Illustrations

Gradient selection with quickmask www.ipernity.com/blog/serola/621659

Ice art made by Lasse Hytönen, Kari Manninen and Sami Kauhanen. It may not look much of a "sculpture" in daylight, but the point was to see it in the dark, lit by spotlights placed below the cubes:

Date changed to hide this from new uploads ;-)

After getting a "revolutionary" idea, I discovered a nice way to turn green (foliage) in the picture much lighter. This is also an updated method on what I did on my latest 'The Sunday Challenge': www.ipernity.com/doc/serola/45281312 To do this you most likely need the free GIMP software, and that is because I think there is no exactly the same "Value layer mode" available on PhotoShop. Well, very likely there are more sophisticated methods to achieve similar results on something like LightRoom, but I just never have had a chance (money) to play with it. What you need is three layers on GIMP, where two of them are duplicates of the original: docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-using-layers.html Then on middle layer, first open'Colors → Components → Channel Mixer', switch it to 'Monochrome', and choose values something like Red=-50, Green=+200, and Blue=-50. This way you get a "black and white mask" to turn the greens lighter. Next use 'Mode' menu in the 'Layers' dialog to change 'Value' for the black and white middle layer, and 'Lighten only' for the top layer. The value means something like using the "brightness" of that layer, and let the hue and saturation "come through" from lower level(s). As a result you get pretty good image where the greens look much lighter, and yet the white areas are still white. On my earlier version I forgot to fix the white areas, and therefore the pure white areas turned out as gray. And that is because blue and red hues are turned darker on those white areas. Therefore the fix to "lighten only" is needed. See also notes for more information. And check out the full size image to judge how good the details are: www.ipernity.com/doc/serola/45284128/sizes/o I also tried other methods to do the same, but they just don't work out (or I just don't know how). But you may wish to check them out as well. One was to change the color curves separately: docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-curves.html Another idea was to use 'Hue - Saturation' to turn greens lighter: docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-hue-saturation.html 8.8.2017 update and credits Thanks to gudrun for advicing to use 'Foliage' on 'Nik Collection: Color Efex Pro 4'. It is possible to make Nik Collection work with Gimp, but it is not easy to get it installed. On Gimp for Windows: bernhardhuber.blogspot.fi/2013/05/using-niksoftware-in-gimp.html On Gimp for Linux: www.evolware.org/?p=440 I have manage to get it run on Windows, but on Ubuntu Linux I failed to get even Wine installed. I may still try it some day. Thanks to Pam for suggesting to experiment some more with 'Hue - Saturation'. Like saying above, it is another option, and by setting G (green channel) for something like 'Overlap: 100; Lightness: 50; Saturation: 100' you do get pretty good results.

The automatic sharing for ipernity uploads does not work anymore. Therefore it got removed entirely on December 9, 3030. Facebook and Twitter accounts can't be connected because they do not allow login from insecure parts of ipernity pages (http). And very likely all other services are going to do the same, if not done already. I will update the whole article, once we hopefully soon again are able to upload new files. One can still use the manual sharing buttons displayed on the right hand side of photos and articles. This also allows others to share your photos and articles. To enable the sharing buttons, choose YES for social media networks where you wish to allow the sharing. An alternative way is to copy and paste the page URL. On pages where one main image appears, it is then picked to become shared on the other social media service.

In October 2017 I discovered a cool feature at ipernity, which I never had understood before. On your own private or family only photos, album and articles you can copy an unique URL address which you can for example email to your friends. With that unique URL the visitor can then access your photo or article to view it, even if the person does not have an account at ipernity. Moreover, on your 'Sharing and Social networks' settings page you can control those unique URL shares under section 'Sharing of private content outside ipernity': www.ipernity.com/pref/socialnetwork You can later on disable access of single unique URL addresses, or change the expire date for all of them. The recommended order to use this feature: 1) First decide how long in general you wish to let these unique URL addresses be available. Go to the settings and choose between 7, 30, 90 and 365 days: www.ipernity.com/pref/socialnetwork 2) Then go to the private or family only photo, album or article you wish to share. Click the share button (see the example image above). You will see the Warning and form field where from you can copy the unique URL. 3) Later on, and as long as that unique URL is available, you will get that URL also on the page margin under the title 'This album is shared outside ipernity' or 'Sharing outside ipernity'. 4) You can for example email that URL to your friends, and they can use it to view the shared page as long as it is set available. The person(s) who use that URL don't even have to have account at ipernity. 5) On each of share item, and also on your 'Sharing and Social networks' page you can disable the access whenever you find it necessary. Otherwise the access will become disabled after the expire date you have defined. If the content you share is an album, it can contain both: public and limited access images (private or family only). The person who uses the unique URL will see them all. UPDATE August 2020: Basics explained 1) For photos, articles and docs the unique URL becomes created only when one clicks the share icon on a private or family only photo. In case of albums the unique URL becomes available when there are at least one private photo in that album. 2) The access code (link) cookie can be disabled on the page itself (appears on bottom right when refreshing the page where the code is requested), or via social media settings page: www.ipernity.com/pref/socialnetwork Where one then gets link to list of existing cookies: www.ipernity.com/pref/gp 3) On the list page one can also define the cookie expire default time. Meaning that the hard to guess private access URL addresses can last 365 days in maximum. 4) To make the album itself as private can be done via 'Tools > Edit titles, authorizations... > Authorizations (tab)'. ---- This feature was introduced by Ipernity S.A. already in 2014 here: www.ipernity.com/blog/team/762437

Pushing up an old post of mine. Options to change the page colors on client side have been possible for years. One only have to know how. Some of them are easy, some requires little effort. Stylish Various dark skins for ipernity available here: userstyles.org/styles/browse?search_terms=ipernity&type=false You need to install Stylish extension to use it: userstyles.org/help/stylish My version of these provides also an option to get rid of the z.gif: www.ipernity.com/blog/serola/4716848 And if you know how, you can make a skin of your own, even a pink one if you like. But I warn you that it is extremely complicated. Most of the current dark skins are based on the hard ground work done by Spotomy: www.ipernity.com/blog/spo/4655884 Dark Reader Available here: darkreader.org I have not yet tested this, and therefore I really can't guarantee how reliable it is. I am using Dark Reader now on Chrome, and already default settings, are treat for my eyes! Just the right contrast =) Please notice you can set web site specific exceptions on Dark Reader. Moreover, Isabel (Xata) has reported that Dark Reader works even on iPhone and iPad (Safari). Although, it is advised to disable all other similar tools on Dark Reader pages, it still may work for example together with Stylish. So, if you wish to use Stylish instead on some web site, then add that web site as and exception on Dark Reader, and use the Stylish style instead. Tampermonkey Get Tampermonkey: www.tampermonkey.net See the comment by Marta .

Zoom/lens leaned against solid and steady object, and camera then tilted vertically. Editing on PicMonkey: Auto adjust, Lomo

Testing Stylish extension for different browsers and operating systems to make the installation of Ipernity Dark style by Spotomy easier. Please find more here: www.ipernity.com/blog/serola/4691270

As an amateur photographer I could probably call myself also as a "kitchen photographer". Especially when I actually do use our kitchen as a "photo studio". There the lights are best and a lot of useful prop available: dark baking trays, and colorful plastic or wooden cutting boards to be used as backgrounds; all kinds of tools to hold and support the items; plenty of table space for settings; and of course food and drinks near to have some refreshment during the "long and exhausting" photography sessions.

From the phone camera macro and close up test series.

One may wish to allow the use of some pictures under Creative Commons license. The idea is to allow others to download, publish and even edit some pictures. But this requires that the other person then should give credits to the original author. This can be useful for example when you wish to allow ima to use your images for advertising the ipernity, or allow your images used on ipernity front page. It is also a good idea to put a small CC "watermark" signature on bottom right corner of the image like this: "CC Your Name" This Creative Commons feature has been tested with the following accounts and users. Only ipernity club account member can enable download link for her/his own images, which then gives the download link to following users: 1) Another ipernity CLUB member CAN download all resolutions. The users don't have to be each others contacts. 2) Also any FREE account member CAN download all resolutions. The users don't have to be each others contacts. 3) Visitors who have NO ACCOUNT, DOES NOT get download links whatsoever. Free account owners can not enable the download link, not to anyone, not for Creative Commons images either, and not even for themselves. Please keep in mind a clever user can still always access the HTML code and get the direct link for any images posted online. So, ipernity code does not fully protect from copyright infringements. And even a less clever user knows how to take a screen capture. However, this test now proves that with Creative Common attributes an ipernity club member can deliberately give right and easy access to download a single image to all other ipernity account members. Find out more about Creative Commons here: creativecommons.org Please also keep in mind what Creative Common means. Depending on attribute, it gives you right to download, republish and even edit the image. But with most of the CC attributes you should give credit to the original author within the context of publication (e.g. on caption or anywhere around the page where the CC image become published).