ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Monday 29 June 2015

DISPARITY PART 1. (29/06/15)

I notice that several bloggers are disciplined enough to take a theme or subject and divide it into multiple posts. I decided this was an excellent idea and so determined to follow suit.

It has been a funny sort of weekend with sunshine but also heavy rain. I was playing about in Photoshop when I found a cunning little feature. I use brushes a lot and usually resize, harden or soften them using the square brackets. Okay this is quick and easier than using the brush sub menu. There is a more colourful way of adjusting brushes. Press alt and the right mouse button and the brush turns a lovely shade of red. If you slide up and down it alters the brush size and left and right the hardness…..Well I never!

_MG_9165_6_7_tonemapped

Sunday morning the farmer next door came round to borrow the post driver. I was a little dubious as working on a Sunday is frowned upon by the Wee Frees. I decided it would be fine as the machine was doing most of the work and the Tractor God isn’t a Wee Free as far as I know. Tractors are far more intelligent than to follow a God that dictates what one should do on any given day.

The sun came out just after lunch so I decided to go and look for dragonflies. I didn’t find any but took lots of pictures and on my way home called on Polly to beg a jug of cider.

_MG_9176_7_8_tonemapped

Flowers.

_MG_9191_2_3_tonemapped

Maisie’s House.

_MG_9194_5_6_tonemapped

Polly’s House.

_MG_9185_6_7_tonemapped

A Track.

When I got back I fortified myself with a glass of cider and decided to see if I could get any results from the Hi-Speed Sync setting on the strobe. I set everything to manual and dialled out the ambient light then tried the flash at half power. No good I upped it to full power and it was just about adequate. I always start at half power with strobes and because I’m a bit thick adjust them one at a time. If you start at full power you can end up taking several test shots instead of just the one or maybe two. I use ETTL for macro and if I have strobes on stands and folk are moving about. Otherwise manual is better.

_MG_9219

_MG_9227

A Neap chopper. See, I found a red adjustment thingy in Photoshop and used a red gel on the strobe. I ought to have used another strobe high up camera right but didn’t want to lose the theme.

It’s a cool Monday morning.

_V0G9656

I was woken early by this moth flitting around and trying to crawl up my nose. I caught it and popped it in the fridge whilst I had a shower. I then asked it to sit on a bit of leaf while it had it’s picture taken. Very good it was but then it fluttered off and is still in the van somewhere. I can see me taking it’s picture again tomorrow.

_V0G9658

There wasn’t much about on our walk but these are attractive little flies. Attractive but skittish.

_V0G9660

I spent a good ten minutes waiting for this Spotted Crane Fly to land either beam on or head on but no, it always parked bum on.

_V0G9657

Frog Hopper nymph or it’s bubbles.

That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed my disciplined approach.

Have a great week.

36 comments:

  1. Really great display of the HDR effect and I love your dogs! :D

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mersad, HDR suits machinery and things like that.

      Delete
  2. Happy Monday to ya. Enjoyed your shots.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Adriaan great tractor is really nice on I do love these operations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bas, Photomatix doing what it does best.

      Delete
  4. You lost me on the Part 1 of multiple posts but perhaps it will become all clear after Part 3. What did you do to the tractor pic?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carol, I lost myself. The tractor is HDR.
      See you have adopted the avatar. I knew it was you.

      Delete
  5. Yes I to was wondering a bit about DISPARITY, really it is just unrelated 'bits and bobs' I think!! I do love the first shot of the tracotr and the edits you did on it. Looks like a painting now rather than a photograph. I (personally) didn't like the red with the dogs but the close up ofthe insects are very good. Fabulous last shot. First adn last are my favourites.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are correct Margaret. I decided to have a bit of uniformity in my posts. The dogs could have been normal red, blue or yellow it was just a red gel came to hand first. The tractor is HDR.

      Delete
  6. I enjoyed seeing pics of your surroundings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes John and all the better for a good dose of processing.

      Delete
  7. I liked the image of the tractor, looks good. It looks like a fabulous area you're in, some very interesting looking properties and lanes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Douglas, it's a great hidden corner of Scotland. Twenty minutes from both Perth and Dundee.

      Delete
  8. That's very calm and laid back post Adrian, no hint of a rant and none of the great and good of this land getting a verbal mauling...are you feeling okay?
    I like the HDR work on the tractor...that's one hell of a fence they're building, are the going in for elephant rearing??
    That high tech piece of equipment, and the dogs, look good in pink!
    The bubble shot is the one for me..great shot...[;o)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trevor, I don't buy a paper anymore. It wasn't good for me.
      That isn't the fence that is a tractor port. Like a car port but taller.
      It just caught my eye did the cuckoo spit whilst I was waiting for a club tailed fly to settle.

      Delete
  9. Sometimes "just playing" can yield wonderful results.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bill unfortunately the reverse is also true and unfortunately more often the case.

      Delete
  10. You got off easy with the "flowers" (lupins in the foreground). (Just to say something not already said.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Monica I had forgotten what they were called. I only do flowers early in the year then the novelty wears off.

      Delete
  11. I had to go back and read your topic sentence again. Yes, You did what you set out to do. I't's a good pan if you've got lots of stuff to post. I prefer a post that sticks to a topic and expands a bit like the posts you do on insect photos. I know I'm messin with your mind!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Red, you mess away. My mind is in an awful mess anyway.

      Delete
  12. Love your images of the green countryside. I love reading about your photographic experiments both with equipment and in photoshop. Maybe someday I'll get inspired and try something creative too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Linda, Photoshop is addictive but GIMP is free and almost as good.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Much of what you do is far too technical for me to understand, Adrian, but I do love the results!

    Used to have the free trial version of Photomatix, and liked what I saw, but never got round to buying it. Some of your HDR work has got me thinking that maybe I ought to rectify that situation. I agree that it's great on machinery, but I've also had pleasing results with mountainous landscapes with dramatic skies.

    Best wishes - - - - Richard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard,
      If you enjoy the effect and are prepared to play with the controls Photomatix is excellent. There are alternatives but I like this. I am using version 5.0 I think there is a newer one. The new versions are very photo realistic and it took me a while to sort the old look out. If you are interested you can always email and I will send some screen grabs or a quick video of how I did it.

      Delete
    2. Richard,
      The latest version is 5.0.5 but I can't see any difference. One tip with Photomatix is to edit in live view. Go to View>Preferences> and pick update sliders in real time or whatever it says.

      Delete
    3. Thank you for that tip, Adrian. I just have to wait for my next birthday so I can buy it!

      Delete
  15. I really like the tractor shot. I like farm machinery as a subject. I think I have your new approach worked out. Today you picked up the cider, tomorrow you will be drinking it and the next day we will hear what happened when you awoke the next day. But, then again, I don't don't know how much cider there is in a jug. Maybe you finished it before you went out the second time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pauline, it is very strong cider. Two pints and I'm anyhow. I shared it with Scott and Rita Sunday afternoon. A jug or bottle is an empty 4 pint milk carton.
      There probably isn't a series. I was having a bit of a dig.

      Delete
  16. Buena serie de fotos. Los perros lo pasaro bien ;)
    Un abrazo.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Insects naturally park with their bum towards the camera: it's just one of the laws of nature.

    ReplyDelete