Photography

[Shoelessjoe]

I haven't posted to this thread in awhile.  Here is something that I have been working on for the last few days using Lightroom Classic (LRC), Topaz AI Sharpening and just added to LRC a photo enhancer which allows you to use a cropped photo and add back resolution.  Don't ask me how this stuff works as it is beyond my pay scale and with people way smarter then me.

Now to the photo.  The three are of a bee around 9 AM. 

The first or original is the RAW file out of the Camera. 

The second, Bee Lunch 1, is the output of using Topaz Sharpen AI.  First I made some color adjustments, cropped in closer, adjusted the exposure and ran it through Topaz.  I was elated about the detail in the Bee's wing. 

After the adjustments and running it through Topaz I ran the picture through the new enhanced tool in LRC.  Because I was able to recover some of the resolution, I cropped in closer to see if I could retain some of that detail. The result is the third photo.  I'm still debating which one I like the most but I'm really enjoying what I've learned in working with this.  Lots of fun.

[LennG]

I LOVE the super close up.

[Shoelessjoe]

I do too Lenn.  It brings out the little antenna from the head showing the way he captures the pollen.  Love the detail of the hair on the back and on the legs.  But what strikes me the most is the detail in the Transparent wing structure.  To me it like stain glass windows.

[ozzie]

The super close up gets my vote too. The detail is amazing!

[LennG]

So tomorrow, we are off on another trip to Virginia and the Shenandoah Mountains.

So because I won't have access to my pix let me put up my weekly pix.

Let's take a break from travel pix and go back to what I love best, flowers.
If any of these have been up already, my apologies.

Enjoy

[LennG]

Been a few weeks so let's find some 'summery' type pixs to enjoy

[Shoelessjoe]

The famous Maryland Crab.  There is a real shortage down here and prices have gone off the charts with a doubling of the price in restaurants to the point where some places are taken it off of the menu.  Apparently there was a visa program where workers would come for the summer season to work in the crab processing plants.  This visa program was stopped by a few years ago by the Trump administration.  Another factor was blue catfish in the Potomac apparently feast on the crab.  The two have combined to cause the shortage.

[LennG]

Some odds and ends that intrigued me while traveling about


Sign for a coffee shop somewhere in Europe






Tables set up waiting for the dinner crowd






Talk about small restaurants--one of my favorites in Rome





Flowe stall along Las Rambles in Barcelona







Looking thru an archway, I believe in Barcelona






I love these narrow alleys and streets. This is one small alleyway in Genoa Italy







And, just to show how brave we are. We went on this camel ride in the Canary Islands that takes you half way up a volcano. The camels kneel down, you slide onto your seat and strap yourself in, and up they go. Was much more unpleasant than it looks and the camels stink, especially in the heat of the day. Oh well, it was an experience.

[Shoelessjoe]

Hey Lenn, was that on Wednesday Hump day?

[LennG]

Hey Lenn, was that on Wednesday Hump day?

You got it Frank   

[Shoelessjoe]

In this photo I used some color enhancing techniques to attempt to bring out the blue in the sky and to draw the yellow and orange out of the sun and the surrounding tree line at the top of the hill.  The original was completely washed out at and around the sun and along the rim of the hill.  I was able to bring out the trees with this technique.  The streaks of yellow sunlight at the bottom of the sun was done in camera by using a smaller aperture.  The settings were 125 sec shutter, f8 Aperture, and 125 ISO and the picture was taken on a tripod.

[Shoelessjoe]

The dreaded dandelion.  The weed/flower that we want to eliminate from our lawns. Here are 13 potential health benefits of a dandelion.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/dandelion-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2

[Shoelessjoe]

Tree Growth.

[ozzie]

I just downloaded a bunch of pix from the camera so I thought I would post some up. All of these are just in various places in our backyard.

[ozzie]

Here are some more along with some visitors we had...