An unexpected gift

Arrived home from work to find an unexpected gift in my mailbox.  Diane (Adventure before Dementia) has sent me this, all the way from Brisbane, Australia. She has just started experimenting with HDR and applied the effect to my reflections photo.  Doesn't it make it sing? especially the sky.  She says she used NIK HDR Efex Pro - another from the NIK stable; they seem really good programs.

It's something I haven't got into yet - and indeed I'm not always sure whether I like the HDR effect or not, although I think she's done a great job on this landscape.  I've just bought Lightroom 4 and Photoshop Elements 10 for my new Mac but it will be a long time before I am using them like a pro!  I had a very early version of Photoshop on my old Mac and I quite liked it and was very used to using it.  But things have moved on and it was way too old to even install on my new Mac.  So I am on a steep learning curve but I don't have enough playtime to do more than progress very slowly.  For the time being, photos that don't need much 'work' will be fine but others may not see the light of day for a while.  

I'm not sure whether I'm more chuffed at the amazing impact of the enhanced photo - or the fact that Diane took the trouble to play around with it and then send it to me.  Once again I'm thrilled by the power of blogging to cement friendships across the globe and to provide so much fun and learning. If you haven't visited Diane's blog yet, then I recommend that you do. It's a great blend of fantastic photography, interesting information and often-amusing personal journaling. She and her husband certainly know how to travel widely and live an action-packed life!  Thanks so much for the lovely surprise, Diane.