View allAll Photos Tagged SOFTENING
Sometimes mistakes work out. This digital photo I accidentally overexposed. But with some softening in post processing, it became worth posting. Of course, the cat could care less...she's still sleeping.
Quand tout se relâche, le corps s’abandonne sans bruit.
Un apaisement né dans l’ombre,
et dans ce souffle retrouvé, un moment ardu…
mais vital.
When everything softens, the body yields in silence.
A quiet easing shaped in shadow,
and in this returning breath, a moment difficult…
yet vital.
________________
Tous droits réservés. Merci de ne pas copier, utiliser ou reproduire mes images sans mon autorisation préalable.
All rights reserved. Please do not use, copy or reproduce my images without prior written permission.
A quiet, fog‑softened street stretches between tall, old European buildings, framed by the curve of a stone archway in the foreground. Festive string lights and star‑shaped ornaments hang overhead, suspended above an empty pedestrian crossing. The storefronts, including a visible NAF NAF sign, recede into the mist, giving the scene a muted, timeless atmosphere. The black‑and‑white treatment deepens the sense of stillness, turning the narrow street into a suspended moment of winter calm.
It was Saturday evening as Steve and I stood on top of the dunes, surveying the scene in front of us and watching the light begin to soften and intensify with the arrival of the golden hour. The beach was still busy on this wonderfully warm September weekend, when I’d arrived armed with flip flops instead of wellies to tackle the water. I'm programmed to stand in six inches of water every time I come here you see. And while Steve only had this one chance to capture the light on the dunes and prepare for a battle with unwanted beach tents in the editing suite later, I was content to sit and watch the world go by, and chat about the differences between his state of the art mirrorless set up and my clunky old collection of rag tag lenses, one of which was making its debut appearance here at Holywell Bay after a long journey west from Pakistan. We talked about Flickr and our virtual friends. Of course we talked about you. We really liked your shot of [insert subject and location here], although we thought your picture of [insert subject and location here] might have looked slightly better with a sixteen by nine crop. Just saying.
And then we strolled down from our lofty position, my trusty summer boat shoes filling with increasing amounts of sand at every step, and made our way onto the beach, passing the tents that had made Steve’s composition that bit more challenging than he might have liked, and heading for the flat wet expanse left by the retreating tide. But if we thought it would be plain sailing from here, we were sadly mistaken. The September heatwave had filled the beach with visitors, and even at the sunset hour plenty of them were still in and around the sea. Rather more annoyingly, barely a minute passed without one of them marching through the sand pool I’d had my eye on for a reflection shot. Salivating dogs and splashing infants invading the space where I planned to set up my tripod and take the first picture with the new addition to the bag - my knee saving budget plan for taking wide angle shots on the camera with the articulating screen. Try and do this on the full frame with the old and crotchety but far more costly lens that refuses to auto focus, and I’d have to practically lie down in the water.
Eventually, the torrent of incomers having vacated the water, I was ready to shoot. It’s just a shame the lens wasn’t. Everything looked normal, the new acquisition focused eagerly as I looked down at the flipped out screen from above, but when I pressed the shutter, instead of being rewarded with a copy of the scene in front of me, an error message appeared, inviting me to clean the contacts. Standing here on a beach, surrounded by life, sand and seagulls, no amount of tinkering and wiping was going to fix the problem. And so I resorted to the other lens, the 24-70 that accompanies me everywhere, regardless of whatever else goes in the bag for each outing. Bang went the plan for big foregrounds full of texture and water, and along came its emergency replacement - although quite what that might be, I hadn’t decided just yet. Maybe I’d leave one or two of the people who littered each frame and airbrush the rest away. Meanwhile, the sky continued to fill with textures and warm colours in the minutes before sunset.
We moved closer to the sea, setting up our tripods and stoically ignoring the endless distractions around us, one of us occasionally calling across the twelve yard gap to see how the other was getting on. The foreground was rather messier than I’m used to here, not only because of the mass of humanity, but also the absence of a curving river across the sand that so often fills the frame and banishes all distractions at low tide. Apart from slowing down the water right in front of me, I was watching both clouds and light in a composition that didn’t quite match some of the more dynamic ones I’ve found here before now. I was happy enough though. Usually by early September at this time of day I’m in a coat, jeans and welly boots here, but today it was shorts, tee shirt and the aforementioned flip flops on this balmy evening.
And then something interesting happened as wave after wave of gulls flew overhead from the cliffs behind us to land on the shore or in the sea, filling the air with activity. Much like our visit to Godrevy on Monday, we were dealing with interlopers, but this lot were feathered, noisy and in far greater numbers. I abandoned the filters and raised the ISO well into four figures, silently thanking a certain editing suite for the recent introduction of a new and much improved noise reduction feature. Despite the complete failure of Plan A, something had worked.
It was time to say farewell - for now at least. Steve had a long journey home the following day, and I was about to take part in a reunion of the three happy snappers with Dave and Lee the next morning. And there was the matter of an errant lens to attend to. More of that in the next episode.
IMG_2500c 2025 09 20 file
Sunflower/Snow on the Mountain(Euphoria Marginata) mixture
viewed north of Geronimo, Oklahoma
Weekend Camping getaway.
Smoky Mountain Christian Camp
Tellico Plains, Tennessee
Saturday, June 6th, 2020
Poor bedraggled garden. The remaining flowers need a diffusion filter like they use in Hollywood when they shoot aging movie stars. The wrinkles soften, so that the beauty that once was can still be seen.
...far away in the Swiss Alps
PENTAX K-1
HD-Pentax-DA 55-300mm WR Zoom
Hoya Softener (A)
Processed in the Pentax K-1 using the RAW-converter and "digital filters", most obviously the "water-colour" filter. Cropping and compression also with the in-camera facilities. Some further work on contrast, clarity and shading in my digital darkroom, SilkyPix Developer Studio 9 Pro. No texture overlay, no Photoshop.
After initial skepsis, I've come to regard the "digital filters"of the Pentax K-1 as something I don't want to miss! Used in combination, and with the camera's built-in RAW-converter, as well as the downsizing and cropping tools, they offer seemingly endless possibilities.
Do view large and zoom in to see how the micro-lenses of the soft-focus filter have acted here with the camera's digital "water-colour filter" and the clarity slider of SilkyPix Pro 9 to create an interesting texture.
HSS!
(Backlight, unsharp, softening effect, some blur)
By Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Known as the Palais Royal Monument
Date : 1890
Medium : bronze
After Victor Hugo’s death in 1885, it was decided to erect a monument in his honour in the Panthéon as a pendant to Injalbert’s statue of Mirabeau. Rodin was awarded the commission in 1889.
The sculptor chose to depict Victor Hugo in exile, seated amongst the rocks of Guernsey, his arm outstretched as if to calm the waves. It was an image both of the poet lost in contemplation and of the champion of the Republican cause.
Spur of the moment chili: cook 1/2 lb of lean ground beef & then drain fat. Saute in another pan, 1/2 yellow onion, diced. Add to pot: onion, beef, 1 can of tomatoes, 1 small can of tomato paste, 1 can of black beens, 2 serrano chilis (sliced. Think you're so tough? Put a raw sliver in your mouth), one Japanese eggplant (meaty slices), 2 garlic cloves (minced), and spices to taste: salt, pepper, oregano, chili powder, a little ground cumin. Simmer for some time, an hour if you can; the eggplant takes a while to soften. Eat too soon, and it will taste tart. Grate cheddar over top for extra taste.
I think dark beers go best with chili. I chose St. Peter's Cream Stout, and I chose wisely.
Flickr friend Ray Love and I made our annual trek up the gorge to Chedoke Falls today. The warmer weather softened the snow so that walking was relatively easy.
The sun had softened the snow and our feet were now sinking in where once we had left only point marks. The going was slow but steady and we weaved our way back over the plateau toward the cave.
One last hill before we hit the upper plateau and then it was a flat traverse to the point right below our cave. But that last hill was really soft. Step by step we inched our weary bodies up crossing left and then right to avoid a straight up ascent.
My head just popped up to a point where I saw the peak of Mt Cook and the full moon. Suddenly I had found a new burst of energy. I needed to get this on camera. I picked up the pace trying to get Rod to do the same. "You've got to see this!" Obviously he wasn't as keen as I was and at this point I thought I may have had an ice axe hurtling my way.
I finally rounded the top of the hill to see this amazing scene. 11 hours after leaving camp we were returning and the sunset seemed to herald our triumphant home coming. What an amazing day!
Now...onward to melt some drinking water because I am absolutely parched!
This is probably my best shot to date of a Mallard Drake. Another duck that I often overlook because it is so common, but they are actually quite beautiful. Particularly the drakes when caught in the right light with their glowing iridescent green heads. In winter around here, the light is pretty much good all day long and I was fortunate to have some cloud cover on this day to soften that light. A handsome drake wouldn't you say? View large (L) for best detail.
Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the evening ~
slexyfashionista.blogspot.com/
free hat hair by Heart Softens
new dress by Paper.Doll; new dot earrings by Je Suis; new necklace by Line; new skin by MonS; new eye makeup by a.e.meth; new bracelet by Mood (all for CHIC Limited Pure Juice event)
pose by On the Cover
Blue morning haze softens the contours of desert mountains beyond Lake Manly, Death Valley.
Haze is a factor to be reckoned with when photographing in a vast landscape like Death Valley National Park. It is there even on “clear” days, and over long distances its effects can be substantial. Details are muted (especially in shadows), the colors shift toward blue, and atmospheric instability can make subjects literally shimmer. (That makes it virtually impossible to get sharp focus in some situations.) It used to leave me nonplused, but eventually I thought about how to use these characteristics — after all, they are part of the scene.
When I made this photograph it wasn’t just a matter of distance — the atmosphere actually was hazier than usual. In this interpretation of the subject I decided to embrace that haze and its softening effect on the distant mountains. This contrasts with the rather more stark contrasts between the foreground waters of Lake Manley and bits of darker land. But overall, the image retains that blue coloration that I mentioned above.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
A group of photographers join forces to slow the water down.
This spot was right off the road, so was well known.
These folks were part of a photo tour/workshop parked nearby.
Macro image of red and green color succulent smoothed and softened in post production for a delicate, glowing effect. I shot this with my trusty and time-tested Tokina macro lens. Natural back-lighting and the thinness of the succulent leaves made a nice glow. I cropped the original image down to achieve a hilly or mountainous macro fantasy landscape.
This image was one of my favorites because of it's lighting and contrasting colors, and also because it has good depth of field keeping all the elements in focus.
If you like to see more of my macro and close-up photography:
Contrasting desert landscape of red-orange rock softened by yellow-flowered brittlebush. Saguaros and cholla cacti interspersed. BLM 9115 or 14 A, Ajo, Arizona, USA. 25 March 2020.
Added a little Color Effex glow and softened the shot, it was a little too sharp for such a gentle peaceful slow paced scene, with the lambs and moms enjoying a little late afternoon warmth
.
... you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it. Bill Cosby
Texture www.flickr.com/photos/lenabem-anna/5058565027/in/set-7215...
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Use without permission is illegal.
Early blooming Christmas Cactus....
Schlumbergera - Cactoideae
she sat there, hands clasped, in the quiet hum of neon and noise. âpart time saints, full time rebelsâ glared from the wall like a dare. outside, valencia buzzed in the evening light, but inside, the air sat heavy. the graffiti whispered stories no one cared to tell. a lampâs glow softened the edges, but it was the blue light that owned the room.
Plush carpets and heavy curtains soften the soundscape, possibly to form a stark contrast to the bare sandstone and concrete that follow.
Olympus OM-1
Zuiko 85mm f/2.0
Yellow filter
Kodak Tri-X 400
HC-110 B
Print (softened):
Paper: Ilford Multigrade IV RC Portfolio
Devloped in Ilford Multigrade