Purple fungus (sounds so clinical but it is rather pretty)

[JBW]

[bnnrcn]

This is the first time I have ever seen a purple fungus , I like the colour and softness

[JBW]

This is the first time I have ever seen a purple fungus , I like the colour and softness

I tried very hard to keep both the colour and the softness as close to reality as I could.

[Shadowman]

Nice composition.

[JBW]

Nice composition.

it took a bit of playing and flipping around but it did work nicely.

[Geoff F]

I know from past experience how tricky it can be to get the lighting and colour correct with this sort of scene. So, for me, this has worked well.

[JBW]

I know from past experience how tricky it can be to get the lighting and colour correct with this sort of scene. So, for me, this has worked well.

It did take a while to get this result. The lighting is natural. Geoff a couple of times you have mentioned that you use a pad for processing. What is a pad? Would it would for someone like myself with minimal fine motor skills? I ask because painting in Gimp is nearly impossible and terribly frustrating with a mouse.

[Geoff F]

It is being discussed here, Brian. Does anyone use a Graphics tablet for photo editing?

Put very simply, if you can write your name easier with a pen than with a mouse, even if you have to steady your hand, some form of drawing tablet (pad) would be easier. Try a test and see how you manage.

But, for you, I would advise getting a fairly large tablet. Say 10 x 8 ins. I currently use an old secondhand 12 x 12 ins version. For me, and with reasonable hand/wrist movement, I found the smaller tablets to be a little bit fiddly for fine editing; although acceptable if simply being used as a mouse substitute.

The problem with larger sizes is that if you get something like a Wacom, which is generally recognised to be the best, they are expensive. But some of the cheaper makes do work reasonably well and I suspect would be quite sufficient for you.