This is inside the cab of a steam engine at the Railway museum in Merredin. This image adds to the newly dubbed series of pictures named Mechanography. A little Orton Effect was used to process this image as well as some selective desaturation. We are spending a little more time in Hopetoun and plan to cross the Nullarbor at the end of February.

This is the 100th post since this photoblog took on its present form. It may be a cheat to use the last 99 images to make this post but I wanted to look back and review the work so far. Techniques discovered since starting this blog include. The Orton Effect which adds a mystical look to images and works great on Cuban Cars. Fractalius has produced some interesting results by adding in computer generated detail. HDR and Split toning have also been used to bring out detail and add colour to images. I’ve also had a lot of fun making worlds by distorting 360 degree panoramas in Photoshop. Most of the posts show before and after images in the shot notes as well as the Photoshop Layers pallet so you can see how the image were built up. These days I’m doing more of the processing in camera RAW to increase the image quality. Unfortunately Camera RAW does not let you screen grab so I can’t show you the settings I use. If anyone knows a way round this please let me know. I hope you have enjoyed the last 100 images. I have tried to keep it interesting by dropping in older images from around the world including Egypt, Cuba, Jamaica and Jordan. It may have given the impression I am  a bit of a jet setter but I have not been outside the UK for over 3 years now. Hopefully this will change by the end of this year as I have applied for an Australian visa. When you see a Koala on this Photoblog you will know the application was successful.

We went for a walk today and Karen spotted this Jew’s Ear Fungus in a small patch of trees. It was taken around midday on a cloudy day in the shade. These are all factors which make it the bluest that daylight gets. The cameras auto white balance does not know its looking at a red object under blue light. In an attempt to balance the image it set the colour temperature to 3850K. Instead of changing the colour temperature a Color Balance layer was used to bring back the hues of the fungus and the wood.

We went for a walk in Rutland today. Karen spotted these Crocuses outside a cottage. I have used Orton Effect and Desaturation layers in an attempt to make the flowers stand out of the busy background.

I decided to have a go at pimping this Lada from Cuba. If anybody knows the model please leave a comment. To process this image I used the same technique as Red Chevy. Orton Effect, Fractalius and Selective Desaturation.

This is a 1957 Chevrolet in Trinidad, Cuba. To process this image I used a similar technique as the Blue Chevy. Orton Effect on the car and de-sat and de-focus background. To add some extra sparkle I also added a subtle Fractalius layer.

This was taken in Cuba. This building is typical of the design and condition of houses in Havana. I like this shot as despite being taken with an early digital compact camera it had a natural HDR look about it even before I started work on it. To process this image I started be removing the cables in front of the building with the Spot Healing Brush Tool set to Content-Aware. I then added Vignette, Viberence, Selective De-saturation and the Orton Effect. Then I gently lifted the pastel shades of the buildings using individual channel curves. I tried to submit this image for stock but it was rejected by Shutterstock and Dreamstime for copyright. I guess Art-Deco buildings count as Art.

Karen shot this 1950 Buick on the streets of Cuba. To process the image I used a similar technique to Cuba Chevrolet. I started by using the Orton Effect to give it a bit of a glow. I worked on the dusty red colour. Then I desaturated the background and darkened the edges with vignette.

This was taken from our hotel in Jordan. I used a Nodal Ninja to get the shots needed to make the panorama. I stitched them together using Panorama Studio. To process the image I used the Orton Effect to give the light a hazy glow. I also had to add a layer to darken the sky.

This is a rose from our old garden in Nottingham. I used a time saving trick to desaturate the greenery. Normally you would add a Hue/Sat layer and cut out a mask to get this effect. Instead I added a Black and White layer above the base layer and set the layer above that to lighter colour blend mode. The Black and White layer lets you adjust the brightness of individual colour channels. This setup lets you adjust which colours you want to desaturate. It gives you a lot of control and creates more natural effect than applying a mask to one area. I applied another layer to give a subtle Orton Effect. Finally I added a colour balance layer to achieve the velvet red colour of the original rose and give the leaves a slight tint.