FZ200 - winter light

[SirLataxe]

Winter time here in NW England is often wet and windy, with nothing much to photograph other than the scudding grey clouds over the dim & dull landscape. But every now and again.....

This morning's collie walk saw some of the more dramatic stuff, with still air, a blue sky but lots of low-lying fog and white-rimed flora after last night's ground frost. These are the days for contre-jeu and turning down the EV control.




Pilots have been painting with con trails




Sun drenched fog and a great big dog


That's not Heysham nuclear power station going up is it?

[ATTACH alt="There may be crocodiles in there, waiting for the local "wilderbeast" aka Daisy & Ermintrude "]media_2385444[/ATTACH]
There may be crocodiles in there, waiting for the local "wilderbeast" aka Daisy & Ermintrude


She wears those coloured things so the dawg can spot her in the mist


I see no pirates, captain - sail on!

All with the FZ200 via RAW & Silkypix V5.

SirLataxe, now looking forward to Spring.

 

[Rudy Pohl]

Hi SirL:

Wow, these are beautiful compositions and masterfully executed! I like them all but particularly like numbers 2 and 4... they're magical! Well done indeed!

Thanks for posting,

Rudy

 

[ANAYV]

Excellent shots, Sir L !

love the compositions and light.

Well done !




ANAYV

 

[d j s]

Very nice, i really enjoyed these, Thanks ~}

 

[vikingo]

wow the 4.....cool.

 

[oregonyankee]

Number 4 is particularly striking to me. You have an excellent photographic eye! (and I suppose the camera helps a tiny bit as wee

 

[windmillgolfer]

Good set SirLatexe, some good light. Nothing like having to walk the dog to get one out and about. Looks like the light was a tad better north of here (Lytham) today. The fog/mist hardly lifted here today

 

[SirLataxe]

Yes, photographic life is easy with all that ready-made stuff - clever cameras, artful software and (best of all) Princess Gaia with her beautiful land & light. Even those collie dawgs tend to seek out the best views so all I have to do is point the machine and press it's button!

The fog came & went & came again around here. I was hoping to go cycling with my pal from Poulton, as he has a shiney new steed dripping with man-jewellery. (He has not gone "lycra" yet but I'm working on him). However, the fog was thick on The Fylde and the backroads have a touch of black ice, which we scrotes avoid as we are brittle and cannot spring up after toppling on to the tarmac. Instead we groan & curse fate, whilst awaiting the white van containing the bonesetters.

One day I will capture the lad's image, preferably as he does full MAMIL mode.

It looks like we may have some similar weather for a few days. I will be seeking collie-advice about other places where ball-chuckin' and shutter-pressin' may be usefully combined. They enjoy primitive pleasures but then so do I, as the ladywife will tell you.

Just now I am going to bed as my fingers, eyes and wetware are tired from "translating" yet more Japenglish from the Silkypix 5 manual into proper sentences with real words in them. Silkypix 5 is excellent at doing the Panasonic so the effort is worth it.

SirLataxe, writing to you from a small corner of Paradise.

 

[Jerry045]

A very nice set Sir L. Capturing that elusive blue sky in the UK is a fete due to how rare it is. My favorite is #4.

Keep them coming. I find them most enjoyable.

 

[Arjun G]

Wonderful compositions.

Love the third and fourth one.

All the best,

Arjun.

 

[danielsonkin]

I agree, this is an excellent set of shots, SirL. You put a lot of thought into these wonderful compositions. I particularly 2, 3 and 4.

Daniel

 

[SirLataxe]

Five more of the same location, from the same day/dawg walk, giving a slightly different perspective. They include two bird photos.

The kingfisher is not such a good quality image - taken with extended zoom (2000X1500) in RAW but the branches have confused the focusing slightly, as has my unsteady hand. I often see them as a blue & orange flash but they rarely sit still; and tend to do so only at 20 yards away or more, peeking around the foliage. I would like to obtain a kingfisher photo like that of Master Blue, shown in another thread hereabouts.

The cygnets are in fact one boid - two photos of it stitched together. It is seeking the chance to peck collie-nozzle. Those collies are not daft and find many other items of interest to sniff some yards from any cygnet or it's mam & dad.




I'm leaving now - yes I am!




Big dog & fog wider view


The canal chuggie boat through Bridge 89


Low winter sun emulating a ray gun


Have you seen them succulent collie noses? I love collie noses (and man knee) don't you?.


SirLataxe, planning to ride his bicycle today but without a camera (got to keep the eye out for pothole).

 

[in_focus]

Lovely series, Sir.. thanks for enjoyable tour along the river(canal?).. perfectly captured delicate and soft winter light, really love for fine composition of the "croc" and bridge images.. thanks for sharing ..

Cheers,

 

[Rudy Pohl]

Hi Sir L:

Beautiful, beautiful beautiful images!! I can't say enough about them! Your compositions are wonderfully magical works of art. We have another Bruno in our midst..., in my opinion you two are the best professional-level landscape photographers/artists in our midst. Seriously, the artistic aspect of your work is of the highest order... pretty darn nice to look at too!!

Oh yes, numbers 2 and 3 are my favourites.

Keep them coming Sir L!

Rudy

 

[Mikedigi]

Very nice! Worth getting up early for . . . must try it sometime!

Mike

 

[SirLataxe]

RudyPohl wrote:

Hi Sir L:

Beautiful, beautiful beautiful images!! I can't say enough about them! Your compositions are wonderfully magical works of art. We have another Bruno in our midst..., in my opinion you two are the best professional-level landscape photographers/artists in our midst. Seriously, the artistic aspect of your work is of the highest order... pretty darn nice to look at too!!

Mr Pohl,

Ha ha - I yam no artist, being a rather badly brought up lad with insufficient fine sensibilities; and appetities nearly as simple as those of a collie dog. If those photos demonstrate anything about my camera-fondling and software-poking, it is a craft. This is where one learns arcane but well-understood procedures and then applies them to obtain the known results of such procedures.

Now, I understand this inclination to mention "art" since the subject-matter of many photos is indeed artistic. However, it is generally not the shutter-presser who made the art but a farmer, architect or good old Gaia (Momma Nature). We camera-toters merely point our instrument at the already extant art. (Well, I do).

One may mention composition and allege this to sometimes be artful. Hmmmm - I will again say "craft" since nothing is added by the shutter-presser when composing. Indeed, a lot is taken away from the often art-dripping reality!

There is something of an art to software editing that transforms a photographic image into a view that is no longer merely an accurate 2D copy of reality. But this is graphic art, not photographic art.

One can also do nice framing and so forth to enhance a picture. But really this too is a craft rather than an art.

What is this art then?

Ah ha! Many and various are the definitions. In America, for instance, it is defined as "the expensive painting or sculpture I have in my vault". My personal favourite is, "A human-rendered construct that uses well-understood elements to render new and significant meaning to other humans". Out of simple parts emerges a more complex whole.

Photos don't do that unless they are transforming that 2D copy of reality in some fundamental way (graphic art). Well-taken photos of interesting scenes and moments, properly developed......? Craft.

But thank you for the compliments and please forgive my pedant mode. It's my hobby! (One of several, which also include: "lecturing grandchildren about the good old days" and "being skeptical about self-appointed authorities").

SirLataxe, always trying hard not to take hisself seriously.

 

[Jack Brandt217]

Excellent Mr. LaTaxe. A little fog can do wonders for a photograph.

Jack

 

[Jack Brandt217]

Some camera toters do it better than other camera toters. If you ever get a chance to look at some of Ansel Adams' 16X20s you will recognize art.

Jack

 

[SirLataxe]

Jack Brandt217 wrote:

Some camera toters do it better than other camera toters. If you ever get a chance to look at some of Ansel Adams' 16X20s you will recognize art.

Jack

--
www.pbase.com/jbrandt

PBase.com

Mr Brandt,

When lads like that Ansel Adams made their photos they spent hours & hours tarting them up with their enlarger, doing all kinds of dodging, burning and the other old-fashioned manipulations. They also fiddled with the chemicals and paper.

So, ole Ansel invented his particular graphic-art techniques and associated look often called "the zone system". As a result, his 2D copies of reality were more than the reality. Some call it art, as it reveals those landscapes in a way that a normal human eye-brain would not see them. (No colour and huge contrast, for example - making quite a lot of ARTificial drama).

When we say "photographer" we might mean a range of fellows doing a range of things that involve a camera and the rendering of the images it captures. Some of these fellows and their doings are certainsly"graphic art". Fellows like me and 99.9% of other camera users are not like Ansel and his mates. In fact, our objective is to retain as much as possible, in the 2D image, of how the scene looked to our eye-brains at the time. It's basically a copying process.

This is in some ways the opposite of art, which seeks to transcend mere reality.

Not to denigrate the craft of photography, mind! All of this learning to control the camera, the software, the media and the composition requires effort; the efforts to use the photographic knowledge and skills can be performed more or less well. But art is something else again.

Personally I think it demeans true art art and artistic endeavours for every shutter-presser to claim he is an artist just because he managed to capture a picture he enjoys. He is just a good photographer - and there's nothing wrong with that.

SirLataxe, who also crafts furniture that has not a spelk of art in it, despite being pretty and highly functional.




Iroko & oak memorial bench




Cherry tallboy & birch bucket


Walnut hall table in the Stickley style


Afromosia desk in the Greene & Greene style


Oak coffee table in the Gimson style


Green ash ladderback chairs


Beech tallboy


Cherry bedside table


Oak trestle table


Pine cupboard


Maple & ash toybox


Walnut wine table





It was the tools wot done it

 

[Mikedigi]

SirLataxe wrote: [all about furniture]

OMIGOD!!!

So in addition to his photography, his prowess with a grey card, his wry Yorkshire wit (or half-wit?) and his Nobel Prize for Mixed Metaphors, Sir Latex is also a carpenter . . . a highly honoured profession?

Does he also walk on water? (Latex is waterproof , after all.)

What an honour to be acquainted with such an outstanding multi-talent!

This Forum brings us many things, not just Noise, Chromatic Aberration, Lightroom and all those other contributions to our serenity . . .

Mike