Tag: editing

Runaway afternoon

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A quick placeholder post here, which I may or may not add to later.

A quick look at the diary this afternoon suggest that things may just run away with a couple of meetings, some school pick-ups, lifts here and there, and at least one concert. So let’s play it safe and pop a post on the blog to make sure that 11 years and 9 months of daily posts doesn’t come to a silly, abrupt, disappointing end.

I’ve got almost halfway through the photos from the Kruger trip, being very harsh and whittling them down into a folder called “Kruger – Final”. The idea on this first pass is just to separate the wheat from the chaff, then have another look in the fresh light of a new day and then separate the best wheat from the rest of the wheat. So then, “Kruger – Final” will inevitably then morph into a slightly smaller folder: “Kruger – FinalFinal”, and then if I’m still feeling quite stringent… well, maybe you can guess.

I’ll get it all done before the weekend.

So far, there are about 40 images in the first effort, with at least a couple of images of which I’m really proud, and at least a few that probably won’t make the next cut. But that’s what the process is all about, and hopefully, this is proof that it’s working well.

The Shining Path

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No, not that one.

I have a list of jobs to do which is growing longer by the day, rather than shorter. For every one I get rid of, another two seem to spring up…

The Hydra possessed many heads, the exact number of which varies according to the source. Later versions of the Hydra story add a regeneration feature to the monster: for every head chopped off, the Hydra would regrow two heads.

In keeping with the mythical hydra theme, my jobs list also has poisonous breath and blood so virulent that even its scent is deadly.

It’s no wonder I’m trying to keep my distance.

One of the jobs is editing photos. And I’ve had to subdivide that one. Still outstanding are the Elgin Train Trip, the Robben Island Tour and our Mossel Bay Road Trip. And a few smaller events in between.

Right now, I’m occasionally dipping in and out of Lightroom and trying to get a bit of rhythm going on Instagram. And that’s probably the best place to watch out for images at the moment, given the number of other potentially more pressing tasks that still await my attention.

Like the one above, looking down the shiny line between Eerste Rivier and Bellville on the way back from Saturday’s adventure. More like that coming soon on all major platforms (no train pun intended).

Also… don’t forget to subscribe for all the latest posts from 6000 miles… Many thanks to all those who have already done so. Your support is appreciated. 🙂

Day 139 – More from Muizies

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Instead of doing the jobs I should have been doing yesterday, I had a play around with one of the images I took on Monday at Muizenberg.
I quite like how it came out, although I’m now quite a way behind with the jobs I should have been doing.

My only real issue (other than those jobs) is that it looks like the sky was added later. The sky wasn’t added later: that was the sky that was there when I took the shot. But – for me, at least – it would have been better (with hindsight) if there wasn’t that unfortunate natural gap between the rooftops and the drama.

But maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on myself. I think I’ve turned an OK shot into quite a nice image. And I’ve learned quite a lot while I was doing it.

Trying to edit

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I’m trying to do some editing for a work project, but I’m struggling. Yesterday, out of necessity, I did a lot of tidying and rearranging of the garage space. It was a mess and – while it is still a mess – I have at least thrown some of that mess away and put a lot more of it behind some cupboard doors. My car now fits.

Almost.

Much of the job involved a lot of dust, and I’m still struggling with sore eyes and an itchy upper respiratory system. I dread to think what sort of particles I’ve inhaled and/or got into my eyes, and what the long term effects of those might be, because the short term effects really aren’t pretty. It’s a real effort to focus (not mentally, literally focus my eyes in the screen) for any length of time.

Even writing this is quite sore.
I’m such a martyr.

I think I’m going to have to go and relax in a darkened room with a couple of slices of cucumber.

In a gin and tonic.

Editing

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I’ve been playing some catch up with editing photos. Not that they weren’t edited previously, but it’s always, always worth revisiting them with fresh eyes. I made so many changes to images that I already thought were just right. You can get so involved in fixing bits of the image that you lose (no pun intended here) the bigger picture. I found and corrected several examples of this.

One particular favourite image from the set was this one:

Five bracketed shots merged in Lightroom to ensure some semblance of decent exposure throughout. Bigger on black here. Picturesque.

There are at least one or two others which I really like from my recent expeditions, but they are part of a project I’m doing, and I’m not sure that it would be right to share them on here just yet (or maybe, in fact, ever).

The one above doesn’t have any such restrictions, as far as I’m concerned. Those mountains are fair game to anyone with a camera (or, in this case, a drone) and it’s really not my fault if they choose to be so very striking when I’m trying to take specific photos of specific stuff.

I mean, honestly, who could resist?