View allAll Photos Tagged Softens
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.
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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.
The mist is set ablaze by the morning sun above Castle Hill, Wittenham Clumps. Taken last winter during a heavy mist which softened all the detail around, probably because I was stood in the middle of it :)
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.
Mini Adventure Merida is posing without her black cape.
The Princess Merida mini doll in the adventure dark green gown and black cape, who I shall call Adventure Merida, is deboxed and posing standing alone. She is supported by a mini doll stand (not included with the set).
Adventure Merida is a twin of Formal Merida. That is, she is the same doll with a different outfit. She has a round face, with round deep blue eyes, thin pale pink lips in a smirk, freckles about her face, and a great mass of curly red-orange hair. Her hair was initially stiffer than the mini Formal Merida, but it softens with handling, and they now have the same feel.
Her outfit consists of a the adventure dress, cape, archery sleeve and flat shoes. The dress is a full length dark blue-green satin gown with half length sleeves, glittering gold cuffs and collar, and a velcro closure in the back. The cape is a full length black cape that is velvet on one side and smooth on the other, and is fastened in the front with a small velcro fastener. The archery sleeve (also called an archery glove, arm protector, or arm brace) is faux leather, is half length, and fits under the sleeve of her dress.
Her shoes are flat heeled and dark brown in color. Her feet are not angled down as sharply as the usual Disney Princess mini doll, so they are more suitable for wearing flats. She has the usual mini doll joints: rotating joint in her neck and ball joints in her shoulders and hips.
The Brave mini dolls have been completely deboxed, and are displayed standing up. The three 5'' dolls are supported by small doll stands (not included with the dolls. The 1.5'' Triplet Princes have been stuck onto a sticky mat consisting of multiple layers of heavy packing tape to stand them up.
My first look at the Brave Mini Doll Set, 6 pieces. It was released by the Disney Store on Monday May 14, 2012 online and in stores, along with many other Brave merchandise. It's cost is $24.50 US. The set consists of Princess Merida in formal blue dress, Queen Elinor in green gown and crown, Princess Merida in adventure dark green dress, and the triplet princes in kilts. Merida and Elinor are 5'' tall, the princes are 1.5'' tall.
First I photographed the set in the unopened box. Then with the dolls taken out of the box, but still attached to the inner cardboard backing, which slides out of the box like a tray. Finally the dolls are completely removed from the box and all packaging restraints.
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
Softening ice, melting snow, warming temperatures and a 'gathering of the girls' are all welcome signs of spring here in the far north.
A small group of female caribou are feeding and wandering in the thawing wetlands at the foothills of the Cathedral Mountains.
Soon they will band together with other groups of caribou and the great migration to calving grounds begins. Bull caribou and previous year's calves will follow in a few weeks.
...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.
My aim in reworking this photo was to strike a balance—preserving the natural colors while softening the dull haze created by lingering mist and a nearly overcast sun. I also wanted to subtly draw attention to landmarks familiar to hikers in the Vosges Mountains: the shadowed silhouette of Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle in the foreground, and, in the distance, the snow-covered Swiss Alps glowing in the light.
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!
I do love the ocean. When the light plays across the waves like this, I just feel so alive and 'at home'. A large swell and nicely softened but strong light, I was loving it! Until the bit at the end when I had to climb the cliff :( But my memories will be of a few fantastic hours watching the interplay of water, rock and light.
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:
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
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35 mm/ Festbrennweite Nikon / Vignette weiß / soft Filter /Fernauslöser / Selfie ....
Mein Profilfoto ist jetzt 10 Jahre alt --- es wird mal Zeit es zu wechseln .
Merkwürdigerweise bin ich jetzt auch 10 Jahre älter .... 😅🙈📷
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35 mm / fixed focal length Nikon / vignette white / soft filter / selfie .... My profile photo is now 10 years old --- it's time to change it. Strangely enough, I'm 10 years older now .... 😅🙈📷
I love to realx after a long day of gardening.
My photo of the scented fabric softener made ss daily click. Thanks.