This one was taken from the same vantage point as my shot towards our village, and while there was definitely something about it that I liked, the original composition didn't work:

.../archives/powering_down.php

Once I decided to alter the crop ratio though (from 4x3 to 16x9), flip the image horizontally, and darken and tone the image, I was a lot happier with it. As always, let me know what you think.

This is out of sequence, insofar as it was shot before back seat driving and the aftermath, but I thought it was worth posting too. As always, let me know what you think.

This was taken a few days ago from one of our bedroom windows and, while it's a bit of a compositional mess – it seemed like a good idea at the time – I do like the colours. What I should have done of course is gone outside with my tripod and found a better angle, but it was just a bit too cold. So, instead, I rested my camera on the windowsill, snapped a few shots, then went and stood in front of the stove for ten minutes to warm up again :)

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the dark object (top left) is the roof and guttering of the house next door.

I do have another shot of Finley that I'll probably publish later this week. It was taken a few seconds before my previous entry, and clearly shows that he was enjoying his sledge ride. By the time this one was taken though he'd been covered in flying snow and then crashed at the end of the run. As he's generally not the bravest little lad in the world, he was rather upset – as you can see from his rather forlorn expression. I should add though that a few seconds later he was fine ago, and running back to the top of the hill for another go :)

As usual, if you're interested, the original is here:

    .../archives/the_aftermath.php

In other news, the voting for the 2010 Photoblogs Awards has started, so if you are already registered at coolphotoblogs.com it's time to add a voting link to your template. If you're not registered, you can do so here. And finally, if you'd like to vote for chromasia, my profile is here:

    http://www.coolphotoblogs.com/profile3

And finally, I'm pleased to say that our latest tutorial – Digital Workflow: part five – was published late last night. If you're interested, there's some further info about the series here:

    http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/dw_info.php

… more general info about the tutorials here:

    http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/

… and details about our publication and development plans for the remainder of 2010 here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/coming_soon.php

From front to back, this is a shot of Finley (struggling a bit in the spray), Camilla, Harmony, and Rhowan. This is the first year they've been sledging (there's not normally enough snow in the UK), and they've all really enjoyed it - once they got used to the cold at least :)

That said, Finley wasn't entirely impressed on this occasion, as you'll see when I post my next image (probably on Monday).

And if you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/back_seat_driving.php

There wasn't anything especially complicated about the post-production, but it is worth mentioning that I used Topaz Adjust to bring out the detail in the flying snow, and spent quite a bit of time ensuring that some of the detail in the snow to either side of the sledge was still visible (i.e. a very steep Curve and a mask for those areas).

Yes, I know, two images in one month is a fairly dire achievement, but our Bulgarian winter experience has turned into more of an exercise in survival than I expected. It's still the adventure I hoped it would be, but we've also had quite a few things to deal with that weren't entirely expected. I've been updating my Facebook profile with the details, but the short version is that I sprained my back, the temperature has dropped as low as -23C, our pipes have frozen (twice), our van has broken down, and one of our electrical sockets caught fire this morning. In short then, most days have been taken up with dealing with the necessities of winter life.

It could have been a lot worse though: our village hasn't been cut-off following a heavy snowfall, the mains water hasn't frozen, our electricity supply has remained constant, we haven't run out of wood, and our roof hasn't collapsed under the weight of the snow - all of which have been known to happen in previous winters. Fingers crossed that a) the rest of the season goes reasonably smoothly, and b) I have a bit more time to document it :)

I have managed to take a few shots though, mostly with my Ricoh GRD III, and really like how this one turned out. It was taken on the way back from Yalovo and you can just see our village in the distance. If you take a look at the electricity pylon you'll see that it has two arms of the right-hand side, one on the left. It's almost impossible to make out at this resolution, but our village is immediately to the right of the lower arm on the left. It's not quite as remote as it looks :)

If you're interested, the original is linked below. As you'll see, the major change (other than the black and white conversion) involved balancing the tonal range of the foreground to the sky, i.e. the latter is now quite a bit darker (and the majority of the highlight detail has been recovered), while the foreground is much brighter.

.../archives/towards_ganchovets.php

In other news: if you'd be interested to know what we have planned for our Photoshop tutorials this year, take a look at the page I've linked below. As you'll see, we're introducing a variety of new content and media:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/coming_soon.php

One of the things we were really looking forward to when we moved to Bulgaria was a proper "snowy" winter. All we've had so far though is a few days of snow, and the long range forecast suggests that it's going to stay quite a way above freezing for at least the next week or so. The UK on the other hand, which hasn't seen any proper snow for years, is currently in the grip of an arctic winter – it's just not fair ;)

As for this shot, it's a monument at the top of our village, the first of many shots I'll be posting this year that document our new environment.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/untitled_0094.php

Here's my first shot for 2010, taken back in November when I was in Dubai – a shot of an old bicycle down at the Souk. In this instance the post-processing was reasonably straightforward other than that I combined two similar shots of the same subject to construct the final image: one for the main detail, and another to lighten and add texture to the background. If you're interested, both shots are here:

.../archives/ringing_in_the_new_year.php

And beyond that I don't have too much else to say today other than Happy New Year :)

I've spent the last couple of days wondering what to post to close out the year and then came across this entry on momentaryawe.com (run by my good friend Catalin Marin): his twelve favourite shots from 2009, one from each month. So, with credit to Catalin for the idea, here are my twelve favourites for the preceding year. Had I selected images from the year as a whole I suspect that there would be a couple of changes, and I also suspect that some of you would make different choices from each month, but when I looked back through the images I'd posted this year these are the ones that gave me most pleasure to produce.

As always, let me know what you think.

On a different matter: don't forget that there are just a few days left in which to snap up a 15% discount on our Photoshop tutorials. Further details here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/

And finally: Happy New Year for 2010 :)

This is the third of my 'let it snow' images – another portrait of Harmony – and it's probably my favourite of the set. It's also the last wintery portrait I'll be posting for a while as the weather seems to have got quite a bit warmer over the last few days; which is good news for our ever-dwindling wood pile, but less good for photography. In fact, for the moment at least, the Bulgarian winter is looking quite a lot like a UK one, i.e. wet, grey and dull. From what we've been told though, there should be some reasonably heavy snowfalls at some point in the New Year. I hope so, not least because we bought the kids a couple of sledges for Christmas.

And if you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/let_it_snow_3.php

On a different matter: if you have any money left over from Christmas, don't forget that we're currently offering a 15% discount on our Photoshop tutorials. Further details here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/