Thanks very much for selecting one of my shots Bruce. Very much appreciated, and well done to all who were chosen.

Kind regards.. Shaun

I like this question, great idea to ask it.

I upload a photo only if it pleases me to look at in every way, provokes an emotional response or sticks in my memory and makes me want to view it again and again, usually because it's a beautiful representation of nature, a landscape in a wild place or a wild animal in it's natural habitat.

Kind regards. Shaun.

Wow, thankyou ! I really appreciate my pic being chosen !!! Thanks very much indeed. Congrats to all !

It's always a very nice surprise when i get a photo chosen here... Thanks very much indeed ! And well done everybody who had pics chosen.

Kind regards.... Shaun.

In the meantime (thanks to another members help) i am using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. This can do exactly what i suggested with the aid of freely downloadable add ons (of which there seem to be 100's). All you do is download extensions into Tools/Add ons, to enable certain functions. The one that converts the background to a custom colour is called 'Image tweak' and you just change the custom colour in the 'options' to '#000000' which is black. You then view full size and 'right click' over the full size view and choose 'view image'. This then does exactly what i suggested and the background becomes black.
Firefox is excellent. Fully customisable too if any of you wish to try this.

Regards... Shaun.

I'm awaiting a reply from the suggestion forum. It is being put to the programmers.

Regards.. Shaun

I submitted the suggestion, and also posted it on the community forum.. One of the suugestion box staff members is going to suggest it to the programmers...

We'll see what happens?

Thanks for the pointers...

Kind regards.. Shaun.

Thanks JohnyF, all great tips.

Regards.. Shaun.

Hi.

I don't use Firefox for general internet use, but i'll definitely have a look at it and if its good use it for renderosity. Thanks.
Perhaps its something that could still be incorporated into the Renderosity viewer though.

Regards.

OK thanks Rich, i'll put it in the suggestion box. Glad I'm not alone on this one, and it's not just my eyes.

Regards..

Thanks, thats a really nice surprise.. Thanks very much, and well done to all the people who got selected.

Kind regards.. Shaun.

Congrats Martin. You'll still be Mojoing though yes ?

All the technology, storage and features of digital cameras still would count for nothing without the intelligence of the cameras operator behind it. If anything some of the automatic focus features help you to concentrate more on the artistic content of your captures rather than be distracted or worry about wasting film. I agree with Girsempa, Technology has really helped. There's still a place for film just as people still love vinyl records. They have a quality that digital can't reproduce. It's just different, not better or worse.

Bruce.

If you can estimate the time within 5 days of when you think you might reach 22,222 posts, I'll give you a Dollar, maybe 5.

Regards.. Shaun.

Actually i liked the original. I dont think there is that much dynamic range in the image due to the overcast sky, so probably it wont benefit that much from exposure blending/tone mapping. But that does not mean you cant use it anyway for artistic reasons.

I dont know what software you are using for HDR, but if it is Photomatix then also try using the Tone compressor and the exosure blender.
Both offer more natural results without the colour casts associated with tone mapping. I think the colours that you see in tone mapped images can look very unrealistic and you need to play around with the saturation sliders (keep them low) before you get something more 'real'. They also tend to rob sharpness.

The tone compressor is great for keeping depth in the shadow areas while still achieving a higher dynamic range then one exposure does. I really like the tone compressor in Photomatix actually. The exposure blender is very good too. I think sharpening up a bit in PS afterwards is better than trying to compensate with the detail enhancements, as Adam says it just tends to add noise.

Hand blended exposures in PS are something that i have read about but so far have not had the patience (and probably skill) to attempt.  I found this quite interesting article the other day with examples of how this guy compares his hand blending technique with Photomatix. He swears by the hand blending technique even though he admits it takes a lot of patience. Check it out..

http://www.outdoorexposurephoto.com/photoblog/date/2009/02/

Regards.. Shaun