* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #854 / Revived #074 on 2024 08 28 *

Thanks Mike. I'm happy. What you are seeing here matches what I felt about the scene. I need to adjust the blue tones a little, the sky was blue blue but as shown here it needs a touch of blue desaturation. The sand is about right. When traveling in that country I take care that the car is well maintained, we have plenty of water reserves and people know where we are and our schedule.

Then we are in agreement.

You should also have an EPERB and satellite phone if possible.

This is much better than your original but the "halo" (lighter sky around the edge of the eagle) detracts from the image somewhat as it suggests an editing "flaw".

Potentially very strong subjects but unfortunately not in the surroundings you found them in.

For me the separation between subject and background is lacking because the equipment blends way too much into the background, especially the first one.

Agreed. I make do with an old fashioned HF radio and a two battery set up. I'm a firm believer in having both belts and braces for outback travel. This is being written using a Starlink connection. Starlink is very impressive. I can't access it on the road though.

Dan this shot puzzles me. It is a spot I know well. From the light and shadows, it is late afternoon. I have no problems at all with unrealistic colour treatments but I want to be able to see some purpose in whatever treatment has been applied and here, I can't. Something like a magenta tone has been broadly used. The V between the peaks takes is OK in framing the highlight in the cloud but it takes the eyes down into a large dark area that doesn't seem to me to add to the image.
You may know about the following and it may not be what you want to do, but I think you would find something like Lumenzia useful. It gives very precise luminosity masking control and you could apply and vary the kind of colour manipulations you make with more selectivity and control.
Possibly, I just didn't get what you were trying to do here.

Sagittarius, I think you would get on well with Monet.
I laughed at your titles.
Number 4 is a knockout. Everyone should look at it as large as possible. First, the angle is unexpected. I'm used to shots that makes the most of the stamens. Your side view of the opening bloom wonderfully frames the purple petals with deep green and black. Then there is the dragonfly. The delicacy of the balance on top of the (whatever the tech name is for that part of the flower) is a total delight. Add the detail on the face and wingswhich enables the photo to be viewed large. Simply outstanding.
I'm not criticizing the other photos, it is just that number 4 is so good that I think it should be shown on its own.

I don't understand your change of heart and your sudden interest after you clearly encouraged members here to ignore danhasleftforum, as shown below.

I have no issue with people choosing to ignore danhasleftforum but you can't have it both ways as you appear to be doing here by trying to engage with him. It comes across to me as being hypocritical.

The message you are sending with "The Forum has left Dan." is very clear and I have no issue with that.

dprevived.com/t/wednesday-cc-no-theme-thread-852-revived-072-on-2024-08-14/6134/post/83315/

The answer is easy Dan. You have a history. As I have said to you several times, how you are responded to depends entirely on the tone/language you choose to use in discussion. That doesn't mean everyone has to agree. There are civil and non civil ways of sharing opinions. This thread has been a lively, friendly and valuable place to exchange ideas and mutually build each other's skill and appreciation, for many years. It has been a pleasure to be part of.
I have no problem whatsoever with the way you have participated in discussions both in this thread and others on DPREV over the last couple of weeks. Your input has been valued. So, yes, I hope we're able to continue in the same way.

As I said, you can't have it both ways.

A wise man once said to me "Say what you mean, and mean what you say".

Your message "The Forum has left Dan." is clear and I have no issue with that.

In any case, the post you linked to in your quote was not about Roel's threads at all. It referred to the backflip in other threads Nigel V made after he first insisted lambertj at dpreview and danhasleftforum here at dprevived were different people to support his false accusation that danhasleftforum had stolen an image from lambertj. He then did a complete U-turn and insisted in another post that lambertj and danhasleftforum are the same person thus proving he lied when he stated a theft had occurred. All relevant screenshots proving Nigel's false accusations are now in the dumpster here and on a few other blogs floating around the www.

If lambertj and danhasleftforum are different people, Nigel V ran away when asked how he eliminated the possibility that lambertj stole the image from danhasleftforum or how he eliminated the possibility that lambertj and danhasleftforum are somehow related and so one of them gave the other permission to post the image.

Nigel V failed to post anything that proved a theft even took place in the first place.

From hereon it's up to you whether you stand by and adhere to your agenda "The Forum has left Dan."

Dan, I'm not going down the rabbit hole with you, I have seen you do it too often. Some of your posts here have been quite consistent with the claims made.
Yes, I can have it both ways and I can make the same recommendation to others. Engage with you when you are being civil. I'm saying exactly the same as I said to you previously. Dial down the language. Over the last couple of weeks, you have. Great. The choice is yours.

You are not telling the truth here.

The unsubstantiated claim made by Nigel V was that danhasleftforum stole an image from lambertj at dpreview and then posted it here claiming it to be his own image.

Even Nigel V himself proved he wasn't telling the truth about his unsubstantiated theft claim when he backflipped from initially stating and insisting lambertj and danhasleftforum were 2 different people to later claiming they were the same person when he went off in pursuit of another agenda.

If lambertj and danhasleftforum are different people, Nigel V ran away when asked how he eliminated the possibility that lambertj stole the image from danhasleftforum or how he eliminated the possibility that lambertj and danhasleftforum are somehow related and so one of them gave the other permission to post the image.

Nigel V failed to post anything that proved a theft even took place in the first place.

Now you are back pedalling from your initial unconditional statement "The Forum has left Dan." to making it conditional.

I have no choice to make because I posted earlier I have no issue if people choose to ignore Danhasleftforum.

You have the choice to engage with him or not. Earlier this thread you chose to engage with him after previously suggesting to other members to not engage.

Very nice photos and imaginative appropriate titles 🙂

The last one is easily my favourite.

If you can successfully use spot metering for BIF then you have much quicker reflexes and much steadier hands than I do.

Especially for BIF and for most other situations I find evaluative/matrix metering works best for me.

If you spot metered the underside of a bird where there was no direct sunlight on it, it's likely the sky would blow out depending on how much darker the underside of the bird was compared to 18% grey.

Digital cameras are calibrated to output average 18% grey over the area of the scene being metered.

For example, if you fill the frame with an evenly lit white or black sheet of paper, in both cases the camera's ooc jpeg would be close to 18% grey.

The camera settings are a good indicator that this image is not a documentary image.

A late afternoon look, as you observed, without maintaining total reality is what I was going for.

Below is the original documentary version. I took the photo at 1:45pm. The clear blue sky and harsh lighting didn't do much for me.

OK. I knew it had to be afternoon but I assumed it was later because of the sun angle on the clouds. I hadn't picked up that the clouds were added in.
I suggest you check out Lumenzia for finer control of the kinds of colour changes you make. There are a couple of other programs that are similar.

The sky was completely replaced.

The sky came from the image below. This is pretty much what I saw at the time.

Photoshop Elements with the Elements+ plugin, which gives me access to a very large chunk of the full Ps, gives me all the control I need to get the looks I want.

Both PSE and Ps give you full control to create luminosity masks exactly as you like. No need for "hand-holding" from Lumenzia or similar apps to fine tune colours and masking.