Golden hour, the brief window just after sunrise or before sunset is a magical time for landscape photographers. The low angle of the sun casts long shadows and bathes the world in warm, golden tones, enhancing textures, colors, and depth. Whether youre capturing mountain ranges, seascapes, or open fields, mastering golden hour light can elevate your photos from ordinary to extraordinary.Why Golden Hour Light Transforms LandscapesGolden hour light is soft and diffused, reducing harsh contrasts and providing a natural warmth that enhances the landscapes visual appeal. Compared to the flatness of midday sun, golden hour offers:Enhanced textures: Low-angle light reveals surface details in rocks, trees, and terrain.Vibrant color tones: Warm yellows, oranges, and reds create a dreamy, painterly effect.Natural depth: Shadows become longer, creating depth and dimension in your scene.Planning for the Perfect ShotTiming and location are everything in golden hour photography. Use apps like PhotoPills or The Photographers Ephemeris to determine exact sunrise and sunset times, as well as light direction.Scout in AdvanceArrive early to explore compositions, adjust your gear, and anticipate how the light will move across the landscape.Consider the ForegroundLayer your composition with interesting foreground elements like flowers, rocks, or water, to create visual depth and guide the viewers eye.Camera Settings and TechniquesGetting the best out of golden hour light also means fine-tuning your camera settings.Use a tripod to maintain sharpness in low light.Set a narrow aperture (f/8 to f/16) to keep most of the scene in focus.Adjust white balance manually to preserve the warmth of golden hour tones.Shoot in RAW to retain flexibility for post-processing.Golden Hour TipLeverage Backlight for Atmospheric EffectsDuring golden hour, position the sun behind trees, mountains, or your subject to create a natural rim light or glow. This backlighting can highlight textures like mist, grass, or leaves, adding a soft, ethereal quality to your landscape. Try slightly underexposing to preserve details in the highlights while deepening the golden tones.Going Beyond the SunsetDont pack up right after the sun dips below the horizon. The light during blue hour, the 2030 minutes following sunset, can be equally stunning, offering cooler tones and moody shadows that complement golden hour shots in a series.Extended reading:Creative Lighting Setups to Enhance Your PortraitureThe post Enhancing Landscape Photography during Golden Hour appeared first on 500px.

Object Properties node allows to change instances properties like assigned material, reference object and color.UsuallyObject Properties node is used together with Separator node for replacingproperties of some part of instances, or it can be used independantly for changing color of all input instances.Replace object replaces reference object for input instances. New reference object requires a new collision sphere setup similar to Scatter node.Replace materialreplaces assigned material for input instances.Modify color allows to change instances colors to fixed one or with a texture. Instances colors are used for viewport display or for rendering by connecting FStormObjectColor texture to a material.

With its latest showing at Gamescom, Ninja Gaiden 4 continues to look better and better, leading into its launch this October. Given how predominantly Yakumo has been showcased, just how much can players expect to control the series mainstay, Ryu Hayabusa?Speaking to IGN, Team Ninja co-director Masazaku Hirayama confirmed that since Yakumo is the protagonist, he commands the lions share of playtime. While Ryu Hayabusa is playable in certain sections, these will thankfully offer a robust amount of content.So, more than half of the story youll be playing as Yakumo. With that said, there are dedicated segments in the story for Ryu. And you wont be playing as Ryu Hayabusa just for a short time, and then youll be done with it. Therell be a very robust amount of content for you to enjoy playing as Ryu. With the story estimated to last about 15 to 20 hours, that could be about seven to nine hours with Ryu.For those who want to experience the entire game as either protagonist, the Chapter Challenge is available. This will allow you to freely play different chapters in the game, and youll be able to play as either character. So you could, after your first playthrough, play through all the chapters as Ryu. Conversely, you could play Ryus story chapters as Yakumo. So theres a lot of content that you can enjoy after you do your first playthrough, says Hirayama.Said content includes Purgatory, optional fights similar to Tests of Valor, and Challenge Missions against previously defeated bosses (with the Death Wish modifier removing all upgrades). Master Ninja difficulty also makes a return, although newcomers can opt for Hero Mode to smoothly segue into the action.Ninja Gaiden 4 launches on October 21st for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out even more extensive gameplay here.

Daniel Lane Tasmanian Chapter PresidentIn preparation for the recently held Presidents Lunch, which celebrates our Chapter Fellows, Life Fellows and Councillors, I have been reflecting on the past years activities and the many people who have contributed to the work we have done this year. I would like to thank the Tas Chapter Institute staff, Jen, Fi, Katie, Loren and Nina. Its amazing to see how much work is undertaken by this committed team. It really is not until you are in this position (Chapter President) that you realise what is actually being done. An incredible amount of work is undertaken, and it is often unseen; so, I would like to recognise that and thank them for that work.I would like to thank the current Chapter Councillors. This year we have tried to instigate some change. For many years, we have unfortunately seen the demise of many chapter committees, but this year we have tried to rectify that. It is not easy, and it wont happen overnight, but I would like to thank our councillors for jumping into and assisting many of the committees by taking the first steps in re-invigorating their existence. In addition, this year we have looked at getting back to our roots and focusing on the issues that relate directly with practice. We have all had our issues with planning, with heritage, and with the exorbitant amount services engineering requirements for projects. I need not go on!So, we have provided strong advocacy at both a local and a state level to identify our concerns and to attempt to overcome some of the situations we are currently facing. Through these meetings and discussions, we believe our voice has been heard. We have been invited to the table, and we firmly believe our concerns are being considered and acted upon.Changes will be made. Some have already been seen, and some are on the way which will hopefully assist with our endeavours.Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all of our Tasmanian Chapter members for their contribution to the industry this year and wish everyone a safe and relaxing holiday break. I look forward to working with you all again in the new year.The post A MESSAGE FROM THE TAS CHAPTER PRESIDENT appeared first on Australian Institute of Architects.

Image credit: ASFQOn September 9, 2025, Architecture Sans Frontires Qubec (ASFQ) will unveil two flagship projects aimed at transforming the city. The afternoon will bring together partners, collaborators and key stakeholders and will unveil the new public space planning laboratory, Urban Acupuncture, and present the second edition of the Architecture + Itinrance research catalog.Urban Acupuncture is a collaborative laboratory where strategies and interventions will be co-created with marginalized communities to address the challenges of social cohabitation, visible homelessness, and climate resilience.A panel, which will bring together the artist-run center DARE-DARE and the research organization R.es.PIRE, will contribute to the collective reflection around this project.ASFQ and the Universit de Montral are also unveiling a catalog resulting from two years of field research, exploring the links between planning, well-being, and inclusion. This study invites the public to rethink housing standards and design spaces, and is rooted in an intersectional and sustainable approach.The invitation-only event will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Salle lArrire-Scne, Esplanade Tranquille.For more information, click here.The post ASFQ to launch two flagship projects aimed to rethink the city appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Willistead Manor is a historic house located in the former town of Walkerville, Ontario, now part of Windsor. Designed by Albert Kahn for Edward Chandler Walker and built between 1904 and 1906, the manor was ceded to the community in 1921, a few years after Walker's death. Having served as Walkerville's town hall, the Art Gallery of Windsor, and a branch of the Windsor Public Library, it is currently used as a banquet hall. The manor is designed in the Tudor Revival style, and the grounds also include a coach house and a gate house of similar design. This photograph shows the front facade of Willistead Manor in 2025.Photograph credit: Chris WoodrichRecently featured: Date palmApollo Lunar ModuleSay's phoebeArchiveMore featured pictures

August 26: Heroes' Day in Namibia; Women's Equality Day in the United StatesEruption of Krakatoa1346 Hundred Years' War: At the Battle of Crcy, English forces established the military supremacy of English longbows over the French combination of crossbows and armoured knights.1883 A massive eruption (pictured) destroyed the island of Krakatoa, Indonesia, ejecting so much volcanic ash that average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2C (2.2F) over the next year.1955 Pather Panchali, the first film in The Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, was released and went on to win many Indian and international film awards.1970 Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women organized the Women's Strike for Equality in New York City, in which 50,000 women protested the continuing lack of gender equality.2015 Two American journalists were murdered on live television while conducting an interview in Moneta, Virginia.Geraldine Ferraro (b.1935)David Hurley (b.1953)Mildred Albert (d.1991)Sven-Gran Eriksson (d.2024)More anniversaries: August 25August 26August 27ArchiveBy emailList of days of the yearAbout

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Graphics tablet and pen display manufacturer Wacom has become the latest Corporate Patron of the Blender Development Fund, upgrading from its previous Corporate Gold membership.The change announced as part of a partnership to develop a next-generation Blender experience for Android tablets means an extra 210,000/year in funding for Blender.Wacom now one of the biggest corporate backers of Blender developmentWacom was already a Gold sponsor of the Blender Development Fund, but the upgrade to Corporate Patron status is a considerable one, taking its contribution from 30,000/year to 240,000/year.The extra 210,000/year equates roughly to the salaries of three full-time Blender developers.Wacom becomes one of the largest corporate backers of the open-source 3D software, alongside Epic Games, Qualcomm and VR and XR headset manufacturer Pico.Part of a partnership to develop a next-gen Blender experience on Android tabletsThe change is part of an expanded partnership between Wacom and Blender following the Blender Foundations announcement of new tablet editions of the open-source 3D software.The new editions will feature a reworked user interface designed for use on smaller screens with pen and touch input.The changes will roll out first on iOS and later on Android Wacoms main area of interest.The MovinkPad 11, Wacoms new 11-inch Android drawing tablet, is one of the devices namechecked in last months Blender Developer blog post announcing the tablet editions.As well as development of a next-generation Blender experience for Android tablets, Wacom says that it support more general optimization of pen and touch performance in Blender.Our collaboration with Wacom is a major step in making Blender more intuitive on pen and touch devices, said Francesco Siddi, COO at Blender. Read Wacoms announcement of its expanded partnership with BlenderVisit the Blender Development Fund websiteHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

American Arcadia Launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|Sand Nintendo Switch on May 15Players Can Soon Uncover the Truth Behind Arcadia on All New PlatformsSTOCKHOLM April 14, 2025 Today, Swedish indie publisher Raw Fury and developer Out of the Blue Games announced that their critically acclaimed puzzle game, American Arcadia, is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch on May 15, joining its current availability on PC via Steam.American Arcadia is a cinematic puzzle game that combines a 2.5D platformer and first-person gameplay to tell the extraordinary tale and experience of Trevor, an average man escaping from the worlds most popular reality TV show.Watch the announcement trailer here. Press Kit can be found here.American Arcadia is set in a 70s retro-futuristic metropolis where all its citizens enjoy a life of luxury and comfort, where no one suspects that they are playing a role in American Arcadia, a television show that is broadcast live 24/7 and has been on the air for decades.The carefree life of the citizens are tied to the popularity rate, and as a favorite of the audience, one has nothing to fear, but a drop in popularity comes at a cost: death. For an average man with an uninteresting life like Trevor Hills, that would mean serious trouble, but luckily Trevor is being helped by a mysterious voice which guides him through American Arcadias backstage to his freedom. But is this all real, or just another show gimmick to raise audience ratings?KEY FEATURES INCLUDE:Two Experiences in One Game Control two different characters in two different worlds with unique gameplay, and play as Trevor to flee Arcadia in a 2.5D puzzle-platformer all while exploring and hacking in first-person to help him as Angela. Players must work together to overcome the powerful corporation trying to take them down.Escape a 70s Televised Utopia Experience a gripping new adventure crafted with all the trademark polish, artistry and mystery from the studio behind the award-winning Call of the Sea. Players will discover a rich story and unforgettable characters set in the worlds most dangerous reality TV show and filled with twists, turns, and lies at every turn.Vibrant Characters & Performances The incomparable voice talents of Yuri Lowenthal, Krizia Bajos and Cissy Jones breathe life into the world and characters of American Arcadia.American Arcadia will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch on May 15, and is currently available to purchase on PC via Steam. To follow along and for more information, check out American Arcadias official website here and X page here.ABOUT OUT OF THE BLUE GAMESOut of the Blue Games is an indie studio based in Madrid, Spain, and the developers of Call of the Sea, American Arcadia, and the recently announced The Vigilante Diaries.ABOUT RAW FURYRaw Fury is an indie (un)publisher dedicated to connecting games with players by creating unforgettable experiences. With over 50 games published, including the Kingdom series, Blue Prince, Cassette Beasts, Norco, and Sable, Raw Fury has been consistently recognised as a top 10 publisher in Metacritics annual rankings. With an unwavering commitment to being the best partner for indie developers, Raw Fury continues to champion unique games and bring exceptional experiences to players worldwide.Web: rawfury.comX: x.com/rawfuryDiscord: discord.gg/rawfuryBlueSky: rawfury.bsky.socialMEDIA CONTACTfortyseven communications on behalf of Raw Furyrawfury@fortyseven.comThe post American Arcadia Coming to Consoles on May 15 appeared first on Raw Fury.