Fogey

Have you got a link for that or a photo?

Had winner written all over it. Well done.

I tried that once. I couldn't get past the stage where I looked as though I'd eaten a manky cat. Hello Steve.

I have now gone into the configuration files of all the programmes that has any thing remotely to do with photo editing and disabled the auto-update. Now it's just a case of trawling the back-up archives to locate some very sensitive files that became inaccessible with this corrupted drive. Once I got the corruption sorted out, it was a case of reinstalling the data files. I have located the main image directory with some 10,000 image files from a back-up and I now need a large external drive on which to store it. The real problem is every program is configured to keep re-installing the auto update, so wherever possible I have configured Microsoft to run these programmes as a third party - then I only have to worry about one update - and that will be on my say so.

..........and Hewlett Packard.............and Microsoft............A bigger bunch of finger poking twats I have ever come across. Hewlett packard decided to update the drivers for the printer I'm using, and without telling anybody their bloody software did it automatically and completely naffed up the printer. While I was trying to reinstall the drivers that came with the disk, this bloody software was trying to update the firmware to accommodate the printer drivers that weren't working. Meanwhile, Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided to update their software resulting in my computer having a catastrophic crash, where half the drives I used to store photos and important data, suddenly became corrupted. I had to spend an age reconfiguring the network, the router, the DVD drive, the printer and recovering the files that had all the details of my online banking. The end result is that I had to format one drive, losing an awful lot of photos as they simply couldn't be recovered. Fortunately for me, I had backed up the most important ones online, so all was not lost. Interfering, finger poking bastards! Rant over.

Well done that man. Worthy winner.

You really do have an eye for composition, Denis. Well done Sir, a deserved winner.

Put's my hedge to shame.

Congratulations Ryewolf - an outstanding image.

Well done Ryebear, a worthy winner. Great choice Clicker.

Congratulations, John. A well deserved winner.

Yes Clicker, you are absolutely right. The artisans of the day referred to Fibonacci's sequence as the Divine Proportions because this ratio was found so often in nature. Again the artisans of the day used this sequence during the Renaissance and even now, in today's architecture. Look also in the classical musical compositions and you'll find the most pleasing to the ear will be following the same ratio. I did find a fractal based on Fibonacci's ratio and that was interesting as it produced the same spirals and patterns found in the galaxies, as exposed by the Hubble telescope. It's my view, for what it's worth, that Fibonacci's ratio is so profound it can be regarded as a building block on which the Earth is founded. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=videos+of+fractal+based+on+fibonacci's+ratio&docid=608026765111526605&mid=308DFEBEEC8EE7DCD49E308DFEBEEC8EE7DCD49E&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

Ah! But this isn't as expensive as Wacky Baccy.

One of the most famous fractals is the Mandelbrot set, also known as the father of all fractals. Firstly defined in the 1978 , it was later computed and visualised by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1980 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD2XgQOyCCk&ab_channel=tthsqe12 I find these fractals fascinating. It's interesting to note a lot of the patterns generated can be found in nature with Fibonacci's sequence.

Well done Craig. Great choice, Kate.

Congratulations, a great choice - it had POTW written all over it.

Well done Cheryl, a worthy winner.

Let me say from the outset - this is not a fishing exercise. I recently had a one to one session with a professional wildlife photographer, as I felt that as an amateur photographer I would benefit from the professional touch, at a cost of £150. This gentleman had a full frame camera and advocated using aperture priority and controlling the shutter speed by increasing the ISO, so high in fact he achieved a shutter speed of 1/3200th sec. Now I have a 1.5 crop sensor camera, which means that if I followed what this gentleman said, then I would return an image so grainy as to be unusable. He couldn't advance on my knowledge of the exposure triangle, although he did give me some valuable pointers of the better settings on the camera. All in all, I would estimate the value of what I learned to be in the region of £50 - £75. You live and learn. One thing I did realise is that I have moved on from being an amateur to a seasoned amateur. The moral of the story is don't do yourself down. I certainly did and it cost me to find out differently.

Bugger!! ?

This is an interesting thread. As a new member, I can only contribute what I have experienced here and share my experiences of other forums that have died a death. Let me start with my take on why forums die a death. In my view, there are two things that will spoil a forum and that is to have an associated page in social media sites and a shout box. These two things will stop people posting in the actual forum, where the forum then loses its identity. Cliques within a forum. This perception can only be alleviated by encouraging new members to post images, ask questions, and get involved. We have to accept that when we post a photograph we have taken and are proud of, we post a little bit of ourselves as well - and both the photograph and the author are being scrutinised. Now if the person posting is a brass necked, thick skinned individual, all well and good - but somebody who is not so confident and is a beginner, would find posting their efforts against a seasoned photographer daunting. So I agree entirely that we should be offering the techniques we used to get the shot without being asked and to offer gentle constructive critique when asked. I have explained on a couple of occasions what I have done to achieve a particularly demanding shot and I hope members will benefit from that description. There are a plethora of things that can be done to encourage members to post, but remember this: The members are the forum, the site is merely a platform for that membership to flourish. I have found this forum welcoming in the extreme, the comments warm, friendly, constructive and on occasions, funny. And that, folks, is my penny ha'porth.

I stand in awe of you Fooj, and that is coming from another failed 11 plus student who suffered dyscalculia and passed A level Art and A level English language and literature in later life. So let me see; you are an artist, illustrator, author, photographer, teacher, social worker, carpenter, toy maker, wood turner and still going strong at 82. Ummm! what do you know about cooking?

My Life!, Fooj You are a veritable source of surprises and no mistake. You Sir, are a very talented man. Have you had any training at all in fine art? Or is it a case of developing a natural gift over the years.

A nice series, John. My favourite is the old guy fishing - what a great fishing rod.

Oh! Wow. I'm really lost for words, (and that's a first). Thank you very much, I'm really chuffed to bits and feeling a tad embarrassed. Thank you again.