Re: Today in pictures
 

Spot on there, just doing my crust in playing with layers. All this stuff about vector layers, merge up, merge down, merge all flatten, it is making me dribble. I do have an assistant though, I have "you tube" playing on my tablet with the particular tutorial I am interested in, and doing it for real on the PC. I have to play it a few times for it to make some sort of sense, but it is sinking in slowly.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Dave, I hate to say this, but 'Thank Goodness'....I thought it was only me who was too thick to get those concepts. I gave up in the end...well, no...thatt's not exactly true. Something in life became more pressing and stopped me messing about with all that stuff!

Re: Today in pictures
 

I had a go at adding reflections a while back, but couldn`t get my head around it, layer masks and filters etc, it was all a bit much for where I was at the time. Moved on to something simpler. Your pics reminded me to have another go, seems much simpler now I`ve learned some of the easier stuff. Still wouldn`t fool anyone into thinking it was real though.

Re: Today in pictures
 

If anyone says they found it easy is telling fibs, but persistence helps it to sink in for me, and having a tablet with the tutorial playing appears to be the way it sinks in better for me, that and the repeat slider.
The one thing that makes me go cross-eyed is the jargon that they insist on using to describe a simple idea.

Re: Today in pictures
 

YouTube is a wonderful resource - just taught myself the basics of knitting by watching and re-watching how-to videos on my tablet LOL.

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Had another go, this was more difficult with the angle, but I think it makes it look more realistic.
Had to ask for help to do this, but that`s what the internet`s for.:)

Re: Today in pictures
 

Great manipulation. I prefer to take reflection pics.

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Me to, always better to get the real thing. These are just experiments with some old pics.

Re: Today in pictures
 

I'm feeling better about myself with every post on this subject.
I thought it was just me :D:D.
Persistence does help, but there has to be a time where you draw the line and tell yourself that you don't have to do it...no life depends on it...just my own ego.
I might have another go somewhere down the line....I do so hate to be beaten(I have been saying the same about maths and physics for the last 20 years).

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It is very clever but you can tell the difference between the real thing and the computer generated reflection - it's too perfect I think!

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The promised snow arrived but after 3 hours of thick swirling flakes it turned to freezing rain :( I braved the weather and had a wander with my camera all the same - the results are a bit disapointing. Didn't cross paths with anyone, even the birds were all hiding! It was bitterly cold and at one point I was questioning my own sanity! I was spurred on by the thought of how Davemac would probably have been revelling in it and would not have chickened out when faced by a bit of H2O :D You can see some traces of snow in the first photo and there are a few droplets...

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Yes you can easily tell it`s not real, but I wasn`t trying to fool anyone, it`s just a learning exercise.
Fingers crossed I`ll get plenty of the real thing over the weekend.;)

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Well done for braving the elements,, I remember the words of Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes whenever I look out of the window as I lean over a warm radiator, There is no such thing as bad weather,only bad clothing.

That bridge is interesting, have you thought of entering the water and getting a close up (only joking) wait until it gets warmer.

My days photographic output turned out to be "pants" I had turned my settings to manual without knowing, I think it happened when I was getting it out of the bag. So the entire collection was either totally white or totally black, and was only fit for deletion. It was in RAW and could have been recovered in Paintshop, but there was nothing memorable to warrant all that extra work, well,....... there was a shot of a Unicorn but I will get that the next time I am up the Coppice.




So it was a lesson learned, advance your knowledge, but don't forget the basics.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Dave, that is a bit like life. You can have all the fancy fan dangles you want, but if you haven't got the basics then you have precisely nowt.
Photography, like life, is one long learning curve.....sometimes it is steep and takes your breath away.
I look forward to seeing the Unicorn, but you do know that soon they will be going into hiding in preparation for the breeding season?(I'm getting nearly as whimsical as you :) )

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When the Unicorns go off to do their thing the flying pigs re-appear Margaret ;) (Dave knows this I'm sure!)