Around a Graveyard

A small set of photos made in Kinnoull Graveyard, Perth.

A friend from the photo-society had posted a handful of photos of this graveyard on facebook a few days previously, so I had a few ideas for scenes to shoot when we went there last November.

In particular, the obvious manipulated moody photo is an example of bokeh-panorama aka Brenzer technique – using a comparatively long focal length lens at wide aperture to narrow the depth of field and stitching a panorama to restore the field of view angle. In this case, it was a Zeiss 50mm f/2.8 lens, but the resultant shot would require a lens of 13mm f/0.85 to achieve in a single exposure.

It’s been a while…

It’s been a few months now since I called time on the fixation with black&white closeup as a style. So it’s time to remember how to do it… Herewith, mostly as a lens-test, cyclamen and cactus plants from the kitchen windowsill.

Since I last looked, RawTherapee has changed a lot – I’ve learned that the `Contrast by Details’ control was responsible for some undesirable noisy artefacts in previous profiles, it’s gained better control over black and white conversion and even support for X-Trans sensors (now there’s something to lust after).

Light, Land and Heather… and ferns

I was quite pleased to notice that one of my favourite afternoon quick-escape locations is technically just north of the Highland Boundary Fault.

As I drove off the road, a flock of over 20 grouse shot out from the undergrowth and sprinted for dear life in front of me up to the carpark. Walking through the trees, I disturbed a deer grazing on the heather. Sometimes, you just can’t beat a few hours in golden sunlight, staring at mountains, for relaxation.

Cauldron Falls, West Burton

One of my favoured parts of North Yorkshire’s scenery is the well-known waterfall at West Burton. Always good for a bit of classical landscape photography, exploring both context and closeup (“intimate landscape”); it’s also quite fun to compare with other people’s views of the same location, although I envy anyone who manages to get good light in such a location.

Squaring the Spheres

A few weeks ago I ordered a pair of extension tubes for the Sony NEX-7; today I got around to experimenting with them for the first time. It’s quite scary seeing so much dust on the live-view LCD panel and realising it’s actually on the front of the lens.

Two tangerines and an apple.

Three Balls - two tangerines and an apple

Three Balls – two tangerines and an apple

Change to Fair

Fisherman's Barometer, St Andrews

Fisherman’s Barometer, St Andrews

The fisherman’s barometer, corner of North Castle and North Streets, St Andrews.

A little experimentation in The Gimp, to create a synthetic “scratches” texture layer – using plasma clouds, old-photo simulation, distortions and other trickery.