View allAll Photos Tagged constraining
An early morning photo on the beach at Oxley Beach in Port Macquarie. I took only my Canon 100 lens to constrain my efforts to using the 100 for a landscape shot. This is a long exposure, using a LED torch to light the rock.
February 26, 2016
Impel:
[im-pel]
verb (used with object), impelled, impelling.
1. to drive or urge forward; press on; incite or constrain to action.
2. to drive or cause to move onward; propel; impart motion to.
-----
As it often happens, I was the first one in the office this morning and instead of turning the lights on, I just hung out with the glow of my desk lamp and monitors and the light from the windows caught my eye.
I liked the way the light was rising over the city as it came awake so I thought I would try shooting through the dirty windows. Didn't turn out too badly and my day turned out to be a bit insane so this was all I ended up shooting today. Good thing I don't dislike it!
Hope everyone has had a good day.
Click "L" for a larger view.
We are never more (and sometimes less) than the co-authors of our own narratives. Only in fantasy do we live what story we please. . . . We enter upon a stage which we did not design and we find ourselves part of an action that was not of our making. Each of us being a main character in his own drama plays subordinate parts in the drama of others, and each drama constrains the others. In my drama, perhaps, I am Hamlet or Iago or at least the swineherd who may yet become a prince, but to you, I am only A Gentleman or at best Second Murderer, while you are my Polonius or my Gravedigger, but your own hero. Each of our dramas exerts constraints on each other’s, making the whole different from the parts, but still dramatic.
-Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 3rd ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), 213–14.
It is only those who truly love Christ that are fitted to minister to His flock! The work is so laborious, the appreciation is often so small, the response so discouraging, the criticisms so harsh, the attacks of Satan so fierce, that only the “love of Christ” – His for us and ours for Him – can “constrain” to such work. “Hirelings” will feed the goats, but only those who love Christ can feed His sheep. - A.W. Pink
.
Here in New Mexico it's often called Día de los Muertos.
My mother's family is from Puerto Rico where Día de Muertos isn't celebrated. The day after Halloween was always just All Saints Day.
Coming to New Mexico and learning the story behind Día de Muertos was a treat. I really like the idea of celebrating and remembering those who have gone on.
And who doesn't like a sugar skull?
After using a gradient map to make this black and white, I split toned it using an orange for highlights and a blue for shadows with Blend If in the layer style's dialog for constraining to the appropriate luminosities.
If you look closely you'll see my parents in a shot from their wedding day in 1945.
Happy Sliders Sunday and Happy Día de Muertos!
.
Often when editing an image, I'll create a mask for sharpening using the Find Edges command. In Photoshop it's found under Filters > Stylize > Find Edges.
Then I'll invert it so that everything that is now white is used as a selection through which sharpening can be accomplished. This constrains the sharpening to specific areas.
When I saw this mask I was so struck by the contrasts and detail that I felt compelled to use it as its own image.
Happy Sliders Sunday!
I designed this fox from start to finish during my trip to the German Convention this year.
I have not figured out a folding secuence for her, as the design does not derive directly from folding but from careful placing of the folds with the intention of shaping each part of the animal independenly.
To further constrain the design tools I followed the same criteria I have been using lastly. This fox is made from folds mostly at 22.5 angles and a CP (N/A yet) can confortably convey almost 100% of the folds in the model. That mean it has very few finishing touches and every thing *has* to be done through actual straight line folds.
A contradiction with the "interpretation" of origami?
I see strength and weakness at once. I see a strong human-made structure that constrains even nature's strongest winds, but is filled with cracks and imperfections. At the same time, I bear witness to the the undeserving warning and caution that we humans now surround ourselves with (even outdoors). Meanwhile, nature perseveres; it grows where it wants, without regard for the wishes of man.
I roamed the Rough Bounds of rock and moine,
No paths to guide my way, nor fences to constrain,
Just misty miles of emptiness,
Bowing only to nature's reign.
A panorama of four images showing the view north from the footpath between Gortenfern and Ockle on the north coast of Ardnamurchan, towards the Rough Bounds of Morar and Knoydart, moments before sunset on Thursday 8th October 2015.
The prominent cone of Sgurr na Ciche (1040m) in remotest Knoydart dominates the skyline in the centre of the image. Many years ago, the circuit of Sgurr na Ciche and its sister peak of Ben Aden gave me one of the most exhilarating day's walking that I have ever enjoyed in the Scottish Highlands.
pls try to listen to the Hymn,my friends :
Lord, keep my heart always true to You
Lord, keep my heart always true to You,
Never backsliding, always viewing You,
A heart that is pure that sees only You,
A heart that loves You and treasures only You.
Your love constrains me to give my all to You.
Lord, I can't help it; my heart is drawn to You.
Oh what a privilege! I give myself to You!
I love You, Lord, dearest Lord.
I love You! I just love You!
Lord, keep my love burning brightly for You,
A love never dwindling always hot for You,
A love, shining brighter all the way for You,
A love, so fresh like the day I first touched You.
Lord, take my life, I present it to You!
If I had a thousand, I'd pour all on You!
Nothing withholding, my all is for You.
My life and my future, dear Lord, is all for You.
Just got back from a week in Utah with my girlfriend's family, after spending two weeks dealing with Covid...what a month!
While my girlfriend repeatedly checked in on me, as a week with a family including several siblings and over a dozen of Their children could easily be considered harrowing...it was actually pretty easy.
Every family has its own rules, its own flow...and there's a fascination for me in watching all that go down, how people who've known each other their whole lives interact, the topics they dance around, the boundaries they cross, how folks with multiple children navigate the tight constrains on their time.
The most important observation: you give something, Anything to one kid...the rest will want it. Even if they had no interest in it beforehand, now they simply Must have it. Give one kid a piece of gum...you better have another 10 in your pocket.
An illustration of ‘Oumuamua, the first object we’ve ever seen pass through our own solar system that has interstellar origins.
In October, a mysterious object zipped through our solar system at 196,000 mph. Scientists named it ‘Oumuamua, which means “a messenger from afar arriving first” in Hawaiian, and it’s the first object we’ve ever seen that entered from outside our solar system. Now our astrophysicists have helped calculate how it fits into what we know about how planetary systems form.
“This object was likely ejected from a distant star system,” said Elisa Quintana, an astrophysicist at Goddard. “What’s interesting is that just this one object flying by so quickly can help us constrain some of our planet formation models.”
On Sept. 19, ‘Oumuamua sped past the Sun at about 196,000 mph (315,400 km/h), fast enough to escape the Sun’s gravitational pull and break free of the solar system, never to return. Usually, an object traveling at a similar speed would be a comet falling sunward from the outer solar system. Comets are icy objects that range between house-sized to many miles across. But they usually shed gas and dust as they approach the Sun and warm up. ‘Oumuamua didn’t. Some scientists interpreted this to mean that ‘Oumuamua was a dry asteroid.
Read more: go.nasa.gov/2GgN2HY
Credits: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Find us on Instagram
Declaration of Independence
About the Document
The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson. It was a list of grievances against the king of England intended to justify separation from British rule, and it expressed "self-evident truths" of liberty and equality.
Date
Approved by Congress on July 4, 1776, signed on August 2, 1776
Full Text
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For protecting them by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren.
We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.
We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare.
That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown,
and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved;
and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce,
and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
.
I had started out along the 10K Trail below Sandia Crest immersed in low cloud. Three hours later I came to where it intersects the Ellis Trail and began walking back. I encountered this lovely meadow. There was a bit of sun striking through enabling the infrared.
You can see the original image in the first comment box below. If it doesn't show, clicking on your browser's refresh button usually does the trick.
The base image shows the usual magenta cast of the 720nm infrared filter. I created a b/w version in Lr and opened in Ps. I made the usual luminosity masking alpha channels of lights and darks. Google for Tony Kuyper's tutorials. You won't be disappointed.
I then painted color in various places on various layers, and used the luminosity masks to constrain the color into just where I wanted. I didn't want to go overboard, but wanted a bit of a hand painted feel to the final image.
This astronomical portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases an edge-on view of the majestic spiral galaxy UGC 11537. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 has captured the tightly wound spiral arms swirling around the heart of UGC 11537 at infrared and visible wavelengths, showing both the bright bands of stars and the dark clouds of dust threading throughout the galaxy.
UGC 11537 is 230 million light-years away in the constellation Aquila, and lies close to the plane of the Milky Way. Being so close to the starry band of the Milky Way means that foreground stars from our own galaxy have crept into the image — the two prominent stars in front of UGC 11537 are interlopers from within the Milky Way. These bright foreground stars are surrounded by diffraction spikes — imaging artifacts caused by starlight interacting with Hubble’s inner structure.
This image came from a set of observations designed to help astronomers weigh supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. The combination of Hubble’s sharp-eyed observations and data from ground-based telescopes allowed astronomers to make detailed models of the mass of stars in these galaxies, which in turn helps constrain the mass of supermassive black holes.
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Seth; CC BY 4.0
For Strobist Bootcamp assignment #4. Instead of taking another shot of a bottle of water like everyone else I thought I borrow an idea from one of my brothers in the Philippines who shot an Absolut Vodka Ad about ten years ago. The idea is to actually create a “bottle” out of water. I had to “draw” the liquid bottle several times with a medicine dropper and had to wipe the set clean every time before I got it to look like a bottle of water. It's not perfect, but for now, given the time constrain, it will have to do.
See my comments below for the set up.
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
Self-isolation for an extended time places constrains on us as photographers. Painters can continue to paint whatever their imagination can conjure, but we photographers have to find things to photograph in the confined space we now live in. For years, I was saying that my imagination is my Iceland, my African Safari, my Antelope Canyon - you get the idea. Now I am constrained in terms of where me and my camera can go and so this is the put up or shut up time. I am now building up a series (code name Covid-19) that is shot exclusively from within my apartment building (mostly my apartment). Please consider looking at all images in the series and tell me what you think.
I thought that I
could wield perfection,
in all I ever did,
through will alone,
to forge my soul,
to bare the things I hid,
to constrain to right my earthly toils,
to rein my heart to mortal bounds,
lest I look above, these plains-a-soiled,
and harken to more eternal sounds,
unto the hallowed hills,
where my undreamt promises lay,
and wish I were that better man,
I hoped I saw above my crooked way.
I am not what I wish I am, nor am I what I fear,
I’ve still some time to roam, inside of here.
-Tim Sandstrom
Excerpt from agb.life/visit/exhibitions/a-vessel-to-bend-water:
A Vessel to Bend Water
Drawing from digital archives and physical postcards, Leila Fatemi explores the connection between photographic representation and props, which often symbolize societal status. In A Vessel to Bend Water, she critically engages with the historical representation of women from the SWANA (South West Asia and North Africa) region in photography, particularly in Orientalist imagery, by focusing on the vessel—a recurring motif that reinforces colonial ideologies and constrains women’s roles.
The vessel is often used as a metaphor for confinement, while also suggestive of ideas related to domestic labour, nourishment, and gathering. Photographic depictions of vessels underscore broader issues of gendered representation and systemic marginalization and, in the histories of women from SWANA regions that were, in the nineteenth century, problematically depicted in opposition to the West and in relation to European powers as “the Orient”—highlight how women’s bodies were defined and controlled through the lens of colonial power. A Vessel to Bend Water demonstrates how imagery of women holding, hoisting, carrying, and leaning on water vessels was frequently used to undermine women’s agency, subjecting them to imposed identities and societal expectations.
The project spans various mediums, including collage, textiles, cyanotypes, lenticular prints, ceramics, and photolithography on clay, reinterpreting and disrupting conventional forms of photographic representation. These interventions challenge the objectification of women by questioning the power dynamics and limitations imposed on their bodies. Through images drawn from Fatemi’s personal collection and the Getty Institute’s Ken and Jenny Jacobson Orientalist Photography Collection, the work engages in a dialogue with historical visual artifacts, emphasizing the need to deconstruct and reinterpret oppressive narratives. Using collage techniques like redaction, tearing, and erasure, Fatemi disrupts the preciousness of these images, forcing viewers to reconsider their implications.
During a residency in the AGB clay studios from January to April 2025, Fatemi explored new methods of making and presenting her work for the exhibition. Working alongside the studio technicians and artist-educators, she further experimented with integrating printmaking techniques into her practice, merging photography with ceramics.
In addition to testing image manipulation, Fatemi began reimagining the idea of the vessel itself by pulling the form, as depicted in an archival image, and re-constructing it into a living object. Over the course of the exhibition, unfired clay vessels will slowly disintegrate under the weight of water, returning them to a raw state. Water vessels, once muted in photographers’ studios, now become active agents in their own story. By erasing the utility of the physical vessel, Fatemi underscores its futility in the original archives, breaking down what constitutes a photographic prop to erode the historical narrative.
It was the small talk that made him take fright,
led to his reputation for being mean-lipped.
The trip along the winding driveway, the hut
a skew-whiff protrusion among the scraps.
He said he had a right. As for everyone else,
they threw back their heads :the mess, they
crowed :constrains his movement.
finn / friel / gene
.
Readers of my ramblings might have noticed my obsession lately with the Photoshop LAB color space as an adjunct to the RGB color space in editing.
I can't recommend any more highly Dan Margulis' book, Photoshop LAB Color, now out in 2nd edition.
After frequency separation was used to rearrange elements in the original image, my workflow now consists of copying the background layer or merging the first layers up to a new layer.
That is converted to a smart layer. Double clicking that layer causes a new image to be opened that when saved and closed, brings whatever was done to it back to that smart layer. It's like having an image within an image, each editable.
So that image based on a smart layer was converted to the LAB color space, and curve adjustment layers were used to increase contrast on the LAB "A" channel, which has green-magenta information and on the "B" channel, which has blue-yellow information. One can use this to boost the color information that is within the image file.
I have been fascinated to learn that all the various hues are some mixture of that green, magenta, blue, and yellow on the A and B channels. For example, blue sky is generally a bit of green with a bit more blue. Reds are a mixture of magenta with yellow, as are browns. Green foliage is generally a bit of green with quite a bit more yellow. But I digress.
In that LAB color space image, I then created various curves adjustment layers, and pulled and pushed the curves of the A and B channels to get more of what the Impressionists did based on M. E. Chevreul's theories of simultaneous contrast of color.
I painted on layers set to color blend mode in order to create contrast of hue rather than just contrast of luminosity. The Impressionists used complementary colors to create contrast. Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte used this to emphasize elements of his composition. I attempted to do the same by painting with complementary colors. See if you can notice this around the head of the woman on the bench.
I've learned that one can use Unsharp Mask on a layer set to color blend mode to accentuate the differences in hue.
I no longer do any classic sharpening in RGB mode. Instead, in LAB mode I create a channel based on the Lightness channel, use Find Edges, and create a mask that constrains sharpening to only those edges and only based on luminosity. It allows sharpening without halos. To reduce further that tendency, luminosity masks can be used to only allow the edge sharpening to show on dark pixels.
I have been having such a good time!
Thank you for bearing with my long winded explanations, and I hope your Sunday sliding has been slippery!
🔸◾️ S I L E N T - R I V E R ◾️🔸
On a still and cloudless morning at Penryn Quay earlier this week, I thought conditions suited another crack at ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) photography. It's been a while since I tried the technique after being inspired by the work of Andrew S. Gray Photography last year.
This was shot before sunrise while the sky was full of dawn colour.
I wanted to constrain my movements to a vertical motion - so I kept the camera on the tripod with a slackened camera mount attachment. Upon pressing the shutter, I paused for a moment to record some detail of the boats, trees and sheds - then rotated the camera up & down to soften the image.
I know this technique isn't everyone's cup of tea! I have a straight shot of this composition to follow later.
Canon 6D MkII | 24-105mm lens at 24mm | ƒ/16 | 5 sec | ISO 100 | Tripod | Soft Grad ND & ND Filters | Taken 28-03-2020 at Penryn Quay
**Photos available to buy** - contact me or visit my website
Take a look at my RedBubble shop - www.redbubble.com/people/andrew-hocking
Copyright Andrew Hocking 2020
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
Andromeda XXXVI
Credit: GTC, Giuseppe Donatiello
We present the discovery of Andromeda XXXVI (And XXXVI or A36), an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy in the M31 system.
Despite exhibiting a well-defined red giant branch (RGB), the number of horizontal branch (HB) components is insufficient to precisely constrain the distance, which we indirectly assume to be 776 kpc.
And XXXVI is located around 119 kpc from the center of M31 and is likely a satellite of this galaxy.
The RGB fits well into an old, metal-poor isochrone. This data leads to an estimated age of approximately 12.5 billion years, making it a reionization fossil and among the oldest objects in the Local Group.
The discovery of And XXXVI enriches the census of M31's satellites—43 to date—particularly the small family of ultra-faint dwarfs. With an absolute magnitude around -6, it is among the faintest discovered so far and represents a rich population yet to be identified in Andromeda's vast halo.
Interestingly, I discovered And XXXVI in data from 17 years ago, namely in CFHT images from 2009.
All details are reported in Joanna D. Sakowska et al. 2026 - Andromeda XXXVI: discovery of a new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy towards M31
And XXXVI in follow-up data obtained by DDT (GTC2025-292.227, PI: Martínez-Delgado) using the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC).
Sandstone Columns. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Columns on eroded sandstone, Zion National Park.
While the entirely of the Utah landscape (and similar landscapes in the American Southwest) is compelling, for me the main defining feature always seems to be the red sandstone formations. Yes, I know there are other geological wonders, but in so many cases I see those relative to the massive layers of sandstone. Those lovely white strata? Much more powerful juxtaposed with the red sandstone? The beautiful forests? That red is a powerful complement to their color. And on it goes.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that my photographs of the regions from time to time distill down to photographs of that rock itself. It is a remarkable material. Sometimes it is fractured and broken, but it can also appear to be as smooth and unbroken as butter. We say it is “red,” but the truth is much more complicated, and the light affects our perception of its color a great deal. I photographed this small section of a Zion Canyon wall from below using a long focal length that allowed me to constrain the view to a few columns in the diffused and reflected light.
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.
.
I had worked a few hours on Christmas Eve to not be so behind on paperwork. As I returned home, in the park I saw a gathering of Canada Geese. I combat crawled with camera closer and closer.
This is a two shot panorama, hand blended rather than using the Ps merge to pano tool.
I've included a screen shot of this image in Ps, with the Layers panel and Channels panel spread open.
The Channels panel shows the channels created using the information from Tony Kuyper's tutorials, intersecting the luminosity values to create Lights to Ultra Lights and Darks to Ultra Darks. These when selected, combined, create self feathering selections that make adjustments very precise, constrained to particular luminosity values in the image.
Viewing that screen shot full screen or maximally zoomed, shows more detail of the various layers created.
There are curves adjustment layers with masks created using the combinations of luminosity based channels.
There are dodge burn layers painting with white and black with various opacities through luminosity selections.
Vibrance and saturation was reduced but masked from the geese.
A saturation painting layer was created to slightly increase saturation in some of the geese that were not as hidden by the cloud layer I created to simulate mist/fog rising from the park.
Layers were merged up and converted to a smart object layer for high pass sharpening. A mask was added based upon one of the dark channels, to constrain the sharpening only to darker pixels and avoid halo-ing of light pixels. Then that smart layer was added into a group containing only it, an obscuring mask added, and white painted to limit sharpening only to certain geese.
Above that you'll see a group named Orton. Prior to grouping I had placed a curves adjustment layer set to screen blend mode. Then merged all layers below up through that screen mode curves layer. That merged layer set to multiply blend mode and blurred. Opacities adjusted, then those two layers were grouped as the Orton group and the total opacity adjusted.
After a few days of looking at this image, I felt it needed something else. I wanted it to look less realistic and more dream like or fantasy based.
I had read in a photo magazine how to create the illusion of fog or mist. So in a new layer above everything I ran Ps Filter>Render>Clouds. Using Edit>Transform, I expanded and twisted those clouds. I copied to a new layer some of them and moved them to other areas. I masked them from showing in certain regions. Then I added a Levels adjustment layer, linking its effect only to those cloud layers. You'll see I pulled the black and white slider handles inward, increasing contrast of the clouds created to appear as fog.
In the first comment box below you'll see the screen shot showing the expanded Layers panel and Channels panel from Ps. And you'll see one of the two original images from which this was created.
Happy Sliders Sunday!
.
Photographed yesterday with the infrared filter on the X100 as I was walking out of the botanic gardens.
I'm not bothering to show the original IR photo. It was rather flat and rather purple as they all are.
This rendering turned out to be more involved and more fun than I'd anticipated.
As usual, I began by making a range of luminosity masks in the channels palette. To understand what I mean, googling Tony Kuyper and reading his tutorials would be beneficial.
I knew from the get go that I wanted something bright and fuzzy for many of the lighter portions of the image so I experimented with using curves adjustment layers set to screen blend mode, grouped with merged through layers set to multiply. This is one version of Orton-izing. At the top of the layer stack put a curves adjustment layer. Set it to screen mode. With it as the active layer, on a Win computer press Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E, et voilà, Ps merges all the visible layers into a new layer above the active layer. Mac users, you know your key equivalents. Set that newly created merged up layer to multiply blend mode. Adjust opacity to taste. Group the curves layer and the merged up multiply layer into their own group. Adjust opacity to taste.
Do that many many times and use the afore mentioned luminosity based channels as layer masks to let show as much or as little of an effect one wants.
And of course there were a fair number of 50% grey filled layers painted on with adjusted opacities of black or white with a luminosity channel actively selected to constrain the effect where wanted as a method of dodging and burning.
Did I mention layer masks? Lots of layer masks. With adjusted opacity. Single layers with masks put into a group of its own with its own mask so the layer has a mask and then a second mask to refine an effect even further. Again I thank Tony Kuyper for that idea.
Often I'll end up with a dozen or more layers to an image, all so that it doesn't appear that anything was done to it. This time, I wanted my image to look a bit other worldly and significantly slud for sliders sunday.
hss!
And now today, happy bench monday!
One of Death Valley’s remote canyons constrains the Sun to a narrow band streaking down from the blue sky window above. The light slices across the marbled rock onto the wash that makes up the floor and bounces back up onto the wall. The narrow band of light caught my eye, and especially how it bounced onto the rock adjacent to it. As I explore these places, I enjoy imagining the flash floods of water that come and sweep through the twists and turns of the canyon, slowly carving it out of the solid mass of the mountain over timescales that dwarf our brief human lives.
I'm starting a new series titled "Off Screen Space" My idea behind it is how a story may seem to take place within the frame but it really lives outside of it. The viewer's imagination takes what it sees and allows the narrative to unfold.
For this photo I want to think about "time." What do you think of when you hear the word "time?" Maybe it's your past, future, anxieties, a present moment, or something else. For me I see time as an idea that constrains me. Lately I've felt really busy and haven't had time to do what I'm passionate about. Because we track time and mark our days it reminds me of how finite my life is. It gives me anxieties, stress, and sadness that I have no control over how time is continuously moving forward. I ask myself, "is what I'm doing right now wasting time or am I making good use of it?" Every minute, hour, and day is fleeting. Yet in such contradiction this sobers me. It makes me cherish each moment I have. I know how cliche that may sound but lately I've begun to be happy with where I am. I'm learning to accept both the busyness and the slow days. Each one is a gift and I'm trying my best to embrace that.
So with that I want to know where does your imagination lead you with this image?
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
Blake's watercoloured etching The Ancient of Days
---
turmarion.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/creation-vs-emanation/
The claim I want to make is that creation and emanation, though sometimes conflated, are very much different concepts.
The former emphasizes the separateness of the world from its Creator. Though God, by definition, would have had the world and everything in it eternally in mind, they still exist outside of God. God may be present in His cosmos metaphysically and by what the Orthodox would call His “energies“, and yet He is still existentially separate.
With emanation, the boundaries between God and His creation are much more blurred–more, in fact, than is commonly realized. In a sense, we are all part of God’s “dream”, which (God being eternal) has in a sense always existed. Not just us, however, but many, many other possibilities.
---
Blake's watercoloured etching The Ancient of Days
In the mythology of William Blake, Urizen is the embodiment of conventional reason and law. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe; or nets, with which he ensnares people in webs of law and conventional society. Originally, Urizen represented one half of a two-part system, with him representing reason and Los, his opposition, representing imagination. In Blake's reworking of his mythic system,
Urizen is one of the four Zoas that result from the division of the primordial man, Albion, and he continues to represent reason.
He has an Emanation, or paired female equivalent, Ahania, who stands for Pleasure. In Blake's myth, Urizen is joined by many daughters with three representing aspects of the body. He is also joined by many sons, with four representing the four elements. These sons join in rebellion against their father but are later united in the Last Judgment. In many of Blake's books, Urizen is seen with four books that represent the various laws that he places upon humanity.
Character
In Blake's original myth, Urizen, the representation of abstractions and an abstraction of the human self, is the first entity. He believes himself holy and he sets about establishing various sins in a book of brass that serves as a combination of various laws as discovered by Newton, given to Moses, and the general concept of deism, which force uniformity upon mankind. The rest of the Eternals in turn become indignant at Urizen turning against eternity, and they instill these essences of sin within Urizen's creation. This torments Urizen, and Los soon after appears. Los's duty within the work is to watch over Urizen and serve as his opposition.
In terms of Blake's Orc cycle, Urizen serves as a Satanic force similar to Milton's Satan. After Urizen defeats the serpent/Orc figure in the Garden of Eden story, the Orc figure, in the form of Urizen's son Fuzon, battles against him in a story based on Exodus. Urizen, as a pillar of cloud that hinders the Israelites in their journey home, battles against Fuzon, as a pillar of fire that guides them by night. Eventually, Urizen is able to destroy his rebellious son and impose laws upon the Israelites in the form of the Ten Commandments. This also leads to a death of the Israelite society, and the Israelites under Urizen are imprisoned in a similar manner to how they were under the Egyptians. Symbolically, the Orc cycle describes how Urizen and Orc are part of one unified whole, with Urizen representing the destructive and older essence while Orc is the young and creative essence.
Urizen from the front page of Copy G (c. 1818) of The Book of Urizen currently held by the Library of Congress (detail)
In Blake's later myth, Urizen is one of the four Zoas, the fourfold division of the central god. The other three represent aspects of the trinity and he represents the fallen, Satanic figure although he is also the creator figure. Among the Zoas, he represents the south and the concept of reason. He is described as what binds and controls the universe through creating laws. He is connected to his Emanation known as Ahania, the representation of pleasure, and he is opposed to the Zoa named Urthona, the representation of Imagination. His name can mean many things, from "Your Reason" or a Greek word meaning "to limit". Urizen originates in the beginning of Blake's version of Genesis. He was the entity created when a voice said that light should be born, and he was the fourth child of the characters Albion and Vala. He is said to represent the Heavenly host, but he experiences a Satanic fall in that he desired to rule. He is motivated by his pride and becomes a hypocrite. When Albion asks for him, Urizen refuses and hides, which causes him to experience his fall. After his fall, Urizen set about creating the material world and his jealousy of mankind brought forth both Wrath and Justice.
In the material world, he had Steeds and a Chariot of Day that were stolen from him by Luvah. This occurred because he, reason, sought to take over the Northern lands of Luvah, Imagination. After setting to take over Imagination, Luvah's stealing of the horses, which represented instruction, showed how emotion could dominate over reason. After Luvah falls and becomes Orc, Urizen tries to regain his horses but can only witness them bound. Eventually, the horses are returned to him after the Final Judgment.
Within the early works, Urizen represents the chains of reason that are imposed on the mind. Urizen, like mankind, is bound by these chains. Additionally, these works describe how Newtonian reason and the enlightenment view of the universe traps the imagination. The poems emphasize an evolutionary development within the universe, and this early version of a "survival of the fittest" universe is connected to a fallen world of tyranny and murder.
Urizen's daughters started as the children of light and are possible images of either the planets or of the stars. After his fall, they gain human form. Three of his daughters are Eleth, Uveth and Ona, which represent the three parts of the human body. Together, they also organize the waters of Generation, they are the creators of the Bread of Sorrow, and read from the Book of Iron. At the Last Judgment, they watch over Ahania. His sons are differently organised, in different poems: as Thiriel, Utha, Grodna, Fuzon, aligned with the four classical elements; or as twelve, aligned with the signs of the Zodiac, and builders of the Mundane Shell and seek to keep mankind from falling. In Blake's early myths, they dwell in various cities and do not abide by Urizen's laws; Fuzon directly rebels against Urizen, is able to cut Urizen's loins, and is crucified for his actions. In later versions of the children, they are wise and dwell with Urizen. They, with Urizen, fall after Luvah takes over Urizen's realm. After their fall, they are tortured in hell, and Urizen's creation of science is seen as his domination over them.
However, the four sons are placed in charge of Urthona's armies and rebel against Urizen's rule. During the Last Judgment, the sons get rid of their weapons and celebrate Urizen's return to the plow, and they join together for the harvest.
Urizen is described as having multiple books: Gold, Silver, Iron, and Brass. They represent science, love, war, and sociology, which are four aspects of life. The books are filled with laws that seek to overcome the seven deadly sins. He constantly adds to the works, even when he faces his opposition in Orc, but the books are destroyed in the Last Judgment. The Book of Brass sets forth Urizen's social beliefs that seek to remove all pain and instill peace under one rule. The attempt to force love through law encouraged the Eternals to put forth the Seven Deadly Sins that Urizen hoped to prevent. The Book of Iron was lost in the Tree of Mystery, and represents how Urizen can create wars but cannot control them.[ (Wikipedia)
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
This one goes out to my friends in the German Air Force, as the modern Luftwaffe uses a variation of the Iron Cross as their insignia. This snowflake is about as close as one can get to resembling that symbol, dating back hundreds of years. View large!
This is an unusually perfect example of a “bullet rosette” type snowflake, and there is more than meets the eye. In the very center, the top and bottom “bullets” are joined with a column, and there is a faint horizontal line separating them. This line signifies crystal twinning, where two crystals match the exact same footprint but do not conform to the same molecular bonds – this is a weak point called an evaporation groove where some molecules fly off. The horizontal bullets may have a similar feature, and I believe by pure luck did they stick together in this fashion.
Such luck is seen in 12-sided snowflakes that consist of two “normal” snowflakes that collide and stick together at exactly a 30-degree angle. It’s not common, but it does happen. So why can’t it happen with column-type crystals like this?
As the columns grow outward, they also have the ability to thicken because of greater access to water vapour in the air. What constrains them to their maximum diameter is currently unknown to me, but they seem happy to grow out to this thickness for some time before environmental variables change once again. A snowflake is rarely growing in static conditions in the atmosphere; what happens when it starts to fall to Earth?
I have often seen slightly different growth patterns at the edges of a snowflake. My logic tells me that if a snowflake begins to fall, it’s likely to enter an air mass with different properties before completely leaving the clouds. This can sometimes offer higher humidity, which in this case would shift the columnar growth into plate-like growth. These tiny plates on the ends of the bullets further extend the footprint outward at roughly the same rate that the curved ends of the Iron Cross possesses.
For those unfamiliar with the history ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Cross ), the symbol was first designed in 1813 by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars. Through the centuries it has been a symbol of military decoration, particularly in Germany where it currently adorns many of the modern levels of the Badge of Honour. It is also the “roundel” of the German Air Force and flies on the side of every aircraft under their control.
I find it amazing that this snowflake could have formed a million times with slight variations across billions of years. Mankind has adopted it as a symbol of honour in some ways, but this design predates humanity. Anyone looking at this symbol should be amazed by the bravery of the person behind it, or amazed by the precise variables and unusual physics that create such a shape on a microscopic scale in the sky.
For more unusual snowflakes and how they form, as well as the fun physics and photography behind these images, check out Sky Crystals: www.skycrystals.ca/book/ - there is plenty of winter left to “enjoy” over here, and this book makes it all the more tolerable! :)
This neat little galaxy is known as NGC 4526. Its dark lanes of dust and bright diffuse glow make the galaxy appear to hang like a halo in the emptiness of space in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Although this image paints a picture of serenity, the galaxy is anything but. It is one of the brightest lenticular galaxies known, a category that lies somewhere between spirals and ellipticals. It has hosted two known supernova explosions, one in 1969 and another in 1994, and is known to have a colossal supermassive black hole at its center that has the mass of 450 million suns.
NGC 4526 is part of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Ground-based observations of galaxies in this cluster have revealed that a quarter of these galaxies seem to have rapidly rotating disks of gas at their centers.
The most spectacular of these is this galaxy, NGC 4526, and its spinning disk of gas, dust, and stars reaches out uniquely far from its heart, spanning some seven percent of the galaxy's entire radius.
This disk is moving incredibly fast, spinning at more than 250 kilometers per second. The dynamics of this quickly whirling region were actually used to infer the mass of NGC 4526’s central black hole — a technique that had not been used before to constrain a galaxy’s central black hole.
This image was taken with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
Another capture and composition of the pine marten from Algonquin. Shot handheld at ISO 2500, 1/400sec, F7.1 @ 500mm. I know I should be on a tripod but hate how it constrains my opportunities...some day I will get the hang of it :)
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
Testing my new 105mm f/2.8 macro lens in native Z mount: an amazing performer, significantly above my previous Micro-Nikkor 105/2.8, which was no slouch at all. I keep being astonished at the optical progress that is being permitted by the new, ultra-wide Z mount. It is easy now to understand how limiting and constraining was the older F mount, designed in the 1950s...
Handheld shot, with some wind, not much care went into it, and yet the quality is impressive.
#52 Weeks: the 2022 edition
#Week 13 Energy
Just about everything in this image is an expression of energy, largely from the sun. The sea temperature is a very pleasant 23.5 degrees C today thanks to solar energy; the incoming waves contain energy transferred from far away winds; humans expend energy riding them or frolicking in the water; and above it all, the clouds represent evaporation and condensation as the air is first heated near the ground, before cooling higher in the atmosphere. And of course, too many clouds for too long constrains the ability of roof top panels to collect solar energy and convert it into electricity for our consumption.
THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.
.
I wanted to learn how to create rays of light in photoshop, and looked back through my photos to find one that might suit.
This was shot on a walk through Cibola National Forest along the 10K Trail last month.
I used this photo despite the original being so dark, as the composition suited me. You'll see the original in the first comment box below. If that box doesn't show, clicking your browser's refresh button usually fixes that.
First in Lr, I dragged the shadows slider all the way to the right. I also dragged the highlights and white sliders rightward. Dragging the clarity slider also brought out more mid tone contrast and brightened the lighter bits on the near tree.
I also experimented with Lr presets, the cyano especially, but I didn't go with that. I kept the original as color (despite it being b/w from hipstamatic) and experimented with the various color sliders until I got a blue tone I liked. Sharpening sliders were also utilized, and the slider for masking to only edges.
I then googled for how to create rays of light in Ps. So the image was exported to Ps, where I created a new layer above the background.
I also had created a series of luminosity based channels in the Channels panel based upon the tutorials from Tony Kuyper. And then created a basic mid tone masked Curves adjustment layer to bring up mid tone brightness without affecting the lightest pixels or darkest pixels.
Filter>Render>Clouds filled that new layer with as you'd expect, clouds. Then Filter>Blur>Radial blur, sliding the strength up to 90 something, dragging the point of origin of the radial blur toward the upper right, estimating about where the lighter background through the trees would be. I changed the blend mode of that layer to Overlay. I had to duplicate the layer several times to make it show. Then I placed those layers into a group and created a mask to block the effect from the tree in the foreground and other areas. Then the opacity of the group was slud and also the opacity of the mask itself.
Wanting to create more color contrast, rather than just have the overall blue, I created a blank layer in that group of layers and filled it with a yellow color, and changed the blend mode to color. But I didn't like the tone, so added within that group a photo filter layer, filled with orange and slud the density and opacity to alter the warmth of the light rays. The single yellow color was too cool, and needed warming to get more of the contrast I wanted with the blue.
I painted on to masks placed in the color layer, photo filter layer, and the group layer, painting through a variety of strengths and a variety of luminosity channel selections, to let the yellow/gold rays be where I thought they ought, and mask from areas they shouldn't.
A new layer containing all the other layers merged up was created and converted to a smart object. The high pass filter was run on that layer, and a mask based upon one of the dark luminosity channels was added to that smart layer. This constrains the high pass sharpening to only the dark pixels and prevents halo-ing on the light pixels. That smart layer was placed into a group containing only itself and yet another mask was created blocking everything. Painting with various opacities of white onto that black mask allowed the sharpening to affect only the areas I chose.
Counting the original background layer, there were 10 layers to the Ps image, and 6 masks. Actually, this is not that many compared to other images I've posted to Sliders Sunday.
Best viewed full screen.
Happy Sliders Sunday!