Hidden Talents

The photographs I put on this blog are generally not enhanced. Occasionally I improve the colour and sharpen dull shots and do admit to being a big cropper of shots to emphasise what I want you to look at, but by and large, I don't mess with them too  much. However, here is an example of just what an automatic enhancement does for a picture. in other words, let the computer automatically make sense of a dark photo in this case.

I took some tables back to Beeford that had been lent to us for the fair last weekend. After  a delightful chat and a cup of coffee with Roz and Howard, we popped along to Bridlington, just a few miles further up the road to have a look at the full moon over Bridlington Bay. After a few minutes to take in the view, listen to the invisible birds in the darkness on the shore line calling to each other (not gulls - not sure what they were - quite haunting whistling calls) I took a picture of the bay near the harbour. I put my point and shoot Panasonic TZ65 on the safety rail and it took the long exposure shot for a few seconds. I was quite disappointed at the outcome which was a lot darker than I had hoped for and here is the result:

Now, I took it home and ran it through the Adobe software asking it to automatically enhance it and this is the result (click on it to enlarge it):

You can see the clouds scudding by, you can even see my shadow on the sand from the lights on the  promenade at the bottom of the picture and the lovely Orion constellation in the sky top centre. Amazing. 

The weather is typically cold now in the UK and the older I get, the less tolerant I seem to be of the cold.  The ground is still sodden and a van working on the paying fields just up the road has sunk to its axles in the grass. Here's a shot from the garden today of frozen water (unenhanced) on an old tree stump.

 
I've also tried to keep up with the birds as they empty the bird tables and feeders with regularity. They get a mixture of a third peanuts, a third black sunflower seed and a third mixed seed. This seems to cater for all tastes. I have to buy it in sacks to make it economical otherwise to buy the odd pound of seed here and there would be too expensive.

Hope you keep warm and enjoy the week ahead.

Chat soon

Ta-ra