• Members 306 posts
    June 11, 2023, 10:27 a.m.

    This one is great. The effect (multiple exposure I presume?) works extremely well here and gives a soft painted feel to the image. The 2nd image is nice, but I think it doesn't work as well because it's retained too much detail and loses some of the impressionistic look the first manages to impart.

  • Members 888 posts
    June 11, 2023, 2:07 p.m.

    I think the 3rd is the most successful. Maybe a B&W conversion would emphasise those dramatic lines?

  • Members 888 posts
    June 11, 2023, 2:12 p.m.

    No, one simply highlights an area of the photo with the lasso tool where a change is needed and type into a dialogue box desriptive words for what is required, 'pond with lillies' or 'swimming pool' etc. PS then offers you 3 options to choose from or you can hit the button again for some more options.

  • Members 888 posts
    June 11, 2023, 2:15 p.m.

    I remember being slightly disappointed with those horizontal bars when I first saw this place. Other than that they are great. Not your fault of course!
    Not a fan of the dark areas in the 4th if I'm honest.

  • Members 888 posts
    June 11, 2023, 2:17 p.m.

    I very often like these shots of yours but somehow I don't feel these are as effective as usual. Maybe it's the two-tone colour palette.

  • Members 888 posts
    June 11, 2023, 2:18 p.m.

    That's the puppet I was trying to remember!

  • Members 888 posts
    June 11, 2023, 2:19 p.m.

    Prefer the first.

  • Members 306 posts
    June 11, 2023, 5:14 p.m.

    Walking With The Fujifilm 23mm f/1.4 - The Sequel: A Storm In An Eyecup

    I tried to repeat the same walk last night as it had been a similarly nice day and the weather forecast looked pretty good, but this time I was taking the Nikon Z7 + 24-70 f/2.8S to see if the extra flexibility of the zoom really made a difference in this sort of scenario. It was certainly a lot more noticeable to carry on my sling strap than the comparatively weightless Fuji combo (in both case, the bulk of the weight being mostly the lens, or at least, that's how it seemed).

    As I reached the canal, I noticed it was getting dark, very dark, in fact, high ISO dark! Black clouds were racing in from the South West, the wind was picking up and the air had taken on a viscous quality. A storm was brewing. Should I turn back? The forecast was still clear, so I decided to press on. As I walked along the canal I saw the thing I was dreading the most, a fork of lightning tear across the sky. This made me pick up speed, not wishing to get caught out in the thunderstorm and I briskly walked along the canal and left at the next viable exit onto Moss Lane as the lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled. Thunderously.

    As I made my way up Moss Lane, the unmistakable pitter patter of spitting rain began to pick up. I was roughly a mile and a half from home without a jacket and it was starting to rain. About half way up Moss Lane it turned into a deluge, which persisted as I hastily trod along the next mile trying to shield the camera from the most of it. As the only viable shelter along the way was trees beside the road and the occasional metal bus shelter I pressed on, given they're generally not considered good places to be when lightning is in the air.

    Eventually it stopped raining and I walked the last half mile in more settled conditions, arriving home somewhat soggy, but otherwise none the worse.

    Given the conditions, I only took a handful of shots, including these two of the gathering storm.

    Canal Mill and the Brewing Storm (not P.G. Tips sadly)

    The air changed suddenly as I looked back at Canal Mill, from dull but clear, to viscous and hazy. Shortly after this shot was taken, I saw what appeared to be the leading edge of a shower race along the canal towards me, but turned out to just be thicker more turbulent air. A weird phenomenon I've never seen before. I did take a shot of it, but it didn't really come across on camera.

    DSC_4883.jpg

    Storms Over The Temple

    Lightning flashed to the left of the steeple a fraction of a second before I took this shot. No chance of catching such a thing without being extremely lucky given my lack of tripod and ND's. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, "the sky bodes". I'm not sure what it bodes, it just bodes and that's never a good thing. Time to move on.

    DSC_4899.jpg

    BTW thanks for everyone's concern about my health. It does seem to be one thing after another at the moment and after a lifetime of pretty solid health I'm not used to it. I'm not quite back to 100%, but I'm much better than I was at the beginning / middle of the week and at least I can swallow properly again without shooting pains in my shoulders(!). I expect to be completely back to what passes for normal by the end of the week the way things are progressing.

    DSC_4883.jpg

    JPG, 485.6 KB, uploaded by SteveMonks on June 11, 2023.

    DSC_4899.jpg

    JPG, 504.8 KB, uploaded by SteveMonks on June 11, 2023.

  • Members 861 posts
    June 12, 2023, 3:23 p.m.

    img_4412_$50_72dpi_web.jpg

    img_4412_$50_72dpi_web.jpg

    JPG, 4.8 MB, uploaded by OpenCube on June 12, 2023.

  • Members 866 posts
    June 12, 2023, 10:01 p.m.

    P1355327.jpg

  • Members 15 posts
    June 13, 2023, 8:44 a.m.

    This week has mainly been used to learn my way around Affinity Photo and a few plugins such as gmic.eu and DxO Filmpack. I was quite pleased with this one:

    semsvann_hester.jpg

    semsvann_hester.jpg

    JPG, 1.2 MB, uploaded by TorsteinH on June 13, 2023.

  • Members 876 posts
    June 13, 2023, 3:02 p.m.

    Hiking from Schneeberg to Dientalm
    These shots were taken about two weeks ago.
    We rode the cable car up at Mühlbach, Austria to a height of 1564m then continued to hike up to the double summit of the Schneeberg mountain at 1939m, quite steep in places! We've done this a few times, but found a new route through the forest this time.
    The hike continued for a total of 9km all the way down to the main road at Dientalm, where we got picked up and taken home by our son :-)

    The snow had cleared up in most places, just a few snowy sections to walk over, those patches can be a bit slippery and if you're unlucky can lead to long slide down!

    Here's just a few shots from along the way

    DSC_7469 smaller.JPG

    DSC_7417 smaller.JPG

    3 shots of a little reservoir lake we passed
    DSC_7519 smaller.JPG

    DSC_7525 smaller.JPG

    DSC_7530 smaller.JPG

    DSC_7427 smaller.JPG

    DSC_7399 d pano_stitch smaller.JPG

    sometimes a bit gloomy with a touch of low hanging cloud, and a little rain
    DSC_7491 smaller.JPG

    DSC_7506 smaller.JPG

    edit:
    I just noticed that these shots in DPREVIVED all look a lot better if you click on them and view them in original size. The standard view in the thread somehow misses a lot of the details and contrast :-(

    DSC_7491 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 2.1 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7506 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 4.1 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7399 d pano_stitch smaller.JPG

    JPG, 8.7 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7427 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 3.8 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7417 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 2.4 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7530 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 2.7 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7525 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 1.9 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7519 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 2.1 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

    DSC_7469 smaller.JPG

    JPG, 2.7 MB, uploaded by Fireplace33 on June 13, 2023.

  • Members 876 posts
    June 13, 2023, 3:25 p.m.

    That reflection shot, Number 3, is cool!

    as is number 9 :-)

  • Members 876 posts
    June 13, 2023, 3:27 p.m.

    They look quite convincing!
    ...seems like very soon everything will be, or could be fake. And we'll never know :-(

  • Members 876 posts
    June 13, 2023, 3:37 p.m.

    Reminded me of the poor trees subjected to the olive tree shaker machines :-)

  • Members 26 posts
    June 13, 2023, 6:06 p.m.

    _6110010_DxO-Edit-Edit.JPG

    Our room in the hotel had a nice view of a park but the view from the elevator corridor seemed more photogenic to me. Anyway, I brought the little E-M10ii and the kit 14-42 R lens, first time I had used them on a trip in a while, and was reminded how much I enjoyed traveling with that combo.

    _6110010_DxO-Edit-Edit.JPG

    JPG, 10.1 MB, uploaded by david5833 on June 13, 2023.

  • Members 1642 posts
    June 13, 2023, 8:44 p.m.

    I like all the rectangles in this shot. Nice one