“If there’s something you want in life, go and grab it with two hands and don’t let it go. Chances are, if you don’t take it, someone else will be more than happy to” – Unknown
F14, 26 sec. ISO 100 Canon 6D.
Single RAW used to create three different exposures. Blended with Raya Pro by Jimmy Mcintyre; a super-easy natural blending panel for PS, read more at: http://www.shutterevolve.com/raya-pro-the-ultimate-digital-blending-workflow-panel-for-photoshop/ — in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
It was a hard slog at work this week and the comfort of a single malt was not awaiting me this Friday night… the dieting enforcer is in town!
Luckily I had something grand to look forward to… Raya Pro version 2.0 – the super efficient and powerful Photoshop plugin by world renowned Jimmy Mcintyre. If you know what HDR and blending are about then you will certainly know this Scotsman come exposure blending guru.
Version 1.1 had those “luminosity masks”, that some of us whisper about, made easy to understand with various other blending modes and many other useful post processing features. Read more here.
Version 2.0, soon to be released, has a host of other features which make this must-have plugin even more powerful and a .45 on the hip when navigating Photoshop especially in the landscape area (but I would be keen to shoot the inside of a mansion / building and test the images with Raya).
I tried the new Precision masks / Auto Dark Blend and “boom” out came an evenly blended image (I chose one of the 5/6 or so options / created masks it offered to suit my liking). I noticed a new feature called Fix Blend but will need the tutorial for that.
In summary that’s now five (5) different blending modes (if I’m counting correctly) in one plugin that has the potential to make any Joe Soap a master blender.
Jimmy always seems to mention image degradation (something the old style HDR software packages were good at doing) and his plugin clearly cruises the golden mile to effortlessly blend images without turning them into a horror that would make your blind grandma turn in her grave.
I’m sure Glen Phillips and chaps from FISHING DBN will enjoy this blended photo taken at sunrise on Poenskop looking North across the Nkadusweni River Mouth (it’s the favourite Port St Johns Tourism fishing spot of many a fisherman with tall tales).
Base image F10, 0.5 sec. ISO 100 Canon 6D 24-105 mm L
During our recent trip to Cape Town this was the first morning that we were greeted with lovely clouds and colours. We missed the pink sunset the night before and it was drizzling slightly at around 05:00 the next morning. We still decided to venture out hoping that the weather was a bit different on the other side of the mountain.
Wiki advises as follows: “Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located in the Cape Peninsula, near Simon’s Town towards Cape Point, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is also commonly known as Boulders Bay [1]. It is a popular tourist stop because of a colony of African Penguins which settled there in 1982. Boulders Beach forms part of the Table Mountain National Park.
Although set in the midst of a residential area, it is one of the few sites where this vulnerable bird (Spheniscus demersus) can be observed at close range, wandering freely in a protected natural environment. From just two breeding pairs in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to about 3,000 birds in recent years. This is partly due to the reduction in commercial pelagic trawling in False Bay, which has increased the supply of pilchards and anchovy, which form part of the penguins’ diet [2].
Bordered mainly by indigenous bush above the high-water mark on the one side, and the clear water of False Bay on the other, the area comprises a number of small sheltered bays, partially enclosed by granite boulders that are 540 million years old.
The most popular recreational spot is Boulders Beach, but the penguins are best viewed from Foxy Beach, where newly constructed boardwalks take visitors to within a few meters of the birds. It is also a popular swimming beach, although people are restricted to beaches adjacent to the penguin colony.”
My skills have gone up one notch at least. I’m still not super hot at my HDR processing but damn it dude – I’m certainly improving slowly but surely. I’m in the middle and going up!
I recently had a good chuckle when looking through my first Photomatix attempts from about one year ago. Stars Wars stuff I tell you.
If you want to get inspired like I am (in life and specifically with photography) then watch the Social Network and Steve Jobs movies, be mutually in love with a caring partner and follow the work / tutorials of Jimmy Mcintyre, Klaus Herrmann and Chris Arson. That should help you off to a good start at worst.
It was possibly after the sixth person in as so many weeks asked me how much money I would sell one of my photos for that I thought why not. The cost is minute so why do it?
It’s not for the money at all; it’s to fuel my passion even more.
One of my colleagues will soon have an A2 canvas stretched print of one of my photos (him and his cars) on his wall. An ex-colleague will soon have one of my seascapes behind his bar. These were the “free” ones.
I have some older photos that I will post in the weeks / months to come but for now please enjoy one of my recent efforts (Winklespruit Beach, South Africa). I like this photo as it was the moment that something sparked and I thought “You’ve improved Andy. You’re not as good as the best but you are slowly but surely getting better”.
Dedicated to my dear Mother Margaret Rose Harvard, and my loving partner Timol
Andrew Harvard Photography 