Looking at – and seeing – the world
September 26, 2020 Leave a comment
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A double exposure of the Hazel tree in our Bristol garden, with the beautiful yellow leaves that it has in the autumn. The camera was moved slightly between the two exposures.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
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September 26, 2020 2 Comments
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Out doing a bit of gardening, cutting our “front lawn” (aka The Dandelion Patch – I like Dandelions!). And I kept getting the impression out of the corner of my eye of something darting swiftly by – until at last there came a beautifully warm red-orange glow from the bottom of a dense bush, and there was a Robin, a fairly small type of thrush.
And as I raked the grass and so laid bare more and more food items for him, he darted out more and more and dutifully gobbled them all down. And knowing birds a little, I kept fairly still and started talking to him in much the same way that I talk to cats – quietly, softly and low. And, looking up at this giant towering over him, he came closer and closer, to within a couple of inches of my feet I suppose, and I did wonder whether he might hop up onto the top of my shoe.
But he hopped away again, though not far away – and I started thinking about a photograph. So, very quietly and slowly, keeping my eyes on him, I backed away into the house where I knew the Z 6 with a telezoom attached and a charged up battery were ready and waiting. Creeping back out into the garden again I was sure he’d have disappeared – but no, he was still there, looking me. So I carefully braced myself against the wall of the house and managed a few pictures.
Trouble was, I’d hardly used the Z 6 since the start of the coronavirus lockdown in March – I’ve been almost entirely photographing with the Olympus TG-5 – and so I’d forgotten exactly how the ***** Z 6 works!!! >>>> and so to several failed shots!
But a couple of the frames came out ok – and so to a record of a really wonderful close encounter, just the thing in fact to lift the spirits in these very sad and trying times.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – certainly recommended.
Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens used in DX (= APS-C) format to give 450mm; 3200 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Landscape v2 profile; south Bristol; 22 Sept 2020.
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September 25, 2020 4 Comments
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I walk back home most early mornings along a road lined with big cars and big, comfortable, middle class dwellings. These houses are on my right, to the east of me, with – on clear days – the autumn sun rising behind them.
There are big areas of shadow where the houses block the sun’s light, but the driveways between these semi-detached houses are ablaze with the early light, with most of the cars pointing directly into it. There’s a lot of contrast and some blazing reflections, but looking carefully and using the TG-5’s 100mm telephoto and its spot meter, there are areas like this, with the sunlight glancing almost horizontally across the cars’ dew-soaked bodywork and illuminating every surface feature, texture and tiny drop of moisture. Walking past these cars never fails to draw my gaze.
The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles. Earlier Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 .
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 03 profile; south Bristol; 14 Sept 2020.
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September 22, 2020 6 Comments
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Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: TG-5 at 28mm (equiv); 500 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the B&W 12 profile; south Bristol; 8 Aug 2020.
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September 18, 2020 4 Comments
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Standing on a lawn, beside a fence, as the sun rose.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 46mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 01 profile; south Bristol; 27 Aug 2020.
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September 13, 2020 8 Comments
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Cable TV inspection cover set in a pavement >>> a scene that I walk over most days >>> but on this day lit by the low angle light of the rising sun.
Towards lower left, starting from nearest the cover, are the pavement’s pale kerbstones, the road’s slightly less pale gutter, and the more roughly textured road surface.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 61mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 03 profile; south Bristol; 8 Aug 2020.
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September 12, 2020 11 Comments
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The early morning, the sun still just below the horizon, and an object of great beauty in the clear sky up above – an aircraft’s contrail caught in the very first of the rising sun’s rays.
I wanted to relate this spectacle to structures on the ground, and so got in close beside a lamp post and tree on one side, and the reflective windows of a house on the other – and so to this shot.
But now, down in the back roads of my mind, whenever I look at this picture I see the contrail watched by a host of upturned and enthralled, hirsute heads, looking up from below. What am I on? Whatever it is, must get some more … 🙂
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 5 Sep 2020.
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September 10, 2020 14 Comments
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Car caught in a rainstorm, seen through the windscreen of my car, in the rooftop car park at Broadwalk Shopping Centre in south Bristol; 29 July 2013.
The overriding texture, which disrupts the car’s white outlines, is caused by water streaming across my windscreen. The black structure just below centre left is the car’s side mirror, which has been raised into the parked position. Some colour has been restored to the car’s windows.
Our English “summer”! After a fortnight or more of oppressive heat, waves of thunderstorms are now rolling northwards, bringing gloom to our rooms at 3 o’clock on “summer’s” afternoons!
The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles. Earlier Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 .
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: G11 PowerShot at 140mm (35mm equiv); 400 ISO; conversion to mono and selective restoration of colour in Silver Efex Pro 2, jumping in at the Dramatic preset.
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September 5, 2020 2 Comments
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The early mornings darken, the light becomes softer and more attractive, and I start to anticipate the first thin mists and slight but certain chills of autumn.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: TG-5 at 85mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 31 Aug 2020.
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September 5, 2020 5 Comments
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Cloud and contrail, at sunrise.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 49mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 01 profile; south Bristol; 4 Aug 2020.
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