Posts for: stavros
Apr 4, 2024 07:14:30 #
therwol wrote:
Very nice photos. Post processing well done for a nice effect. If you're into this sort of thing, the Battleship Park in Mobile has many similar planes, and you get to see the inside of a WWII battleship as a bonus.
Thanks!
Apr 4, 2024 07:14:03 #
Apr 4, 2024 07:13:38 #
Moondoggie wrote:
Love the post processing on the background. Nice work.
Thanks!
Apr 3, 2024 16:07:35 #
AFrame003 wrote:
It is a B26 — my dad flew the B26 in North Africa and Sicily.
Cool. My dad was a ball turret gunner on a B24 Liberator in the same arena
Apr 3, 2024 09:31:03 #
lukevaliant wrote:
i like 9 is that a f-100?
I think it's a B26. I could be wrong.
Apr 2, 2024 17:08:56 #
On our fall vacation to Destin, Florida last October Annette and I decided to stop in nearby Valparaiso Florida to visit the Air Force Armament Museum.
The Air Force Armament Museum is a military aviation museum adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida, dedicated to the display of Air Force armament. It is supported by the private, non-profit Air Force Armament Museum Foundation.
The Air Force Armament Museum is the only museum in the world dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of artifacts and memorabilia associated with Air Force Armament and its platforms of delivery. There are over twenty-nine different aircraft that have found a home at the Air Force Armament Museum including an AC-130, B-17, B-25, B-52, P-51, A-10, F-15, F-16, F-100, F-101, and many other aircraft from the WWII era to the present. There are also several hundred pieces of armament to include a gun collection, bombs, bomblets, and missiles.
The museum was conceived and approved in 1974 but there was no suitable structure available on Eglin Air Force Base until 1976. In the spring of that year, an old Enlisted Club facility became available, and the Armament Museum became a reality. To help fund and perpetuate this Museum, the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation (AFAMF), a philanthropic non-profit organization, was established.
From 1976 through 1981, the artifact collection grew, and the Museum averaged 80,000 visitors per year. But, in 1981, the building housing the Museum collection was condemned, and the Museum closed that October.
The Air Force Armament Museum Foundation (AFAMF) then began what became a lengthy effort to find a new home for the Armament Museum. After a slow start, funding efforts began in 1984. By mid-1985, $1.2 million in private and corporate donations had been raised and construction of a new 28,000 square foot Museum was underway and in November of the same year, the new Museum was deeded to the United States Air Force and opened to the public.
Admittance to the Museum is free of charge and the Museum is open every day and most Federal Holidays. Over two million people have now visited and enjoyed this Museum. Numerous significant, military-related ceremonies such as promotions, reenlistments, retirements, and meetings occur within the Museum each month. Visits by school, church and veterans' groups are now almost daily occurrences and the Armament Museum has become an important educational, cultural, and social landmark.
Driving onto the grounds of the Air Force Armament Museum, visitors first notice the array of numerous aircraft on display. The fastest plane ever built, the SR-71 Blackbird is the centerpiece flanked by numerous planes from World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War eras. The Air Force Armament Museum is located on the Emerald Coast of the Florida Panhandle. It is on Highway 85 South, seven miles north of Fort Walton Beach. The museum is open Sunday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time. Tours are self-guided. Photography is permitted and encouraged.
These photos with Topaz and Dynamic Auto Painter Pro effects were taken in October. I shot in RAW with my Nikon D750 camera and used Corel AfterShot Pro to convert the files. Then I used Topaz Denoise, Corel PaintShop Pro, and Luminar AI to further adjust and enhance the files in post processing. Finally, I used Dynamic Auto Painter Pro to add the Re-Acrylic painterly effects. I hope you enjoy!
The Air Force Armament Museum is a military aviation museum adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida, dedicated to the display of Air Force armament. It is supported by the private, non-profit Air Force Armament Museum Foundation.
The Air Force Armament Museum is the only museum in the world dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of artifacts and memorabilia associated with Air Force Armament and its platforms of delivery. There are over twenty-nine different aircraft that have found a home at the Air Force Armament Museum including an AC-130, B-17, B-25, B-52, P-51, A-10, F-15, F-16, F-100, F-101, and many other aircraft from the WWII era to the present. There are also several hundred pieces of armament to include a gun collection, bombs, bomblets, and missiles.
The museum was conceived and approved in 1974 but there was no suitable structure available on Eglin Air Force Base until 1976. In the spring of that year, an old Enlisted Club facility became available, and the Armament Museum became a reality. To help fund and perpetuate this Museum, the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation (AFAMF), a philanthropic non-profit organization, was established.
From 1976 through 1981, the artifact collection grew, and the Museum averaged 80,000 visitors per year. But, in 1981, the building housing the Museum collection was condemned, and the Museum closed that October.
The Air Force Armament Museum Foundation (AFAMF) then began what became a lengthy effort to find a new home for the Armament Museum. After a slow start, funding efforts began in 1984. By mid-1985, $1.2 million in private and corporate donations had been raised and construction of a new 28,000 square foot Museum was underway and in November of the same year, the new Museum was deeded to the United States Air Force and opened to the public.
Admittance to the Museum is free of charge and the Museum is open every day and most Federal Holidays. Over two million people have now visited and enjoyed this Museum. Numerous significant, military-related ceremonies such as promotions, reenlistments, retirements, and meetings occur within the Museum each month. Visits by school, church and veterans' groups are now almost daily occurrences and the Armament Museum has become an important educational, cultural, and social landmark.
Driving onto the grounds of the Air Force Armament Museum, visitors first notice the array of numerous aircraft on display. The fastest plane ever built, the SR-71 Blackbird is the centerpiece flanked by numerous planes from World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War eras. The Air Force Armament Museum is located on the Emerald Coast of the Florida Panhandle. It is on Highway 85 South, seven miles north of Fort Walton Beach. The museum is open Sunday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time. Tours are self-guided. Photography is permitted and encouraged.
These photos with Topaz and Dynamic Auto Painter Pro effects were taken in October. I shot in RAW with my Nikon D750 camera and used Corel AfterShot Pro to convert the files. Then I used Topaz Denoise, Corel PaintShop Pro, and Luminar AI to further adjust and enhance the files in post processing. Finally, I used Dynamic Auto Painter Pro to add the Re-Acrylic painterly effects. I hope you enjoy!
Feb 22, 2024 10:55:31 #
Main photography discussion as well as general chit chat used to have far more postings than it does now. Even the specialty categories like Landscape, Black and White, etc. participation has decreased. My observation is based on the forum, not the former daily digest. I still think the timing of the drop in participation coincides with the change in format, although it may be a coincidence rather than a cause/effect. I have no trouble navigating the forum. I just miss the daily digest. Nothing more than that.
Feb 22, 2024 08:56:37 #
I agree and it seems like participation has dropped since the new format was introduced.
Jan 24, 2024 08:53:29 #
kpmac wrote:
Beautiful. I would love to see the originals, too.
Thanks
Jan 24, 2024 08:53:09 #
joecichjr wrote:
Nothing shot of spectacular 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈
Thank you!
Jan 23, 2024 16:12:41 #
Annette and I decided to visit the Horse Creek recreation area via a drive through Buffalo Mountain Park last October when the Autumn color was peaking in the forests.
Buffalo Mountain Park, in Johnson City, Tennessee, is a 725-acre natural resource area obtained in 1994 through a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service. The park is located on the north slope of Buffalo Mountain and consists of steep topography and densely forested land. The park functions as a nature preserve primarily for hiking, picnicking, and nature programs.
Horse Creek Recreation Area is located eight miles from Greeneville, Tennessee. This recreation area is nestled into a hardwood cove beside its namesake, Horse Creek. There are facilities for camping and day-use activities including hiking, fishing, picnicking, and swimming.
These photos with Topaz and Dynamic Auto Painter Pro effects were taken in October 2023. I shot in RAW with my Nikon D750 camera and used Corel AfterShot Pro to convert the files. Then I used Topaz Denoise, Corel PaintShop Pro, and Luminar AI to further adjust and enhance the files in post processing. I also applied the BuzSim effects using the legacy Topaz plugin, Simplify. Finally, I used Dynamic Auto Painter Pro to add the Re-Acrylic painterly effects. I hope you enjoy!
Buffalo Mountain Park, in Johnson City, Tennessee, is a 725-acre natural resource area obtained in 1994 through a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service. The park is located on the north slope of Buffalo Mountain and consists of steep topography and densely forested land. The park functions as a nature preserve primarily for hiking, picnicking, and nature programs.
Horse Creek Recreation Area is located eight miles from Greeneville, Tennessee. This recreation area is nestled into a hardwood cove beside its namesake, Horse Creek. There are facilities for camping and day-use activities including hiking, fishing, picnicking, and swimming.
These photos with Topaz and Dynamic Auto Painter Pro effects were taken in October 2023. I shot in RAW with my Nikon D750 camera and used Corel AfterShot Pro to convert the files. Then I used Topaz Denoise, Corel PaintShop Pro, and Luminar AI to further adjust and enhance the files in post processing. I also applied the BuzSim effects using the legacy Topaz plugin, Simplify. Finally, I used Dynamic Auto Painter Pro to add the Re-Acrylic painterly effects. I hope you enjoy!
Jan 3, 2024 14:46:10 #
DWU2 wrote:
I like these. In the DAP stage, did you use one particular style preset?
Thanks. Yes, I used "Modern Art". Then I retouched with two applications of the Soft Reveal Brush and then color adjusted the shadows and midtones and increased the sharpness a bit.
Finally, I adjusted the brightness and contrast is PaintShop Pro.
Jan 3, 2024 11:42:39 #
Earnest Botello wrote:
Very vibrant color and beautiful series, Stavros.
Thank You!
Jan 3, 2024 08:36:45 #
SteveW8703 wrote:
Oh so beautiful, I love the bright colors.
Steve
Steve
Thanks!
Jan 2, 2024 16:53:35 #
Annette and I visit Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina often throughout the year with our annual season pass. In addition to the house itself, there are nice shops, galleries, a winery, and restaurants on the property, as well as a beautiful lake and numerous hiking trails. The estate also features the beautiful Walled Garden with different flowers and plants blooming throughout the year. Our favorite destination on the estate is the Conservatory which is located within the Walled Garden. These photos are from our visit to the Conservatory in December 2023.
Biltmore’s Conservatory
In addition to 8,000 acres to explore on the property, a visit to the soaring glass-ceilinged Conservatory is a must. Beautifully bedecked with poinsettias and an array of exotic orchids during the Christmas and winter seasons, this hidden gem dazzles year-round with an ever-present abundance of lush, fragrant tropical displays.
Completed in 1895, the Conservatory embodies the late 19th-century passion for horticulture. It was a collaboration between George Vanderbilt, Frederick Law Olmsted, the estate’s landscape architect, and Richard Morris Hunt, who designed Biltmore House. Hunt designed the structure while Olmsted weighed in on the location.
Like other conservatories in the early 1900s, Biltmore’s glass-enclosed building sheltered exotic and tropical plants from around the world, but it was much more than a pretty place to display rare plants; it also fulfilled Vanderbilt’s vision of Biltmore as a self-sufficient, working estate.
Beyond the primary areas that Mr. Vanderbilt’s guests would have enjoyed, there is a large Production Room for potting and growing plants and storing tools and equipment that are still in use today.
One of the highlights of the Conservatory is the Orchid Room that features more than five hundred plants in the collection. Peak bloom time is during the winter months, bringing some much-needed warmth and color to the coldest season of the year.
These photos with Topaz and Dynamic Auto Painter Pro effects were taken in December 2023. I shot in RAW with my Nikon D750 camera and used Corel AfterShot Pro to convert the files. Then I used Topaz Denoise, Corel PaintShop Pro, and Luminar AI to further adjust and enhance the files in post processing. Finally, I used Dynamic Auto Painter Pro to add the Modern painterly effects. I hope you enjoy!
Biltmore’s Conservatory
In addition to 8,000 acres to explore on the property, a visit to the soaring glass-ceilinged Conservatory is a must. Beautifully bedecked with poinsettias and an array of exotic orchids during the Christmas and winter seasons, this hidden gem dazzles year-round with an ever-present abundance of lush, fragrant tropical displays.
Completed in 1895, the Conservatory embodies the late 19th-century passion for horticulture. It was a collaboration between George Vanderbilt, Frederick Law Olmsted, the estate’s landscape architect, and Richard Morris Hunt, who designed Biltmore House. Hunt designed the structure while Olmsted weighed in on the location.
Like other conservatories in the early 1900s, Biltmore’s glass-enclosed building sheltered exotic and tropical plants from around the world, but it was much more than a pretty place to display rare plants; it also fulfilled Vanderbilt’s vision of Biltmore as a self-sufficient, working estate.
Beyond the primary areas that Mr. Vanderbilt’s guests would have enjoyed, there is a large Production Room for potting and growing plants and storing tools and equipment that are still in use today.
One of the highlights of the Conservatory is the Orchid Room that features more than five hundred plants in the collection. Peak bloom time is during the winter months, bringing some much-needed warmth and color to the coldest season of the year.
These photos with Topaz and Dynamic Auto Painter Pro effects were taken in December 2023. I shot in RAW with my Nikon D750 camera and used Corel AfterShot Pro to convert the files. Then I used Topaz Denoise, Corel PaintShop Pro, and Luminar AI to further adjust and enhance the files in post processing. Finally, I used Dynamic Auto Painter Pro to add the Modern painterly effects. I hope you enjoy!
