You wear those swimming costumes certain folk are talking about?
No no, I won’t ask.
I have to think about my moral compass.
O dear I did ask.
Is this a hole I am digging?
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I am just a wee bit older than the ‘selfie’ crowd, although have taken just a few, with poor results. I could never pull off a selfie of my backside. How would one even do that? However, someone did post a picture on my HOA website of more muscularly toned young ladies wearing them, asking if they actually are appropriate swimwear. Of course, all the men replied “Mind your own business, Karen” ( in USA Karen is a derogatory synonym for entitled, white control freak).
And thank you, Bobbi. I haven’t been able to sleep yet. Was just going to try again, but now I can’t stop visualizing trying to bend and twist to take a behind my back selfie photo. Ok, not your fault…my mind just can’t stay on task…unless I WANT to forget what I am thinking about!!!
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And would that be your good lady wife on the other side of the door, with rolling pin in hand and at the ready 
That’s one we’ve also adopted; and the male equivalent is a Ken 
But I prefer using Karen for them too, double the offence 
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Hello I am available… @Bobbi and @strings and @simoninedinburgh.
I may be a bit insomnia and scanning this post for interesting pics and my eyes don’t work but I spotted a polar bear at 95 paces 
Well at least someone… @EssexPhil
Largest land carnivore on earth @Strings I seriously hope that was a joke!!!
Polars says GRRRRRRRRRR and mini polars says GRrrrr
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@KGB Largest land carnivore on earth? Well I’m 5 foot nine and it was shorter than me!
I suppose it could have been a young one.
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I really really must get my camera out
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Saturday we had a lovely time at the local Oxjam event. It’s an annual charity event to raise money for Oxfam and lots of musicians play for free around the bars and cafes. I’ve taken part myself before my stroke but it was good to be there as audience this time, This is a shot of The Cellotapes, some fine musician friends of mine who play great bluegrass style music.
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Thanks for sharing @Strings
A nice bit of photo-journalism.
Were you the photographer? What equipment was used?
Keep on keepin’ on
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@Bobbi Thanks Bobbi. Yes it’s my photo and the only angle I could get because I was hemmed in behind some tables. The equipment was just my Moto g9 phone and the image cropped and curved in Gimp.
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To be honest the audience and canopy frame the portrait of the performers quite well, they give it context and are an integral part of the composition.
How’s that for a critique? Toe tappin’ good?
. . . and while i’m here - three very large cheers for Gimp my long time favourite editing package
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@Bobbi Finger snappin’ cool Bobbi :
I used to use Photoshop but can no longer justify the expense, so I set about learning Gimp. It’s great and does everything I need.
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I love photography. It would would great
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Not sure how i’ve missed this thread. Loved looking at most of the pics…there was a snake in one and i have a real phobia there so skipped past it.
Now I’ve found it I hope to contribute when I get chance. Late to the party as usual
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Actual Photography discussion today… perspective
I decided yesterday to take a little urban exercise and walk up through Nottingham. I was passing by St Peter’s church and thought how lovely the steeple looked in the late afternoon sunlight, so I decided to take a photo. The only way I could get a decent shot of the effect
was by getting up close and fitting the subject to the camera (phone). So my question is this: How much importance do you place on the textbook approach which says that verticals should be vertical, horizontals should be horizontal etc? It’s not edited, I haven’t cropped it or tried to adjust the perspective. In the past I’ve seen such photos torn apart in critique but I actually quite like it. Do you have any examples to show?
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As with all matters artistic the result, not the rules, is what is important in my opinion.
To take that a step further when you point the camera to areas above or to the side of centre eye level then converging parallels in different planes, in other words with different vanishing points, make an impossibility of that ‘rule’ . . . Oh what the heck, does it convey the information, feeling, sense of picture, or whatever?
I think images ‘speak’ or ‘sing’ even, so if they talk or sing coherently, then they are ‘correct’. If they simply make make incoherent ‘noise’ then trying to analyse the message is probably going to be fruitless. Try telling that to an artificial intelligence.
Having said that I do like my horizontals horizontal, and verticals vertical, even though at times that is impossible. I can like the impossible, can’t I?
I really must get my camera out. Rules were made to be broken?
Keep on keepin’ on
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I tried using the perspective tool in Gimp to find that creating a ‘textbook image’ was nigh on impossible.
Having said that there are times when that sort of editing can improve the looks of a photo. I do quite like ‘correcting’ a picture to get the view I want.
I wonder if this little corner is place to display before and after photographic images. It might interest some, and be too technical for others.
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@Bobbi
Yes, I agree with what you say. And I also hold my hands up to disliking horizons which are off by about 20 per cent. This is particularly evident on a many seaside snapshots where the sea looks like it would surely drain away. I think that’s just the old time photographer in me and a more modern approach is to completely ignore such trvialities.
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@Bobbi I’ve played with the perspective and other transformation tools in Gimp and they work pretty much the same as in Photoshop. I like the idea of before and after shots, but you are right in saying that technical talk might not suit everyone. On the other hand, if it is a Photo hobby section it surely should have some technical talk, including about post-editing. In fact that is an integral part of digital photography .Maybe I’m straying too far away from simple photo uploads.
This place could do with a gallery page. Or perhaps it has one but I just haven’t found it.
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You know that saying ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, the same can be said of all arts forms be it photography, writing or fashion! The textbook authors and critiques came into being because they saw another way to make money out of nothing, that’s just business for you. The textbooks are good guides for beginners 'til they grow confident enough to explore and experiment in their own way.
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Bobbi this is just the site for what you are thinking. There are people out there with broken minds who may very well have been into photography pre stroke. Yes it might be too technical for some but for those who had it pre stroke this is another way for their brains to reconnect with what is familiar to them, to what was once their passion in life. So keep on keeping on with it 
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