Theme: Cowbird shows off his colors

[Judy Howle]

Hello everyone! I finally got my new computer Friday. I've been without a desktop for 2 months! Long story but gist of it is that the local shop kept it for 5 wks, the motherboard died, and they got me to order a new motherboard and processor and they couldn't get it to work, said the motherboard must be bad but they kept it so long I couldn't send it back to newegg, so I sent it back to the manuf. in Seattle and had it completely rebuilt. The only old parts are the DVD burner and the 16 GB of memory and the hifalutin processor fan holder, but they replaced the actual fan. Turned out that the idiots in the local computer shop had bent the pins on the motherboard and ruined it, but the processor was OK, thank goodness. They have lifetime free labor so I only paid for the parts and they even paid the return shipping! I did install my Photoshop CC and Lr on the laptop but didn't load any of the plugins. This is my first edit with the new computer! I've been busy installing apps since Friday.

I used a previously edited photo of the cowbird that you may have seen and ran 3 filters on it including Perfect Effects and lastly, Impression with an oil paint preset. The color and detail is much more intense than it was before. Well, the detail is blurred by the oil paint filter but the previous filter really popped the detail so some of it still shows up more, like the beak and feet and canvas pattern that was in the texture I used in the original enhancement.

[Dennis Bishop]

Great colors, composition, and processing. This is very striking.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Dennis!

[Nancy Bell]

Love the brilliant colors in this, especially the oranges that frame the cowbird and bring out the oranges on his head! A cowbird has never looked so good!! The texture and strokes in the bkgd add a great feel of motion to the image, making it alive. Great pose and perch for the bird, and nice detail of that one foot grabbing the little twig.

Ouch! What a wretched computer story! I would have pulled all my hair out without a desktop for 2 months! Glad you are back at the keyboard processing images!

[Anita Bower]

Nancy wrote exactly what I was thinking!
Excellent image. This is the prettiest cowbird I've seen. I like how you brought out the iridescent colors. The size of the bird in the frame feels just right to me. The detail of the one foot grabbing the twig is a nice touch. Excellent processing. I love the colors of the bg, and how the oranges frame the blue and the bird.

Poor you without your desktop computer. Glad you have it back and that things worked out for you.

This raises a question I've had: do most of you process on desktops or laptops?
I use a 7 year old Dell that my son put together for me specifically for photography, and which he has updated numerous times. I have a 22" Dell monitor. I'm very happy with my set-up. My son, being a techy, has been urging me to upgrade for years, and is amazed that the old system is working so well for me. He is now suggesting a MacBook Pro. I am interested in the experiences and opinions of those on this forum as you create wonderful images.

[Hazel Grant]

My Macbook is now 8 years old. A couple of upgrades but no problems so far I think they still do not make Fractilus and DAP for Mac but otherwise ok. I have CS6 and am thinking of going to the CC. Not sure. Got encouragement from Dan Bishop on that.

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . This raises a question I've had: do most of you process on desktops or laptops? . . .

I use a 6-year-old desktop that was built by Cerise Computers in Maryland. They do computers for graphic-intensive (but not gaming) applications and seem very competent. I've been impressed by them, and will have them build my next desktop, probably before long. Even though I know they're successful, it's amazed me that people can do good images on a laptop. My issue with laptops is admittedly based on limited experience. When I saw that the images that I'd downloaded to my wife's laptop vary so much with the position of the monitor, I had little confidence that I could process an image the way I wanted unless the laptop were connected to a separate monitor.

When I was working, I discovered the benefit of using two monitors for engineering applications, and it works very well for processing photographic images. I use a stylus on a Wacom Cintiq monitor and put all the tools and palettes on the second monitor. At times, I've wondered if it would makes sense to use a laptop with its own screen for the tools and palettes and a separate monitor for working on the image.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Beautifully done Judy. I have a Dell XPS all-in-one, 27'. It is a workhorse, I love it. And I just use CS6. I never seemed to get into CC and dropped my membership.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the cowbird and the interesting discussion on computers. I would never edit photos using the laptop monitor. I connected mine to my 24" Dell Ultrasharp monitor, and wireless keyboard and mouse. It only has 4 GB of RAM and although it has a video card it was slow to load images both online and in Lightroom. I didn't have any problems using Photoshop and I created several digital collages from scrapbook kits with up to 20 layers. I only processed a few photos simply because I didn't make many. I'm more into art and digital collage these days. As to getting a Mac, I configured and priced one and it was way higher than a Windows machine with even more goodies and I didn't see an iMac with 32 GB of RAM which I'd like to have unless it breaks the bank, so I probably won't get it at this time. Besides, this new build with 16 GB and a Core i5 processor and a new kind of hard drive (not SSD but faster than a regular one) seems faster all around but it does have a 2 GB nVidia 960 card where the old one had 512 mb and my old processor was one of the early Core i7 models which is probably slower than this i5.

I thought I'd heard of people with Macs having like 128 GB of RAM so I wonder what kind they have.

Also there is the fact that I have a lot of software that wouldn't run on a Mac without Boot Camp etc. so I don't think I would want the hassle of that. But at least a lot of the software and plugins are now for both platforms and some would let you switch.

Hazel, you would really like CC and at 9.95 a month it's a no-brainer, and you get Lightroom too! I don't understand why some people seem to have a mental block against it. That's less than 2 fast food combos a month! And updates are continuous instead of waiting 18 or more mos. To me it's the same as paying your electric or cable bill monthly but a whole lot less, LOL. OK off the soapbox!

PS: right now if you get the Photographer's plan subscription from amazon you get a $25 gift card. And Hazel, you better check the specs required for Ps CC and Lightroom CC with an older computer. I specified that I wanted a video card with 2 GB of memory because that is what Adobe says you need for Lightroom if you want to have it being used as well as RAM, which has been available in Photoshop but now it's available in Lr too. I will try it out soon and see how much faster the full size images load.

[Paul Lagasi]

I also agree that you've made the Cowbird look awesome in this composition. Very striking image.

On CC, I have always bought my software, water heater, car, just about everything I own. I have enough monthly bills, no mental block here. Cheers

[Anita Bower]

I also agree that you've made the Cowbird look awesome in this composition. Very striking image.

On CC, I have always bought my software, water heater, car, just about everything I own. I have enough monthly bills, no mental block here. Cheers

Me too. Maybe if I didn't use Photoshop Elements, I might go to the monthly plan.

[Mitch Carucci]

Nice image to inaugurate your rebuilt computer! Color is great, but I really like the eye contact.

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful cowbird and processing -- all said above. I'd have gone nuts without my computer that long! Glad you got it fixed. Local computer shops are a crapshoot, with horror stories seemingly getting worse.

Anita -- if you switch to a Mac be sure all your favorite programs will run. Many programs are Windows only, and the programs that let you run Windows are a lot of trouble and expense. And be VERY sure you have a close support person to help with the changes -- if your son lives with you and works at home, that would be almost close enough. I switched several years ago when my Dell workstation died just after Vista came out and unfortunately it was when the worst-ever Mac OS had also just come out. Now I hate them both. The Mac system is far from perfect.

A laptop isn't a great option for your only computer, but if you only do basic processing it may be OK. And if you want a laptop for travel and only want to spring for one, it might work. The issue of screen brightness changing with viewing angle should be a thing of the past with the good newer screens, but be sure you are getting a good one. It isn't an issue with my MacBook Pro retina display.

[Anita Bower]

Wonderful cowbird and processing -- all said above. I'd have gone nuts without my computer that long! Glad you got it fixed. Local computer shops are a crapshoot, with horror stories seemingly getting worse.

Anita -- if you switch to a Mac be sure all your favorite programs will run. Many programs are Windows only, and the programs that let you run Windows are a lot of trouble and expense. And be VERY sure you have a close support person to help with the changes -- if your son lives with you and works at home, that would be almost close enough. I switched several years ago when my Dell workstation died just after Vista came out and unfortunately it was when the worst-ever Mac OS had also just come out. Now I hate them both. The Mac system is far from perfect.

A laptop isn't a great option for your only computer, but if you only do basic processing it may be OK. And if you want a laptop for travel and only want to spring for one, it might work. The issue of screen brightness changing with viewing angle should be a thing of the past with the good newer screens, but be sure you are getting a good one. It isn't an issue with my MacBook Pro retina display.

There are some good local computer shops. The man with whom my son interned runs such a shop, doing high quality (and expensive) work.

Thanks for the warning re. Mac and software. Good to know. My son, who works in the Excel for Mac division of Microsoft, keeps urging me to get a Mac. But, I think I will keep my Dell desktop, which I'm very happy with, using a 22 inch monitor, until it completely dies. My son has kept it going all these years, even though he has lived in Seattle and I in Pennsylvania for the past few years. He is a techy and always wants the latest stuff. We got his old MacBook fixed, so I will continue using it for traveling, waiting till I get home to edit my photos. That is the conclusion from my recent research. Some day it would be nice to have a Retina Display, or the equivalent monitor.