Snow Comes to Caddington Again

There may be no sun, but with most schools closed and parents not going in to work, it's suddenly a fun day on the Green in Caddington with such a snowfall.

Two local families in particular have brought sleds out and make the most of the opportunity, and so do I.

Next stop Stockwood Park Golf Course, noted for its sleigh ride and toboggan runs down the slope near Slip End.

Hopefully with a forecast for further precipitation overnight and sunshine, there will be better opportunities tomorrow, but in the present economic climate, the chance for enjoyment is not to be missed, whether the sun shines or not, and I was there to capture it.

Surprising Discovery in Luton Arndale – CEX

CEX – Combined Entertainment Exchange. I had no idea that the place existed in Luton's Arndale Shopping Centre. I wandered in and found secondhand Macs (in great nick!) on sale, and displayed working. There was even a MacBook Air and a boxed ITB Time Capsule.
I was tempted and came away with an iPod Touch. The marked price was reasonable enough, but the freely offered 5% discount clinched the deal! The prices here for good pre-owned kit and DVDs are worth the cost of the visit and the staff were cheerful and knowledgeable. I was impressed enough to put fingers to keyboard, and also add a link to their web site.

A Wapping Walk with a Friend and a Camera

Sunday in sunshine along the Thames. Geoff Dann and I parked not far from the Prospect of Whitby pub and strolled around talking and taking photos of anything that merited attention. Although cold, it was far from bitter, and the sunshine and the exercise made the temperature of no concern.

Although I had my full complement of lenses, every shot I took was using the one lens – a Tamron 90mm Macro, just occasionally I would have liked to change, but most times I got what I needed by moving forward or back. I took a series of images of the lifting tackle on various wharves, all of which were generally picked out in colour.

Although it was a sculpture of a seagull, one statue was a reminder of the Panto I had just visited to celebrate a friend's 60th birthday only the night before, so I just had to somehow get a shot of that! Then there was the giant pair of boots, and my namesake embedded in pavers, a great ironwork representation of Tower Bridge, another photographer taking her photos, popping out from behind a series of arches, the paranoid display of Chubb padlocks, and the noose reminding us of harsher times on the river.

I had learnt of a friend's son working with a co-operative building a mooring for some twenty three old style river craft, and once we had found its location we spotted a girl called Fiona who has a berth for a refurbished and exquisitely maintained Thames barge upon which she, her husband and two-year-old live, and she invited us aboard. It was like a Tardis, with beautifully curved rooms at either end and in the centre of the open plan area stood the woodburning fire. I left a card for Matt Fisher who is building the roof of the Mooring Attendant's office and common ablutions area, and we set off back to the car with the light failing and I got a second shot of the Prospect of Whitby, now glowing in the dusk.

Kit's 60th Birthday Party & Mother Goose

Having taken photos at Gordon Hickie's 60th Birthday party, I was still invited to join Kit Greveson at hers, which meant I had obviously not blotted my copybook. The venue was a hospitality suite at the Hackney Empire at the last night of their production of Mother Goose. But first we all met up at Crouch End to join a coach, which resulted in a certain amount of turmoil for other buses and coaches due to the restricted width of the road! But it was all goodnatured.

Arriving at the theatre we set up the food and drink, and then I brought out the camera and tried to capture the atmosphere and faces of the guests. The greatest difficulty taking pictures at the event was the nature of the lighting, it was all spotlight downlighters, resulting in bright foreheads and dark shadowed eyes, but I did my best to capture the ambience.

Once Kit had blown out her candles, and given a short speech explaining we had to clear away before leaving, we all moved to the theatre proper and took our seats for the show. Although for obvious reasons there was a ban on flash photography, I had hoped that since I was not using flash, I would be exempt, but was soon disabused of this belief, but I did manage to at least capture something to say we had visited the show. The music and singing was superb, and our group responded loudly to the compere's announcement of Kit's 60th to the audience.

Thank you Kit for a wonderful evening, I hope you enjoy my record of the event.

Painting with Frost

There was a window of opportunity having just got my car back, to grab my camera and before the sun could burn off the hoar frost from the hedgerows, capture some of the romance of frost on leaves and fields.

The wind gradually blew the fog back in and closed the window, so I returned to see what I had managed to record. One of my regrets was that although I caught the rooks in the lacework atop a tree, I missed the moment when a magpie was at the very peak.

A day later and we had freezing fog overnight, which like snow, can transform the ordinary into something of more interest, so here is what I saw close to where I live.

Before Spring arrives I am hoping that I can record some drifts of snow if this cold spell continues.

Snow at Luton Hoo

Opening the curtains to a snow laden scene was quite a surprise this morning, especially since it was still flurrying down. All I wanted was for the sun to come out, and as I breakfasted, my wish was coming true. I made sure the camera gear was ready and was soon on my way to visit the Luton Hoo Estate and see whether there was anything attractive to photograph.

As I entered the long avenue, I spotted a car in the first of the passing places, and later spotted that someone was of the same mind as me, but he was leaving having taken some shots of the derelict building alongside the avenue. I called into the Estate Office and wished everyone a Happy New Year and then hailed Alex Hines to check that she was happy for me to wander around and take pictures. I was later able to capture her hard at work with the small truck moving hay from the stables.

Snow has the ability to beautify dereliction, especially when the sun is out, and I hope I have captured images that prove the point. I have tried to shoot some of the plants with the buildings beyond so that the location is obvious. Tracks in the snow also have a fascination, as do the patterns formed by the underlying tiles on rooftops. I enjoyed the time, I hope it comes across in the shots I have chosen for the gallery.

Anyone any idea how tyre tracks can simply come to an end without the presence of the vehicle making them?

Out & About in the Country

A sunny Saturday – a chance to get out into the country, and capture something of what is happening. The trains looked colourful as they sped along the line from London to Luton, I met a few walkers, several cyclists, spotted birds flying the ploughed fields with a church beyond. Later there were ducks, sheep and horses and finally a man taking his dogs for a walk into the setting sun.

Cambridge & Grantchester with the Bootmans

I was invited to spend the day with Katy, Martin, Holly and Poppy at Grantchester for New Year's Eve. I made a slight detour on my way over, due to my trying to find the reverse direction which my SatNav had been giving for my return journeys. But it was fortuitous in that I spotted some unusual churches along this alternative route. I also managed to carelessly hit a concrete lamppost when parking at Grantchester which means I have to replace the rear lamp cluster and smooth out scratches to the bumper. I feel this justifies my grandchildren's name for me – Bumper! So that's my first expense for 2009!

We all went out for a long walk into Cambridge and had some fun there, and the first shots were of a child sitting on the bench in the Apple Store engrossed in the MacBook Pro (start-em young I say!) Katy and Poppy did their party trick of seemingly walking down a flight of stairs; which always amuses. Poppy just loves soft things and loved the fluffy nightgowns in La Senza. Shooting at 6400 ISO is just so much fun; without any flash, so I also captured both girls playing together in the available light when back at home. We had a curry meal, and I left for home in the early hours of 2009.

Frithsden Woods

At last some sun – but Oh Boy was it cold! The frost was only clearing in the direct sunlight; everywhere else retained its rime, but at least if I took a tripod, I could shoot at normal rather than extended ISOs with the Canon 5D MkII. So I set off for Markyate and the general direction of the Ashridge Forest. I drove slowly glancing around for meaningful images to capture.

At the top of Berkhampsted I took the signposted route to Frithsden, and found myself alongside the golf course, I took a few shots there using a tripod, but it was not really what I sought, so I drove on and caught sight of some deer very close to the road and seemingly quite settled, so before I left the car I set the camera back to a high ISO and fast shutter speed then set off. This time without the tripod. Once within range, I kept walking parallel to the small group of stags, just edging slowly closer, shooting whenever I was clear of some of the intervening branches.

Eventually they decided to move away so I returned to the car and drove back towards Caddington, by now the sun was low on the horizon and the mist had a golden glow, so I stopped to take a few distant landscapes. I also spotted a squirrel high in the branches of a tree with a carrot, but he seemed happy to remain half hidden and quite still right at the top, so took my shots and headed for home.

Boxing Day Visit to Orchard Poyle

Once Lizzy and Tim had left for their surprise in Liverpool, and I had settled back into my role of cat-sitter for their cat, Remy, I phoned through to Glory to take up her kind offer of a visit and lunch at Orchard Poyle.

I made a poor choice of leaving the M1 at the M25 and paid for it in lost time in the slow-moving car park towards the M40. the saving grace was the sunshine, and after initial chats withe everyone, I took the camera for a workout in their grounds, and later after our splendid meal I took a few more shots as we tackled a vast Christmas Crossword.

It was good to catch up with others' news over a delicious beef meal, and learn that nephew Alex was leaving the Rainbow Warrior for a short break and coming home. Having just come off the phone from Alex, I have learnt just how brief that visit was to be! He leaves for Copenhagen and his latest girlfriend later this evening. He does promise to meet up with me soon however.

The shots I took yesterday are in the gallery. I trust everyone had a great Christmas, and I wish all those who read this, the best for 2009 – Happy New Year!

An Early Start

Not all beauty is lost in the winter – provided that is you are up and about before the sun!

When I learnt that the following day was due to start out bright, I took a chance on the weather forecasters getting it right for my area, and even though I had still not gone to bed any earlier, I set the alarm for six thirty. As expected I was half awake before the alarm, so I dozed a while longer then switched on the bedside light and turned off the alarm, finally leaping out of bed like a drugged worm.

I fulfilled breakfast with a bowl of cornflakes and gathered the camera gear and coat and was soon in the car and driving out of the village heading for Harpenden and the Lower Luton Road; I crossed over that and headed up the hill as the glow on the horizon heralded sunrise.

I took a few shots of trees silhouetted against the skyline before continuing along towards Kimpton and eventually to a point near Ley Green where I was able to take some shots of rapidly changing light and shade across a valley in the direction of Tea Green. Whilst concentrating on a converted old windmill I was pleased to also capture a red kite swooping across a field between my position and the windmill. I also very much liked the winding road leading to the water tower at Tea Green, especially with the dappled lighting due to the scudding clouds across the sun.

That wind did more than drive the clouds it also chilled my hands till they hurt, yet the car thermometer read 7.5˚ – eight degrees warmer than the previous day which without wind had actually felt warm!

Tonal changes in Lightroom

Now that our English landscape has little beauty to offer in wintry sun, I turned some of the images I recently took to greyscale, and went for drama instead.

In the small gallery of images shown here I only made global changes. But with careful use of the various colour sliders, I was able to make changes that seem very local in their effect.

Some were targetted by the constituent colours within the original full colour image, others were toned afterwards. In every case my aim was to enhance the drama or mood of the image, where in full colour there was only the composition and crop to consider.

All these alterations were carried out in the Develop module of Lightroom, which was far more forgiving than using Photoshop, and each was made by first creating a Virtual Copy, (simply a different list of instructions for the interpretation of the raw data).

Canon EOS 5D MKII – A few more thoughts…

British weather at this time of year is hardly conducive to picture taking. But here are just a few jottings. Overall the camera is a delight to use, and for me it means there is very little unavailable light!

The controls have subtle changes in the main, but one large difference is the deleting of the entire shoot; this is somewhat hidden, probably to avoid 5D users hitting the Erase button. To erase either a selection or the entirety is now a menu function, with just the single picture erase directly from the button. The Erase button is now removed to the side to make way for the larger Review screen.

One welcome change though small, is that the button for illuminating the top window is on the right making it more accessible.

The settings in the back window are accessed by scrolling horizontally along the tabs at the top, then choosing from the list vertically. Setting the focus point is now a two button affair, but is less fiddly, though it takes a bit more to remember.

The ability to set the ISO speed up to 6400 without resort to a menu selection and be able to shoot with minimal noise at this level is nothing short of magnificent. There is very definitely a certain 'feel' to MkII images taken under these conditions, it has to do with the clarity of the mid and highlight tones with very crisp blacks.

The review screen is not only larger but seems brighter and sharper than its predecessor, and of course there is the sensor cleaning which takes place at shutting down and switching on. This just gives you an added feeling of confidence.

A note of caution. If you use say Lightroom to import your files, and you have shot a short video, Lightroom mentions that it cannot read such files, so before you erase or format that card, do remember to offload that file – it is easily missed!

Canon EOS 5D shines in low light

How ironic, that when the camera arrived in my hands I was unable to take advantage of it to put it through its paces! Had it arrived earlier in the very day, I might have taken some pictures that day, but ever since, whenever the sun has shone, it was mocking me, as I had to have my head firmly glued to my monitor to get work done!

Yesterday however, whilst out with my younger daughter and her husband in an attempt to find presents in Milton Keynes, I managed to make some headway – to save weight and give myself a chance I used a 90mm Tamron and set 3200 ISO. The Lydian String trio and the stairs in the Apple Store succumbed, as did an oriental cut flower later in Harpenden!

Capturing all these at a motion-stopping 160th of a second with a variety of lighting was a challenge indeed; I was most impressed, but to have so little noise was just a dream come true. I cannot wait to capture more exciting images in the future. Enjoy.

The Lightroom Message

Twice in the last three weeks, I have had the enjoyable but nevertheless daunting and somewhat humbling experience of talking to two groups of expert photographers about Lightroom. The first was to a group of Wildlife photographers, the second, just yesterday a group of photographers possibly best described as photojournalists.

In both instances these were not hosted by me; I was invited to offer my services – in the first mine host was Chris Gomersall, and the latter, Adam Woolfitt.

I enjoy these encounters, because faced with a group of mixed and varied experience and prior knowledge of the program, I am challenged, and I learn from the sessions, which helps me to feed back what I find to the program developers at Adobe. Also, since I operate a one-man-band, it gives me welcome social interaction.

I strongly feel that with digital SLRs pervading a large proportion of professional photographers' working lives, and the cameras yielding ever larger initial raw files, this program is supplanting Photoshop for many people. Effectively, it has usurped the place Photoshop held in my heart for so many years, so I now feel very evangelistic on its behalf. Quite early on in my acquaintance with Lightroom I put across my view that the biggest competitor was not as the Press would have you believe, Aperture, but Adobe Bridge – I still hold this view.

Recently, Adobe have laid off many staff across the globe, and put this down to a disappointing take up of Creative Suite 4 due to the financial situation worldwide. I think it goes deeper than this, and would cite the withdrawal from major shows, and the high price set outside the US. To consider the UK version as 'localised' and suggest this is 'International English', yet pay no heed to actual 'English' spelling has been considered insulting to many, especially when software can now be distributed electronically worldwide this does not endear Adobe to its target audience. Another factor is the system of Activation is so draconian it hits the legal users of its software as hard as the cheats.

When you can therefore use a less than up to date version of Photoshop to do all you need beyond what Lightroom offers, there is a less pressing need to upgrade when you set the cost of Lightroom against that of the upgrade to Photoshop. I think Photoshop has now undoubtedly become more of a tool for Retouchers and Designers, and in these two Groups it is only the Retouchers who see the real need for the new features, and they are the smaller of the two. And I count myself a member of that group.

Very little explanation of Lightroom is offered by Adobe, partly because it sells itself, so it is often left to those selling the product, and I think in many instances some of its virtues are overstated, in particular its role as a Digital Asset Management (DAM) tool. Various web-based resources provide sound information, but the audience here is already fairly well-informed but small in number, so less-informed comment in magazines tends to prevail, and increasingly the writers are very aware of the effect negative comments will have upon their advertising revenue, so are less objective, apart from not really using the software on a daily basis.

I hope in my small way that I am helping to take up the slack and getting Lightroom's virtues and architecture better understood by today's digital photographers.