​Title: Meandering
Photographer: Regina Hausmann
 
I have been trying to photograph some ducks (Mergansers, I believe). My opportunity arrived but not under ideal conditions.  It was a foggy day and the ducks were very far from the shore.
 
I liked the silhouette and formation of the ducks.  With Topaz Studio, the following artistic version was created.  It is important to me to convey the feeling of calm on that foggy morning.
 
What do you think the picture conveys?  How do you feel about the simplicity of the picture?  

This is a rework of Dianne's Lupine 1 in POTW#4.
Here is what I did.

Open the image in PS and made a copy of the image.  Using the copy I selected the plant using "focus area" inside the selection command.  It needed a bit of work and I used the + and - brush to get all the plant selected and some of the background deselected because two of the upper leaves are out of focus.  So the "focus area" selection either got too much of the background or too little of the plant.

Once the selection is done, a layer mask is created.  This hide the background and let just the plant visible.  Adjustment layers were applied to this layer for brightness and color adjustment.
​
I made another copy of the original image.  I blur the copy and it became the new background.  You can find the different types of blur under the filter command.  Play with the different types of blurs and the amount until you find what you like.  

​These were taken  after a rain.  All were hand held. I've always been interested in water drops and especially liked the center water drop and also the ones along the hairs. The lupines are all over my meadow. The meadow has been cut and therefore there are stems, etc. The lupine were just coming up and were close to the ground. The background is a little busy, but you need a lot of depth of field for the water drops? Perhaps I could have tried stacking a couple of different focus point photos, but I hand held all these. I was amazed at the iphone photo quality. It seems brighter also- same lupine. Perhaps I don't need an expensive camera now that I have the iPhone 11 pro?
Lupine #1 1/200 at f 8 Nikon Z 7 macro 105 mm
Lupine #2 1/40 at f 13 Nikon Z 7 macro 105 mm
iphone  #3 with iPhone 11 pro with 3rd camera which enlarges
 
The iphone11 Pro has 3 camera lenses.

Image Title: Lobster Boat
Photographer: Maryann Flick

These were taken at the dock in Castine, Maine. The image is meant to represent lobster fishing.

Question for viewers: Do you prefer the lobster boat to be in focus with the trap out of focus or the trap in focus with the boat out of focus? If you can, explain why that is your preference.

​ In my opinion, I do not think both should be in focus because the image would seem too busy. But that is a 3rd option! It would have been difficult ‘in camera’ due to the very large distance between them [an extreme DoF]. Perhaps these two could be focus stacked though as taken they may not align properly

Spent some time learning something new in Photoshop this past week. 
​Maryann

I've generally avoided using a polarizer for two reasons: It substantially cuts down on the light entering the lens and you have to constantly fiddle with it to get the orientation right--move from horizontal to vertical and you must turn the filter, move to a different angle from the sun and you must change the filter. But I've found it can make a big difference in the quality of many images so I've been mounting my polarizer more frequently this past year. Besides cutting glare and reflections it boosts the colors. You often don't notice the minor reflections or color differences until you see the same image with and without polarization. Since we strive to make the best images we can in-camera, it can be a very important tool to use especially since the effect is nearly impossible to achieve in post-process. I recently went up to Chapman Falls and the Eightmile River in Devil's Hopyard State Park to photograph the expected fully flowing falls. It did not disappoint. Rather than a Neutral Density filter I opted to use just the polarizer as it was rather overcast so I thought I could achieve some slow shutter speeds for silky water shots. That worked as expected. What I did not foresee but was happy to find, and not surprised by, was the antireflective effect on the images. Here's an example from some rapids in the river.

On the left is basically unpolarized [the filter was on but the orientation was not polarizing the light] and on the right is the same scene after I turned the filter to a polarizing position]. I would be surprised if someone could turn the left image into the right image without major Photoshop skills.
These were done on a tripod to get long exposures. In cases where a long exposure is not necessary to the image you want, a polarizer may not hamper a hand held image since newer cameras have greater sensitivity at higher ISO. 
​So consider using a polarizer more often if you don't already do so.
​Maryann