Tuesday Photo Challenge – Twist

A tree brings us closer to the past…

Welcome to week 211 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

After a week with wonderful responses, it’s time for another challenge! As I was looking for an image for last week’s round up, I came across a photo that I thought was rather apt for our time. There’s been a certain Twist to both the time we’re in and the events that we experience…

For this week’s theme, feel free to put your own personal Twist on it, as there are always extra points for creativity and a double bonus for fun! Enjoy, the Twists and turns of your minds and take us on a journey with your image(s). I’m very much looking forward to seeing your interpretations!

Here’s a bit of a twist…

A Tree in the Abbey

This image is from our vacation in Ireland, as we visited Muckross Abbey in Killarney National Park; this yew tree has been growing in the courtyard for a very long time and lends a definite air of mystery and intrigue…

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

  • Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
  • Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
  • Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
  • Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Stay safe and twist the night away!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 179

Stones, many shapes and sizes!

Welcome to the 179th round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

You truly rocked the theme of Stone this week with an amazing array of posts that each showcased your creative minds and eyes! Each of you brought your own personal touch to these posts and I was truly surprised by some of your entries! Thank you for all the effort you put into these posts, and I hope that you will enjoy reading each other’s posts, as much as I did.

I might have something in mind for the next theme!!

Stone structures and the uses of stone are amazing…

Looking into the Oratory

This is a view that we encountered in Ireland, as we visited the largest island in Loch Leane, Innisfallen; the ruins of a monastery stand on this island with the walls of the oratory giving us an idea of wha the past may have been like.

Please enjoy the following blog posts:

  1. Sarah starts this week off with some rather special stones that carry a message from the past in her post in By Sarah! Let’s heed the message!
  2. Ann-Christine brings us an amazing view of stone in many shapes in her post in To See A World in a Grain of Sand…. A very broad fence and much more great stonework!
  3. This week, we get another great photo in Land of Images; it was great to see the remnants of Duntulm Castle there, as I have seen it with my own eyes!
  4. I very much enjoyed the photos for our theme in the post in Beautiful Photographs; that boy is pretty quiet! A second post in Beautiful Photographs is filled with gorgeous images!
  5. Shelley has a very cool approach to the theme in her post in Quaint Revival; I expect nothing less and am not disappointed with her great post!
  6. The amazing photograph in theOnlyD800intheHameau features some serious stone, as the view of Chartres Cathedral is magnificent!
  7. Cath shares a set of stunning photos in her blog, Cath’s Camera! There’s some amazing stone content here!
  8. Brian has a number of wonderful stone shots in his post in bushboys world; and to top it off, there’s some great Mott the Hoople!
  9. Diane brings some wonderful uses for stone that are demonstrated in her post in pensivity101; weather forecasting …
  10. In Xenia’s fantastic post in Whippetwisdom, we visit Loch Morlich and catch some great stones and a tanka! Xenia brings us a second post in Tranature, which has stunning shots of water flowing over stones and a haiku to match!
  11. Na’ama speaks of the strength of stone with a lovely poem in her post in Na’ama Yehuda; its shape stands the test of time!
  12. Nicole takes us to a great location in her post in Une Photo, Un Poéme: the Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chamber in North Wales; stunning locale!
  13. A wonderful post in The Jesh Studio takes us to a very Scandinavian view of Southern California, with stunning stone work!
  14. Maria brings us multiple views of stones in another great post in Kamerapromenader; which view speaks to you?
  15. This week in Chateaux des Fleurs, we get a stunning view of stones, some arranged to tell a message!
  16. Jackie photographs a wonderful set of uses for stone in Junk Boat Travels, ranging from amazing monuments to paths and memorials!
  17. In a first contribution to our challenge from The Ministry of Shrawley Walks, we get a truly interesting view of local stones!
  18. Jase may be wondering about the uneven WordPress behavior in their post in Proscenium, so let’s make sure we go check out that photo!!
  19. A great post in queennandini, we get to see a significant variety of stones, some of which are dazzling!
  20. With a lovely photograph in Stine Writing, Christine shares a great view of interesting stones!
  21. A rather interesting arrangement of stones occurs in this week’s contribution in Take a Walk… and Discover!
  22. Sober, cold stone might be featured in the post in Don’t Hold Your Breath; these stones are filled with meaning and emotion!
  23. Viveka takes us to the Visitation Stone in a stunning post in her blog, myguiltypleasures; this place is an amazing memorial.
  24. The images in MyTravelCSP showcase what great artists can achieve in stone; these carvings are true masterpieces!
  25. A fantastic post in Len Journeys takes us to some of the most stunning stonework structures on the planet; definitely have some of them on my bucket list!
  26. Sandy’s post in Out of My Write Mind has some rather sheer views of rock faces! Certainly don’t want to misstep there!
  27. With lovely photos we get a fantastic view of stones in Anita’s Images; those are perfectly shot!
  28. See brings us an amazing set of stones in her post in Cee’s Photo Challenges! Go check them out!
  29. Elizabatz shows us the sights of Galley Head Cliffs, Castle and Light House in Albatz Travel Adventures; those cliffs are truly interesting! In a second post in Albatz Travel Adventures, we end up in the town of Timoleague with fantastic ruins!
  30. Kammie brings us some rather interesting stone constructions in her post in Nut House Central; great post!
  31. Tatiana features an amazing locale in her blog Travelways; she shows us the Tulum Maya ruins, which are stunning!
  32. Woolly brings us magnificent examples of stone in his post in Woolly Muses; interesting blue stone!
  33. David always has gorgeous photos in his posts in David M’s Photoblog; this week is no exception with some real stunners!
  34. This week’s post in Kanlaon shows us some of the shapes that stone can take!
  35. Hannah’s photo in her post in Zebra’s Child is straightforward, and very much to the point of the theme! Well done!
  36. Eric has a fantastic shot in Up North, where the stone stairs are definitely going to be a real climb!
  37. Debbie features a simple stunning image in her post in Travel with Intent! The Shetlands look gorgeous!
  38. In another wonderful post in Travel with Tech, we get to visit Hollyrood Palace and the amazing stone structures that have stood the test of time!
  39. Ken takes us to visit some interesting burial stones in his post in Pictures without Film; it looks like Trefignath, Anglesey, will be a great place to visit!
  40. Stone is a great source of inspiration for art, as we can see in Heart 2 Heart; those are very lovely!
  41. Jez features a variety of stones in Jez Braithwaite, which range from destiny to decoration and all around!
  42. Deb shares some stones in her post in Twenty-Four, which look rather precariously positioned!
  43. Klara brings us a bit of wedding on the rocks in Sliku Svoju Ljubim II, as the happy couple is being photographed on a breakwater!
  44. Amy takes us on a tour of how she processes a cool photo in Photography Journal Blog on its way to becoming a stunning image!
  45. A wonderful photo in f2.8 iso100 takes us into a beautiful stone garden in Chandigarh!
  46. Teressa finds some truly intricate stone construction in her post in Another LQQK; wonderful post!
  47. Susan shares a wonderful piece of stone work in her post in Musin’ with Susan; cruising down the Danube must have been wonderful! Also, please check out Susan’s week in review in Musin’ with Susan!
  48. Another wonderful post in One Letter Up – Diary 2.0 brings back some of the early settler stone architecture; using what the land provides!
  49. Anita brings us some rather interesting stone views in For the Love of…, which are both reminders of past and present!
  50. Ulli takes us to a rather stony beach in Suburban Tracks, which looks gorgeous, but not ideal for putting a blanket down and relaxing…
  51. A wonderful stone photograph in sgeoil, which reminds us of the life that exists in each stone…
  52. We also get a wonderful contribution on this week’s theme in A Day in the Life, where stone even gets enjoyed by a bird!

Please let all of these great bloggers know your thoughts about their posts!

Processing Ireland – Part 1

Exploring processing techniques

Vacations are wonderful, as they give us time to unwind from our daily stressors, explore new locations, meet people in these places and generally recharge our batteries. Of course, the photographers among us (isn’t that nearly everyone these days?) come back with lots of pictures to remind us of some of the things that we encountered.

One of the things that I like to do in my photographic adventures is to capture exposure bracketed sequences. In the past, I have processed those with HDRsoft’s Photomatix Pro, a program that I have enjoyed for years. As there were a couple of hiccups with the program yesterday, I decided to look and see what else is out there these days, and found Aurora HDR…

Torc Waterfall

This image of Torc Waterfall nearby Killarney is the first one that I processed with Aurora HDR. The process was pretty straightforward, as there are a significant number of pre-loaded collections of settings. I used a ‘Better Sunrise’ setting as a starting point and tweaked contrast and HDR enhancement sliders to get to this point. Clearly, there’s more to explore for me in Aurora HDR, but it’s not a bad first effort.

In my second image, I decided to go for something a bit more aggressive…

A Tree Grows

For this image of a tree that has been growing in the center of Ross Abbey for centuries, I went to the Artistic collection and picked the Muddy Black & White setting as a starting point; I set the opacity to about 80% to let a bit of color bleed through and then went after tweaks in contrast and microstructure to get to this result. I wanted a sense of something older and somewhat mysterious, which now makes me want to go back and spend more than the 15-20 minutes we had at this abbey!

Hope you enjoy!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Ancient

From a distant past…

Welcome to week 163 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

After a week of wonderful Tower posts, I thought it might be nice to take a step back into time. The theme of this week is inspired by our vacation in Ireland, as in many locations one felt the gentle tug of days gone by, telling of a time that was very different. With that in mind, your challenge is to portray that which connects you to all things Ancient. As usual, there are many ways to approach the Ancient (I’ll even take Ancient Aliens!), so I’m sure that your creative minds will come up with something interesting!

Have some fun with this theme and don’t let the dust of the ancient settle on you!

This is one of the images that inspired this theme…

Looking into the Oratory

This view looks into the Oratory of the Innisfallen Monastery, which sits on Innisfallen Island in Loch Leane. We reached it by small boat, which allowed us time on the island to explore the old abbey and this oratory. The abbey on the island dates to the 7th century with the current visible structures ranging from the 10th to 13th century. This oratory hails from the 12th century.

What struck me about this view is that I could feel the past pulling me back in, which gave me a sense of what it was like to sit in quiet contemplation in this small chapel hundreds of years ago…

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

  • Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
  • Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
  • Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
  • Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Do the ancients proud and come up with a novel entry!

Friday Holiday Fun!

Exploring Ireland!

Greetings to all you wonderful followers and readers across the globe. As many of you are aware, I’m taking a little holiday with my wife in the lovely country of Ireland. We’re in Killarney at the moment, where we’ll be until Thursday.

We’re splitting our vacation into two segments: the first part here in the southwest in Counties Kerry, Cork and Clare and final 3 days in Dublin.

We’ve been making some day trips from which I include a few photos here…

Hope you enjoy!

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