DxO FilmPack 3 Essential - Tested

This morning I posted a link to the DxO website where they were offering a free license for DxO FilmPack 3 Essential. Since then I installed it and in use it looks like this:

Screen Shot of DxO FilmPack 3 Essential in use.

It is very easy to use and does what it is advertised to do. It makes digital photographs emulate various types of film, and it does it quickly and with the minimum of fuss. The film purists will no doubt scoff and say that none of these look anything like the results you can get from simply using real film and having it processed the original way. I agree. I also think real film has a look of it's own and the results from programs like this don't quite match up... but then these sort of programs are also simpler, faster, and cheaper than shooting film in our modern world. This topic can lead in a whole other direction very quickly, so I will leave it at that and move quickly on by showing what DxO FilmPack 3 Essential can do.

Free License of DxO FilmPack 3 Essential

I have never used DxO FilmPack 3, but if it's as good as the very excellent DxO Optic Pro which I use every single day then it is probably very good. What makes it even better is that in some kind of deal between Sony and DxO they have made DxO FilmPack 3 Essential available as a free download. Mine is downloading as I type so if you are interested (and lets face it who isn't interested in FREE?) click on the ad below to go directly to the download page.

There is a time limit to this offer, so do not delay, get DxO FilmPack 3 Essential today!

Good Bye Summer!

With the advent of autumn the "lazy hazy crazy days of summer" are finally gone until next year. I will miss the long warm Scandinavian evenings of cycling along the coast and sipping beer on the patio while sunset lingers on seemingly forever.

Now roll on the magical snow filled "winter wonderland" instead!

Life is good!

This "painting" was sold for $43,845,000

I think this is a deeply thought out piece of critique on the social imbalances prevailing in our modern society which lingers between threats of war and a Utopian vision of peace that seems so elusive to us all in the short term.

The skilled strokes of the artist are resplendent in metaphors of righteous indignation steeled by cold hard reality as the faint chant of the disappointed mass of humanity cries for the right to a new and brave world of integrity amongst the political elite whose subversion of basic human rights and mores is anathema to the objectives we all yearn and long for like a fish longs for the cool refreshing waters unpolluted by man!

The uneven shades and streaky brush strokes hail to an incompleteness in every human heart as we bemoan the fact that indeed our own lives are severely lacking in the sort of spiritual completeness that used to define us as a species many years hence. Will we find joy in our meaningless existence once more or are we doomed to a life of increasing frailty, overshadowed by the dark side of our incomplete and unloved psyche?

"How long?", cries the artists voice from the deep empty darkness that defines the world of modern art, "How long before I can cash my cheque?"

Mixed Light Sources - Window Light with Speedlight for a Quick Portrait

Recently I took the above portrait in the lounge of a private home. I used a blank white wall as a plain background, light from the open window provided the strong side light and background light, and a camera mounted sb700 pointed into the corner of the ceiling and wall behind me provided the main light. All in all it worked out quite well for a "high key" type portrait.

I shot this with my now favourite portrait lens, the AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G on the D300s.

Three Bottles of Campari on a Seamless White Background

Nikon D300s, Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.8 G, f/11.0, 1/160s, ISO 200, 1x Elinchrom D-Lite-it 2, 2x  Elinchrom D-Lite-it 4, 1x Large Sheet of White Cardstock, 2x Long Narrow Strips of Black Cardstock on each side of product, 1x Sheet of Clear Glass.