Speedtouch

Not mine, but still funny: Fail at Driving Loads more here

Well I went to Bluewater today (shopping centre) and they had a small 'motor show' (a load of different cars parked in a separate part of the carpark). It was interesting to go and see some of the newer cars. I must say now, that the M3 convertible looks pretty awesome, and (IMO) so does the X6. The new Passat CC as well looks good, although lacks a lot of rear headroom. The worst car without a doubt there, was the Ssangyong Rodius. Now I will admit, it is very large inside, and it is very cheap However it is terribly made, uncomfortable, rubbish emissions (= high tax), and somehow, lacking headrom in the back. Oh, and its so unbelievably ugly it was painful to see the asking price of £17k for the demo model. You would lose ALL of that the second you took it off the forecourt. My favouritre car there (other than the CLS63 AMG - I'm talking realistic here) was probably the Renault Clio Sport Tourer. I've always liked Renaults, as have my parents (loyal customers for the past 25years - they've bought 2 of them). Considering the car we have at the moment is a Kangoo, I don't want to learn how to drive in that, so if we get some money soon enough, I will be pressuring my parents to get one of them. From the front, its just like a Clio, and I'm sure it drives just the same, but you get buckets of headroom in the back, and a surprisingly large boot. A cracking car that.

These ones aren't new, but I think are still well worth seeing. Son Of Rambow - Lovely story with loads of comedy. 7/10 Cloverfield - Well I loved it. 6/10 Casino Royale - Bond films have declined over the years, but this one shoves its way back up to the top. Excellent. 9/10 Stranger Than Fiction - Very well written, and very well acted. Quite deep I thought. 7/10 Oceans 11 and 13 - Both much better than 12. 6.5/10 Hot Fuzz - Who hasn't seen this awesomeness? 10/10 21 - Pretty good I thought. 5/10

^ I see one of those every day :p The station car park I walk through every morning/afternoon to go to school (i'm in holidays now) has umpteen Porches, 2 Aston V8s, an Aston DB9 Volante, a couple of BMW 6s and a few Jaguar XJs.

Sunday 6th @ 9:00pm GMT (it says at the top of the poll). Then the winner (looks like its you) will PM me their new chosen theme. As with PoTW, it can be pretty much anything, but remember with this, there are no boundaries. But I will reject (and ask for another) it if I believe it to be too difficult for people in certain areas (for example if you chose a brand, not all members could enter as they don't have it in their country). Week 2 entry will be posted as soon as possible afterwards.

What about the 20 weeks of PoTW for the 'visible' side of the test? We know how that works. And I'm not suggesting necessarily 1 week, but if the response is seriously a resounding no, then a reconsider would be definite.

Well I am always a great fan of constructive criticism, so thanks for someone being intelligent about it. I do see what you mean. And obviously this sort of thing doesn't have to come into effect instantly, but I thought it maybe as a test of some kind, to compare it to the current system (which we know how it works etc), and then, if needed, remove it and never use it again. So leave it for this week? Or use it as a test, then see how it all works out?

Yes that is an accurate description of the anonymous voting system. Congratulations. Any thoughts on the topic? :p

I think that, after certain events in this week, next week it would be good to begin the anonymous voting. I believe that would be better for everyone, and so any comments on the photos would not be aimed at anyone. And a new rule would be 'Keep It Anonymous! Don't announce which photo is yours!' Do people agree? The only downside I see is the quiet entry thread. Although you can post there to say that you have sent the photo to me, and converse the theme etc.

^ No over exposed means basically too bright, and therefore lacking any detail (even if it is blurred). He is right, it is too over exposed, which is a really good reason not to point your camera at an overcast sky. It is completely different to focal points/focus.

I will though, and can disqualify accordingly if necessary.

Would having an anonymous vote solve this? Just a thought.

^ Oh sorry, I didn't realise the thread posted up while I was making the poll. Its up now. Let the voting begin! Poll will auto close on Sunday 6th July.

Rules: Flower pictures. No voting for yourself! Speedtouch CarboyZR1 http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc294/CarboyZR1/DSC_0524.jpg zo6dude http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii107/corvette1_2008/contestflowers.jpg Pressurized -- OLD IMAGE REMOVED (imageshack) -- Car Freak http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p265/1carfreak1/2313877067_a57fb1d772_o.jpg Baldred -- OLD IMAGE REMOVED (imageshack) -- TheScottishSpotter http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/TheScottishSpotter/PoTW2.jpg KTF67 MadMax -- OLD IMAGE REMOVED (imageshack) -- randomus_r http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x12/randomus_robbius/Flowers.jpg -Lr-SpeedraceR Andreaz1 http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Spitfire_RT/P6300005.png

A new one from today. And yes, it really does look like that.

Indeed. Until confirmed it is not going in the banner. Still a bit longer if you wish to enter!

^ Sure if you want to!

Also forgot this one:

I guess so yeah. But I don't think its that hard to even enlarge a photo to 800x600, so if they don't its their loss. But no larger as that mucks with the page layout.

Right then. This is the (and my) first tutorial. I am basing it on the art of HDR. Now HDR is a wonderful process, and when used well, can give spectacular effects (see examples at bottom). However do not expect it to come easily. There are many different aspects, and many different processes you have to go through before you get a final photo, and even then, sometimes it can still be terrible (even I've suffered from this, so don't give up if you get it). The best way to do HDRs, is to shoot with RAW. Pretty much all DSLRs will do this, so all you need to do is find the Image Quality settings and set it to RAW. This is the process I will be covering now. I may do one for JPEGs later, but a quick RAW HDR tutorial for now. First things first, take your picture. HDR will bring out the darker details in the photo, so may not be entirely of good use, as this example proves: -- OLD IMAGE REMOVED (imageshack) -- Remember this when taking your photo. There is a time and a place for HDR, and this wasn't it. Landscapes tend to be the best type, as this brings out reflections, like in water very well. Anyway, onto the processes. Once you have taken your photo and transferred it to your PC, you will need to sort it into the exposures (in the JPEG method, this is done by taking many different photos with different exposures - using a single RAW makes this very simple) Stage 1: Preparing for HDR Open the file into Photoshop (some people have had problems with this, but I didn't, so I'm not sure what goes wrong, or how to fix it. Post here if you have any problems and we will try to fix them). For now, we will only use the exposure setting. You can change it to what looks best (if the picture you took was dark, then increase it until the image looks normal) but its best to leave it alone for now. Then you need to change it to intervals of 1, starting at -2, going to +2. However if you changed it, keep the extra amounts in the equation. For example, if you decreased the exposure by 0.6, your intervals should be -2.6, -1.6, +0.6, +1.6, +2.6. Once you have changed the values of exposure (red box), you can save it (blue box). You need to do this for each value. This box should pop up once you click 'save' (not File>Save As). Change the location to a place where you will remember (red box), and change the File Naming to 1 Digit Numbering (use drop down list), and start it at 1. Finally ensure it is set to TIFF, as this gives a better quality (blue box). Stage 2: Making HDR Once you have done this 5 times, you can close down photoshop. Now open Photomatix (download free trial here - unfortunately the trial watermarks your final photos, so you can use it for practice, but to use it properly, buy it or PM me for a code). Open them up using the 'Generate HDR Image' (red box), and browse to find all 5 of the pictures. Put them into the list in order, then hit OK (blue box) Hit OK twice more, and then wait whilst it renders your image. When it loads, hit 'Tone Mapping', and it should look a bit better. This is your HDR image now, and all the tools to manipulate it. The way I do things from here onwards, is just play around with all the different settings. Once you have spent a short amount of time with it, you get to know what all the things do. Use all the smaller tabs, and all the sliders to change certain bits of it, and the curve works just the same as anywhere else. You can either use 'Details Enhancer', or 'Tone Compressor'. I prefer the former, and once you have what you want, hit Process. File>Save As and set it to .jpg to finish off. You can open it back up into photoshop and add some more final details if you want, such as borders etc, or just take it as it is. My finished example: Sorry this was such a bad tutorial, but it is my first :p I hope it helped you. If your camera does not take RAW: If you know how to take separate exposures with your camera (which doesn't do RAW), then use a tripod, and change it to something like -3 to +3 EV step (just like with the Exposure setting in PS). I'm not sure how this works, but in theory it should give you a load of images to then put into Photomatix, which is the key part. 2 more examples of mine: I think maybe for the next one, it will be less of a tutorial and more of a tip giver to take a better photo, even with a 'point and shoot' type camera.

Well that is what they look like, and it is an HDR, so it isn't like normal photos.

Another HDR attempt from me.

Another picture I found from Morgan.