Time for a Move

I've been very slack blogging lately. I much prefer FaceBook these days. I find it quicker and a bit  more personal. I've always been negligent in commenting on other blogs my apologies for that.

As you've probably seen on Diane's blog, there are moves afoot in the Bohlen camp. For weeks we had debated should we or shouldn't we. Moving, that is. Daughter Carol came up from Sydney and together we compared the pros and cons. Eventually the pros won hands down.

So we're leaving this:

For this:

We have sold number 45 and we are buying number 36, a brand new 3-bedroom unit at Elements Living right next to the Daisy Hill Koala Park. When we have moved in, I'll blog about the unit.

This will happen late March. IN the meantime I am very busy selling stuff on Gumtree. What we can't sell, we'll sell at a Garage Sale on the 18 March and what doesn't get sold ends up in a skip.

FUN AND GAMES.

More Luminar

I am getting to know Luminar by MacPhun. I am very impressed, It has some fantastic functions and is much easier to use than Lightroom but just as powerful. When you purchase the program, you get a couple of folders with replacement skies, so if your sky is a little dull, you can replace it.

Here are some more images I have played with the last couple of days. On the left, the raw photograph on the right, processed with Luminar.

The first was taken at Cleveland during a sunset. The foliage of the trees and the rest of the foreground was clearly not visible. Moving a couple of sliders in Luminar and everything can be seen.

The image below was taken in Tenterfield. It is just a little boring. By changing the sky, increasing the green colour and enlarging the tree, the image looks much better.

Early morning on the golf club produced a fairly flat image. Just a few adjustment in Luminar and the picture looks much better.

In the image below I just replaced the boring sky to improve the shot.

I had a wrong setting in the shot below and it was grossly underexposed. These things are easily fixed in Luminar.

Diane posing with a runner in the Blue Mountains, offered the perfect image to tweak. I cleaned up the tree trunk a little and generally boosted the image.

And finally the lighthouse at Cleveland Point. I didn't do much to this image, except removed the street light, cars and other objects. Removing objects in images is much easier to do in Luminar than in Lightroom. The clone and stamp function actually works. You have a job, removing stuff in Lightroom.

I keep practicing with Luminar.

Luminar

Just as I was thinking I had mastered most functions I would ever use in Lightroom, Diane pointed out the latest Trey Ratcliff editing software LUMINAR, distributed by McPhun.

First I was skeptical, but hey, it was the festive days, shops closed and TV programs, repeats after repeats, so I downloaded it and gave it a try. It was actually on special, from A$400 down to A$69. An addition to Aurora HDR by the same people made it very attractive to me.

For the average photo amateur like myself, it is an alternative to Lightroom which I sometimes find difficult to master.

Luminar which presently only operates on Mac OS10+ is the first photo editor that adapts to an individual's style and skill level. It is the supercharged photo software that makes complex editing easy and enjoyable.

Unless you use Lightroom to organise your photos, which I personally don't, then Luminar is a perfect tool to enhance your photographs.

State-of-the art digital darkroom you design yourself.

The workspaces in Luminar reveal only the most essential photo filters for the specific type of photo. Enjoy default workspaces for landscape, portrait, street and B&W images. Or create your own, based on your preferences. Even import workspaces from other artists, who use Luminar.

Here are a couple of examples of photos I had taken in RAW format, in the Blue Mountains during my last visit, edited in Luminar. On the left are the originals and on the right are the Luminar modified images.

Left - Original                                 Right - Luminar Modified

Left - Original                                   Right - Luminar Modified

Puffing Billy Train

We were in Melbourne recently and took the opportunity to take the boys to the Dandenong Region where we jumped on the Puffing Billy Steam Train from Emerald to Lakeside. We all had a load of fun.

Here is a short film of our experience.

With two of my mates, (photographers), we travelled to northern New South Wales in search of some images. We started off on the Lions Road from Rathdowney to Lismore.

Border Loop Lokout on the Lions Road

A little further along, we found some interesting derelict structures by the roadside.

Brisbane Tramway Museum

The U3A Videographers' Workshop had organised a private visit to the Brisbane Tramway Museum at Ferny Grove last Tuesday. To get a private visit, it has to be booked months ahead. Lots of groups request private visits, including weddings. it is enormous popular, so much so that the organisers told me that they cannot take anymore bookings in the fordable future. So we were incredibly lucky.

The U3A Videographer's at the Tramway Museum 

The Museum Volunteers provided morning tea in the workshop

Then they rolled out the trams

That brings out memories

I used to go to work on one of these

Volunteers run the trams

This is the oldest tram in operation at the museum

Here is a little video I made:

CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO

Here is a photo I found on the internet of the tram I used to pick up at the Treasury Building, every morning, in the 60s. It used to take me to Mater Hill.

The tram at the old Treasury Building that used to take me to work in the 60s

Noises Off

We went to see the Beenleigh Theatre Group's production of a flop last night, Well, Michael Frayn, the playwright wrote the play of a so-called flop.

The pinnacle of a play within a play: Noises Off presents a manic cast of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing On. Doors slamming, on and off stage intrigue, and errant sardines all figure in the plot of this hilarious and clever comedy farce.

Add to this the ingenious device of watching this play from BOTH sides by a rotating two story set and you have a giant theatrical jigsaw puzzle which is hilarious to piece together and to watch.

Noises Off is very physical and demanding on the actors, with split second timing and physical strength required to run up and down the stairs, fall in and out of the set and wrestling segments in Act II. The BTG managed it to perfection.

I had seen Noises Off twice before a long long time ago, performed by commercial companies with big name actors. The production last night by the Beenleigh Theatre Group was equally well staged, acted and choreographed and just as funny, for a fraction of the ticket prices we paid before. I was impressed.