Your R System Images - June 2023

PKM-UK · Jun 1, 2023

We hope you have fun making wonderful images this month!

Stay safe and well…

Phil and Karen

——

Any R System images can be posted. If you would like to say something about your images in terms of the subject, settings, or any post-processing, that will be very welcome.

Remember, you don't have to only post things you took this month - sometimes people don't get around to processing/ editing images straight after shooting them. (Think of it more as an ‘images I’d like to post here this month’ thing).

Images posted here will also be available to view in a dedicated Monthly R System Images Galley, which can be found Here.

Commenting on posts is encouraged, as it keeps everyone interested. (Please be considerate, thoughtful and constructive).

We’ll aim to provide some feedback too - but please note we are away for part of each month and busy with ‘life stuff’. The lack of a comment from us is not a sign of disfavour!

Finally, please post in accordance with the RF Shooters Community Guidelines.

Thank you!

PKM-UK · Jun 1, 2023

Images from our recent visit to the Elan Valley in the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales, where we visited the system of dams and reservoirs built there to provide a clean water supply for Birmingham (England!).

(Shot raw and processed using: DxO PhotoLab Elite/ ViewPoint and Adobe Lightroom Classic/ Photoshop).

You can read more about the Elan Valley and its dams and reservoirs by clicking Here.

Phil and Karen

1. Caban Coch Dam, Elan Valley. Height: 111 feet, Length: 558 feet, Reservoir Area: 220 Hectares.

2. Garreg Ddu Dam, Elan Valley. (Used to regulate supply, most of the dam is submerged).

3. Pen y Garreg, Elan Valley. Height: 111 feet, Length: 483 feet, Reservoir Area: 50 Hectares.

4. Craig Goch, Elan Valley. Height: 108 feet, Length: 468 feet, Reservoir Area: 88 Hectares.

5. Claerwen Dam, Claerwen Valley. Height: 168 feet, Length: 1,005 feet, Reservoir Area: 369 Hectares.

6. Dol y Mynach Dam, Claerwen Valley. (The ‘unfinished dam’. Base built but never needed).

7. Nant-y-Gro Dam, Elan Valley. Height: 35 feet, Length: 180 feet. (The ‘Dambusters dam’. Originally built to provide a water supply for the construction workforce, it was blown up in 1942 during demolition tests to develop the bouncing bomb, later used in the Dambuster’s Raid of 1943).

Myles Baker · Jun 1, 2023

Work has unfortunately meant I haven't had the chance to get out in the last month or 2 so no new pictures, however on the theme of dams, here's one stitched together from a few photos of Benmore Dam taken when I was working down there in 1990 on the DC-1 project. Benmore is the largest earth dam in the Southern Hemisphere & is located just outside Otematata, North Otago, New Zealand. Most of the power is transferred to the North Island after being converted from 300kv AC to 300kv DC via the Cook Strait cable and converted back to AC at Haywards, just outside Wellington. Not technically an R system photo but the originals were taken with a Canon T50 & I took photos of them with my RP & stitched them together in Photoshop.

PKM-UK · Jun 1, 2023

Myles Baker said:
Work has unfortunately meant I haven't had the chance to get out in the last month or 2 so no new pictures, however on the theme of dams, here's one stitched together from a few photos of Benmore Dam taken when I was working down there in 1990 on the DC-1 project. Benmore is the largest earth dam in the Southern Hemisphere & is located just outside Otematata, North Otago, New Zealand. Most of the power is transferred to the North Island after being converted from 300kv AC to 300kv DC via the Cook Strait cable and converted back to AC at Haywards, just outside Wellington. Not technically an R system photo but the originals were taken with a Canon T50 & I took photos of them with my RP & stitched them together in Photoshop.View attachment 16722

Hi Myles,

A terrific image of a hugely impressive piece of engineering. (A pretty impressive piece post-processing too!). Truly inspirational all-round. Thank you for sharing...

(Our campsite in the Elan Valley sat just below the Caban Coch Dam - the first image in our set - and it was somewhat mind-blowing to think what it was holding back).

P&K

Myles Baker · Jun 1, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Hi Myles,

A terrific image of a hugely impressive piece of engineering. (A pretty impressive piece post-processing too!). Truly inspirational all-round. Thank you for sharing...

(Our campsite in the Elan Valley sat just below the Caban Coch Dam - the first image in our set - and it was somewhat mind-blowing to think what it was holding back).

P&K

Cheers Phil,
Dams fascinate me. I was fortunate to work on all 3 of the dams on the Waitaki valley at one time or another, Benmore, Aviemore, & Waitaki. Benmore is an impressive sight, especially with the sluice gates open & in full flow. Waitaki, which is the oldest dam on the river, doesn't have sluice gates, it is designed so that the water flows over it when the river is in flood, that's a cool sight, unfortunately I don't have a photo of it in that state.

YangMills · Jun 2, 2023

African fauna in English flora. Yeah, I know it's not the same as going on safari and capturing animals in the wild but I like the image anyway. An Eastern or mountain bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus), the third largest antelope in the world, originating from Kenya.

PKM-UK · Jun 2, 2023

YangMills said:
African fauna in English flora. Yeah, I know it's not the same as going on safari and capturing animals in the wild but I like the image anyway. An Eastern or mountain bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus), the third largest antelope in the world, originating from Kenya.View attachment 16749

Hi Yang,

A terrific image of a beautiful creature (and a wonderful country!

). A fine pose - and a touch a catch-light in the eye too.

Thank you for sharing...

P&K

Hali · Jun 3, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Images from our recent visit to the Elan Valley in the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales, where we visited the system of dams and reservoirs built there to provide a clean water supply for Birmingham (England!).

(Shot raw and processed using: DxO PhotoLab Elite/ ViewPoint and Adobe Lightroom Classic/ Photoshop).

You can read more about the Elan Valley and its dams and reservoirs by clicking Here.

Phil and Karen

1. Caban Coch Dam, Elan Valley. Height: 111 feet, Length: 558 feet, Reservoir Area: 220 Hectares.

View attachment 16702

2. Garreg Ddu Dam, Elan Valley. (Used to regulate supply, most of the dam is submerged).

View attachment 16703

3. Pen y Garreg, Elan Valley. Height: 111 feet, Length: 483 feet, Reservoir Area: 50 Hectares.

View attachment 16704

4. Craig Goch, Elan Valley. Height: 108 feet, Length: 468 feet, Reservoir Area: 88 Hectares.

View attachment 16705

5. Claerwen Dam, Claerwen Valley. Height: 168 feet, Length: 1,005 feet, Reservoir Area: 369 Hectares.

View attachment 16706

6. Dol y Mynach Dam, Claerwen Valley. (The ‘unfinished dam’. Base built but never needed).

View attachment 16707

7. Nant-y-Gro Dam, Elan Valley. Height: 35 feet, Length: 180 feet. (The ‘Dambusters dam’. Originally built to provide a water supply for the construction workforce, it was blown up in 1942 during demolition tests to develop the bouncing bomb, later used in the Dambuster’s Raid of 1943).

View attachment 16708

Impressive set of dams and works. I love the colors and the wide open feeling your images give. We don't get that often here in New England.

Hali · Jun 3, 2023

My newest project/obsession. Frozen flowers.

Myles Baker · Jun 3, 2023

I like the effect. Very cool (pun intended)

PKM-UK · Jun 3, 2023

Hali said:
Impressive set of dams and works. I love the colors and the wide open feeling your images give. We don't get that often here in New England.

Hi Hali,

Very pleased to hear you enjoy our images - this area has a satisfying blend of impressive engineering and natural beauty.

P&K

Bert-63 · Jun 3, 2023

Hello all! First Post Hooray! So glad I found this place..

I took a minute of our rare, early spring daylight to venture out and test a couple of new lenses that I picked up over the winter. I live in the Pacific Northwest here in the US and good light is very hard to come by so during the winter we buy stuff.. lol.. I picked up the 600 & 800 f/11s on sale here locally to go along with my 100-500L and EF 100-400L II...

Here is what I was able to get - my first Pelagic Cormorant and a Sea Scoter having lunch. Considering the distance and the on-again, off-again light I'm happy with my new gear..

Feedback up to and including harsh criticism is very welcome.

PKM-UK · Jun 3, 2023

Hali said:
My newest project/obsession. Frozen flowers. View attachment 16753

Hi Hali,

Your efforts are being richly rewarded. A fascinating image which causes the viewer to pause and look closer. Very nice.

P&K

PKM-UK · Jun 3, 2023

Bert-63 said:
Hello all! First Post Hooray! So glad I found this place..

I took a minute of our rare, early spring daylight to venture out and test a couple of new lenses that I picked up over the winter. I live in the Pacific Northwest here in the US and good light is very hard to come by so during the winter we buy stuff.. lol.. I picked up the 600 & 800 f/11s on sale here locally to go along with my 100-500L and EF 100-400L II...

Here is what I was able to get - my first Pelagic Cormorant and a Sea Scoter having lunch. Considering the distance and the on-again, off-again light I'm happy with my new gear..

Feedback up to and including harsh criticism is very welcome.

View attachment 16757

View attachment 16758

Hi Bob,

Welcome to the RF-Shooters forum and the 'Your System Images' thread! Fantastic captures of wonderful creatures - both nailed on, but the first just shading it for us (like the pose and scintillating colours!).

Thank you for sharing, looking forward to seeing more of your work...

P&K

Hali · Jun 4, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Hi Hali,

Your efforts are being richly rewarded. A fascinating image which causes the viewer to pause and look closer. Very nice.

P&K

Thank you for the kind comment Phil and Karen, I appreciate it. This is a new endevour so there may be a lot of iterations coming. Any cc would be welcome.

Hali · Jun 4, 2023

Bert-63 said:
Hello all! First Post Hooray! So glad I found this place..

I took a minute of our rare, early spring daylight to venture out and test a couple of new lenses that I picked up over the winter. I live in the Pacific Northwest here in the US and good light is very hard to come by so during the winter we buy stuff.. lol.. I picked up the 600 & 800 f/11s on sale here locally to go along with my 100-500L and EF 100-400L II...

Here is what I was able to get - my first Pelagic Cormorant and a Sea Scoter having lunch. Considering the distance and the on-again, off-again light I'm happy with my new gear..

Feedback up to and including harsh criticism is very welcome.

View attachment 16757

View attachment 16758

Beautiful images and Welcome! That cormorant has to be the most beautiful cormorant I've seen, but I'm used to East Coast ones! Great shot of the surf scoter, they are so fun to watch.

dgphoto8 · Jun 4, 2023

A couple of early morning photos with my new R7, which we (ok, I, but my wife consented and actually encouraged me

) got to use with primarily with the RF100-400. I only got to shoot a few photos the morning after receiving it before I went to work and it has been pouring rain since. My first impressions was that the autofocus was slightly better than the R5 for bird eye tracking. I have been spoiled by my R5 in terms of noise; the R7 isn't bad but I often have to shoot at higher ISOs for bird photos and there is more noise relative to the R5. But either DxO or LRC's new denoise did a nice job with noise.

PKM-UK · Jun 4, 2023

Hali said:
Thank you for the kind comment Phil and Karen, I appreciate it. This is a new endevour so there may be a lot of iterations coming. Any cc would be welcome.

Hi Hali,

In terms of cc, I would caveat any comments by saying the image as presented is (as per my original comments) absolutely wonderful and a joy to behold, I really like the zingy results that this imaginative technique yields.

However, you asked and so with my best OCD head on, here you go -

Personally, I would take the image through to Photoshop (other apps are available) and set to healing some of the (very minor) surface scratches.

I would try removing/ replacing the lone green leaf (right side) to assess if that improved things (there is a risk this would effect the overall balance).

I would try a digital frame, similarly assessing whether this was beneficial, or otherwise.

Apart from these comments (which I've had to really scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with), I'm struggling to find fault - you nailed it...

Phil

PKM-UK · Jun 4, 2023

dgphoto8 said:
A couple of early morning photos with my new R7, which we (ok, I, but my wife consented and actually encouraged me ) got to use with primarily with the RF100-400. I only got to shoot a few photos the morning after receiving it before I went to work and it has been pouring rain since. My first impressions was that the autofocus was slightly better than the R5 for bird eye tracking. I have been spoiled by my R5 in terms of noise; the R7 isn't bad but I often have to shoot at higher ISOs for bird photos and there is more noise relative to the R5. But either DxO or LRC's new denoise did a nice job with noise.
View attachment 16777

View attachment 16776

Hi Don,

Two great captures of wonderful creatures - such colourful plumage. Terrific poses by both, good subject isolation and perfect eye catch-light to polish things off.

Thank you for sharing...

P&K

Hali · Jun 4, 2023

dgphoto8 said:
A couple of early morning photos with my new R7, which we (ok, I, but my wife consented and actually encouraged me ) got to use with primarily with the RF100-400. I only got to shoot a few photos the morning after receiving it before I went to work and it has been pouring rain since. My first impressions was that the autofocus was slightly better than the R5 for bird eye tracking. I have been spoiled by my R5 in terms of noise; the R7 isn't bad but I often have to shoot at higher ISOs for bird photos and there is more noise relative to the R5. But either DxO or LRC's new denoise did a nice job with noise.
View attachment 16777

View attachment 16776

Beautiful images and I love the soft light and very dark background

Hali · Jun 4, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Hi Hali,

In terms of cc, I would caveat any comments by saying the image as presented is (as per my original comments) absolutely wonderful and a joy to behold, I really like the zingy results that this imaginative technique yields.

However, you asked and so with my best OCD head on, here you go -

Personally, I would take the image through to Photoshop (other apps are available) and set to healing some of the (very minor) surface scratches.

I would try removing/ replacing the lone green leaf (right side) to assess if that improved things (there is a risk this would effect the overall balance).

I would try a digital frame, similarly assessing whether this was beneficial, or otherwise.

Apart from these comments (which I've had to really scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with), I'm struggling to find fault - you nailed it...

Phil

Thanks so much, Phil this is exactly what I was looking for.
I will pull it back into PS and look for those areas. I spent some time with the obvious ones but I wasn’t ocd enough! I did try to take out the leaf it makes that bottom area be very blank, I may try cropping it up and see how that works.
I’ve never used digital frames and wouldn’t know where to start with them. I think some of the NIK collection has some? I have the original topaz studio so maybe I will check that out too. I think you had said in the past you have studio2 but not sure that is available still (or what it costs)
Thank you again and I’m growing a thick enough skin to always appreciate cc!

PKM-UK · Jun 4, 2023

Hali said:
Thanks so much, Phil this is exactly what I was looking for.
I will pull it back into PS and look for those areas. I spent some time with the obvious ones but I wasn’t ocd enough! I did try to take out the leaf it makes that bottom area be very blank, I may try cropping it up and see how that works.
I’ve never used digital frames and wouldn’t know where to start with them. I think some of the NIK collection has some? I have the original topaz studio so maybe I will check that out too. I think you had said in the past you have studio2 but not sure that is available still (or what it costs)
Thank you again and I’m growing a thick enough skin to always appreciate cc!

Hi Hali,

I‘d have been very pleased to have produced that image - I should be so skilful.

As far as I know Topaz Labs have stopped selling Studio 2 (my preferred digital frame app). Nik Collection has some frames and Photoshop can make them (usual grey arts stuff). If you wish, I can put your image in a Studio 2 frame and upload it here?

Phil

Hali · Jun 4, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Hi Hali,

I‘d have been very pleased to have produced that image - I should be so skilful.

As far as I know Topaz Labs have stopped selling Studio 2 (my preferred digital frame app). Nik Collection has some frames and Photoshop can make them (usual grey arts stuff). If you wish, I can put your image in a Studio 2 frame and upload it here?

Phil

That would be wonderful if you could just so I can see it. Thank you again!

PKM-UK · Jun 4, 2023

Hali said:
That would be wonderful if you could just so I can see it. Thank you again!

Hi Hali,

Leave it with me - it will probably be tomorrow (time differences, weariness and all that kind of stuff). Please stay tuned…

Phil

dgphoto8 · Jun 5, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Hi Don,

Two great captures of wonderful creatures - such colourful plumage. Terrific poses by both, good subject isolation and perfect eye catch-light to polish things off.

Thank you for sharing...

P&K

Thanks Phil

PKM-UK · Jun 5, 2023

Hali said:
That would be wonderful if you could just so I can see it. Thank you again!

Hi Hali,

As promised, some sample framed versions. (I fell at the first hurdle as I couldn't work out how to download the image off here and had to resort to the old 'screen capture ploy', so please bear with any resultant issues with your image).

Should you like any of the frames, note that if you load them into Photoshop (or similar) as a layer you can can add another image as a new layer over the top, then re-size the new layer to fit the frame (hey presto - a framed image!

).

Phil

1. Mat colour matched to (top right) flower...

2. Textured Mat...

3. Frame colour matched to (mid left) flower...

4. Textured wide Mat...

Hali · Jun 5, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Hi Hali,

As promised, some sample framed versions. (I fell at the first hurdle as I couldn't work out how to download the image off here and had to resort to the old 'screen capture ploy', so please bear with any resultant issues with your image).

Should you like any of the frames, note that if you load them into Photoshop (or similar) as a layer you can can add another image as a new layer over the top, then re-size the new layer to fit the frame (hey presto - a framed image! ).

Phil

1. Mat colour matched to (top right) flower...

View attachment 16799

2. Textured Mat...

View attachment 16800

3. Frame colour matched to (mid left) flower...

View attachment 16801

4. Textured wide Mat...

View attachment 16802

Oh wow!!! Those look just fantastic. I especially like the red frame with the gray mat. I will look at Dave Kelly’s site I think he still has an active link to where you can purchase studio 2 from topaz

ACEkin · Jun 6, 2023

The mountain laurel in our front yard. Canon R7, 18-150 mm RF-S lens, f/13 at 1/160, ISO 200

Tui · Jun 6, 2023

From a drive out to Kandos on the weekend

Derelict railway station at Capertee

In Kandos

Looking towards the Grose valley

Myles Baker · Jun 6, 2023

PKM-UK said:
Hi Hali,

As promised, some sample framed versions. (I fell at the first hurdle as I couldn't work out how to download the image off here and had to resort to the old 'screen capture ploy', so please bear with any resultant issues with your image).

Should you like any of the frames, note that if you load them into Photoshop (or similar) as a layer you can can add another image as a new layer over the top, then re-size the new layer to fit the frame (hey presto - a framed image! ).

Phil

1. Mat colour matched to (top right) flower...

View attachment 16799

2. Textured Mat...

View attachment 16800

3. Frame colour matched to (mid left) flower...

View attachment 16801

4. Textured wide Mat...

View attachment 16802

No.3 hanging on a wall in a frame like that would look really good in my apartment.

Your R System Images - June 2023

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