I'm glad you brought that up, since I noticed (and quickly downloaded) those Nik filters and added them to my PSE v. 13. I also found .pdf manuals on them. This has only been in the last week or so and I haven't tried them out yet. The question I have for you concerns the Silver Efex, the b&w one. Is it in fact a conversion filter, that is, to be used strictly for converting color to black & white? I work on a lot of antiques from the Library of Congress that are in Grayscale (easy enough to change to RGB mode so as to apply filters) and it would be kind of neat to punch 'em up a little. Or am I floundering around out in left field?

Hello to everybody at UHH. I've actually lurked around here a few days since signing up, exploring and making a few comments; hadn't really intended to formally introduce myself because I could see early on that even though I've been interested (off and on) in taking pictures since 1961 (starting out with a Brownie Bullet 127 roll film camera, if I'm remembering it correctly) I'm no photographer except in the most casual sense of the word, and this is a forum for PHOTOGRAPHERS. But in this morning's digest E-mail there was a post from a member who took UHH to task for being what he perceived as dull and uninteresting, when I could see it was and is anything but. So I made a bit of a long-winded post there, realizing towards the end of it that anyone reading it would likely say "who the heck is this guy?" Thus this intro.

I am a retired Soldier and small-engine mechanic, living in Clarksville, Tennessee, right on the Kentucky border and Fort Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division, from which I retired in 1993, going to work as a mechanic in the PX garage on post (small engines were a sideline) until I retired for good in 2009.

As stated, I'm strictly a casual hobbyist, and I own the type of equipment you'd expect: a Fuji Finepix S-1 bridge camera, a Slik U-9000 tripod, a no-name intervalometer, and various accessories to aid in doing things that interest me such as a set of neutral density filters which, along with the intervalometer, enable me to at least get my feet wet in doing Timelapse shooting. I can truthfully say that as a very young man back in the early 70's, I had a lot more imagination and would jump in the car to go look for stuff to take pictures of; these days it's a lot harder to fight sheer inertia. About all I have going for me is a moderately good eye for composition (I almost never have to crop anything by way of fixing something) and know my way around the basics of exposure, depth of field, etc.

As I mentioned in the long-winded post (this one's getting there!), I actually can do fairly well in the area of retouching old photos from the LOC; certainly not on a professional level but I've self-taught myself a lot about Photoshop over the last 10 years or so. So in closing, I would like to post the image I talked about in that other post, not realizing at the time that you can't attach anything to a "quick reply". I hope you like it. It was originally taken at the Encampment of 1913, that year held in Gettysburg PA, and naturally highlighting the survivors of the Civil War battle there 50 years previously. The picture is of two old veterans of the GAR, both of whom left limbs on the field. I restored it carefully and dedicate it to all old soldiers everywhere.

There's creativity, and there's creativity; it's all in the eye of the beholder. What I've noticed here is that there is a huge amount of technical know-how about photography in general, gained through long years of experience. Those pictures of birds, landscapes, sunsets, etc. are all very well (and for many) beautifully composed, exposed and rendered. Again, it's because there's a lot of Old Geezers (like me; I'm 67 in 3 months) doing something they truly enjoy, and have for a long time, and it shows in the photos I'm seeing here. If our stuff isn't exciting all the hipsters, so what? They should take a closer look and learn something well worth learning. Myself, I have to admit to being somewhat intimidated here. I was hit, early on in my exploring UHH, just how little I actually know about photography, both the techniques and (especially!) the equipment. But this is a swell place to hang out and pick up valuable info, so here I am. If I have any ability, what little there is revolves around retouching. Perhaps some of you may have visited the Library of Congress photo collections? They're extensive and unfortunately in pretty rough shape, too. Most of them are glass-plate negatives well over a hundred years old, with a hundred years worth of scratches, fingerprints, dust and emulsion stains built in (and high-res scanned into the library as is). The photo I'll be attaching was taken in 1913, and looked every day of it. I offer it as a sample of an area of photography that I enjoy, and as a tribute to all old soldiers everywhere as we approach Memorial Day, 2016. I guess maybe from here I ought to head over to the Introduction page and properly ID myself. I did want to let Idahomike and others who may think UHH is somehow lacking in "style", "artistry", "creativity" or wh**ever: It's there, in spades. Just take a closer look.

I like your website. The colors on some of your HDR works are beautiful.

Speaking of labor...

And if you want to get really technical, the Mitsubishi Zero was probably the best designed and most effective fighter of them all, Allied and Axis. My own favorite, going strictly on looks, was the Focke-Wulfe 190. As far as this collection of photos goes, I'm with everybody else: Beautiful, professional work; I wonder how much the book will cost? It's got to be coffee-table size to do those photographs justice.

Very nice work; Hummingbirds can be really hard to photograph at times.

That looks like a place I'd enjoy spending some time at. Your composition is nicely done. I especially like the way those barn doors are constructed.

Since he seems to have pulled a "Barney Fife", maybe he should just get one bullet and keep it in his shirt pocket...

I had a look at her photostream on Yahoo; that young lady knows Photoshop inside and out. The shot posted here, along with her other works are extremely well- and professionally done. I've been "photoshopping" for more than 10 years and wish I was even half that good. She planned that shot all right, including exactly what she would do to it in post to get the resulting image she obviously had in mind all along.