This is another sunset view from our condo on Sunset Beach in Treasure Island Florida. It was great fun spending a whole month on the beach. It was something we had always wanted to do and we are blessed to have the time, money and health in retirement to do some of the things on our wish list. The nightly sunset views from our balcony were stupendous.
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Long Boards at Sunset
I have been experimenting a lot with Google’s NIK Collection photo editing tools. Previously I have created HDR images by using auto bracketing on my camera and combining the images with Adobe Lightroom. However, The Nik Collection offers editing tools that are pretty effective.
The advantage of HDR is the increase of detail and color adjustment in the image. I still feel that auto bracketing offers more detail because it actually changes the size of the image. The Adobe Lightroom auto combine also has a powerful de-ghosting procedure that allows you to take HDR images without the use of a tripod. However as you can see from the two images below, the NIK tool also increases detail without a dramatic increase in image size.
Not all images are improved by the HDR process and I am not sure if this image actually benefits although the change is dramatic. What’s your opinion? Comments are truly appreciated.
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From The Speakers Balcony
HDR Redux
I am currently writing Worlds Apart which is book two of our DreamMap series. If you read the first book, DreamMap you know that the story involves parallel worlds. I just wrote a series of scenes that take place in The Kings Box in the Chichén Itzá on a parallel earth. This is an image from the real one on planet earth.
If you haven’t read DreamMap, you can currently buy the Kindle edition for just $.99 just follow this link click here!
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The King’s Box
A few years a go I published skippy the Pelican. So named by me since he seemed to skip across the water. This was taken at a small harbor on Isla Mujeres a small island near Cancún in the Mexican province of Quintana Roo. I decided to edit the image using the HDR tool from the NIK Collection by Google. The new image is on top, so you be the judge. Comments appreciated.
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Skippy Redux
© Richard Burke 2016 All Rights Reserved
These long legged animals are amazing and unique. No other animal comes close to being this tall or having such a log neck. You might confuse a panther with a cougar, a wolf with a coyote but Giraffes are unique among all the mammals. This one was taken in the habitat at the Highland Park Zoo in Pittsburgh PA.
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Pittsburgh Giraffe
Last year we visited The United States Military Academy at West Point NY. I posted some images of the Chapel and other points of interest but for some reason didn’t include these three images. I felt then and do now that these images are not strong enough to stand on their own but together the provide some familiar views of this famous place. This is a great time of year to visit West Point and the tour is well worth it.
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Million Dollar View
The United States Military Academy
World War 1 Monument
This tiny window is on a circular stairway leading to the second floor of Charles Austin Buck Mansion. You can visit the Mansion which is located inside Bok Tower. Touring the gardens while listening to classical music played by a master of the Carillon has been a favorite thing to do when visiting Florida.
Tours of the mansion are available when visiting Bok Tower and Gardens in Lake Wales Florida.
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A Little Window
We spent last February watching sunsets from a rented condo on Sunset Beach in Treasure Island Florida. We would rarely see pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico, I think due to strong winds. If we would see them it would be in early morning and usually just a solitary pelican. A short walk away on the intercostal waterway and Boca Ciega Bay we would see many of the giant birds fishing all the time. On my last night on the beach I saw this solitary pelican skimming in front of the sunset as if he came to say goodbye.
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Night Fishing
I remember the first time I went to Florida in the 1960’s and saw an Ibis. I was taken with the beauty of the bird, I had never seen one before. Now when I visit Florida, I am amazed by how many there are. They are everywhere. I have seen them in gas stations, cruising the dumpsters outside of restaurants and on the streets. Recently, I saw three of these beautiful birds attack a pigeon who was getting too close to their road kill. I still think they are pretty and in a natural setting they are quite striking.
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The Ibis
The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) was built by Gustave Eiffel’s in 1889 for the World’s Fair in Paris. It was supposed to be temporary and removed twenty years later. However by 1909 the use of Airships had become popular and the tower was viewed as a convenient docking station. Also the construction of radio towers on the top of the tower proved valuable during the first World War.
Today the tower is iconic and a symbolic of French Freedom. It was first viewed as being and ugly blip on teh master plan of Paris developed by L’Enfant. Now the city would not seem the same without the Tower. This picture was taken from the Trocadero plaza in 2009.
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Tour Eiffel from The Trocadero Plaza
Imagery Photography 