Lens Artists Photo Challenge #306 – Habitat

Tina’s challenge is to examine the habitats of both humans/and or animals.

A quote from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources tells us that “Georgia’s coastal marshlands encompass approximately 368,000 acres in a four to six mile band behind the barrier islands. Thriving in the waters of the estuaries, these marshes have been identified as one of the most extensive and productive marshland systems in the United States. There are nearly 400,000 acres of coastal marshlands in Georgia which represent a considerable portion of all remaining marshlands along the entire eastern coast of the United States.”

I chose to feature images of some of the birds that feed on the fish, shrimp, snails, and other small creatures that live in the salt marsh. Sometimes I see the birds perched in a tree or on a dock above the marsh as they search for food. It’s fun to watch them wade through the marsh or a creek as they feed.

Great egret wades through the salt marsh searching for food
Ibis feeding in the salt marsh
Wood Stork
Roseate Spoonbills and Great Egrets share a tree
Roseate Spoonbill fishing in a tidal creek
Great Blue Heron perched on a rail above the marsh
Osprey searching for fish

Many thanks to our host Tina for this challenge Lens-Artists #306 – Habitat

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #305 – Two Rectangles

Edigio’s challenge is to feature images that show two rectangles. He explains “By two rectangles, I mean you have two dominant rectangular areas in your image. For many people, this is one of those compositional tools we use without thinking about it. These rectangles give balance, harmony, and unity to a composition.”

I had never heard of the idea of using two rectangles as a technique in photography before reading Edigio’s post. I was surprised to find many images in my archives that met his description.

Eleven years ago we were traveling around Alaska in our RV. All of the images in this post are from that trip.

The header image of the Eagle on a branch uses negative space to create the two rectangles. This next image shows how architecture can be used to define the rectangles in an image. This blue building is a good example of rectangles within rectangles.

Juneau, Alaska

For the next image the horizontal line at the edge of the water defines the two rectangles.

Moose in Denali National Park, Alaska

In the next image the two rectangles are defined by the horizontal line which divides the glacier in the upper rectangle and the water in the lower rectangle.

Calving on Aialik Glacier, Alaska

This sunset image is divided into two rectangles, the sky with the volcano in the upper rectangle and the water in the lower.

Mount Redoubt sunset, Ninilchik, Alaska

Many thanks to our host Edigio for this challenge Lens-Artists #305 – Two Rectangles

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #304 – Behind

Ritva’s challenge is to pay attention to the background behind our subject.

I chose a few images from nature for this challenge. I used depth of field to blur the background to keep the focus on the main subject.

Many thanks to our host Ritva for this challenge Lens-Artists #304 – Behind

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #302 – Artificial Intelligence and Photography

For this challenge JohnBo has asked us to “share your thoughts and images on a controversial subject – the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in your photographs.”

My photo editing software doesn’t include AI so I wasn’t sure how I was going to respond to this challenge. I got the idea to try using the AI Assistant available in WordPress after reading Donna’s post at Wind Kisses.

All of the images in this post were created using the WordPress AI Assistant. The first images are based on special days in May – Henry’s birthday, Mother’s Day, a road trip to Virginia to celebrate our oldest Granddaughter’s high school graduation, and Memorial Day. I captioned each photo with the prompt I gave AI.

The header image was automatically created based on the content of this post.

Chocolate birthday cake
Mother’s Day Breakfast
High School Graduation blue gown gold tassel
Lighthouse with American Flag Memorial Day

I experimented with a lot of different prompts before finding images that I liked. I wouldn’t call them photographs. This egret image was the most realistic one.

Egret on dock over salt marsh

For several of the images I had to try several prompts before I got an image that worked. The following are two images that made me laugh out loud. The captions show the prompt I gave AI.

Beach with bottlenose dolphin
Atlantic ocean beach with dolphin

I am seeing AI images more and more as I browse the internet. My hope is that actual photographers will never be replaced by Artificial Intelligence and that anyone posting AI images will let their readers know how the image was created.

I had fun playing with AI but I think I’ll stick with my own photographs from now on.

Many thanks to our host Johnbo for his challenge Lens-Artists #302 – Artificial Intelligence and Photography