Weekender, January 14-15, 2023

[Dave]

I've been awake for 6 hours; might as well start the Weekender.

Taken yesterday, a stray flower growing near the street...

   

[Adamphotoman]

Dave,
Still Jealous....
We will have to wait awhile for that kind of colour. Well done!

[Man From Ironbark]

I know they are pretty but Oxalis is a destructive weed when out of its place.
Great capture and framiing though Dave.

[dewarp]

Dave - I agree with the comments. Lovely shot complete with another of those frames. I think I should try out this type of frame on my work sometime soon.

Our overseas trip is coming to an end - going home this coming week. A good holiday it has been, although I was suffering with a painful Achilles Heel for 90% of the time. This slowed down the family, who had their doubts that I would manage some of the walking tours.

This week a friend who lives here in Amsterdam set up a day trip to look at windmills in South Holland. We managed to get to 10 mills out of the planned 15! There were quite a few more mills seen in the distance. I would like to spend some time in this area at a warmer time of the year - but I guess that will never happen.

Yesterday I finished editing the first of the windmill pictures from the trip. This is the Oudendijkse Molen near Hoornaar.

   

I spent quite a lot of time on this image. But much of that time was spent on developing a method for editing beams. Initially I used my "Searchlight" PS action for the sunbeam that comes out of the clouds and goes behind the mill. But that looked a bit flat. So I decided to try out my "Add Sun" action, and mask out everything except for a narrow beam. (I use my Add Sun action on most images where the sun is included because of the control on size and striations it provides.) I have used this action for narrow beams in the past, but one of the problems is the it is difficult to realistically mask the beam so that the edges become more blurred the further out they go. So, after some experimentation (= errors!), I have modified my Add Sun action to include 2 layers that may be used to control the position and blurriness of each of the clockwise and anti-clockwise edges of the beam.

regards - Pete

[Luv2shoot]

Wow, beautiful colors in today's images and both expert photography.

Dave, super quality image with perfect focus and lush yellow petals.  You definitely nailed it.

Peter, You take photos of windmills, and I take photos of lighthouses. This is grand.  The sky is the winner though in this one.  I like how the foreground is lit and although you cannot see it, there feels like there must be a break in the clouds overhead with sunbeams lighting the grasses and water in the foreground.  It was worth all of the work, Peter.  Well done and thanks for sharing.

I do not have something as grand as both of these, but I do have a mother nature picture also.  Here is a snowball made by Mother Nature ready to be flung at a passerby.  LOOK OUT!

[Dreamin]

Dave, your yellow flowers is lovely...Sharp, detailed, nice bokeh and framed well. Good job!
Peter, my grandmother used to make soup with Dave's plant, wood sorrel, she preferred this plant to garden sorrel....both made a delicious soup, but you should not eat much of it, as both contain too much oxalate.
Peter, this image is so good. I find myself staring at it. Your processing is excellent! I envy you your trip....such a shame you had a painful heel during most of it....Thank you for sharing.
Lorell, your snow/weed image is a good one. It feels cold, yet the browns of the weed let you know the sunshine can feel warm, too. Nice!

[Adamphotoman]

Peter,
Your Windmill is exquisit !!!
Mainly the lighting, but your expert control over your process really stands out.
Lorell,
That snowball is harmless....

[Dave]

Thanks for the comments on my little yellow flower photo.

Pete, that is stunning. Composition is top-notch, of course. Great energy in the sky. But topping all the good qualities is that beautiful and dramatic light.

Lorell, don't bad-mouth your photo. Not all photos need to be dramatic to be successful, and yours is very, very good. I admire how well you handled the values to avoid blown-out whites. That's not easy to do in a snow scene.

FYI, the presentation I've been using when posting isn't meant to represent how I would have them matted and framed. I feel that the stark white background on our site isn't kind to posted images, especially dark ones. So I use my presentation solely to minimize this effect.

I'm working on one photo that's looking pretty good so far. It's atypical for me: not a flower, succulent or sunrise/sunset. Will probably post it tomorrow.

Until then here is one of two photos of yesterday's sunrise...

   

[Adamphotoman]

Dave, your flower is very good as per usual.
Our weather continues. The frost keeps getting added to. Fog is everywhere.
All trees shrubs and fences are whitewashed with Frost.
   

[Rich]

Beautiful stray flower Dave!

Technique=5, Composition=5, Interest=5  =15 total points, all one judge can give!

Greetings Natalie and Peter.

Pete, amazing highlight and shadow work. Well worth the effort! The Mill stands as the center of interest with the highlights and beam as second.

Lorell, well seen capture! Good composition and exposure. Nice and sharp, makes it pop since the BG is out of focus!

Dave, lovely sunrise! A touch of color in the BG really makes a nice photo!

Grant, we are getting a lot of fog too along with the hoarfrost. What do the forecasters say? Some type of precipitation will occur 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months after a fog. We shall see.

I snagged a photo of a looong icicle on our church today. Will post next week.