Day 15: July 2010 Photo-a-Day Thread

[rick55]

I like first Sunset best, Colin: Mount Campbell is very striking, but the sunset has so much, so beautiful.

Cheers,
Rick

[Antonio Correia]

...Antonio - Mac-lust has fallen upon me. ...

There are nice and very good MacBook Pro machines.

No crashes, no virus, easy goes, friendly interface, wonderful screen with nice and beautiful colors...

Nice travels... Is the bus OK now ?

[Dave Humphries]

~

This critter fell on me, then off onto our deck, while I was sitting out back hoping for a picture. Talk about manna from heaven. It's apparently an assassin bug nymph, Zelus luridus: here's a picture on bugguide.net. That thing you can see folded back under its head is called a rostrum, and is used to inject lethal saliva into its prey. Fortunately, the thing is only about 1cm long, so it won't see us as prey.

I dialed up f/19 to get DOF, and I think I went a little far: at the sharpest, it's a little soft. I'll probably stay at f/16 or below in the future. And did I over-sharpen it a little trying to compensate?

Hi Rick,

Unfortunately I tend to agree it is slightly lacking in overall sharpness, but I don't think you have oversharpened it.

TBH I am still trying to work out what one can get away with, sorry I mean; how best to deal with, sharpening on these macro shots myself.

The main issue with this one is that the bug, being translucent, lacks contrast compared to the decking. One thing I think I would try with this is to copy the background layer, give the original (lower) background a really heavy LCE with USM treatment, then (on top layer) erase over the bug (at say, 50% opacity; so two slightly differently placed strokes for 100%).

While you have the bug and background on two different layers, if necessary, consider increasing saturation of bug and lightening or darkening deck layer to get a 'popping' bug.

Hope that helps,

[Colin Southern]

I like first Sunset best, Colin: Mount Campbell is very striking, but the sunset has so much, so beautiful.

Cheers,
Rick

Thanks Rick,

I had my doubts as to what that sunset might deliver, but I thought there might be something to salvage out of the evening in the end.

[Klickit]

There are nice and very good MacBook Pro machines.

No crashes, no virus, easy goes, friendly interface, wonderful screen with nice and beautiful colors...

Nice travels... Is the bus OK now ?

Argh - every time a light cover or whatever comes off, more rust is revealed. But it is really good that we can attend to it inside a great big shed, as the weather is cold & wet now and it would be an impossible job doing it outside.

P.S. I have been very temped by the Mac, but in some areas where we are planning to travel, there is no support if things go wrong. PC repairers are everywhere....so my Mac-lust will just have to wait.

[Wirefox]

There are nice and very good MacBook Pro machines.

My wife has just bought herself the 17" version. Absolutely beautiful machine. Screen quality is second to none and it really flies.

Antonio I am so envious of your latest purchase. I saw one in the pple Store last week..a real stunner. I have the 24" 1st gen iMac and the new versions are even sleeker, thinner and highly spec'ed. Enjoy

P.S. I have been very temped by the Mac, but in some areas where we are planning to travel, there is no support if things go wrong. PC repairers are everywhere....so my Mac-lust will just have to wait.

Kit
This is the same for any machine under warranty. If yo are going to go off warranty and get repairs done by non-authorised repair shop then a mac can be repaired exactly the same way as a PC. Contrary to what some mac owners believe, beneath that beautiful exterior, they are full of PC bits. Good quality and well arranged PC bits but PC bits nonetheless.

So go on go for it...you know you want to

Steve

[Antonio Correia]

... there is no support if things go wrong...

what happens very rarely
-

My wife has just bought herself the 17" version. Absolutely beautiful machine. Screen quality is second to none and it really flies.
Antonio I am so envious of your latest purchase. I saw one in the pple Store last week..a real stunner. I have the 24" 1st gen iMac and the new versions are even sleeker, thinner and highly spec'ed. Enjoy...Kit This is the same for any machine under warranty. If yo are going to go off warranty and get repairs done by non-authorised repair shop then a mac can be repaired exactly the same way as a PC. Contrary to what some mac owners believe, beneath that beautiful exterior, they are full of PC bits. Good quality and well arranged PC bits but PC bits nonetheless. So go on go for it...you know you want to. Steve

Not yet installed.
Some minor problems in the house and preparing the area to receive/welcome the "animal"
-
Yesterday I made a terrible mistake: I erased all the files from my Lacie external disk.
I had my son in the house to recover them. I had to spend 100 € on recovery software but - apparently - they are back.
Working on this now.

[Alis]

The first is my PAD shot, the second is my 'second' shot of the day. But I like them both! If you think they should be the other way around please say, and I may swap them.

The first is a tone-mapped HDR converted to BW. The second is a straight shot. Both done with the Panasonic G1 (I love it)

PAD gallery

"Let me think"
On black




"Into the heart of darkness"
On black

They both look great, Rob! I like the contrast and the composition. Very nice!