Gosh - first post in a week. Please note - it may be a little while before I can respond to any comments or messages. Our home internet has failed and O2 are being very slow about fixing it. This is a post made from work, having copied the image to USB and shuttled it into the City. All somewhat overwraught. Hopefully O2's support people will fix the home connection before too long and normal service can be resumed.
This shot is another from my RHS Wisley series from a couple of weeks back. There's a nice circular ring of flare and some natural vignetting, so I have left it uncorrected. This was just a straight shot taken before putting the ND filter on for Wing Tips (Butterfly Sunset), Wisley.
By way of one quick off topic note, I'd give a huge recommendation to anyone within striking distance of London for the "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" exhibition currently showing at The Natural History Museum.
Since joining Flickr, I've got used to flicking through the pages of photography magazines and finding the quality distinctly poorer than the average Flickr post. Even in higher end titles like "Professional Photographer" you find much applauded reader images which would barely attract notice on Flickr. Just yesterday in The Metro there was a page of insect photos dressed as news which could have been titled "Clueless Journalist Is Told About Macro Photography By Friend". A five second search on Flickr could have wiped out every image they featured.
The "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" exhibition is an exception to this. The quality of images is stunning. A class above anything I have seen in the last twelve months and a must see if geography allows.
Hope you're all having a great time - I can't wait to catch up once I emerge from this temporary dark-age.
See Circle Of Life (Lens Flare), Wisley on Flickr for additional notes and comments.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Circle Of Life (Lens Flare), Wisley
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Extinction #2 (Jurassic Coast), Dorset [Sliders Sunday Debut]
Extinction #2 (Jurassic Coast), Dorset [Sliders Sunday Debut], originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.
So yesterday's posting was something of a technical fail. In updating the photo's sets on my iPhone, I somehow managed to disenable comments and then, when trying to re-enable comments later, managed to reset the favourites. Oh, and then Arsenal became the first team in Premiership history to throw away a 4-0 lead. So that was fun!
Therefore, whilst I didn't really mean to post today, I thought I would put one up by way of apology for any inconvenience caused by yesterday's error and for the Sliders Sunday group, which I see in my contacts 'streams and always admire.
This is my Sunday Sliders debut! One from the Extinction series. There's no texture used. Rather, for all my long exposures I shoot first at max ISO (in this case ISO 25,600!) to check my settings, then do all the doublings as I stop the ISO down to eithe 50 or 100 for the main shot. The high ISO creates significant grain, needless to say. For this one I then did some work in Photoshop to get the full throttle cross processed colour set. I tried it on the "proper" shots in the series, but without the grain the crazy turquoise and orange blur just weren't "sticking".
The "high quality" posting with original colour is posted in the comments for anyone wanting make a comparison.
So apologies again about the comment issue on yesterday's posting - hopefully you are all having a better weekend than me! HSS!
See Extinction #2 (Jurassic Coast), Dorset [Sliders Sunday Debut] on Flickr for additional notes and comments.
High Pasture (Durmitor National Park), Montenegro
UPDATE: Somehow comments on Flickr were disabled on this image, so many apologies to anyone trying to add them. I really appreciate the thought and am disappointed things weren't set up correctly. Many thanks to Flipmode79 for the heads up!
Just a quick one as I try to get up to date! It's from our summer road-trip driving from London to Bosnia and Montenegro, and back. I haven't posted many of the shots yet, so thought I'd best make a start. With it being a long trip and as I was yet to discover the wonder of RAW files, everything was shot in .jpg, so the quality does degrade a little in Lightbox.
Montenegro's Durmitor National Park was incredible, with some quite insane roads through and over this crag strewn wonderland, with cows and fallen scree blocking vast stretches of the five foot wide thoroughfare.
Thank you to everyone who was kind enough to swing past my blog at www.flatworldsedge.com. There's some new pins in the map and it's amazing to see where everyone lives!
Hope you all have a great weekend!
See High Pasture (Durmitor National Park), Montenegro on Flickr for additional notes and comments.
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Infusion (Bury Lake Fog), Rickmansworth
A slightly older shot, taken back in December on the same night as Light Harted, which immediately demanded first post and threw this one into shadow until a clean up exercise last night. Nothing new here, I suppose, but I can't get over the amazing effect of sodium streetlighting through fog.
This is the same boathouse on Bury Lake shown in two very different images which I've linked into the comments for comparison. In this instance I can't get over the idea it looks like a mining base on mars, especially with all the littered "spoil" across the foreground (this was shot back when we had ice).
Hope everyone is having a great week. I think I've kept my head mostly above water this week, but know there's a couple of people I'm still to catch up with which I will be doing this afternoon.
See Infusion (Bury Lake Fog), Rickmansworth
on Flickr for additional notes and comments.
Friday, 4 February 2011
Owl Butterfly (Caligo Memnon), Wisley
This is a crop and rotate, the original image is in the comments below.
One of the more cooperative butterflies from last Friday's visit to RHS Wisley where they currently have twenty five species loose in the tropical greenhouse. As in all three shots posted so far from the afternoon, the sun was the real feature providing some epic backlighting.
Hope everyone is well and enjoying an exciting end to the week.
See Owl Butterfly (Caligo Memnon), Wisley on Flickr for additional notes and comments.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Only Connect (Spanish Steps Candid), Rome [Film Scan]
Another of the decade old film scans, and one which I really like despite numerous flaws and compositional chaos. There are so many elements and stray people that I would now days delete it for, but I find it carries a certain charisma.
To me, at least, it has the impression of a "join the dots" puzzle with the numbers deleted. So many of the odd elements seem to be interacting, although the why and how are somehow missing. I enjoy the way the scale seems wrong too, especially the girl, the Mercedes and the couple between them. The father's missing head and mother's turned back appear somehow meaningful too. There are just two elements I actively dislike, indicated by notes above.
Perhaps it's just nostalgia or an overlooking of fact, but imperfect or otherwise I really like it and hope you can forgive its flaws and enjoy it too! If not, no offense taken! Hope you're all well and enjoying the week.
See Only Connect (Spanish Steps Candid), Rome [Film Scan] on Flickr for additional notes and comments.
