No naked lady on a scooter ...

While not much to report, I've had some great photographic challenges come my way during recent passage through Suez Canal. It's not a place I actually enjoy going back to and I truly believe someone should write a book on world's mentalities. I would even publish it in the For Dummies series. Imagine that title: "World's Mentalities for Dummies". Not meant to induce pain or disrespect in any of the known to human sarcastic ways, just plain simple shot at getting someone to publish some sort of user's guide on "How to deal with the other side of the logical spectrum".

But back to the topic at hand, which is often on this blog about photography. Egypt, as most places in that part of the World, is kind of dull looking. Don't expect dramatic skies, rapid weather changes, and especially a naked lady on a scooter zipping through town. Do however, expect limited contrast and a harsh sun. Learn quickly how to take an unattractive scene into the "promised" land of photographic opportunity. Also expect to employ the power of digital manipulation to get things in tune with your vision. Here I bring my own.

The photographs in this article are from the same single image, manipulated in Picasa (now in version 3), which I use exclusively for my current web work. The reasons for this are simple, but I'll write something on that in another piece.

The two images above have had some tonal and focus changes applied. The two below deal mostly with framing, or cropping if you will, although selective focus is also tried.






You be the judge they say, but use your imagination and play with Picasa (as I see no need to use anything else, especially in earlier stages of getting your hands wet in digital manipulation). But most of all, pick the right image.

You can read a bit more on Picasa's another feature in this article about "focus B&W"
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