January - Beach grass zen



February - Clear Baltic



March - Old Groyne



April - Temporarily closed



May - Queen Elizabeth



June - Rain front



July - Baltic wave



August - Baltic sunset



September - Paper edges



October - Wide view



November - Berry in a cage



December - Beach grass abstract

Yes, David, I did indeed. Those were made miniatures by post processing, though.
Here is an example:


(one of the two that were taken with a Pentax - I don't want to get into trouble )

Here is a link to the Picasa album (warning: contains non-Pentax images!)

Mike, so far I haven't gotten the usage out of it, either. But I sure will try.

Ken, if that's so then you might be tempted...

Prieni

Hello again

In August I bought a Walimex (a.k.a. Ssamyang in other parts of the world) tilt shift lens. I admit that I haven't made best use of it, yet, but it is a fun lens, if a handful. It's all manual, so you have to set aperture and focus on the lens. And when tilting and/or shifting exposure varies quite a bit. It's a lens that makes you take your time.

Why did I buy it in the first place? Well, there is the potential for landscape work (tilting so that the image is in focus from near to far) and the "fake miniature" effect.

An example that still leaves me slightly puzzled is this:
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/Walimex%2024%20tilt%20shift/_PRI0536sm_zpsabe93db7.jpg[/IMG]
If I remember correctly I tilted this one sideways (you can rotate the shift and tilt mechanisms independently up to 90 degrees).

This one is a try to get everything in focus:



and tilting in the opposite direction results in this:



The shift is useful for architecture shots, of course:



and an additional tilt gives a special effect (for a fake miniature it's not the right angle of view)



Here's another one shifted only



and with tilt added (focussing attention to only a part of the building)



Unfortunately I cannot say what apertures I used in all of those images. This is another disadvantage of full manual operation, the aperture is not in the EXIF data. I would need to resort to something like pencil and notebook (or mobile phone) to jog down the settings for every shot. Maybe worth doing that when exploring this lens any further...

Yes, I still exist. I'm checking from time to time if there has been some change, in which case I would consider coming back. It's my old neighbourhood and I felt comfortable there. So I stroll through it from time to time see some new buildings and some run down corners. And when I meet someone on the street I might talk to him.
I hope you don't mind.
If you look at my past activities you will see that I have left taking part in the heart of this forum, photography threads.

I think it's quite normal to say goodbye when you leave. That's what you do in real life. At least it is what I do.
The hope of the ones saying goodbye is that the community (and especially the moderators) may think about what made this member leave. I know this hope is a little too optimistic as self reflection is not a strong point of many a moderator.
I can only speak for myself, it was not that moderation was, in my opinion, wrongly applied, it was that the moderators wouldn't even consider that their actions might have been conceived as arbitrary. Strong arguments pointing to that were not considered. In this forum you just get to hear that you "don't know the facts", regardless of whether you do.

I much prefer moderation that makes more errors (overall I was quite satisfied with moderation here) but stands up to them. If and when that happens I will be very happy to come back.
And until then I will check back from time to time and when I think I have to say something I will do so.
You can easily choose to ignore that, so no harm done to you.

Prieni

Yes, that could bring me back.

Just stopped by to check back if anything has changed.
Obviously there is still inconsistency ruling the moderation.

Will check back next year.

Prieni

Well, if you are mentioning my name, George, then I still answer. I know you don't like silly people talking to you, but you have to put up with that as long as you go on writing such a nonsense.

If you read my post careful you will find that I said I would be leaving for some time and check back from time to time if things change.

Of course this thread is still of interest to me and I will continue to follow it. That is all of my activity for now.

Good old George,

seems that all is well for you. People leaving either were harbouring resentment or are plain silly. No more words needed, that speaks for itself.

Goodbye George

I'm not harbouring any grudges and will keep fond memories of PUF. I felt at home here from 2003 have met many interesting people. Unfortunately quite a few have left or are inactive (or have been banned) and that hasn't made the forum any better.

I'm out of here for now. I will have a look from time to time if things have changed but I don't hold my breath.

Prieni

I didn't read anything by the mods that the ban was due to conduct in PMs. Did I miss that bit? Aren't we led to believe that the ban was due to repeated inadequate postings to the forum? Nothing to do with exchanges in private.

It would be easy for JR to say that Tim has personally offended him in PMs by writing something or other. He didn't. He just made mystery comments that if he would be allowed to show PMs we would all understand. No description of what Tim did or did not voice via PM.

If someone offended me via PM it wouldn't really breach confidentiality if I said "xy offended me in a PM by calling me an idiot", would it?

So it seems to me that the mods are not playing with open cards and that leaves a sour taste. Especially since it seems out of character for Tim to act in such ways. (Though reading Gwyn's post it seems that some members of this forum think that Tim showed some bullying behaviour; I personally haven't seen anything bullying from him in this forum or other fora).

Prieni