* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #782 / Revived #003 on 2023 04 19 *

Clearing cache worked for me for Safari and Chrome though finding the right buttons in Chrome on iOS was a bit tricky.

I did a little experiment where I ran this through Topaz Sharpen and told it to resolve focus blur on the branches. It ain't perfect but it did a decent job. Then I softened the whole thing to mitigate the crunchy feeling that Topaz tends to leave behind in its wake ☹️. Then I lightly cropped and rather clumsily pruned the eucalyptus (better job can be done), nudged the photo rightward a degree to counteract the perceived (not real) tilt that the uneven far bank of the pond creates. Sometimes you can get by with that much without being caught at it. My goal was to sharpen the foreground framing branches and reduce their messiness so we can better see the background scene you were framing. It would still be better with that duck swimming through though...

I had missed your photo in the chaos of flat format (oh how we hope Bob and Alan can find a way to give us threaded posting) until Lou mentioned it, and went hunting. There is a lot of similarity in what you two have done and I have no idea what it might have been. Lovely detail and creative coloring of what was probably a nice flower photo to begin with. It picked up and emphasized all the veining and edging in the flower. I am curious as to what you two are doing to create these images.

I sent you a private message Paula.

Andrew

Thx minnie, I can see what you have done. The branches look a lot better. I imagine retouching over water reflections could be about as hard as it could get - time and patience... I wonder could I insert a duck or two. Cheating to me...
I was down there again with the dogs today (overcast didn't take camera). I could back up a little and zoom in a little for similar shot but will lose a bit. But don't need all of what was in the original. Just the reeds on a still day might be good - and in morning light. I put my vf glasses on and saw quite a few shots that may be interesting. More single subject oriented. Australian farms / bush can be pretty drab though. Also up the hill is a good panorama opportunity.

Simplification is always a good idea to try with most scenes. I agree the reeds and their reflections would make a nice almost abstract image.

I am reluctant to move in ducks and such too. I don't know why. It is no worse than any other kind of editing but would rather find them there and capture them on site. Oddly, I don't mind at all dragging all kinds of different elements into a fantasy art piece but no one would mistake those for a real scene, so I'm happy with that.

Retouching is a lot easier with Photoshop and the other pixel level editors than it is with raw editors like Lightroom and similar.

Keep using your scene spotting sense to find good places that you can make your own. There are many discoveries to be made when deep-diving photographically in one location. Enjoy your journey!

Dear all,

Bryan and Minniev have been having a very productive conversation in these last posts.
I have nothing to add.
Bryan, you noticed that the thread had gone a bit quieter in recent hours/days.

That is not unusual for our weekly gathering.
Tuesday is often a slower day, winding down and replying to messages and comments.
Everybody is gearing up of tomorrow's new edition.

Please be advised that if you want to post another image, it is often better to wait until the new edition on Wednesday.
This is good for the poster in order to get more traffic and for the group in order not to confuse the different sequential weekly threads

I will take care of starting the new edition tomorrow before noon (Brussels time).
Most often, I manage to get it online between 8.00 AM and 10.00 AM (again : Brussels time).