Modern life eh?? Do we need cameras anymore?? What is real??
I have a marvellous Sirui 50mm T2,9 anamorphic lens, which for me is great as it's like stepping back quite a few decades to manual focus, keeping all the planes at right angles and really having to think about frame filling content.
But what if you just want to keep the kit lens, all the in camera assistance from your state of the art black box? Top image is shot with an old 20mm F2.8 Nikkor via an adaptor, I kept shutter and aperture fixed but enabled auto ISO to take up the slack and all of course...manual focus.
Bottom image just the same but image area expanded to anamorphic proportions in Photoshop and 'Generative Expand' clicked..the software does the rest. Have a close look, it's an anamorphic image but created by AI. I allow my images on Adobe Stock to be used as reference images by AI and it brings in a meagre amount of cash,but I've not had to invest a huge sock of cash to get a full on anamorphic lens. Maybe now we just have a 50mm F1.8 and let generative fill work the rest out for us....maybe not long until it's all done in-camera...it's the future...I've tasted it.

....and that's nearly a wrap.... this last year has mainly been feeding the Getty monster with all manner of Scottish landscape images as I trek around in the camper van in all the weather that Scotland decides to launch in my direction.
 Still, time for a bit of personal stuff (yes I know...it's all personal stuff) and mono is always there at the forefront. I was musing the other day that I still have Ronnie the Bronica (S2a) and maybe he should have a runout this year as it's....drum roll...... 50 years since we met across a crowded room or was that the ads section of the local rag..hmmm. Tanks , chemicals and a dobbing great Durst 600 enlarger and maybe a red or yellow filter. Different days and masking usually entailed a bit of cut out cardboard or twisting your hands into origami esqu shapes...calmer, quieter days as each frame cost real money, so you really took some care before hitting the shutter release.
So the image above is what I have found interesting when converted into Black and White..all these toys in Lightroom, I can imagine me talking to my younger self from back in the day trying to explain how taking an image has changed...wouldn't know where to start. Voice activated AI enhanced is probably not that far away in exchange for a monthly subscription, you may find that you want to talk to your younger self from 50 years in the future explaining how tricky Lightroom was and thank God for the multiple brain implants that allow you to 'imagine' imagery on a screen or possibly floating in space and roll your eyes at the thought of keyboards and monitors.

​Oh well done for surviving 2024, here's to 2025

​Sitting here keywording is and can be an onerous task..mind melting even though 'keyword suggestions' does ease the need to be creative with you keywording. I run a 2 monitor system so work on one screen, play on the other. Could be sport, news or at times training packages.
So as the 'Latest Updates' Adobe youtube videos played out one caught my attention...

'What's that you say? Get rid of reflections without a Polariser, Just by the click of a button??????' Well yes, but at the moment only in Camera Raw, just enable technology updates and then restart Camera Raw and click on the retouch icon and a panel will appear at the bottom...and that's it really.

You can alter the strength of the remove from the reflection itself to no reflection at all. okay early days and I'm sure it will be tweaked before it's added to Lightroom. Image above is the 2 extremes with the original file in the middle...I think there is a Street photo project in here somewhere.

​So this is just one image file, top one the 'reflection' in the window, middle the image as shot and bottom most of the reflection whisked away by the magic of Camera RAW...Witchcraft

I've been informed that I am a Beta tester on Adobe Firefly Video...text to video, this could be fun. 

​Lots of new images on Getty

#cameraraw #removereflections#adobe #photoshop #rawfiles