Silbury view

Subject: Silbury view Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:07 pm

For Megadread to remember his camping view
cheers

PeteG

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Did He enjoy himself Pete..

Sounds like you and Steve dun him proud...

Guest

They sure did tony, and what a view to wake up to. Very Happy

Subject: Re: Silbury view Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:19 pm

I had the place all to my self this morning as the sun rose.
PeteG

Subject: Re: Silbury view Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:25 pm

Just me with the sheep as the sun rose.
PeteG

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Now they are Midsummer Solstice pictures that speak to me and mean something. Exquisite!

Guest

Nice pics pete. Did you catch that sheep 'in the middle of something'. Razz

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Excellent Pictures Pete..

Tony

Subject: Re: Silbury view Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:13 pm

Thanks for the comments.

Today, we are far from the sun. Earth's orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle, it's an ellipse, and on July 4th, Earth is at the most distant end of the curve. Astronomers call this "aphelion." When we are at aphelion, the sun appears smaller in the sky (by 1.7%) and global solar heating is actually a little less (by 3.5%) than the yearly average.

There wasn't a druid or pagan in sight at Avebury or Silbury to celebrate this, I was all alone and it was magical.
PeteG

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

That really is awesome!

Guest

Pete, do you photo shop your pics.
Cant remember if we discussed my hatred of non pure pics when we met.

Subject: Re: Silbury view Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:33 pm

I use a technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) which means I take three shots and bracket them one stop apart.
Photomatix Pro then combines the images to show up details in the sky which would normaly be washed out and details in shadow which would normaly be black.
The result is an image that is much closer to what the eye actualy see.
I only retouch photos for dust spots in Photoshop.
PeteG

Guest

Sorry if that sounded a little harsh.
My best mate would take great offence at my purist stance.
I would refer to his pics as modern art and not true photography.
He would refer to my gardening in the same vain, intefering with nature, creating borders with bastardized cultivars of plants etc. Razz

I truly mean no offence, just one mans view.

Subject: Re: Silbury view Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:52 pm

None taken mate.
Sometime a photo needs tweaking to bring out a feature.
I don't see any problem with it as photo labs used to take a colour balance from the first frame of the film and print every frame the same, unlike hand printing which colour balances each frame.
Digital camers still have't got the quality of slides so a bit of tweaking is needed.
PeteG

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

I think it would be fair to say that I tweak all of my Photo's..

Unfortunately (Or fortunately) a camera is not an eye - It's a machine and can not recorded what we see or how we see it. Yes, the sensors have a go and the software tries it's best... Bu, at it's best it's - Glass, plastic, metal, wires and software..

Good photography is working within those limitations. Understanding what the camera sees and records and use that knowledge to create a photo...

Even then, contrast is likly to be an issue, as is white balance, low light 'noise' and various other minor irritations...

As I sit here looking at a pure white bowl - My eyes and brain know it to be white and so that is what I see. I know my camera will record it as orange, because of the Tungsten light source behind me..

When I take a picture of snow on a sunny day. That, that I see as white will be recorded as blue, because of the refection of the sky...

Photography is an art form. It records a moment in time that is like what somebody may have seen. But probably not as somebody actually had seen it..

This photo of a Swan on a lake is not how I saw it by eye.

With my eyes, the birds in the background were further away - The Zoom compressed the picture and drew them in.. The Swan did not 'stand out' like it does in the picture. This was created by opening the lens wide open F3.8 I think. The Whites were less contrasty, ( my brain and eyes sorted them out)there was less white 'burn out' on the edge of the wings and less shadow on the head and neck.

The green water has changed shade... There was a shadow from a tree and it looked a lot darker in reality..

This picture is how I saw it through the Camera lens.

Artificial!!!

Tony

Guest

Just rode a mile in the rain to get this pic, no tweaking. Took it on my 2 mp phone.
If anyone has the time would you tweak it for me and see what 'improvements' you can make for comparison. Really 'go to town' on it if you want. Very Happy

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:36 pm

is that its highest resolution or did you resize it?
PeteG

Guest

Hope I'm not subverting the thread but have any of you photographers used TopCon software ?
It's a 3d photogrammetry prog .

George

Guest

I resized it for the sake of the forum pete, will send you the original bearing in mind its only 2 mp.

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Potentially a very good shot but....

Look at the pixelisation and noise..

I will try but...

Tony

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:10 pm

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:11 pm

Guest

Sent to your g mail address. tony if you want it too pm me your e-mail address.
Just so you know the best of the doudle rainbow was almost gone when i arrived at the site and didnt worry too much about composition.

Guest

this was a quick pic from my front garden, you can see why i rode the mile to the local field. Neutral

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:25 pm

Original

after tweaking

I took it into Lightbox and made two copies.
one stop over and one under.
I then tonemapped them together in Photomatic Pro.
PeteG

Guest

I should really have rode the extra few hundred metres to the castle riuns in this pic but didnt want to miss the pic altogether.
manor castle

Guest

I like both of those equally but i dont have a s keen an eye as you pete. Of all the shots i got i prefer this one, i just love b&w.

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:48 pm

what are you using to resize the photos?
PeteG

Guest

Photobucket. Just e-mailed you that one too.
Was given photoshop as a present yesterday but have no idea how to use it and no interest in learning. Crying or Very sad

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 11:06 pm

try Paintshop Pro for resizing.
Its a watered down easy to use version of photoshop.
PeteG

Guest

I know photographs are very subjective and that definetly improves the sky but makes the rock look less rugged for me.

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 11:17 pm

I just dropped that one stop.
No tonemapping to bring out the rock detail.
PeteG

Guest

Subject: Re: Silbury view Sun Jul 06, 2008 11:35 pm

ah yes. I was sent a demo cd by the company a while back but I thought it a bit pricey so I've never tried it out properly.

PeteG

Subject: Re: Silbury view Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:14 am

I have a 3-D camera (Loreo) that uses standard 35mm film and prints. Pete G has seen it.There's a beam-splitter on the front. It came from the Widescreen Centre in London. They now produce a gadget from the sam company that fits on the front of a digital SLR and does the same thing. It's quite effective. When I get time (hah!) I'll put some of my 3-D pics on the net. I've got 3-D pics the African stone circles at Wassu in the Gambia; the Pyramids; Luxor; temples all over India - good stuff!

My broadband at home is still cutting out, by the way - I'm in the station at Chippenham writing this...

Guest

Guest

Subject: Re: Silbury view Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:20 pm

Subject: Re: Silbury view Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:38 pm

It would mean breaking the camera to find out! I think the best bet is to buy the beam splitter attachment. It's made by the same company. Lots of fab gear at:

Widescreen Centre

Subject: Re: Silbury view Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:52 pm

Subject: Re: Silbury view Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:58 pm

Oh, you mean their telescopes?

Sigh...

Subject: Re: Silbury view Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:01 am

yup.
I went around site going "oooh Add that to the cart"
then left without buying anything.
tantric shopping king

PeteG

Subject: Re: Silbury view Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:07 am

quote: 'From fifteen grand'

Subject: Re: Silbury view Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:11 am

thats just showing off.
If I want to use a large scope I go to the local astronomical society.
WAS
PeteG

Guest

Hospital view.
A healthy 8lb Baby girl and only 1 day early.

And now for all three of us Sleep

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Subject: Re: Silbury view Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:28 pm

congrats Geoff.
How's the wife doing?

Pete

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

WOW! and WOW!! again.

Many congratulations to the whole family Megadread, she IS beautiful.

Very best

June

Guest

Guest

Hi everyone, thank you for your kind words.
Donna and baby doing well though quite sore still, our three lads were all around 6lb so quite big for a lass donna's size. She's absolutley thrilled as i am that we finally got a daughter. Just managed to grab hour and half sleep and off back to the hospital now, will pass on your comments. thanks again, Geoff. cheers