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

Friday 10 May 2013

GETTING THERE. (10/05/13)

Last night my head was spinning and not due to the falling down water. I spent most of the afternoon and evening setting up the new laptop. It is a vile and frustrating job. I’m getting there now though and today I’ve used it for this blog. The screen is very bright and contrasty. I can adjust brightness and the RGB channels. I’ve had a go but will have to find someone who has good eyesight to do it properly.

The only problem I haven’t got near solving is that the tool icons and the writing in Photoshop and Bridge are about half the size that I’m used to. Giving me a real head ache squinting to see what I’m doing. I’ll have a look at this matter later.

Today I took the dogs out at about five forty five. A stunning morning it was.

_V0G6309_10_11_tonemapped copy The dip in the skyline is Glen Etive.

On we wandered enjoying the quiet and solitude which was only broken by the occasional Grouse that we set up. I can live with a Grouse chattering.

buchaillepan10513 This was a test. It is in total twenty seven images. I tone mapped them in threes to produce nine HDR images. Then combined  the nine 60MB images in Photoshop to produce this panorama. It stitched it before I could reach for my cigarettes or put the kettle on. The computer with a bit more tuning will be  a success.

I came back and had breakfast and as the weather was still good I decided to get up high for a look down on Rannoch Moor.

_V0G6317 copy    I followed this waterfall up the hill and eventually got the views I came for. Amazing what a difference a thousand feet or so makes.

_V0G6333_4_5_tonemapped copy  Big big sky and Rannoch Moor………I cheated!

_V0G6313 copy   Hello feet…..My feet fifty feet up in the air.

_V0G6342_3_4_tonemapped copy  Yes. I’m on the chair lift. All these images should enlarge with a click but if they don’t I’ll try and sort it. Pretty useless at this size. The camper is the white dot just past the long blue roofed building and the Cuckoos flit between the two plantations.

It’s raining now so just as well I started early.

Have a great weekend.

PS. I hope the colour is not too garish. Let me know if it is worse than usual.

24 comments:

  1. Enjoyed these from the new girl in your life. The scenery really is breathtaking there.

    I've put a few of your posts side by side on my monitor, and I can definitely see a difference in the colours. There seems a little less 'punch' in these, compared to previous ones. Maybe it's just the light or subjects though.

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    1. I toned the job down a bit today. They still look a bit bright on my screen. There are not many options for calibrating the lap top monitor. Thanks for the help.

      I would like an independent monitor but I really haven't the room.

      The big views suite me...and these are big. Tan Hill is a speck on the landscape by comparison.

      Not much wildlife visible though. Tree Sparrows, Chaffinch and Meadow Pippets are plentiful.

      I'll be roaming about up here till late autumn and after a quick visit home will most likely come back for the winter. I love it.

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  2. Stunning images Adrian...worth the early start and the 'strenuous climb'?

    For a minute there I thought you'd mastered the art of levitation!

    I agree with Keith, I know there's not much 'colour' in the subject but the images do seem to lack a bit of punch/depth of colour. A minor problem,I'm sure?...[;o)

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    1. Trevor getting my backside onto the chairlift took major commitment and effort....The walk first thing about finished me for the day.

      I knocked them back because this monitor is very bright and contrasty, not as good as the works that feed it. I'll wap a bit more in tomorrow. I've lots of images from today and it looks as if the rain and low cloud is set for the weekend.

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  3. All the images look good to me. The colours seem very true, and you've captured that big big landscape and sky wonderfully well.

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    1. Cheers Annie, I did dumb them down from usual to try and compensate.

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  4. Firstly on the photoshop icons I've never adjusted the size I had a look on cs3 and there doesn't appear to be a feature to adjust it, the only thing I can see on cs3 is in the windows options along the top of the screen is an option to adjust the layout which has only a small effect on the size of the icons, I was the wondering if your laptop has one of those "quirky" features where you can adjust the zoom via the mousepad and you've accidently zoomed out...if that makes sense?
    There does also appear to me a difference to the images less contrast and perhaps a little brighter, but they have more natural light look to them. I liked all of them, including the camera dangling foot image lol

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    1. Douglas, it is the tool icons like crop etc that and everything else that is there before I drop an image or images in. It's not zoom as Photomatix is fine. I'll load Elements tomorrow and see if that is the same. Photoshop are fast going to cloud editing at a fortune a month so this may be the last chance to get a copy of the software onto a PC or Mac.
      The contrast is me not PS. I knocked them back to compensate but having adjusted the monitor and the re booted it seems much better.
      Thanks for your help.

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  5. I think that your computer is really a success, and the pictures are brilliant. All with a computer, ha ha.

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    1. Thanks Bob, I'm happy with it. It won't be long until I can send the camera out on it's own.

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  6. your photos are well worth a look and even better when enlarged.


    peter

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  7. Wonderful Scottish scenery, and great photos as ever. I don't like over processed photos, when the colours are just all wrong.... these are lovely.

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    1. Val, the eye sees a much larger dynamic range than the camera and what is more it adapts as we study a view.

      Colour should be reasonable but light/dark and the relationship between them has to be faked. It was always so with photography. at the turn of the last century folk were stacking glass plates, dodging and burning all in order to try and increase the range of tone and contrast.

      It's the reasonable colour I am concerned with at the moment.

      I'm glad you enjoyed your visit today.

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  8. Every day is a learning day for you, Adrian. I did not realize that Scotland had mountains that wee this large.

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    1. Red, I learn more often than I used to as I forget more often. It's called getting old.

      The highest is Ben Nevis at 4,400' and a bit. It is also unusual for the UK as it starts at sea level or near enough. Makes it a long climb.

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  9. You know all this is in the way, way advanced class as far as I'm concerned. I like the colours in all the shots, it looks very natural to me but I have no idea what it might look like in real life. I really liked that last shot enlarged, great view.

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  10. Pauline, on several previous occasions I have replied; "It's beyond me as well." I'm getting reasonably comfortable with Photoshop and computers in general......Just wait....Pride comes before a fall.

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  11. Colour not at all garish Adrian. I would say it is paler, more subtle than it used to be.

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    1. Thanks John, I knocked the contrast back a bit and reduced sharpening. I suspect the screen looks brighter as it isn't covered in smoke, fingermarks and only the lord knows what other crud.

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  12. These are lovely; The skies are awesome!

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  13. Nice set. I knew you did quite a bit of work to your landscapes but not that much. Liking your comment to Val ... it's what I've been trying to sort in my head for some time without a conclusion.

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  14. Jay, I don't usually do that much....I was just trying to stall the computer.
    I hate the pavement pizza HDR look but like the dynamic range it offers. Halos I try and avoid with varying degrees of success.

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