This is another shot of the same young boy, taken about 15 minutes before the previous one and, as you can see, he's not quite as confident in this one. By the end of the evening he was running up to me and grinning from ear to ear, but at this point his approaches were a bit more cautious :)

If you're interested, the somewhat less than inspiring original is here:

.../archives/an_infectious_smile_2.php

We went to a party at our village hall last night, to celebrate Trifon Zarezan, or the "Day of the Vine-Grower". Most of the village seemed to be there, and although our Bulgarian is still quite rudimentary, we did manage to have a few conversations with our fellow villagers.

Among the guests was this young lad and, while it's not one of the best portraits I've ever posted, I defy you to tell me that it didn't make you smile :)

Much as I love my Ricoh GRD III, its lack of a built-in viewfinder can be a bit of a pain at times, especially in bright light, and while I did get the GV-1 optical viewfinder when I bought the camera, I don't always remember to take it out with me. When I was trying to take this shot, for example, I really wished I had as it was almost impossible to see the image on the preview screen.

So, I guessed the angle I'd need and shot what I thought would be something quite close to the image you can see here. Sadly, as you can see from the image I've linked below, I didn't get it quite right:

.../archives/as_the_light_falls.php

Anyway, rather than trash the image I decided to transform it instead (Edit → Transform → Skew). I then toned it using a Curve and ended up with something that is probably a bit closer to the image I would have taken … if only I'd remembered to take my viewfinder out too ;)

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

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/

As I write this Libby is finishing wrapping the last of the presents, most of the younger kids are asleep (or doing a very good job of pretending), and the older two are upstairs doing something or other, so our Christmas Day is getting off to a reasonably smooth and peaceful start. Fingers crossed they all sleep till morning, but I won't be surprised to find one or more of them running around at 3am because Santa has managed to squeeze his way down our stove pipe ;)

On which note, Merry Christmas :)

This is the first of three portraits I shot of Rhowan and Harmony while they played in the snow on Sunday. All three ended up as high-key portraits, and all were relatively straightforward to post-process (if you're interested in the details you might want to take a look at my Portraits: part two tutorial as it covers quite a few of the techniques I used for this image).

This one, and the third I'll post, are portraits of Harmony, while the next one is a shot of Rho, and while I'm undecided about which is the weakest of the three, the second portrait of Harmony is definitely my favourite.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/let_it_snow.php

This is the last in my 'winter lake' series and, while it's not my favourite of the set, I do like the fact that it takes a bit of figuring out, i.e. the reflection and the shore line aren't symmetrical.

We also had a bit more snow yesterday, and while I didn't get any more landscape shots, I did get a few portraits of Rhowan and Harmony that I'm happy with. I'll probably post one of Harmony next.

I have one more 'winter lake' image to post after this one, but this is the last that features a mirrored reflection. Of the three, I think that the first is my least favourite, but I can't decide whether I prefer this one to the last one. Either way though, I guess it doesn't much matter as I'm quite pleased with how all of them turned out.

Let me know which is your favourite.

And if you're interested, the (not quite as interesting) original is here:

.../archives/winter_lake_3.php

This is the second of my 'winter lake' shots, and in many ways I suspect that it might be my favourite. Compositionally, it's not the strongest of the four I'll be posting, but it's the only one I could get to work in colour. As with my previous shot, there was nothing especially complex about the postproduction, but I did spend quite a bit of time amending the colour palette to give a more 'accurate' impression of winter. I also spent quite a bit of time cloning out the power lines, as you can see from the original:

.../archives/winter_lake_2.php

Let me know if you prefer this one to my previous entry.

And finally, this is just a quick reminder that we are currently offering a 15% discount on our Photoshop tutorials (up until January 1st of next year). Further info here:

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

One of the things I miss from my childhood is the winter, and while they were never especially harsh in the UK, we did used to have snow, sub-zero temperatures, and something that could be recognised as a distinct season in its own right. These days though half an inch of snow seems like an exciting event, and if it's still on the ground half an hour later it's akin to a meteorological miracle.

In Bulgaria, on the other hand, winter is a definite season – it's gradually getting colder and colder this week – and the few inches of snow we had a couple of days ago are still on the ground, with a lot more forecast for later this week. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get out and about today while the sun was shining, but did get four shots yesterday, all of which were shot at a lake a few kilometres from our house. I'll post the next three later this week.

In terms of the post-processing: I haven't done anything especially complex with any of them – other than attempting to give a broad impression of cold, winter, and so on – but I did extend the canvas for this one, i.e. it's not a 3x2 image cropped to be square, rather it was extended upwards (a technique I described in my Portraits: part two tutorial). If you're not sure what I'm talking about, just take a look at the original:

.../archives/winter_lake_1.php

As always, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

On a different matter: we are currently offering a 15% discount on our Photoshop tutorials (up until January 1st of next year). Further info here:

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

Update: following a couple of comments, that rightly pointed out that the pylons weren't quite straight, I've reworked this one to correct the slightly odd angle.

My apologies for the lack of updates but I spent most of last week week writing my latest tutorial – Portraits: part two – on the topic of how to postproduce high-key and low-key portraits. If you're interested, there's some further information here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/p2_info.php

In terms of this image: it's a shot of a electricity/transformer box and was taken on a walk up through the old part of Veliko Tarnovo. If my Bulgarian language skills had improved enough I'd be able to tell you what it says, but all I've been able to work out is that the first bit of the yellow danger signs says 'don't touch' and the poster is advertising something that took place on the 22nd of August (I think).

If you're interested, the original, taken with my Ricoh GRD III is here:

.../archives/dont_touch.php

First of all, many thanks for all the great comments on my last three shots - the 'after the rain' series featuring Rhowan and Harmony - they're very much appreciated :)

As for this one ...

One of the things I like about shooting HDR images is that you can shoot in even the harshest sunlight, when a single shot would be a complete waste of time. For example, if you take a look at the metered exposure for this scene you will see that it contains a range of clipped highlight and shadow detail; i.e. the dynamic range of the original scene was too high for a single shot.

.../archives/ganchovets_station_2.php

In this instance, as are most of my HDR images, this one was constructed with Photomatix Pro, from a seven shot sequence (as described in this tutorial), and as with my previous shot of one of the Ganchovets station buildings, I was aiming to produce a reasonably moderate image. In this case, it is fairly obvious that this is an HDR image, but I do think that it retains some sense of photorealism.

As always, let me know what you think.

Update: for a slightly different interpretation, taken one month earlier, take a look at this shot: posted by Craig a short while ago.

As promised, here's the first shot of our local environment over here in Bulgaria. It's one of the station buildings, just down the road from our house, and despite the rather dilapidated appearance it is inhabited.

On a related note: taking this shot reminded me that it's been too long since I pointed my camera at something other than the kids; i.e. I really struggled to think of a way to photograph this building from this angle without replicating this shot: taken by Craig on his recent trip over here. As you can see though (if you've clicked the link), despite spending some time pursuing alternative angles, I ended up taking exactly the same shot. Despite the blatant compositional plagiarism though, I am pleased with how this one turned out.

And if you're interested, it's an HDR image constructed with Photomatix Pro from a seven shot sequence. In this instance, the settings were fairly moderate; i.e. I wanted to create a vaguely photorealistic final image rather than something more over-the-top.

As always, let me know what you think.

Update: following mikelangelo's comment (below) regarding the haloing around the building I decided to do a bit more work on this one. The original (slightly haloed) version is here:

.../archives/ganchovets_station_1.php

When I've been to what I've thought are fairly obscure places in the past someone has been able to identify the shots I've put up, even if I think they're impossibly obscure, but it seems that this location isn't quite so well known. It's Veliko Tarnovo - the former capital of Bulgaria.

The shot I put up yesterday was a shot of part of the old town, while today's was taken just to the right on the Tsarovets fortress. I'm going to be here until Saturday morning, but if the last few days are anything to go by I'm not going to have a great deal of time for photography. That said, I'll try and post a couple more shots over the next few days.

When I posted my last entry I mentioned that I would be spending a week abroad. What I should also have added is that it isn't a photographic trip. The reason I should have mentioned this is that I'm finding that I haven't had much time so far to take any pictures, and those I have taken have been shot in poor light. Anyway, excuses aside, I thought it was about time I posted something so thought I'd put this one up. Technically, it's not great, but it is an interesting shot of this wonderful town.

So, who can tell me where I am?