Maybe. And yes, they weren't going at any great speed!

Yes, the second is soooo much better. Love it. Although maybe I don't think it needs so much on the right. When I crop something like this I'll often favour room on the side that the object is travelling into. Maybe crop so the head is on a third.

"I wonder who would have wanted to invade Albania".
Ha!

Excellent catch! Presumably by 'fake it' you mean using AI to generate the piece on the left? Things are getting crazy 😁

I am not sure what has been faked, or how. Please explain! 😀

David

Love first shot, warm light thorough green foliage, magic!

We have also midge/mosquito problem here, this year seems to be quite good for them and there are lots of them. Yesterday morning I took walk in bird sanctuary and in open places and on sea shore it was ok, but in forest with no wind it was nightmare. I did wear long pants, long sleeve jacket and hat to prevent biting as much as possible, that all in sunny weather and temperatures reaching over 25C when I left area... It seems to me that first stings are worst in spring, later some kind of immunity is developing and they left not much marks any more. General recommendation to avoid them is to be washed and wear light clothes, as they use exhaled CO2 and odors to find donor.

Wikipedia claims that total number of bunkers in Albania exceed 750 000, what a waste of resources...
Thanks for sharing photos, I might take interest in visiting that area, seems like place worth of photographing.

Quite good fake, though shadow seems to be bit suspicious...

Gjirokaster

This town in southern Albania is a bit of a tourist hot-spot, but deservedly so. The old town is full of handsome old ottoman fortified houses, some of which are converted to up-market hotels, and a few are open to the public as museums, often still in family ownership (reclaimed after the fall of the communist regime).

Old and new sit together everywhere. I don't think there is much in the way of planning control here.

I think this technique has potential but something I need to work on. Usual problem is streching the patience of my partner in travels 😏

Resourcefulness of gardeners

Just behind the town in a narrow ravine is the remains of an old ottoman aqueduct which supplied the town.

The Zekate family house was built in around 1811. The top floor was living quarters for the family, although only the men normally used the 'best' room, for business entertaining. Wonderful wood ceilings and elaborate painted fireplaces.

That area has quite many blocks of previous factories which are now repurposed That particular area was recently opened for public and will undergo redevelopment into residences and office buildings. Fortunately those more than 100 year old buildings will remain, the ugly soviet-era white brick buildings will be torn down.

@Woodsider79 yes it is crazy, the lens blur is very cool too.

@davidwien First one it the original capture. There was people in front of me when she entered the frame and I could not capture her as she entered the highlight area. I was holding the camera in portrait mode to capture the building, so it made the frame very tight on the LHS. I used PS AI to extend the canvas to give some breathing space. @Vahur you are right the shadow and fine details will tell that there is something fishy.

Those road markings in the second make for a good photo but this set is all about that amazing Zekate house.

Snaps

It's a bank holiday weekend here in the UK, traditionally a time of terrible weather and, for the most part, if the forecasts are to be believed, this one is not going to disappoint as the mystic runes of the Met Office predict heavy rain up here in Lancashire for the next couple of days. But in a break from tradition, yesterday (Saturday) was really nice, a bit like one of these summer days I hear so much about and I spent most of it out with a friend walking along the nearby canal and exploring a number of adjacent footpaths that neither of us had previously set foot on.

As this wasn't a specific photography based walk, I didn't want to be lumbering one of my proper cameras about (and definitely not dragging a tripod around either), but I also didn't want to be without something half decent, so the little Fujifilm X-E3 and its associated bag of prime lenses came out for a play.

I'm still not entirely convinced by this whole prime lens + zoom with your feet thing, finding it more of an unnecessary inconvenience when great modern zoom lenses are a thing and I'm sure I missed a lot of shots that I would have taken if I could be bothered swapping lenses, but you could also argue that if I wasn't prepared to spend the time swapping lenses, then maybe the shot wasn't worth taking? Still, the whole setup is pretty light and fits into a small bag, which isn't really something I can say for most of my other cameras where just the zoom lens alone weighs more than this setup.

So anyway, I took a bunch of shots while wandering around not really expecting very much as I didn't have much time to refine any of them, but on the whole I was pleasantly surprised by how some have turned out after a brief bit of poking in Capture One.

So here's a selection of snaps taken with the X-E3 and a bag of primes (23, 35 and 56mm), all processed from individual raw files in Capture One Pro 23.

The Guardian

Okay, technically, this wasn't from yesterday's walk, but it was on the memory card and taken along the same stretch of canal.

Moss Lane Bridge

This is one instance where I could have done with a slightly wider lens. I did have the 18mm pancake in my bag, but I couldn't be bothered switching lenses. A bit more height would have been great here.

Rather than switch lenses, I also took a portrait shot to just about get the whole of the tree in.

The Gateway

This is a great little location and I'll definitely return at some point in more appealing conditions. The only issue is the crazy amounts of mud here, tread with care.

A Happy Meeting

More anthropomorphic trees. This pair look like they're about to go in for a big hug.

Although, maybe it's a more aggressive confrontation? Difficult to say.

It's All Gone Green

Zooming With My Feet

I was quite taken with this tree sprouting from the bank of what I believe is the river Lostock, but, having recently switched to the 56mm lens and couldn't be bothered switching to something wider, I ended up walking backwards until I could fit most of the interesting parts in the frame. I quite liked the backlit foliage, but on reflection, front lighting and a darker sky might suit this scene better. Another one worth a revisit at some point.

Argey Bargey

Top O'Th Lane

As we reached the end of the walk, we found a little place in Wheelton which overlooks the valley where the canal runs and sells ice cream and cool drinks, both were very welcome at the end of this warm day. So we sat a while, enjoying the view. The row of houses visible on the horizon is called Top O'Th Lane, hence the title.

Looks nice and well captured, I particularly like your outdoor shots around the town, composition is spot on and you appear to have had some bright, but not too harsh light.

Thanks. I woke early one morning and took a walk about town, capturing the early morning light. In fact I had to be very careful not to blow the highlights on the white painted walls. The other plus (and main reason for an early stroll) was to see the streets before they filled up with throngs of lazier tourists. Most of the other people out and about were other photographers, most of whom were polite enough to take turns nicely at the best spots.

I'm a bit unconvinced by the 'zooming with the feet' thing too. All too easy to zoom backwards into something undesirable! But this is a nice shot however captured.

@Woodsider79 yes it is crazy, the lens blur is very cool too.

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Yes, I'm looking for an excuse to try that!

I'm actually liking the results you're getting out of that camera. The first Argey Bargey shot is very, um, punchy.

Looks like a fascinating place, that castel is wonderful. I always imagined Albania, as a grey sort of place after years of Communism of the worst sort.

You have caught the fresh green foliage just at the right moment.

I see what you did there ;-)