On one of the photography websites I follow I came across a new photo editing program, "Smart Photo Editing". Cost $29.95 (US) about R250 in South African Rand, after using the trial version I just couldn't resist it.
(Shouldn't have though, as this is a month of extra expenses for me as I have just bought a "new" car, or what is euphemistically known as pre-owned. The "new" car is a whole 14 fourteen years younger than my existing 30 year old car. So there are a whole lot of extra expenses this month. The car has to be put through C.0.R, (Certificate of Road worthiness), any defects have to be fixed before it can be registered in my name, licensed and new licence plates bought, etc.)
I have a real "thing" against new cars, spent two weeks going from car show room to show room, dealer to dealer, and came away more convinced than ever that new cars and their prices are a rip off. Almost every salesman seemed to think he could impress me with the "fantastic" sound systems in the cars, and proceeded to blast my ears. I prefer silence and my own thoughts while driving, to the drivel you hear on the radio stations now days. (my "new" car has a radio that doesn't work!)
The best part though is the fantastic financing deals I was offered 10%, 11% and even 14% interest on repayments were considered "fantastic"!! They weren't very interested in a cash deal, some car dealers here are registered financial institutions as well, so they make most of their money out of financing your purchase. So I went and bought my "new" car cash at a tenth of their "fantastic" prices.
Started using the new program straight away and one can create some amazing effects. Below is a photo I took in April this year.
Click to enlarge.
Original photo.
Above the same photo after editing. This photo needs to be enlarged to really see the detail it brings out.
Bruno has learnt that to beat the winter cold, he needs to cuddle up behind Sissie.
Bruno tucked in tight behind Sissie. These two have become inseparable over the last few months.
Amazing what can be done with a little digital editing of a photograph.
Click to enlarge.
This first photo is as it was taken, in very harsh light, and it looks very bland and washed out.
Above is the same photo. I adjusted the colour's and contrast in Picasa photo editing, saved the results as a separate photo, then I blended the two in Gimp photo editing, and the result is a photo with a more vibrant appearance.
The foreground of this photo was 2km from where I was standing, the ridge in the middle about 5km away, and the two hills in the background about 10km. In the valley just behind the yellow ridge with the two Acasia trees, lies the town of Estcourt.
This Cape Robin-Chat came for his usual evening bath in the dogs sandstone water bowl. I was lucky enough to get my camera before he flew off. Set the camera on continuous shooting and pressed the shutter release. Took 20 photos in less than a minute, many of them are just a blur as the bird bathed.
Click to enlarge.
Water's just right.
Head down and a blur of wings as the water is sent spraying into the air.
Give the wings a good fast flap to dry them...,
Lastly a vigorous shake of the tail. All clean and set for bed.
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Spent yesterday afternoon and last night with my brother at his home in Pietermaritzburg. While we were sitting on the veranda drinking a cup of coffee I took these photos of the sun setting over the town.
Click to enlarge.
Sun behind the clouds.
A little while later the sun shone through below the clouds and soon after disappeared below the horizon.
Something I remember from my very early childhood, -I must have been about five years old at the time-, is seeing a picture of a sunrise in a comic book. The picture is still very vivid in my memory, of a barnyard farm scene, with a rooster standing on a fence post crowing and the sun rising like a big orange ball behind the barn.
My mothers parents had a small 10 acre farm on the western outskirts of Durban and we went to visit one weekend, I decided to get up early the next morning and see if the sun really looked like that when it came up. (I needed proof of these things even at that early age). Early the next morning before sunrise I was sitting on the back step, no one locked their houses those days so it was easy to get out. I had no idea where the sun came up, so it was just luck that I was facing the right way. When the sun came up over the mountain opposite the house I was enthralled, it wasn't quite what the picture showed in the comic book, it was far more beautiful than I could have imagined. Since then I have been fascinated by sunrises.
This morning I was out with my camera in the freezing cold to photograph the sunrise.
The first hint of the sun.
It's amazing how fast the sun rises, the earth is spinning on it's axis at almost 2,000km an hour, so that's how fast the sun is rises above the horizon.
Almost completely out.
To keep pointing the camera at the sun after this is to risk damaging the sensor and your eyes. By now I was freezing, the temperature was only just above zero degrees Celsius, so the dogs and i headed home, where two strong, hot cups of coffee revived me.
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One of the things I did while I was visiting in Pretoria a few weeks ago was to ride on the high speed suburban, Gautrain. (the name is an abbreviation of Gauteng Province, Gauteng means place of gold).
What struck me about this train and it's stations was the absolute cleanliness as apposed to the normal dirt one finds on the average African station and trains. Another thing was the teams of security guards patrolling the strain and the stations. When I asked the friend who was travelling with me, "What's with all the security," he told me they were mainly there to prevent littering, and all the things forbidden on the train the most "verboten", was chewing gum. At the time I thought he was pulling my leg. This morning while paging through "The Witness", one of KZN's news papers, (also one of the oldest in the country) I came across this cartoon strip, "Madam & Eve".
Click to enlarge.
The cartoon "Madam & Eve", appears in most English language newspapers in the country. The cartoon is a spoof on the relationship between a domestic, "Eve", and her employer, "Madam". In this strip Eve is on one of the Gautrain station platforms chewing gum, with the inevitable results.
The train pulling into Hatfield station. Just in the left of the photo the friend who was travelling with me.
Below is the link to my post about the Gautrain.
http://drakensview.blogspot.com/2012/06/gau-train.htm
