Are You Serious Jo

I was going to go to Gawler show today and call into the weight pulling, but I couldn't get up so am doing Gawler tomorrow, so can't come. Will there be any more days?

World would be a very boring place if we all did the same thing :laugh: I'm hit and miss with the magic wand as well so I was hoping for some collective wisdom to get better at it. The sky and my model rooster wouldn't cooperate and I need blue sky for a retro thing. trial and error is a boring pain!

I like the darker blue background but not sure about the lens flare effect, not a huge fan of it. What settings does everyone use for refine edge when selecting and cutting?

Yes, feet look a bit weird, try leaving the texture over the top or cropping them out. I'm going through pictures where textures have been used to see how they work when subtle, I'm used to using them with heavy manipulation and graphics and didn't know it was a thing with portraits.

I was pretty sure that was the case and huga confirmed it. If you don't intent to enter comps it won't matter but if you do might be a good idea to start making your own. It isn't hard to do, just grab some grunge type brushes. I used to paint on paper and scan to get some ones I liked too.

That's what I thought huga. I have now updated my grunge brushes to make more backgrounds so if I need to I can knock them up quickly. I'm in a spinning group PC and plan do take the camera. There is one guy who is in his nineties and I really want to get some of him spinning, particularly focusing on his hands.

He must have been a pentaxian! If money was no option I'd have a nikon kit as well, I just can't afford to stock two systems.

This has been a good reminder to restock my brushes, I do use brushes to make textures and usually get them here http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/applications/psbrushes/?order=9 Is really easy, you just download into your brushes folder.

Probably won't happen because the camera stores really only push canon and nikon. Otherwise most consumer buyers really only know about canon and nikon, people only tend to go to pentax if they are specifically looking for it. I know this because these are the topics on the pentax forum :laugh:

Good analogy :laugh: One other reason is I want to get to the stage of competing seriously and I'm not sure you can use other people's elements? I could be wrong though and just a psychopants

But I think nikon top of the range lenses are quite a bit more than pentax. That is one reason the pentax people stick with it, the gear is significantly cheaper for the same standard. Though I may punch the next camera store person who asks if I'm looking for canon or nikon lenses, we are people too :laugh:

It's just a quirk of mine that started recently, I've used textures and brushes others have made before. I think it's because photography is one of the few things I have left now so I'm doing everything myself. I've even started thinking about making a pinhole camera I've also been doing a bit of spinning and one of the appeals is I can go from shearing the animal to something to wear. I suspect it's going to become a disorder :laugh: I do love those Joel textures, they are exactly the colours and texture I love. If I have lost my texture making mojo I'll probably have to them.

Slight and transient :laugh: Then I go back to my pentax forum and see some of the limited pentax prime shots and I come to my senses Canon don't look after their buyers by letting them use legacy lenses and you have to sell organs to get a pro nikon kit. All pentax need to do is get that FF out and improve the AF and I'll never look at the canikons again! I wish there were some other pentaxians here so we could compare gear

Joel Olives has some gorgeous textures. Deviant art is a good source of free textures as well. I used to use them years ago but I'm getting funny about using things I haven't made lately so I think I'll work up some on PS. I hope that doesn't come across as bitchy, if I didn't have the time I'd use downloaded ones, but I haven't got an excuse :laugh:

You need to sharpen as the last thing you do when have resized an image. I've found flickr much better than PB, maybe you should give that a try. I also load up a high res file to flickr and then just choose a smaller size to load via the link. I still have a bit to learn about resizing etc, so I'm happy to learn better processes.

Do you sharpen once you've reduced the file?

I only shoot RAW too, so all pictures need to be processed. kja has some good suggestions, and even if some of us can already do it it is good to have incentive to go out and do it again for fun.

Not sure about any other challenges for basics, my mind automatically goes to new weird and wonderful techniques. I might start a focus stack thread like the Brenizer one when I'm caught up on things.

Taking a series of photos with macro and each shot has a different focus point. You then merge in your software so you get a wide DOF in macro shots. Is quite cool if done right.

What about focus stacking in macro?

I love the colours from your lens snook and admit to having a slight case of canikon envy :laugh:

You've got some lovely pics CM and I REALLY love that last one of Chester

What time?

I've got a table top set up, scrap material and white sheets from op shops and lights from bunnings. Just get creative to colour and direct light. Softboxes for your flash as well.

My thoughts are that this dog should not go to an average home, she will need a home with someone experienced with dogs with this type of temperament. You really need professional help with her, the behaviours you describe are not good.