April Squares: Top Shots, Longstowe

ISO 320 f/5.6 1/100sec 19.6mm

Day 27, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: September 29, 2019. Longstowe, in the Cambridge area. Another of the many English countryside type photos I have in my files from the last four years. These cows seemed very interested in us so I was glad there was some water between us.

Thoughts on the Edit: This photo was taken with my point and shoot camera, so the original file is in jpeg format. So, the blown-out sky could not be salvaged unless I was willing to attempt a full sky replacement. I know that’s a commonly used technique these days, but I’m not a fan of it generally speaking. Also, for this image, the lack of an intriguing sky doesn’t really bother me. The file has the Luminar Look, Dramatic Landscape, added to it.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

 

Cheers!

 

52 Week Smartphone Challenge: Week 17

This week’s challenge took me a while to sort out in terms of how to approach it. It seemed to be asking for balance and a Renaissance painting. I did a bit of clicking around before even taking the photo. I looked at these images, that turned up in a search of “Accidental Renaissance” which to some extent go me to thinking about the subject matter of the photo. I later watched this tutorial about using a texture to create a painterly effect. These two things were part of how I ended up with this image:

ISO 25 f/2 1/237 sec 4.2mm

I do feel like this edit may have wandered a bit in terms of the challenge, but I still liked the outcome. The initial edits included a custom white balance, increasing the luminance and using the sky enhancer slider. I did crop and straighten the image as well. On a separate layer, I added a custom texture following the linked instructions above.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome below.

Cheers!

Wordless Wednesday: Ngorongoro Landscape

ISO 800 f/18 1/640sec 10mm

Added to A Photo A Week Challenge, Peaceful Place.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, The Stuff of Legends

ISO 400 f/11 1/1600sec 35mm

Day 20, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: April 7, 2019 Tintagel. This shot taken near Tintagel Castle represents to me the beauty of the landscape in Cornwall. It’s easy to see why such a place inspired the legend of King Arthur.

Thoughts on the Edit: Taken with my larger camera, the original file is underexposed, so the first two steps were to bump up the exposure and then use the custom white balance eyedropper to make some basic corrections. The edit has the Luminar Look, Morning Fog, added to it.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

52 Week Smartphone Challenge: Week 16

This week’s theme, Shadow, is one that could be interpreted  in many different ways particularly at this time. I call this photo, Stepping Into My Space:

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/1166sec 4.15mm

What’s going on in this photo? Quite a bit. I’ll divide it into pros and cons.

Pros: I’m out on my daily allowed by the government walk, and it’s a beautiful day. The other shadow is my walking partner/teenager and we are both healthy. This is a friendly dog.

Cons: This is not my dog, it’s not on a lead, and I am both allergic and scared of dogs.

For me, this photo has a bit of conflict and tension in it. The original file lent itself well to a square edit, so I went ahead and used Hipstamatic to create the image. After an initial  shuffle of random filters, which the app will do for you with the touch of a button, I settled on a combination I liked and then did some additional edits to come up with this final version.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome below.

Cheers!

Made With Luminar: South West Coast Path

This photo was taken on the South West Coast Path:

ISO 400 f/11 18mm 1/800 sec

For the edit I’ve applied the Luminar look, Retro Film, but then brushed that look out of the sky:

ISO 400 f/11 18mm 1/800 sec

So, the edits in the sky are a boost to the whites and shadows, sliding the blacks down. I’ve increased the small details slider and also used the sky filter. I don’t find the difference between the film filter being used in the bottom half of the photo but not in the sky to be too jarring, but you can tell me your opinion in the comment section below.

Added to A Photo a Week Challenge, Landscape.

Cheers!

The Made with Luminar Series

This image is part of a project I am calling Made with Luminar. What the images in this series have in common is the software used to edit them, Luminar 3. As with my usual blog posts particulars of the camera settings can be found in the caption below the image. I’ll then explain what other filters and edits have been applied, often mentioning what layer and therefore order that they were applied. The text of these posts includes any Luminar “Looks” that have been applied to the photo. Each look is a series of presets that are applied to the photo. Where applicable I will mention what changes I have made to any of the looks. A full explanation of looks is available here on their website, https://skylum.com/luminar/user-guides/chapter-14-working-with-luminar-looks

You can assume basic edits have been applied. My most common edits are cropping, detail enhancement, and vignette. Specific questions or thoughts on the image are welcome in the comment section below.

52 Week Smartphone Challenge: Week 3

For this week the topic is Black and White. I started with this scene:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.2mm 1/272 sec

I liked this as a color image but thought it might make a nice black and white as well.  The edits are done in Luminar. In addition to the black and white filter, I’ve also added the Orton effect, matte look, and a vignette. The edited version is this:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.2mm 1/272 sec

Your comments are welcome below.

Added to the 52 Week Smartphone Challenge.

Cheers!

52 Week Smartphone Challenge: Week 2

The challenge for this week was to use the rule of thirds. As I was working on this, it seemed to me that my use of the rule was maybe a bit subtle, so I took a screenshot with the rule of thirds grid showing on the photo:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/100sec

That lower left point is where I am focusing the visual interest of the image.  Here is the final edit:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/100sec

I took this image just a few days ago. I was out on a walk and happened across a few WWII pillboxes, including this one on the path that went through the middle of a field. A bit of an unexpected find. The edits, done in Luminar, are mostly for clarity.

Cheers!

Added to 52 Week Smartphone Challenge.

What I Am Working On: Editing the Landscape

I do a lot of photo editing and it is easy to get into the habit of using the same filters every time.  In order to encourage myself to try different things, I watch a lot of tutorial videos on Youtube. I feel free to adopt some suggestions and leave others, but I think it is important to understand that most photo editing software has lots of options and so knowing what is even available is important.  One of the files I was working on the week was this photo, taken at Mt. Snowdon in Wales in 2016:

ISO 800 f/13 1/800sec 50mm

It was a fabulous view, even if this particular file doesn’t really seem to suggest that. I was also watching this tutorial on Youtube. It’s specific to editing a landscape in Luminar which is the software I am using, but I would say that the suggestions made can be applied in other editing software as well. One of the first suggestions was to use the dehaze slider. Now that happens to be a slider I almost never use but for this file, it seemed like a really good starting place. For this edit below, I then went on to use the sky filter, the foliage enhancer, the HSL panel for luminance, and the small details slider for sharpening. The final edit was this one:

ISO 800 f/13 1/800sec 50mm

I think this edit is a pretty close representation of what I saw that day. From there I decided to do a more creative edit. This particular edit has two additional layers, the first was the Luminar look, Overlook, added with modifications and the second layer is an AI filter and vignette. Here is that version:

ISO 800 f/13 1/800sec 50mm

I like it also but will readily admit it is not what I saw. The Picfair version of it is here.

So which version is better? which do you prefer? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Cheers!

Added to Tuesday Photo Challenge, Back Catalog.

 

Well, Isn’t That Dramatic?

I love a good drama. I took this image from Solomon’s Temple in the Peak District:

ISO 640 21mm f/18 1/200sec

It was a bit of a spine-tingling moment. The skies were about to open up, so it was cool and calm, but you could feel the storm. Then there was the added tension of the fire, how bad is it? what’s going on over there? It wasn’t possible to answer those questions. From that original file, I created this:

ISO 640 21mm f/18 1/200sec

I wanted both the colors to pop and the light and dark to contrast in this edit. To achieve this first I lightened the shadows, then I moved the whites slider up and the darks slider down. I used the luminance sliders to increase the green, yellow, and orange tones. The photo also has a corner-darkening vignette on it.

All pretty standard edits for my workflow.  It also represents my favorite type of editing, subtle and true to the original scene.  I’m looking to accentuate the drama that was there while still maintaining a photo that looks real. Do you like the result? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Cheers!

Added to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Favorite Things.