Dillard's Department Store
View allAll Photos Tagged upscale
200mm on full frame is not always enough to come really close
Thanks to modern software a duplication of virtual focal length is possible if the original footage is of good and clean quality (RAW image is a must here)
AI-assisted digital painting with Night Cafe, TouchRetouch, and Procreate.
In some ways, I suppose it’s an open question as to whether I am the artist here. For the most part, the image was composed by the AI. I upscaled it, I adjusted color and shading, and refined the details.
Still, the base image did not exist until I called it into existence. In times past artists have thrown paint on a canvas and called it art. There is technique to that. Likewise, there is technique to driving the AI to produce the base image, and in refining the image after the AI produces it.
As a winter destination for many moneyed snowbirds, Naples, Florida, is a great place to see lots of luxury sports cars such as this red Ferrari. Not surprisingly, the Old Naples district features an abundance of high-end shops, galleries, restaurants and cafes.
HSS
"Constantin Brâncuși (February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism, Brâncuși is called the patriarch of modern sculpture. As a child, he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1905 to 1907. His art emphasizes clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic allusions of representational art. Brâncuși's practice drew from Romanian folk art, and sought a great deal of inspiration in non-European cultures as a source of primitive exoticism, as did Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, and others."
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Br%C3%A2ncu%C8%99i
London Flickr Photowalk, December 14th 2025.
"Twelve Responses to Tragedy, or the Yalta Memorial, is a memorial located in the Yalta Memorial Garden on Cromwell Road in South Kensington in west London. The memorial commemorates people displaced as a result of the Yalta Conference at the conclusion of the Second World War. Created by the British sculptor Angela Conner, the work consists of twelve bronze busts atop a stone base."
Upscale Imerovigli village sits on a clifftop overlooking Santorini’s caldera islands. The terraces of its sleek bars, fine-dining restaurants, and upscale boutique hotels, some in caves, are popular sunset viewing spots. The Ekklisia Theoskepasti hiking trail leads past the ruined, 13th-century Skaros Venetian Fortress to the summit of landmark Skaros Rock and the blue-domed Theoskepasti Church on the rock’s flank. ~ Google
Upscale mall and transit center (8/16/16) across the street from One World Trade Center. The concrete and steel structure was designed by famed architect, Santiago Calatrava.
As you can see much is missing or possibly erroneous in this picture. but you get the idea of the how magnificent a structure Calatrava had created (besides a significant amount of distortion in the original capture, there was a large crowd of people at or near the entrance so I left Photoshop make up something to replace the people).
Riverstone, an upscale subdivision near my neighborhood, has been subject to flooding in the past. Three years ago Riverstone funded the construction (reconstruction, actually) of a 4.5-acre wetlands with several educational kiosks about birds and plants, especially how the roots of prairie grasses absorb lots of water, certainly more than concrete! The wetlands have attracted birds, 88 species according to eBird, the 39th hotspot in Fort Bend county. An Ibis in the wetlands is shown in the next photo.
A pleasant Sunday morning kicks off with the usual CN traffic through Concrete Canyon. Here, IC 1002 snakes past the uppity hi-rises of Near South Side Chicago with the daily Glenn - Kirk Yard transfer, L536.
Upscaled with Gigapixel v8.4.4. 2814x2814 => 5628x5628 (2x) Model: High Fidelity V2, denoise: 1, sharpen: 1, decompression: 1
Upscale mall and transit center (8/16/16) across the street from One World Trade Center. The concrete and steel structure was designed by famed architect, Santiago Calatrava.
Rodeo Drive Capri in the morning is quiet and lonely except for this sleepy photographer. I love this time of day. Morning is the best time of day even better than evening because I have everything to myself. I have the light and the color and my tripod and I own it all.
When brownstone meets modern design. Surprisingly cozy and elegant :)
[Bersav] Luxury Flower
Get it at Tres Chic! maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tres%20Chic/164/133/133
Bersav Links & Socials: linktr.ee/bersav.design
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LORE Prospect Ave Apartment
Get it at Wasteland! maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mount%20Amore/200/42/2173
LORE MP: marketplace.secondlife.com/en-US/stores/177092
LORE Mainstore: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lore/198/77/954
LORE Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/lalalamour/
LORE Primfeed: www.primfeed.com/lore
My Primfeed: prmfd.co/p/YRFn1SAXUOnF
Cogels Osylei, Zurenborg
Antwerp, Belgium
04-19-26
When I got off the train at Zurenborg, one of many places I'd "saved" in Google Maps for exploring and photography, I didn't know what to expect. Whatever it was, it wasn't what I encountered.
I had seen a lot of magnificent medieval housing and buildings up to then. It was the fifth day and second city of my trip. I didn't know Cogels Osylei was the name of a street. In Europe there are districts, areas, all kinds of things that are given Google Maps representation. I remember thinking that I knew I was looking for some interesting houses, and I passed a couple of streets on the path away from the train station. I kept my eyes glued to my little blue dot on my phone screen was going to the dropped pin and finally I came upon the entrance to...this!
The whole street is filled with wonder and amazement! Houses are intricately designed but not altogether ostentatious (no, not at all). When were these built? I wondered. Who lives here? The amazing places were along both sides of a pretty narrow street, so a bit difficult to get photos showcasing the fronts of both sides in a single image. I took lots of images, while walking down the street. It goes to a circle, and another street crosses it there. The whole area of Zurenborg is one architectural dreamscape.
If I lived in Belgium, it would be here. That is, if I could afford it.
Turns out this was a "planned" community in Antwerp back in the late 19th Century. There were industrial, commercial and residential zones. This area was zoned for the well-to-do. The block of homes in my photo are part of one group, built at the same time, all designed by architect Joseph Bascourt. Blocks were laid out and homes constructed according to themes. I was simply flabbergasted and knew there was no way I could ever present what I was actually seeing in any photographs.
The architectural style is Art Nouveau, which borrowed from earlier styles and embellished them. Some of the spires and rotundas reminded me of Russia.
During the 1960s the area fell into disrepair. Folks moved to other neighborhoods, and the upkeep of these large buildings was quite expensive. There were plans, thankfully not put into effect, to bulldoze the whole area and turn it into a shopping district. Cooler heads prevailed. Now the area is a major tourist draw, and artists and entrepreneurs live here. A lot of the homes have historic status.
It's 'stumbling' upon places like this, which wasn't near the heart of Antwerp, where I only stayed two days which really get my heart pumping! I had to take a few trains and trams to get here, but it sure was worth it!!!!
Walking in Hong Kong is fun! One afternoon I strolled along the shoreline in Whampoa near our hotel and ended up at Laguna Verde, an upscale housing estate in Hung Hom, consisting of 25 residential high rises.
I processed a paintery and a balanced HDR photo from three RAW exposures, merged them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.
Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
-- ƒ/8.0, 12 mm, 1/45 sec, ISO 200, Sony A7 II, Rokinon 12mm F2.8, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, _DSC3589_0_1_hdr3pai5bal1pho1g.jpg
-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography