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Theme: Up There

Subjects in the photo should be unsupported by the ground. Examples include airplanes, balloons, bubbles, water splashes, astrophotography, clouds, birds/insects/animals in flight, etc.

This theme was suggested by whackamadoodle3000.

Voting Rules

  • Vote up as many images as you like
  • Please, up votes only! Do NOT vote down your competitors! If you don't like an image, don't vote
  • Voting closes on April 12, 2021 at 12:01 AM UTC (00:01 UTC if you prefer a 24-hour time). The winner will be chosen based on votes at that time.

Submission Rules

  1. One photo submission per answer. Up to three (3) entries allowed.
  2. Post only photos taken by yourself or the person with you.
  3. All entries should include:
    • a title for the photo
    • a location and date, if known
    • camera, lens, and exposure settings, if known
    • any other explanatory notes, comments, etc., that you want to include (completely optional)
  4. The submitted image must conform to this site's content license, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) with attribution required.
  5. Do not use this as a forum for photo critique. Use chat instead, or ask a new question about your image.

Next Contest

Suggest a theme by writing a new answer at the Photo of the Week Theme Ideas thread. Please make sure to check the PotW theme ideas Archive first, to make sure you aren't recycling a theme.

The highest-voted theme will be the next theme.

Good luck!

scottbb
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  • @whackamadoodle3000, "unsupported by the ground" meaning truly unsupported, or do illusions/photoshop count as well? – Saaru Lindestøkke Mar 29 '21 at 06:59
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    Sure, those can count as long as it appear unsupported. – whackamadoodle3000 Mar 29 '21 at 15:31
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    Would it be an idea to occasionally randomise the order that these photos are displayed in? As it is the top voted pictures are always first and therefore more likely to get an up vote. Late comers rarely get a chance to obtain as many votes. Perhaps an ordered sequence of photos by vote number on even numbered days and randomise the order on odd numbered days? Just a thought! – MiguelH Apr 01 '21 at 17:09
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    @MiguelH There’s no way to do that. This site runs on the Stack Exchange software that was designed for Q&A, not really designed for things like photo competitions. Considering that the Stack Exchange network went through a redesign a couple years ago in order to reduce differences between the different Stacks, and to normalize and unify the site customization process, I doubt Stack Exchange will modify their core functionality to accommodate Photo-SE’s mis-use of the Q&A model. – scottbb Apr 01 '21 at 17:33
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    @MiguelH But what you’re describing is symptomatic of the reputation-based Q&A model in general. When a new question is asked, there’s a bit of a “land-rush”, where early answers tend to be more highly upvoted than later answers. That’s why I changed the recommendation for upcoming themes from being in the comments of the current competition, to being in their own long-running thread on Meta. That way, people can plan for an upcoming competition. It doesn’t help happenstance posters, but at least some can plan ahead. – scottbb Apr 01 '21 at 17:41
  • @scottbb Thanks for the clarification. I'll keep a look out on meta from now on! – MiguelH Apr 02 '21 at 07:51
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    You can choose how the information is displayed, but you can't set it globally or for everyone. See - https://i.stack.imgur.com/ceQj5.png – Tetsujin Apr 03 '21 at 11:49
  • I don't understand why there are so few entries! I myself see "unsupported by the ground" as rather weird and still, why are there not many more entries? – Robbie Goodwin Apr 03 '21 at 22:42
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    @RobbieGoodwin I like your enthusiasm, but 29 entries (so far) seems pretty great to me! =) – scottbb Apr 04 '21 at 00:47
  • @scottbb I confess, I have no knowledge of how often this comes round, or what prize is offered and surely if each member of this group asked one local photography club to take part, there'd be many more entries… – Robbie Goodwin Apr 05 '21 at 19:55
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    @RobbieGoodwin the prize is placement in the Photo of the Week sidebar (currently top two, as the contest is running biweekly). Of course, as I'm typing this in the SE mobile app, I'm just now realizing the PotW sidebar isn't visible, so.... yeah. ¯\(ツ)/¯ – scottbb Apr 05 '21 at 21:34
  • @scottbb Just checking - by biweekly, do you mean fortnightly (every 2 weeks) or twice a week? The latter seems unlikely but just wanted to check because...English :) – wilkgr Apr 06 '21 at 13:10
  • @wilkgr every 2 weeks. – scottbb Apr 06 '21 at 13:24
  • That's the problem with the term biweekly, it means either and both, unlike biannual vs biennial which each have distinct meanings (even if people still cannot distinguish. :) – Tetsujin Apr 06 '21 at 18:32
  • @scottbb you could accept a random answer everyday to help equalize how much publicity each photo gets, so people who post later still have some chance to gain votes. – whackamadoodle3000 Apr 06 '21 at 21:25
  • @whackamadoodle3000 That's an interesting concept. But I see a couple issues with it. First, I'd be subverting the intended design of the SE system. By analogy, consider that in general use, once a voter upvotes or downvotes a post, they can't change their vote unless the post is edited. So to change their vote, the voter edits the post themself (with a trivial change) and then alters their vote. That's subversion of the SE voting system, and not allowed. So similarly, I think it would be wrong of a poster, especially a mod, to frequently change the accepted answer to churn top post. ... – scottbb Apr 07 '21 at 00:23
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    @whackamadoodle3000 Secondly, I don't want to commit to that sort of maintenance on the photo contest, or set a precedent of that type of commitment for other mods to follow in my absence. Thirdly, I think "acceptance" of an answer is a genuine opinion. I can't square the concept of "randomly" accepting answers with my genuine opinion of being "most accepted", even for a short period. What about submissions I genuinely don't like, or don't think are good, or are possibly offensive? Am I obligated to accept the fate of the RNG and accept that answer, no matter what? That's a can of worms. – scottbb Apr 07 '21 at 00:31
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    Over in Travel Stack Exchange our photo competition prize is bragging rights. You have more of a prize by being put in the special photo spot. But it does not stop people from posting photos every month. (Been running for more than 2 years now.) Besides our 'most upvoted' photo, we can have a special prize, 'the virtual prize' which is often just being named that. But still people enjoy participation. – Willeke Apr 09 '21 at 19:31

35 Answers35

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enter image description here

Kaylee mid-flight

This is a shot of my wee dog Kaylee chasing after her ball jumping across the heather.

Location: Sidlaw Hills near Dundee, Scotland

Date: 2020-11-28

Camera: Panasonic DC-GX9, 12-60@39mm (image cropped in post), f/5.4, 1/800 sec, iso 200

Baz
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Andromeda Galaxy/Messier 31

enter image description here

Location: Taken from my backyard in Southern Germany (Bortle 4)

Date: February 13, 2021

Camera: Nikon D5300 with Tamron 70-210mm f/4 @135mm, ISO 4000, f/4, 1.3s

I stacked 350 light frames with some calibration frames in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop and StarNet++. If anyone is interested, I mostly followed the process described in this video: ANDROMEDA GALAXY with only a Camera, Lens, & Tripod.

Considering this photo was taken without a star tracker and a beginner DSLR, I am quite happy with the result even though it is admittedly noisy. I hope it might encourage someone to try astrophotography out themselves, without needing expensive equipment.

jng224
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    That's very impressive. Congrats! I was confused by your equipment list. – Eric Duminil Mar 30 '21 at 01:49
  • That's impressive! I still have to watch the video, do you think it's possible to achieve something like this with a 135mm f/5.6 lens on an APSC camera? I assumed it was too slow. – Duncan Drake Mar 31 '21 at 09:22
  • @DuncanDrake Thank you! I definitely think that's possible - my photo for example also was 135mm on APS-C, but f/4. The difference probably isn't that big. You will probably need to use a higher ISO which you could compensate for by taking more frames for stacking. It's definitely worth trying! – jng224 Mar 31 '21 at 09:32
34

Subject: Anna's Hummingbird

Location: Los Gatos, CA

Date: A few weeks ago

Camera: Nikon D500 with Sigma 150-600

enter image description here

whackamadoodle3000
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Bald Eagle

March 03 2020

Over a frozen pond at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy. 5D Mk III EF 100-400 II f/8 1/2500 ISO 640

enter image description here

Mike Sowsun
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Clear to Land

I chased this little guy (or one remarkably similar) around the garden for a week before I finally got this.
I'd only owned this camera (my first 'proper' camera after 10 years of iPhones) for a month & barely knew which way to point it, let alone set it up properly; so this was more good luck than good management.

enter image description here

Nikon D5500 Tamron 70-300mm 1/800 185mm ISO 1250
Tenerife Dec 2016

Tetsujin
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24

The "dark" parts of a thin crescent Moon reflects Earthshine as Comet PAN-STARRS is almost lost in the atmospheric haze nearer the horizon shortly after sunset on 13 March, 2013.

Earthshine and PAN-STARRS

enter image description here

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 400, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II @ 120mm and f/3.2 exposed for 3.2 seconds. Exposure +.33 in post. The sky was considerably darker than it appears when this exposure was taken.

Michael C
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An acrobatic tumbler in the middle of a full twist layout backflip during cheerleader introductions at a high school football game October 2, 2020.

Full Twist Layout

enter image description here

Canon 7D Mark II + EF 70-200mmf/2.8 L IS II, 70mm, ISO 6400, f/2.8, 1/1250. Cropped from 5472 x 3648 pixels to 2185 x 2913 before being downsized to 1080 x 1440 for web viewing.

Michael C
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On the Beach

(Not far from that beach, Melbourne).

enter image description here

Canon 5D III, 70-200 f/2.8 @ 70 f/8, 1/8000.

Zeus
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    I'm reminded of the "leap of faith" in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Perfect timing! – scottbb Mar 30 '21 at 05:04
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    Please respect the contest rules and don't downvote. Thanks! – jng224 Mar 30 '21 at 18:45
  • I would be interested in how this photo was taken? I would assume it is pretty painful to jump from a rock that height. – jng224 Mar 30 '21 at 19:04
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    @Jonas, nothing special, just a high-speed burst and a short exposure. The height is less than 10 m, comparable to a standard diving platform. It just look a bit more dramatic because you don't see the landing spot. – Zeus Mar 30 '21 at 23:33
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Hangin' Out

Stawamus Chief, Squamish, British Columbia - April 2018

Camera: Canon 700D

Lens: EF 50mm f1.8

Settings: f10, 1/800 sec, ISO 200

enter image description here

oajh
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Subject: Anna's Hummingbird

Location: Los Gatos, CA

Date: 6/13/2020

Camera: Canon Rebel T1I with Tamron 70-300 Macro

Anna's Hummingbird

whackamadoodle3000
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enter image description here

In Flight

Vancouver Island

February 2020

1/800, f/6, ISO 200

Bodkin's Best Photography
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Korean Air B747-400

July 14 2011

Somewhere over the North Pacific

7D with 70-200mm 2.8 IS II ISO100 1/2000 f/4 enter image description here

Mike Sowsun
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enter image description here

Northern Lights

Vancouver Island

November 2019

20 Seconds, f/1.8, ISO 1250

Bodkin's Best Photography
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Avian Escort

Avian Escort

  • Glacier Bay National Park, AK, USA
  • 2018/07/02
  • Canon EOS 7D Mark II, EF 70-300mm f4/5.6L IS USM
  • 81mm @ 1/1000, f/5.0, ISO 100

Taken from the balcony of our stateroom on the cruise ship. There was enough of a headwind (from the gulls perspective) that the bird was just hovering there checking us out.

twalberg
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"0-0"

Zero vertical speed, zero horizontal speed.

F-22, 1st Fighter Wing, Langley AFB, VA.

Supported by nothing but hot air from the vectored thrust nozzles.

21 Apr 2017, 07:12

Fuji X-T1 XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7 OIS

1/360, ISO 200, f18, Focal length 230mm

enter image description here

WPNSGuy
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9

enter image description here

"Oh, no. This was a terrible mistake"

Lucky shot of my dog's baffled face when she misjudged the jump.

Location: Near Dundee, Scotland

Date: 2020-03-29

Camera: Panasonic DC-GX9, 12-60@42, f/5.5, 1/500 sec, iso 250

Baz
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enter image description here

Arctic Tern defending her nest

One of the photographers on the Isle of May got too close to the nest of an Arctic Tern who immediately took flight to defend the nest.

Location: Isle of May, Scotland

Date: 2014-06-06

Camera: Panasonic DMC-GX1, 45-150@45, f/5.0, 1/1000 sec, iso 160

Baz
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Falling in Style

Orthogonal Hazard

October 24th 2016

Location : Jogini Waterfalls, Manali, India

Nikon D5100

Nithin Sukumaran
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Stork in flight

Stork in flight

Taken at Safari Park, Lake Maggiore, Italy on 14th February 2021.
A group of storks and ibis birds have their home at Safari Park. They are used to the visitors and come quite close. I like storks. Elegant end resilient. Somehow they make me smile.
Taken with a Canon 80D, Canon 18-135 F/3.5-5.6 IS STM, f9.0, 1/500, ISO 100.

Original picture and others from the same event available here

Duncan Drake
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Subject: Great Blue Heron

Location: Baylands Preserve in Palo Alto, CA

Date: 3/28/2021 (last Sunday)

Camera: Nikon D500 with Sigma 150-600

Great Blue Heron

whackamadoodle3000
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enter image description here

Lunar Halo

Vancouver Island

August 2020

8 second, ISO 400, f/4

Bodkin's Best Photography
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  • What is happening with the white light and the orange trace over the pharo ? – Soleil Apr 01 '21 at 13:44
  • Look up "lunar halo". – Bodkin's Best Photography Apr 02 '21 at 15:39
  • Lovely picture but the watermark is distracting; enough to not upvote it, sorry. It's the work of mere seconds to remove those these days, so it doesn't serve as any kind of deterrent. Also by posting here you have assigned a CC BY-SA 4.0 license to it, allowing modification & re-use. Be careful if you intend this to be used elsewhere commercially. https://i.stack.imgur.com/F514I.jpg – Tetsujin Apr 03 '21 at 12:26
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enter image description here

Beautiful Dance

  • 29.April.2020
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • Nikon D3200 + AF-S Nikkor 50mm on f1.8, 1/4000s, ISO 100

One of the reasons I hate cleaning up the plants that grow in the crack on the floor :) So many flowers grew in a few months left untouched, then I found so many bees flying around, and decided to try out my 50mm lens, recently gifted to me by my uncle. On this photo, two of them, at the same time, left the flowers they were in and caught them in-flight.

George Rappel
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China Eastern A330

March 29 2018

Canon 80D with 55-250 STM @250mm 1/1000 f/6.3 ISO 100

35,000’ over the Pacific Ocean nearing Japan enroute from Toronto to Tokyo. enter image description here

Mike Sowsun
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Snow Moon

North Wales, UK - February 2021

Camera: Canon 700D

Lens: Celestron Reflector telescope that I adapted/jury-rigged to take pictures through.

Settings: 1/320 sec, ISO 800

Panorama stitched in Affinity Photo from two exposures that happened to overlap and provide a full picture of the moon.

snow_moon

oajh
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enter image description here

Spooky Moon

This is a two-image composite. I set up two cameras - one with a Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope with a Canon 60D camera at prime focus, and one with a Canon T3i with a 55-250 lens. I simultaneously shot the clouds with the camera, while shooting the moon with the telescope, then comped them together into a final image.

Dan Hanson
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Title: Flashdance Date and Location: North Myrtle Beach, SC, May 2014 Details: ISO 400, f/5.6, 6 sec exposure Other info: A thunderstorm had just rolled through our campground and was out over the ocean still firing lightening bolts. I just took lots of shots and got a few good ones.enter image description here

Ed on PCR
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Up in the air

My wife shot this photo of mine on my OnePlus 5T in 2018, when we were out on a road trip.

enter image description here

Madhu Bhat
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enter image description here

Gull in Flight

A gull cruising in ground-effect over the water.

Camera: Canon 60D Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85MM zoom at 85mm, F5.6 Shutter: 1/1000

Dan Hanson
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Lunar eclipse, Shanghai, 12/10/2011

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2011_lunar_eclipse

(Apologies for the low res photo, bad technique at the time)

enter image description here

techolic
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Subject: Spirit & Roses

Location: Chinatown, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Date: 2021-03-30 @ 7:30PM

Camera: Nikon D3200

Lens: Nikkor 35mm 1.8G 35mm

Settings: f/1.8, 1/80sec, ISO400, EV-2.3, No flash

Spirit & Roses

Jobbo
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In the clouds...

in the clouds...

location / date:

Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, Colorado 2011

camera / lens / exposure:

Nikon D700 / Nikkor 50mm 1.8D / f/2.8 1/1000s ISO 1600

notes:

For this shoot, I had two external speedlights / softboxes setup. They didn't fire for this frame and it ended up being one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy! :)

Dave Meas
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Busy busy bumble bee

Taken at Whipsnade Zoo, UK on 14th August 2020

  • Olympus PEN EPL-5
  • 40-150mm kit lens @150mm
  • f/6.3, 1/400, ISO 1250 (cloudy day)

enter image description here

spikey_richie
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enter image description here

2017 Solar Eclipse

Taken at Rexburg, Idaho August 21, 2017

Camera: Canon 60D, Canon 55-250mm lens.

The image was created from a stack of shots rapidly taken during totality at different exposures, then tone-mapped into an HDR final image to allow all the various structures of the eclipse to be seen at the same time. To the bottom left you can see the planet Mercury. The Moon's face is slightly visible, illuminated by Earthshine.

Dan Hanson
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enter image description here

Barefoot on the beach

2014 | Port Aransas, TX | Nikon D4 | Nikkor 70-200 | 170mm | f2.8 | 1/8000

Circle B
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Free as a bird

Birds like this one were the only ones to freely enter and exit the pool area of the Alternative State Quarantine facility at the Pullman G hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

Taken in March 2021 using my SONY DSC-RX10M3 with settings ƒ/4 1/1000 62.39 mm ISO400.

enter image description here

JJJ
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