Of the images that I published at the camera club meeting this month, there was one that did better than I expected. Its this image of a bridge. It was actually made from two shots of the same bridge, one going downstream in the morning, the other coming back upstream in the afternoon.

   

I edited this some years back. At the time I was experimenting with L*A*B colour, and I actually made a version where I inverted the "A channel" on the right side. This also produced an interesting image, but I decided to use the more "straight" version at the club. The variant is attached below.

   

What do you think?

regards - Pete

Hi Folks

Lorell caught up with me on Flikr, and I promised to post something here.

Early in October 2022 we organized a club photography weekend at Agulhas. One of the local attractions is the rusted ship wreck on the rocks. To date I have not managed to make any good images of this attraction, so I decided that this time I should definitely have a more serious go at it.

On Saturday evening the sky was lightly clouded, and it was possible to estimate where the sun would go down. So, I set up my camera among the rocks so that the wreck would be on the right third, and the sun would likely set on the left third. I moved down among the rocks so as to separate the top of the wreck from the horizon line. I focused on the wreck and took a number of shots of the fixed composition over time until after sunset. The sun actually set too far to the left side of the frame, but that is another image!

Early on Sunday morning we went to Struisbaai harbour for possible sunrise shots. This wasn’t too promising, so we soon returned to Agulhas. On the way back we observed this beautiful full moon in a clear sky. This looked like it might make a good setting for a wreck shot, so we continued down the coast. The previous evening, I had carefully noted where my tripod legs were positioned, and so I was easily able to set up my camera in the same spot. I figured that the moon was likely to set more or less where the sun had gone down the previous night, so the composition should be OK. However, by that stage a big bank of cloud had obscured the moon. After setting up I waited in the hopes of getting a break in the clouds. The hoped-for break appeared at 05h35, and I took my shot. (1/6 sec, ISO 1600, F11, 96mm focal length, no exposure compensation.) At that stage the sky behind me was beginning show signs of the coming dawn, which put some light on the rocks. Thereafter the moon disappeared behind the clouds again. However, I took further shots in case I needed to enhance the sea in the final image.

Unfortunately, there was one big problem with this composition. The moon did not set anywhere near where the sun had set, but was above the wreck! So, I determined to go back the following morning and have another go.

The next morning (Monday), we got there early. I set up the camera at another location so as to get the moon setting at the left third. Unfortunately, at that time it was too dark for the camera to focus electronically. At +3 stops exposure I could make out the wreck in the viewfinder, but the camera would just focus in-and-out continuously. I then had the bright idea to use the focus micro-adjustment ring on the lens. I rotated this until the wreck was sharp. Cloud conditions were better than the previous day, and I took a number of shots of the moonset, feeling very excited about getting such a good collection. Unfortunately, when I downloaded the images, I found that my camera seems to have focused at its minimum focus point! Absolutely nothing was in focus. And I had not once checked the focus during the shooting process. What an amateur! I deleted the lot in disgust.

So, I decided to edit the image taken at 05h35 on Sunday morning. I started with this image, two other images that included possible interesting wave formations, a full moon detail shot (the moon as shot that morning was a bit overexposed and lacking in detail), and an image of a sunset reflection on the sea. The latter two images came from my Lightroom collection.

To solve the composition problem, I decided to cut out the sky and flip it horizontally (putting the moon over on the left side). Obviously, this leaves a copy of the top of the wreck over on the left, but this problem is easily cloned out.

I decided that I needed masks for the sky, the sea, the rocks, and the wreck itself. Of these I considered that the wreck mask would be the most problematic, particularly the fine details in the upper section. What I did was to seriously lighten the blues, and darken the reds. This image was then posterized in Photoshop. This provided a perfectly good mask for the upper part of the wreck. This mask was further processed using Topaz ReMask 3 to get a reasonable result in the lower wreck areas. The only problem noticed (and corrected) later was that the white breasts of the two birds on the top showed as sky!

The mask of the rocks was made using Topaz ReMask. The sky mask was a simple rectangle from which the wreck mask was subtracted, and the sea mask was made by subtracting the previous masks from the whole.

The masks are necessary in order to be able to edit the four areas separately. Various Photoshop editing processes were employed on each of the separate areas, and combined to provide the final picture.

This image was given what I consider to be a poor score by an idiot external judge at the camera club last night. But that's life!

   

C&C Welcomed

regards - Peter Dewar

The masks are necessary in order to be able to edit the four areas separately. Various Photoshop editing processes were used on each of the separate areas, and combined to provide the final picture.

Good morning all. Temp is a little more seasonal this morning, sitting around 57F.  It has been in the upper 60's.

News on my camper - apparently all the parts have arrived and they are looking at when they can schedule it to get into a bay to get it all repaired. Shouldn't take more than a week or so according to the service rep I am dealing with, so hopefully by the end of the year we can drive up to Knoxville and bring it home.

And of course, another shot from the weekend. One of my favorite subjects - mushrooms. Looks like the posted image is a little softer than the original. It is actually pretty sharp.

Here is one of the sunrise photos I mentioned yesterday, taken from an overlook somewhere in the Smoky Mountains.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
       

Good morning all - it is still pretty warm here. Right now it is a balmy 68 and only a little after 0600.

On the schedule for today is to vote and take in a movie this afternoon. I need to take the bike out for a short spin at least to keep the battery topped up.

This image is almost a cliche because so many like this have been done, but it is almost a necessity when visiting the mountains. There are so many streams.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

No one has come forward with a challenge for November and a week has passed, so I'll throw this one out:

Dead flowers, plants, leaves, etc.

This is a good time of the year for this, and I have seen some images posted in the past. I'll start with this one. I call it "Gone to seed". One of my images from last weekend.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

Good morning all. I woke up at what I thought was 5 AM this morning after having turned out the light at 10 PM. Seven hours of sleep, not too bad. As I was pouring my coffee I noticed the clock on the oven said 4:40 AM, not 5:40 AM... I had forgotten to change the time on the bedside clock. Drat. But anyway we made it back from the Smoky Mountains safe and sound, had a good time, ate too much, and got a few decent photos. I've been working on getting my competition submissions ready but here is one of the many bears we spotted while there. I took this one on Wed so it is not eligible to submit. Probably our best bear sighting though.  We were pretty close to this one, but we were in the truck. Driving through a neighborhood that the GPS had sent us to trying to get back to the main road. This guy was in a yard, foraging around in the leaves. Paid us no mind at all. We stayed in the vehicle and shot with the window down.

More to come later.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

Here is a 1940's Packard Touring car. Looks like a Gangster car to me. I can envision Al Capone and his mob in it!

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
               

It looks like nobody has had time to start a Daily, so I guess I'll do it.

I thought of Rich when I saw this beauty a few days ago...

   

I have no idea as to make or model, but it sure was fine looking.

Good day everyone.

Two nights ago we got just a little bit of rain, and when I started on my early morning walk yesterday the clouds began to break up a little, allowing the chance of a nice sunrise.

I dawdled and delayed to see what sort of sunrise developed, and I took a few shots. Here's one Suburban Sunrise...

   

Good morning to all - and I'm off to the Great Smoky Mountains this morning...