Taps

Great, balanced use of filters.

I love those clouds

It's whatever you want it to be , but it's supposed to be a dragonfly (a work of art?) made of metal. The base is hidden by the rocks on our side.

Great detail on the lion, tick and all.

A final one for the day, same spot as above. 1 sec F/16. ISO 100 (Edit. Attached wrong file. D**s).

Another one at the same spot. 58 secs (my remote was not correctly set. I was trying to program it for 60 secs but pushed the set button at 58 secs, and then thought bugger it! f/16. ISO 100

Taken this weekend at the PMB Botanical Gardens (whilst a noisy wedding was on the go 100m away!) 30 secs f/16. ISO 100

A portrait of a local we call Father Christmas, photographed in the local shopping centre parking lot, sitting on his bike. 1/320 sec f/4. ISO 400.105mm. All natural light, no reflectors etc.

Ja, the way I photographed it the para-glider and clouds formed part of the loop, with the foreground angled as part of the lower spiral. I couldn't argue that the way I drew it flows better than the way you drew it. I suppose it's one of those things open to interpretation.

Thanks guys. I agree the para-glider is not in the best spot. There are two that I have edited out of the photo but left this one as my editing skills are not that great. Just wondered about it. The guys were flying around and are in most of my shots from that day. Some may consider the "rules" pedantic, but I feel until I understand them and can apply them, I shouldn't try and break them unless what I see through the viewfinder looks great. In which case the rules are probably being applied without me being aware of it.

A question for you fundis (Vivek, you listening?) In this photo I tried to apply Fibonacci’s rule. Not trying to be clever but trying to put into practice what I've read. If one applies that rule, does the para-glider add or subtract from the image? (The background hills do, but forget that for the moment). Oh Ja: Canon 5D M3, 1/90 sec f/11 ISO 100. 24mm.

Great compositions!

Karkloof yesterday. The sky was very bright so decided to take a pic with the sky blown out, and tree silhouetted. Colour saturation reduced to almost zero but not a true B&W. B&W not my forté so comments appreciated.

LR6 / CC does this. I've used it and it does it quite well. I'm not a great fan of this but it can give good results in the right circumstances. ​Out of interest I was chatting to Roger de la Harpe yesterday and he said he does not use graduated filters. He relies on Lightroom. For me, with my limited knowledge and experience, filters are a better option. The attached photo (not a great example) is an HDR composite done in LrCC. I couldn't get the foreground bright enough together with a not too dark sky. As I recall three photos were used. No filters (except a CPL). Edit: added photo. Duh!

Thanks for that. I was considering a 0.9 SG and a 0.6HG later. I'll take your advice.

Vivek, am looking at getting a couple of ND grads (literally, a couple, expensive things. I would like to get a set of each, but I'd also like to drive a McLaren Mercedes. Not going to happen). I can;t decide on soft or hard grads. Looking at my photo collections soft grads would probably be most useful, although many photos have an almost horizontal horizon. What have you found most useful? Thanks Paul

A pic similar to my previous one. This was an attempt with a Little Stopper (nowhere near as good as Vivek's contributions, I'm still learning). Processed to look dark, I liked the mood. Exposure was 2 mins.

Somewhere in Karkloof last weekend:

Karkloof's church. (Be gentle, I've been out of photography for many a year!)

A fish caught his eye and now he's hooked

Aspirin is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) with its primary effect being analgesia. It is highly unlikely it had any effect on your performance in the dose you took.

It's because he really, really wants to ride a 29er but knows he can't be seen to switch. So he has to go road

Can't be Indian. He wouldn't be in front of a computer, he'd be in front of a TV watching the Little Master in his last match.

That's what happens when you tell your Granny you bought a bike