Beach steps, Beckfoot

Canon 5DMkll, EOS 24-70 f/2.8, 30sec, f/11, !0 stop ND filter

B&W effects via Siver Efex Pro

Venice here I come

Just booked a workshop/tour in Venice at Carnival time next year.
If anyone is unaware of the Venice Carnival then take a look here Carnival photographs  
This will be a whole new departure for me, street photography and portraits against the backdrop of the fabulous city of Venice. I'm drooling at the prospect already and I dont go until March.

Derwentwater Rowing Boat

Derwentwater Rowing Boat, originally uploaded by marush1.

The workshop is now over and I have a headache of migraine proportions from all the information John (Gravett) has fed us.
I now look at my image processing in a different way, with emphasis on the detailed structure of the image rather than global values. This much more how I used to process images in the darkroom, using a processing plan of the areas I wanted to dodge and burn. It is slow going at the moment but as I get the processing steps buttoned down and instinctive it will speed up. There are plug-ins available to assist in the process and one of the most effective is Silver Efex Pro. This image was converted to B&W using that plug-in and took not much more than 15 seconds to achieve from the basic converted Raw file. Just time enough to open the plug-in, select the preset I wanted to use, move a couple of sliders and save the B&W file. Doing the same thing directly in Photoshop would have taken me upwards of an hour at my present level of ability. The time saving alone justifies, to me, the cost of the plug-in.

The shape of things to come

Canon 5D Mark ll, EF 17-40 f/4L, 1/160sec, f/8. ISO 100

Bags are packed, dog in kennels, just twiddling my thumbs until its time to go.

Off for a weeks B&W workshop in the Lakes.

To get me in the mood I selected this image of the Keswick Landing stages on Derwentwater and converted it to B&W using Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software.

Abandoned Hope revisited

Canon 550D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 1/400sec, f/8, ISO 100

On a recent visit to Skippool I found the Good Hope in a worse state than ever.
Rather than just create a straight record I used a modified Spicify preset in Topaz Adjust 4 to highlight the grunge and decay.

Goldfinch

Canon 20D, 300mm f/4 L + 1.4 Extender, 1/250, f/8, ISO 200

Sat having breakfast watching the birds at the feeders I was amused by the antics of a family of Goldfinches. They all seemed to want the same perch on the feeder and they would try anything to get the current occupant to move off so they could get their turn. Meanwhile other perches on the same feeder were empty.
I do wish they would eat what they take from the feeder. 90% of the food ends up on the floor, which encourages the wood pigeons to come in and hoover up the cast offs. I hate woodpigeons!
Watching the show I realised I had not photographed the birds for quite a while so here is one I took (a lot) earlier.

Family

Canon 5D Mark ll, 24-105 f/4 L, 1/1000sec, f/8.0, ISO 200

The latest PSP Challenge has just been posted, the theme is 'Wet'.
Its brilliant sunshine today so here is one from earlier in the 'summer'.
It is a non-entry for the challenge since entries have to be taken after the challenge announcement.
I'm off to the Lake District on Saturday so I expect 'Wet' is going to be an easy subject.