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

Wednesday 24 April 2013

NICE AFTERNOON. (24/04/13)

It was raining on our walk first thing so we all got wet. I went for a shower and came back to find Alfie dryish, I’d given them a desultory rub with a towel but should have spent more time. I now have a damp duvet but a dry dog.

I went into Leith for a quick chat and returned….the beauty of cities is that you can get around on busses. I usually get on the wrong bus so find that the £3.55p all day ticket works out cheaper. I excelled myself this morning and actually caught a bus going in the wrong direction………I really will have to investigate carers…..I blame one way traffic systems.

This afternoon I went macroing in the woods. I saw a Tree Creeper so returned the few hundred yards for Bertha. Tree Creepers don’t as a rule move far. I never saw it again, despite sitting in the sunshine for the best part of an hour.

I went back to macro and as spring is springing took a few snaps.

IMG_0188 I think this is a Beech leaf.

IMG_0189          These are Ivy flowers or flower buds…..strange plant is Ivy.

IMG_0192           This is Hawthorn. Hawthorn and Blackthorn look very similar to me in winter. It is only in spring, summer and autumn I can tell them apart. Hawthorn has leaves then flowers and Blackthorn visa versa. I don’t know why.

IMG_0193            I took several of this but couldn’t avoid a bit of blow out. I thought at the time it was a Horse Chestnut but now I’m inclined to pop it into the I don’t Knows. It looks more like one of the Acers. All these will enlarge with a click they are 1:1 Macro.

I wonder if anyone can help?

I am now using Bridge and CS6 Extended. The work flow I have developed is to download into Bridge…dump the rubbish, not that there are many truly bad shots I hope you realise. Then I pop the keepers into Collections and open the Collection select the ones to edit and pop them through the RAW converter and PS. After I’ve got them perfect or near enough I save them as TIFF or JPEG depending on what they will be used for. They don’t always appear back in Bridge Collections so I have to go to favourites> find the file date> and drop the relevant files across. I think I have the Meta Data all set up but maybe not. It also asks when I close PS editor if I want to save the PDS file….I say forget it but do I really mean it? There are so many choices. It reminds me of a song by Harry Nielson About pointless forests. “All the trees have points and all the leaves have points but a point in every direction is the same as no point at all.”

Last night the laptop threw a right paddy….it’s toys were out of the van never mind it’s cot. I was playing with 3D and trying to get letters to spiral away in video animation. I then got ambitious and added a shadow. I never realised how cross a computer can get……I’ll be glad when the new one arrives. The processor is i7, 16GB of ram two SSD hard drives and a middle of the range Graphics card. The latter was quite pricy. The company I picked seem great. I’ll give them a plug when it arrives. It was much cheaper than PC World and I can talk to a bloke who knows what’s what. Wish I did. It will not come loaded with no end of crap either. I can load crap on my own. I have started hunting down all my verification codes and just dread loading the software. It takes forever whilst all I’m wanting to do is forever play.

Have fun, tomorrow I’m away to Kinross for a long weekend with my sister and then I’ll go scenery hunting on the edge of the Trossachs… I’m sure I’ve spelt that wrong. Then back to Kinross to pick up the new laptop with Artic Paste cooling….that cost a pound or two more. He who knows sold it me but saved me a fortune on Graphics Cards. Apparently the really posh ones are for Gamers….and I’m only a Player.

PS I Notice that Dutch Nik’s blog only accepts comments from subscribers to Google+. it may be his decision but I don’t Facebook, Bimbo. Tweet or Google+. I hope that Google are not being naughty again.

30 comments:

  1. Great macros, love the detail and light on the first leaf, and the last one looks like a horse chestnut to me. I hope someone else can answer your questions, I am pretty hopeless at that. Have a great day.

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    1. Gillian, Thanks. I love macro and landscape pictures. I'll re process the sycamore....I don't think it was a Horse Chestnut. I'll go with Phil....he is the expert.

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  2. Great macro shots Adrian and for me its a horse chestnut too.But i can see your point about Acer.

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    1. Peter, I took it because I liked the light. If Phil says it's an acer an Acer it is. Have a look at his blogs they are great.
      Mine is just about images regardless of subject.

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  3. Lovely shots Adrian - I think you're right about the last one, it is an Acer - maybe a cultivar of sycamore

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    1. Thanks Phil....I was hoping you would come to rescue the ignorant.

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  4. mooie foto,s en een fijne dag met je zus.

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    1. Hoi Nik, heb ik geprobeerd om te reageren op uw bericht, maar het is slechts het aanvaarden Google+. Ik doe niet aan social networking sites.
      Ik hoop dat Google translate maakt het bovenstaande intelligable.

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  5. Excellent macro Adrian; picture perfect.

    As for the editing query, I'll pass on that. JPEG's and as little processing as I can get away with for me.

    Enjoy the Trossachs. Sounds interesting.

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    1. Ta Keith, it was a very pleasant couple of hours.

      The new system is much better but causing me some grief.

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  6. They are beautiful macros whatever they are!

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    1. Monica, no wind and plenty of shaded light help.

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  7. Beautiful shots, Adrian. Lovely lighting.

    And Nilsson.. The Point. Love it. "You don't have to have a point to have a point." ;)

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    1. Hilary, I'll have to try and track that song down. I can't even remember the album.

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    2. Sorry it's a bit early here. Oblio and Arrow.....The Point.

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    3. Yep.. that's the one. Music by Harry.

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  8. This one post should be worth at least one college credit or maybe 2? You covered wet dogs, buses that trick you, graphics programs and a multitude of different disks and how they compare to one another. I think I listed everything. Good thing there's no test on this. In other words you discuss things that people should know about if they're remotely interested in all things digital.

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  9. Red, these posts tend to be an account of my day. I have to pop a bit of positive spin on or folk would think I'm daft.

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  10. Hi Adrian,
    Some good macro shots. It is indeed a flower bud on the ivy, and yes, it's an odd plant. The common one Hedera helix, has nice little leaves and soft growth. Let it grow big and old and the whole plant changes it's leaf shape and structure completely, to become Hedera arborea, that dark leafed mess so often seen smothering trees. Just thought you would like to know.

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    1. cheers gary, I thought they were different plants. This one is Hedera arborea.

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  11. I enjoy macro photography but usually confine myself to insects. These are the sort of photos though that make me re-assess what I'm doing. The Ivy and Beech in particular are superb to my eyes.

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    1. Graham, I enjoy spring plants and shoots. The leaves have a translucent quality in spring.

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  12. By the way if you're going to The Trossachs then drop in to The Waverley Hotel in Main Street, Callander. Superb real ales (changed regularly) and a large selection of whiskeys.

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    1. I'm going to a place called Killin on Monday. I'll be wandering around the area for about a week or more so will have a look at Callander.

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  13. Nice set of Spring macros. I have endless problems with blow out with the pocket cameras. They just can't cope with the range of light intensity - probably a problem that shows more with digital photography.

    Hope all goes well with the new laptop. Anywhere has got to be better than going to a box shifter like PC World and their work experience experts. Having to install things again from scratch is what puts me off upgrading until it become a must. For my PCs I always go to a local two man business who build to order and give superb after sales service.

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    1. John, I find it easier to rescue shadows than highlights though the new RAW converter in both Photoshop and Capture one have shadows Highlights sliders that very nearly make HDR redundant. Can you arrange your camera to shoot at -1EV? That often helps.

      I am dreading loading all that software. Still I am struggling with the current machine....the machine is struggling too.

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  14. Beautiful macros Adrian. Love the last one. Have a happy weekend.

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  15. Ah! Beautiful Macros! Which lens are you using? I have the Canon 60mm f/2.8

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  16. Maria, I have a couple of macro lenses. These were taken with the 100mm f1:2.8 L. I have an MPE 65mm for very close.

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