Category: Photos

Life through the Lens (13 September 2020)

As my previous series came to an end, I had the idea to post some of my own photographs.

When my eyes were better, I used to enjoy photography. I had some decent kit and was around just as digital photography was taking off. Although it was strictly a hobby for me, two of my photos were published. One rural shot of hay bales ended up in a brochure made by the UK’s NFU (farming), another ended up in a coffee-table book about lighthouses. I wasn’t David Bailey but a couple of times, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.

I thought I’d share some. All these photographs were taken by me, I own the copyright so if you’d like to use any, go for it. Just so long as you don’t use them to make any money.

My aim is to publish weekly again but this time, on Sunday afternoons. I’m just going to repeat this spiel each week, too, for the benefit of new readers, so you can safely skip to the camera graphic to save reading the blurb each time.

If you look at the category above (high on left, by the date), I’ll put every photo in that same category so you can find previously-published photos. If I feel a photo needs some explanation, I’ll maybe write a line or two to go with it. Like the last time, I’ll keep going until I run out of steam. Oh, and feel free to join in, if the fancy takes you.

I’ve linked to a higher-res umage under each photo.

The last couple of weeks I’ve presented some wonderful chalk formations on the French coast. This week those same chalk formations, but in England. Durdle Door, in Dorset. Less than an hour’s drive from me, it used to be a regular haunt, I wandered over there at sunrise one day, and had the place to myself.

This one was an early HDR shot – all programs nowadays can produce an HDR (high dynamic range) effect, but when I took this, there were just a few specialist packages. I had to take several identical shots (so I needed a tripod to keep the camera steady). Each shot, I increased the the amount of light I let into the camera. Lastly, I used one of these packages to combine all these images into one.

The thinking is, by using several images, all with a slightly different setting, then sticking them together, the resulting image is more like what the human eye can see.

(In all photography, light passes through a lens, through a hole which you open briefly to allow the light into the camera. You can control how much light gets into the camera by changing the size of the hole (the aperture), and by changing how long you open the hole for (the shutter speed).

These days, every camera will make a very good guess at the “right” amount of light, so all we need to do is to press a button, but good cameras will let you to set these values manually if you want to achieve a specific effect.)

HDR photography traditionally involved taking the same photograph several times, each time with a different aperture, then using software to combine them into one image.

Life through the Lens (6 September 2020)

As my previous series came to an end, I had the idea to post some of my own photographs.

When my eyes were better, I used to enjoy photography. I had some decent kit and was around just as digital photography was taking off. Although it was strictly a hobby for me, two of my photos were published. One rural shot of hay bales ended up in a brochure made by the UK’s NFU (farming), another ended up in a coffee-table book about lighthouses. I wasn’t David Bailey but a couple of times, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.

I thought I’d share some. All these photographs were taken by me, I own the copyright so if you’d like to use any, go for it. Just so long as you don’t use them to make any money.

My aim is to publish weekly again but this time, on Sunday afternoons. I’m just going to repeat this spiel each week, too, for the benefit of new readers, so you can safely skip to the camera graphic to save reading the blurb each time.

If you look at the category above (high on left, by the date), I’ll put every photo in that same category so you can find previously-published photos. If I feel a photo needs some explanation, I’ll maybe write a line or two to go with it. Like the last time, I’ll keep going until I run out of steam. Oh, and feel free to join in, if the fancy takes you.

I’ve linked to a higher-res umage under each photo.

Last week I introduced Étretat (France) and the Porte d’Aval. Here’s what you get if you look the other way, la Porte d’Amont.

I should have mentioned last week, and you can probably tell by the light, that these shots were taken first thing on a summer’s morning. We would arrive on the ferry at about 8AM, and Étretat was a favourite destination for breakfast. Looks like it’ll be a lovely day!

Life through the Lens (30 August 2020)

As my previous series came to an end, I had the idea to post some of my own photographs.

When my eyes were better, I used to enjoy photography. I had some decent kit and was around just as digital photography was taking off. Although it was strictly a hobby for me, two of my photos were published. One rural shot of hay bales ended up in a brochure made by the UK’s NFU (farming), another ended up in a coffee-table book about lighthouses. I wasn’t David Bailey but a couple of times, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.

I thought I’d share some. All these photographs were taken by me, I own the copyright so if you’d like to use any, go for it. Just so long as you don’t use them to make any money.

My aim is to publish weekly again but this time, on Sunday afternoons. I’m just going to repeat this spiel each week, too, for the benefit of new readers, so you can safely skip to the camera graphic to save reading the blurb each time.

If you look at the category above (high on left, by the date), I’ll put every photo in that same category so you can find previously-published photos. If I feel a photo needs some explanation, I’ll maybe write a line or two to go with it. Like the last time, I’ll keep going until I run out of steam. Oh, and feel free to join in, if the fancy takes you.

I’ve linked to a higher-res umage under each photo.

My first week, this is known as the Porte d’Aval, in Étretat, on the northern coast of France. Étretat has a beautiful crescent-shaped beach, flanked at both ends by these beautiful chalk arches. I’ll post the view in the other direction next week.