[SharpByCoop]

Hi guys,

Hi Rich, thanks.

Yes, the purple on the sheaths is to balance out the purple handles when sheathed. They are VERY elegant. I agree about Stan. He doesn't do anything halfway good.

Hi Buddy,

Shooting a dark handle (or blade) with a light background is always a challenge. In this case I loved how the light blue and gold were complimentary. I had to use the shadow highlight/tool selectively to make the wood look as natural as the eye sees it. I also used a touch of polarizer.

Would it look better with a deeper background? We'll never know, because Jerry took it away from him. Would have been a nice example to work with. I'm not unhappy with the choice, and, yes, I have redone good shots and made them look EVEN better.

VERY nice work on the sword shots. Ya know, I did play with the lens correction tool on the image, but there was very little room, once done, to crop and I chose not to clone the bottom area. YOU did a bit of cloning and made it look easy. Nice.

Yes here is an area that T/S lens would have been worth it's value. Nice to have that tool in the shed.

Like all things digitally enhanced, it begs the question: How much is correct and at what point do we go too far. Is my uncorrected version incorrect or is it substandard or is it precise? How does the real eye view these things? Do we want the natural look or do we want it enhanced? I let it go more out of consideration of crop size, than perspective.

I don't have the answers, and I'm not expecting anyone to. It's always a balance, isn't it?

Thanks. Great stuff. I learned again.

Coop