafferty]

Taken on a morning village walk earlier this week. Jelly Ear Fungus on Elder tree. Fuji X-T30ii with Fuji XF30mm f2.8 R WR

 

[Jon Eckman]

My wife and I were fortunate enough to get front row seats for a Martin Sexton show at the Ridgefield Playhouse in CT back in 2017. Cameras in general, especially those with removable lenses, are rarely allowed at performances like this, but I didn't see any restrictions this time. That said, I decided to play it safe and use my cell phone for this one. Samsung Galaxy S7, f/1.7, 1/25 sec, ISO 200, 4mm (26mm equiv).

 

[Papa Tango]

@Jon Eckman there are times that the smartphone is the only prudent solution. I have had stickers put on the lens filter, been made to leave gear in the security office, and patted down from top to bottom due to the big honking camera attached to me. It was all OK, as I did not intend to photograph performances. I like becoming part of them--and that's part of their point. Especially when we are talking about hundreds of dollars for each ticket...

But stuff happens. I fully expected to get pitched out during intercessory times at Lincoln Center and Balanchine's Nutcracker. My crappy Samsung A53 came to the rescue for audience watching--replete with frustration and high-ISO noise rubbish. BTW, the only thing I am more apathetic about than ballet is opera. The wife states that she will never again take me to a ballet. That works for me...

The point here is that just like the 5 w's and H of journalism--the result of acquiring an image ought to be in the story it tells in some fullness. Not so much the focus or format--but rather in the message and language of the moment. You have captured the artist in his special "other space/other place" from where the spirit and goodness of honest music lives. The elements of the phone rather seem to magnify rather than diminish the presence of the whole thing.

I see and feel the story, and the more I look at this image--the further I am drawn into it and the scene. Kudos...

 

[Mark Keefer]

I had my 5D MkIV with big 70-200mm f/2.8 while in Los Vegas at a Penn and Teller show. I was way in the back rows, up high, snapped off a lot of shots and finally had someone that seemed like a Rio Casino official nicely asked me to stop. I did, no hassles. Sat and enjoyed the rest of the show. The Galaxy phones have nice cameras. I currently have the Galaxy s24 ultra. A couple of the cameras are impressive for a phone camera.

 

[Papa Tango]

Fred Traded Dino In
Canon 400D/Rebel XTi--Topaz Photo AI 3

So there I was in central Ohio, driving along in bucolic flatness and minding my own business. The geography so reminds me of my early childhood in central Illinois. Both states are on my list of places I would rather not live.

What out of nowhere appears to disturb my rustic reveries? Behold! Not often does one gets to see a fiberglass dinosaur in the middle of a farm equipment dealership, right? No sir, or ma'am, or they or whatever. This thing was actually there.

I point that out because Topaz Photo AI is credited as a co-conspirator in the conjuring of this image. When taken, it was late in the afternoon, overcast and gloomy, and the camera was running on a lot of ISO. Too much ISO. I am astounded on how much detail Topaz put back into the file. I suppose that the presentation could be a lot brighter, but I was really stuck on the original gloomy and dark nature of this abandonment. Fred did a dark deed indeed. The classical absurdity of it all demands it...