this, that and the other
I was reading some comments about the current political scandal involving George Osborne and Peter Mandelson when I realised the name of the yacht at the centre of it is the Queen K. Co-incidentally I photographed this boat in Rijeka 18 months ago.
It actually seemed quite small close-up, and rather militaristic. A cabin at the pointy end half-way up would be nice, though.
Some beautiful mild autumn weather is around just now. Perfect for catching the trees as they begin to mellow and turn. It’s just a bit early for that in the UK but in the next two or three weeks we’ll be knee deep in dead leaves. Just time to enjoy the colour before November hits.
This was taken a couple of days ago at midday with the sun behind me and fresh blue skies beyond.
I do like black and white shots but most of the ones I do these days are desaturated colour shots. This one is a desaturated RAW image taken with a Sigma 14. I tend to resist taking mono shots because I always want to be sure i have a colour shot but this is illogical when I only have to twist a button to get both.
You can find graffiti everywhere, even on difficult to reach places. It’s an easy photograph. Some sneer that instead of photographing other people’s art you should be making your own. Fair enough, this is it. It looks so much better in black and white than it does in colour. Adobe Lightroom also enabled me to add a bit of contrast to the words to make them stand out a little more. You’ll need to click the image to get the full glory.
I have been fascinated by the news of Sigma’s announcement of their next compact digital camera, the DP2. As as owner of the DP1 I am well aware of its flaws - the most irritating being the lack speed at which the camera starts up and the slowness of the autofocus. As I understand it this is not a replacement of the DP1, just another in the DP series. It appears to be the same size body.
I’ve been very impressed with DrawIt an image and drawing program for the Mac. I’ve not bought it yet but I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it and following along with the screencasts on the site. It’s vector based, with a built-in directory of shapes which can be easily manipulated. You can also use a pen and tablet with it. Quite an amazing piece of software with quick results. I used the demo copy to make the header image above.
Leica announces D-Lux 4 and C-Lux 3: “
Pre-Photokina 2008: Leica has announced the D-Lux 4 and C-Lux 3 digital compact cameras. D-Lux 4 features a 1/1.63’ CCD image sensor, 3.0’, 460,000 dot LCD monitor and a 24 to 60mm (equiv) lens. Compared to D-Lux-4, C-Lux 3 has a smaller 1/2.33’ CCD sensor, 2.5’, 230,000 dots LCD monitor and zoom range of 24 to 125mm (equiv). Both include 50MB internal storage, support SD/SDHC storage and video recording.”
This looks interesting. Wide, fast lens. 10.1 megapixels, large sensor in a small format, JPG and RAW. No viewfinder though. Worth checking when it comes out. I have tried the C-Lux range and they produce some excellent images, though expensive. It’s all in the lens.
Yet another one of the beach huts - this time without the human.
I wish I had moved a little to the right to get the right-most door in shot and lost the palm leaves on the left.
And I should have stood a bit more square on to the subject. I must have been off a few degrees and the perspective is slightly distorted.
Following on from the previous image of a line of green beach huts here’s another with a splash of red, courtesy of a passing tourist. I told him not to pose, he laughed, and I snapped the shot. Another using the Sigma DP1.
This was taken in the early Spring when the sky was bright and contrasts were high and sharp. The Sigma also gives very saturated colours which look wonderful.
These huts are on a private part of the beach at Rimini, Italy. The faded and peeling green shuttered doors made a really nice colour scheme against the blue sky.
I used a Sigma DP1 for this shot - on auto. The Sigma gives very vibrant colours and strong contrast. It’s also a really nice camera to carry around as it fits easily into a pocket. I was taken with the perspective of the path and the way it turns left slightly.
This horse was curious. I’ve noticed that if you stand hanging over a gate whatever is in the field will eventually come to investigate, whether it’s sheep, cattle or horses.
The one in the background was equally interested but was trapped.
Another one taken with the Ricoh GRD and pushed in Lightroom.
This cross is in a local churchyard. Not somewhere I’d normally go but there is plenty of stone and brick work which makes for gritty grainy shots.
This was taking using a small Panasonic, I think. can’t remember the model and I only had it for a few months before I sold the plasticky brick on ebay and bought myself a decent camera.This was on full zoom. As usual I messed around in Lightroom and brought out the stone surface.