23: mramshaw's latest photos

Pool Deck (Week 4) - Filmic Version From the second BlenderGuru Architecture...

Sun, 18 Dec 2016 22:19:13 GMT

Pool Deck (Week 4) - Filmic Version

From the second BlenderGuru Architecture Academy, PLEASE VIEW LARGE

[Click on the image to view the full-size version]

Comments and critique are very welcome.

4:25 hours to render @ 6,400 Samples, GPU

More rendering with Troy Sobotka's Filmic Blender. New balcony railing.

Before, there were quite defined limits based upon the original lighting.

With filmic blender much more range for correction in post is available.

[The 'bloom' on the pool was added in post; the reflections look iffy to me.]

Photo by mramshaw

Reading Room (Week 1) - Filmic Version From the second BlenderGuru...

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 20:31:08 GMT

Reading Room (Week 1) - Filmic Version

From the second BlenderGuru Architecture Academy, PLEASE VIEW LARGE

[Click on the image to view the full-size version]

Comments and critique are very welcome.

[Old software maxim: hardware is cheap, software is expensive]

2 hours to render @ 1,500 samples, GPU [Used to be 16 hours, CPU]

Interiors have extreme lighting so this seemed a good test for Filmic Blender.

You can get Troy Sobotka's Filmic Blender here:

-- https://github.com/sobotka/filmic-blender

I was quite pleased how much of the exterior detail was made available.

I adjusted the colour grade, no other changes. Trying for a wintry feel.

Impressively, Filmic Blender allows for a lot of post-processing.

The highlights can be pushed quite far without blowing-out.

[Check the shadow border, side face of the sofa which used to look a little nasty.]

I am sure the same is true for the shadows. A big thumbs-up from me.

Photo by mramshaw

Vegan gluten-free snacks, perfect for aprés-Yoga. Organic Coffee and Tea of...

Thu, 27 Oct 2016 06:30:56 GMT

Vegan gluten-free snacks, perfect for aprés-Yoga. Organic Coffee and Tea of course.

Photo by mramshaw

Woodland Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides) On a Common Tansy flowerhead Skippers...

Wed, 21 Sep 2016 22:27:48 GMT

Woodland Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides)

On a Common Tansy flowerhead

Skippers are intermediate between Butterflies and Moths.

Photo by mramshaw

Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini) A very characteristic pose

Tue, 20 Sep 2016 16:29:23 GMT

Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini)

A very characteristic pose

Photo by mramshaw

West Coast Lady (Vanessa annabella) Not the cosmopolitan Painted Lady, but a...

Sat, 17 Sep 2016 17:40:50 GMT

West Coast Lady (Vanessa annabella)

Not the cosmopolitan Painted Lady, but a West Coast Lady!

Photo by mramshaw

ground frost

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 16:07:46 GMT

ground frost

Photo by mramshaw

It's been a while since I processed any pictures - comments and critique...

Mon, 12 Sep 2016 17:40:30 GMT

It's been a while since I processed any pictures - comments and critique welcome.

Photo by mramshaw

Looking fierce

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:54 GMT

Looking fierce

Photo by mramshaw

Getting cross

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:50 GMT

Getting cross

Photo by mramshaw

Extra 'eyelid' to keep eyes lubricated - the nictitating membrane

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:46 GMT

Extra 'eyelid' to keep eyes lubricated - the nictitating membrane

Photo by mramshaw

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:40 GMT

Photo by mramshaw

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:35 GMT

Photo by mramshaw

These throat feathers (which are kind of like scales) are highly reflective...

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:18 GMT

These throat feathers (which are kind of like scales) are highly reflective from certain angles.

And this iridescence is apparently built into the structure of the feathers.

I think he had caught sight of himself in my lens and was making a 'threat display'.

Photo by mramshaw

Nope, false alarm

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:14 GMT

Nope, false alarm

Photo by mramshaw

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:15:09 GMT

Photo by mramshaw

Early Morning Mist with Blender, PLEASE VIEW LARGE [Click on the image to...

Sun, 08 Feb 2015 03:06:55 GMT

Early Morning Mist with Blender, PLEASE VIEW LARGE

[Click on the image to view the full-size version]

Approx. 2 hours to render @ 500 samples, CPU

Yet another BlenderGuru tutorial:

http://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/make-grassy-meadow-scene/

The models & textures are supplied so the bulk of the exercise is Composition.

This is all related to the Grass Pack launch - which seems to be a very nice
improvement over grass created using Strands. The bonus of using models
is better-looking grass and greatly improved render time (and probably on
the GPU too, which really helps).

In this case, Volumetrics (the low-level early morning mist) is currently
only available with CPU rendering but even so I was pretty impressed with
how quickly this scene rendered. And not even a very high number of
of samples either! For the grass Particle System the numbers are pretty
reasonable also.

It's kind of fun de-constructing Nature - in this case my main goal was to
create realistic-looking mist - at which I think I was fairly successful. In
fact, I could probably have made the mist a lot denser - although that
really wasn't the look I was after.

Photo by mramshaw

BC Science World, as seen from the Olympic Village. I have been discussing...

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 21:17:06 GMT

BC Science World, as seen from the Olympic Village.

I have been discussing Buckminster Fuller with @mprove.

This is the most famous buckyball (geodesic dome) in Canada.

The most famous buckyball in Canada *used* to be the
former American pavilion at Man & His World (which
was the site of Expo '67 in Montreal) but that was
eventually dismantled for safety reasons.

Photo by mramshaw

BC Science World, as seen from the Olympic Village. I have been discussing...

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 21:16:46 GMT

BC Science World, as seen from the Olympic Village.

I have been discussing Buckminster Fuller with @mprove.

This is the most famous buckyball (geodesic dome) in Canada.

The most famous buckyball in Canada *used* to be the
former American pavilion at Man & His World (which
was the site of Expo '67 in Montreal) but that was
eventually dismantled for safety reasons.

This photo is from 2012, judging by the cranes this area
will now sport more high-rises, thus obscuring the view
here of the North shore mountains.

Photo by mramshaw

I've been taking pictures of these for a while, so I decided to figure out...

Sun, 23 Nov 2014 02:50:21 GMT

I've been taking pictures of these for a while, so I decided to figure out what they were.

As near as I can guess, they are Indian Blanket (Sundance).

It turns out I was wrong (but not too far), this is a Common Blanket (Gaillardia aristata).

Thanks for the ID @Fizgig.

Photo by mramshaw

Dreams of the Future

Thu, 20 Nov 2014 20:49:22 GMT

Dreams of the Future

Photo by mramshaw

Reading Room (Week 1) - Revised From the second BlenderGuru Architecture...

Sat, 25 Oct 2014 17:14:12 GMT

Reading Room (Week 1) - Revised

From the second BlenderGuru Architecture Academy, PLEASE VIEW LARGE

[Click on the image to view the full-size version]

Comments and critique are very welcome.

19 hours to render @ 1,500 samples, CPU

I have a much better understanding of Cycles (the render engine) than when
I rendered my first Week 1 attempt.

So it seemed like a good time to try re-rendering this particular scene.

I took to heart some critiques, plus made some changes I wanted to make.

Finally I added a small amount of 'bloom' in post (not photo-realistic but looks great).

This had the effect of creating a small amount of vignetting, which was welcome.

Photo by mramshaw

Pool Deck (Week 4) From the second BlenderGuru Architecture Academy, PLEASE...

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 22:53:15 GMT

Pool Deck (Week 4)

From the second BlenderGuru Architecture Academy, PLEASE VIEW LARGE

[Click on the image to view the full-size version]

Comments and critique are very welcome.

17:15 hours to render @ 1,600 Samples, CPU

Cycles may not be the fastest render engine, but it does a pretty nice job.

[It is apparently unbiased too, there are many settings to speed things up,
but these generally seem to introduce bias, trading speed for accuracy.]

Check out the nice bounce lighting at the base of the potted plants.

Also I think the lighting on the left of the garden umbrella is quite nice.

[The 'bloom' on the pool lights and shrubbery was added in post.]

Photo by mramshaw

This is from 2008. If I were to process it today I would probably crop and...

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:52:21 GMT

This is from 2008. If I were to process it today I would probably crop and process it differently.

I was using a not great camera at the time, its deficiencies are not too evident here.

Herons are tricky, if you spook them they make a horrible croaking cry of protest - and fly off.

So I was quite glad to be able to hang with this guy.

Their colours are very muted and the sky was heavily overcast - ideal conditions.

The juveniles also have some attractive rusty brown around their shoulders.

Herons have an interesting trick where they 'shadow' the water. Fish feel safer with protection
from above and swim into these apparently safe shadow areas. And then the heron strikes!

I remember there was a fisherman complaining about the poor fishing.

I pointed out the Barrow's Golden-Eye, heron, seals, and other fishermen - and suggested he was
simply a poor fisherman.

Photo by mramshaw

Early Morning Mist This is from a great day I had almost exactly two years...

Thu, 11 Sep 2014 16:09:45 GMT

Early Morning Mist

This is from a great day I had almost exactly two years ago.

Resized for the web from the original JPEG; uncropped and unprocessed.

Photo by mramshaw