Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Thanks to all who voted my picture in January. My selection for the February theme is "EARTH"

Anything goes, as long as it has connection to Mother Earth or earthenly topics. :)

Rules are as usual:
Photos must be taken during this month (after theme is announced) and posted before voting starts.
Photos must be taken by the posting member.
Photos must be taken with a camera phone.
Post processing is allowed but you have to say what you did.
Users must name the phone and software they used.
Users post only one photo per entry.
Users can change the entry only once.
3 day voting period starts on February 26th at 23:59 UTC and ends at 23:59 UTC on February 29st.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Will try to remember :-) "Earth" is an interesting topic, and a challenging one...

Bump!

Thank you. Best wishes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Per aspera ad astra...

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Nice topic btw.

I was going to grab my rocket, fly to mars and take a photo from there, but the rocket broke :p

So here is my plan B photo :D

https://talk.maemo.org/attachment.ph...1&d=1581519106

It was taken with a Samsung J4+, the image size was reduced in gimp, then I used a website to compress the png file size, it was reduced 65%.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

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Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Not my photo, of course. I've never been that far from home. And not taken this month, either, but July 19, 2013. But here's Earth (and its moon) taken from Saturn (in foreground) at somewhere around 1.5bn km away:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages...7171_hires.jpg

So that's where the bar is set for awesome Earth photos. All it took was the collaboration of all our planets's space agencies and affiliates! And an eclipse from Cassini's POV.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

OK here is my Entry

A view on the Earth (well part of it, but a beautiful one) from above:

http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1581519074

Taken with the Pro1 and Sailfish stock camera app.
You might have guessed it, there was some editing:
I used hugin to stich three pics to get a nice panorama (I still miss this feature in the camera app). I used darktable to set white balance, push a little bit the blue and sharpen the pic.

I attached the photo used in the mid of the panorama, so you can see, what was done. It's original, I just reduced size, to be able to upload it here:

http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1581519666

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Yes, let's get Earth Month out of the way. I hope the contests for the following months will explicitly exclude photos of anything on the Earth.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

;)

Best way to make that a reality is to submit a sure-winner Earth photo! I definitely enjoyed your starfield last month (and the making-of discussion). "The Snowy Mountainscape" -- or perhaps "Panorama of Pistes" -- above may be tough to top, though!

And the contrasting "Warm Well-Trod Beach" is also a strong contender.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

https://talk.maemo.org/attachment.ph...1&d=1581661520
My entry. BlessN900, 77% (to be able to download), brightness about -30, contrast about +13 (forgot the exact numbers). Shot in Suomenlinna, Finland, this morning 14.2.2020.

This just spoke to me about earth being the rock we are grounded to, we stand on, something solid and (atleast here in Finland) not that shaky.

Have thought a lot the climate stuff. Many years ago started to think that magic worldview where you do not know that much and have a certain fear for unknown and unexplained and keep it as holy and sacred has it's benefits. Thinking of earth as mother earth, like a living organism (which it is in many ways) which we just inhabit and are dependent of makes one think differently of things. Like covering the skin with rock and cutting down plants that cover it and covering the whole organism with toxic gases and stuff. It just seems stupid if you connect in your mind to the idea of earth being a living organism.

I do not live in any absolute ecologic way. But I do not make a compromize with what I keep in my mind ideal. I just have to bare and deal with the contradiction not to lose the sight of what I think is the absolute right.

My small battle for good is trying to get people use their old devices instead of changing constantly to new ones (if one needs more horsepower that is fine). I just update rams, drives and install less ram and cpu hungry Oses which has become more difficult after so many linux distros and browsers have dropped support for 32bit. Now hoping a lot from KolibriOs with assembly language.

So that big metal ring preventing ships form drifting away is allegory here of me connecting my mind from drifting away of the understanding of earth (still) being a living organism and as such to be held sacred and holy (nothing religious beliefs included).

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

@Maemish great shot. Have you used some vignette filter?

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

No. It comes when you make the image darker and add contrast as well. The feature of the lens usually not seen.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

So that's what it is! For a moment I thought it was meant to tow mother earth to a better place. :rolleyes:

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Indeed. How on earth (no pun intended) can I compete with THAT???

I'll just do the obligatory view from my office window. Taken yesterday, 13th February, around 16:00. I was going home and noticed it was raining and sunny at the same time, so my immediate reaction was, "Rainbow! TMO photo competition!" I ran back upstairs to take this picture:

https://talk.maemo.org/attachment.ph...1&d=1581677695

Pity I could not fit the whole rainbow in a single shot. I had considered merging the two shots into a panorama but then I noticed a smudge in the corner caused by a droplet so I decided to leave it be. Here is the second shot just for reference:

https://talk.maemo.org/attachment.ph...1&d=1581677730

The shadow of the building is seen in both shots but what can I do :o

EDIT: Both pictures taken with Jolla 1.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

The ring in my entry is wrist thick, so not just a close up illusion.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Sorry @Maemish! My choice of emoji wasn't really mine (can I blame the cat?) ;) was my real choice.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

@ Maemish: Great shot, nice colors!

Actually, this is the "real" rendering of the n900 camera.
I personally end up by liking it a lot.
Then, when the pic is made into the stock app, the vignette is removed and the image is corrected to become "flat" and normalized.

I really would like to build the same correction filter. We could use it into darktable, playing with the amount to apply it more or less. I studied it a bit but it is not so simple. The vignette is affecting not only brightness but also contrast and color balance.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

"Icefall", taken with Piggs Advanced Camera on SFOS/XperiaX.
Slight levels and resizing in gimp.
http://www.swagman.org/juice/icefall.png

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

^OMG

ten chars etc...

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

so....... the earth, the essence...

https://i.postimg.cc/MpFkRRkZ/DSC-1121-2.jpg

XZ2 stock camera, resized and light curved in GIMP

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Very nice! A most literal definition of "earth".

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Indeed. It is the picture I wanted to take, but was too lazy. :(

kinggo, what is the pink creature in the top left corner?

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

most likely a cut from another earthworm.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Nah, I don't buy it. It looks like a grub. I have those too in my garden. They turn dark brown and pupate under ground. I just don't know what species they are.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

I was just going to hunt with my metal detector when the earth here became white. Now it is not more white but really wet. Another day.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Here is my entry this month, took with Pro1 running SFOS, unedited, unfiltered and uncropped.

Different layers of surface from top to bottom.

Attachment is just a screenshot. Original photo is here.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

This earth really has some nice looking places!

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Maybe i should publish opposite of that beauty... not sure... yet...

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

https://mosushi.de/misc/photocomp/20...nded_fused.jpg

Here is my take on Earth-Panorama.
The Hambach hole is so wide, i needed 8 Photos from Pro1 stiched together in Hugin Panorama Editor to get a full panorama shot from one of the sightseeing platforms.
For perspective, those tiny Bucket wheel excavators are 70m high :p
They started to dig in my birth year and plan to have all worthy coal out in 2030.
Then it will become a Lake with final depth of 500 meter and function as "Pumped storage power plant".
Earth is beautiful indeed!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hambach_surface_mine

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

^ Wow.
Impressive, and not in a good way.
So where is this Hambacher Forst then (which I understand is saved for now)?

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Following the above links you will location in Germany

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia
on this map in the South-West, between Cologne and BelgIUM border.

or here for an overview
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsdorf

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Most impressive to me is that you can spot the hole even if you zoom out satellite maps to view of near full europe. It is the white dot south-west of my yellow marker location.

https://mosushi.de/misc/photocomp/Bi...2011-44-38.png

Luckily, tmo has a non politics policy making it easy to say i am undecided on the whole matter.
Still your question about location and implication of woods being "saved" makes me want to report what i experience living in the area.
The sober view most people here share, is that Rheinbraun got a concessions as a state company in the 1970 (by a social demokrat gov) and everyone knew since then what is going to happen and had years and years to cope with this democratic decision.
The guys i know that needed to move are quite happy to got financed new homes.
Having lived in Elsdorf for 5 years i can tell people are actually proud about peoples achievements and their mighty hole :D The Elsdorf/Bergheim region markets itself as "Energy capital of europe".
I have no grime against the activists, only i do not really see the point in saving exactly that spot of wood, now, after all those years.
On the photo, Hambach forest is on the left. On the right the "Sophien Höhe" a hill made of the 1:6.2 ratio soil left after extracting the coal, with its huge recultivated artifical woods.
To put the remains of Hambach forest into perspective, it is the lighter green area on the south east (humbly exaggerated since only half of it is worth to call woods still). The darker green in the west is recultivated. Red is my POV.
https://mosushi.de/misc/photocomp/Bi...2020-02-21.jpg

As sad as it is to cut down any part of nature, at least we are left with a grand recreational area with re-cultivated woods as large as the cut down areas and one of the largest lakes in europe by 2050.

I would not mind if the digging stopped, but i hoped the main "win" for humanity was learning from such a decision made a long time ago in a completely different mindset and overcome to make better decisions for future projects.

Hello Elon, i can show you huge wastelands in germany where a giga factory would not hurt at all but cost for Tesla would be much higher and prestige much lower, deal?
Also, would you mind to guarantee to leave a recreational area once you decide to eventually close down? :D
(Sorry for trolling and border-lining politics still...)

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

At least it is not as bad as Berkeley Pit in Montana that filled with water that turned pH 2.5 acidic. So acidic that they have to employ rangers with guns whose main job is to scare birds away from landing on the water.

https://assets.atlasobscura.com/medi...V0/BP_02_0.jpg

It would not be enterprising Americans if they didn't turn it into a business opportunity, built a viewing platform and charged an entrance fee. I guess somebody has to pay for those rangers ;)

https://assets.atlasobscura.com/medi...24CE8049F.jpeg

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Here's a non-entry I post for fun:

https://live.staticflickr.com/3296/3...6a82dc92_o.jpg

DSC00079

It is taken by me, with a camera phone (Sony Ericsson K550i), and could be shoehorned into the theme, as it's a photo of the Earth, the waters that flow upon it, structures built on it and illuminated by its one natural satellite (which could have once been part of the Earth depending on which formation hypothesis you like best). It was not, however taken in the current month, but over 11 years ago.

I say for fun, since we've had an interesting wikipedia tour of the western part of Germany and its energy producing region ;) and this moonrise is taken somewhere over the Rhine, I believe from the date a little bit upstream. Also fun since the K550i was the phone my N900 replaced.

Still trying to pick a good representation of "Earth" taken this month.

And wow, that giant hole in the Earth is something! I'm curious how filling it with water can be used to store energy. From the wikis, it's considerably below sea level, at least at the bottom. For us in the slow class, where's the potential energy? As the kids say, "I am confuse."

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Thank you!

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Consider its function like a battery.
The main disadvantage of renewable energy sources is the night gap or even longer "draughts".
If you now use some energy during day to pump water "up" somewhere, you can just let it flow down through turbines again and convert energy back if you need it.
Yes, the loss is enormous but according to studies it is still efficient enough to be done here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped...droelectricity

@robthebold, on your photo, Hambach is ~40km behind you. I took that ship tour at least 10 times already being booked (most memorably by Deutsche Telekom (wtf ~10years ago) after which evening i can not stand karaoke anymore) for "Team-Events".
The place you shot is like half way to the turning point back to cologne. You can see you have not yet turned since you go on the right (and right/correct imo) side of the rhine ;)

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Hm, why is that?
Wouldn't it be OK just to let the birds drown in the lake? Eventually the ones left would learn to avoid it.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Gosh, i love nordic pragmatic thinking :D
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-conte...n_birthday.jpg

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Roald Amundsen ate his sled dogs . . .

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

I visited one in Wales. Twice. It is open to public, with guided tours. They said they use 4 units of power for every 3 units generated, but it is worth it because they use the power when energy is abundant (and hence cheap) and generate when in short supply (and thus expensive).

:eek:

But wouldn't they only learn if they saw others dying an excruciating death? Which assumes being within a small distance, both space and in time. All others would be doomed to repeat the same mistake. Unless they are born with an instinct not to sit on water that to all intents and purposes looks like any other.

Re: Camera Phone competition February 2020: Earth
 

Hi, here is my contribution to this February collection.

N900, fcam's jpeg, uncropped, unedited.

Taken on 9 February 2020.

Here you can see a car roof bar. Or at least the last visible part of it. The remaining (bar and other side with its lock, and the car which was attached to it) is already back into the ground. :rolleyes:

"Earth eating back human's hardware"
https://talk.maemo.org/attachment.ph...1&d=1582320120