PHOTOGRAPHY for fun by ARTYFAX

Fun With Composite Photographs

2018-05-01T15:44:00.001-07:00

Wow it has been so long since this blog was active, I have been under soi much pressure and blogging had to take a back seat. I will be trying to do a little catching up with some photos that I have had fun with since the last posts.

First of all, I was writing a novel around the time of the last post and as with so much of writing which I find difficult to get down on paper (or on the screen, LOL) I used images, my paintings or often photographs to try to free up the flow of words.

These photos presented here are composite photos. I.e. using images "cut" from a photo to form a different, often more expressive image. I know this is a little bit of a cheat but my main ob jective here is to be able to help my writing come together,

The first two are very simple and really are not much to speak of. I have cut a "figure" from a photo and added it to a background. Nothing very clever, I am not so very useful with photo editing software but it helps the above stated objective.

This first image is of a small garden statue of a wizard, in a garden "folly". I have of course altered the apparent sizes of the two to make it appear as if they are of the same proportions.

In this very similar photo, The figure is a life sized statue of a hooded, seated monk situated in the remains of an old industrial furnace. The furnace was originally used for producing quicklime, but provides a niche for the "hermit". Again I have re-sized the two images to create similar scales.

In this image I wanted to create a study/library of the wizard in the story, I chose a stone floored room to be the main background feature. In the room I placed a stone table (or desk) upon whichI placed a pilke of (3) books and an open scroll. In the background there is a shelf of almanacs and a map on the wall. The flame is meant to add "something", whether it works I leave to your own imagination.

A selection of the individual images used in the last composite image above. Of course images are not only resized but may need to be rotated, inverted and otherwise played around with the fit in the overall scene. And not forgetting the need for transforming the shape of an element to make a realistic placement. I.e. a square may need to become a parallelogram if it is placed at a different angle. horizontal instead of vertical for example..

Why not have fun and try this for yourself, there are free photo edit apps on-line or you can download them. Go on have a go!

Blue Lilies - Photograph

2015-04-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it has been so long since I posted, I have not been taking many photos since I have spent a lot of my spare time rehearsing with my new ukulele. I have joined a club/group which is giving concerts in the local area and I need to get my act sorted (pun intended). Read more on my music blog, Guitar Bashin'

Anyway, with the advent of the warmer weather I have been inspired to get out into the garden and take a few walks to exercise my new knee-joint. This particular shot of a bunch of blue lillies, was a gift to my wife from our sons step daughter.

It is not a colour we had seen before, and were really taken with them. I just had to capture them for posterity. A later search on Google produced lots of plants called "blue lilies" but none looked quite the same as this bunch until I found this site.

They were all in bud when they arrived but are now opening and hopefully I might get an even better shot in a couple of days time. I shall watch them carefully.

Lovely colour in these blooms, the red marks on the leaves are of course pollen deposited on the petals prior to being fully open.

A different bloom showing a better positioning of the stamens.

Anyway, I have found my camera again and hopefully will be posting more shots in the near future.

Photography Is An Art!

2014-12-27T16:38:00.001-08:00

As an artist, I often had to convince myself of this. After all, I created sketches and paintings and also took snapshots of days out and family occasions but did not consider the latter as art. Now my son is taking photography seriously and often surprises me by his choice of subject or his mode of capturing it.

He spent Christmas at our house this year and as we laid the table for Christmas dinner, and at various times during the meal he took some simple shots. He was using a short focal length - I think - and some of his results were ... well surprising. Here are a few examples:-

In this star, if you look carefully you can see a little snowman at each point of light. The photo was taken through a pair of glasses which my wife picked up at a shop somewhere. Just using the lenses for this shot would never have occurred to me.

The effect of the short focal length is illustrated in this this shot, and the next ...

You can see more of his photographs on Flickr, where he goes by the name of Kaibakorg, if you want to see more creative photography. He is winning many awards on various photography sites and has had several of his photos published in photography magazines.

See more of my poor efforts, on this blog.

Pet Portrait, Dante The Lurcher

2014-12-10T03:08:00.000-08:00

My son (the photographer) has been winning prizes with his portraits of his pet Lurcher. (A similar breed to a greyhound) so I thought I would post a couple of my own photographs of this lovable pooch. In fact, my son's photos of all sorts of subjects are earning him many accolades from the press, the internet and from happy "customers".

Dante The Lurcher loves soft toys, some that squeak when he bites them, and some that just plain are cute and work equally as well as pillows as well as toys. These shots all include one particular toy which maybe not surprisingly he knows as Pinky. He is actually a very clever hound and knows many of his toys by name.

It is amazing how he will stand for so much, many of the family are always taking photos with their phones (I've still got a phone which I can talk on and very little else!) and of course my son is always, as I mentioned (or did I?), taking "proper" photographs. I love the look in his eyes here, "Not again", he seems to be saying.

Of course he does sometimes get very bored and just goes to sleep on his "pillow". Can you see the scars on his snout? He was being nosey and pushed his snout under a fence, only to be walloped by the neighbourhood meanie, a massive akita hound. I am afraid he is scarred for life.

Apparently our house is too hot for him, and this is the way he cools off from time-to-time. Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of Dante and Pinky, I am sure there may be more to come. My wife has been inundating us with doggie photos whilst Dante is living with us at the moment. If you can't wait, you can see more photos of Dante TheLurcher on his Face Book page, yes he does have his own page.

An Inviting Window On Another World

2014-11-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

Do you like Thai food?

It is one of my favourite foods, second only to a decently prepared Italian meal. But on a recent trip to Banbury, this restaurant was just opposite the hotel. Simply had to pay it a visit. Expensive but visible from out hotel window and beckoning. Could not resist! But why do Thai restaurants always seem to be more expensive than surrounding establishments?

First, a shot of the outside at night with the lights giving a sense of wonder:-

And yes those are elephants welcoming visitors. BTW, this was taken from the hotel room through the window glass. And then a more usual shot:-

Doesn't have the same welcoming aura, does it?

And the hotel? It was The Cromwell. A very characterful hotel and I would visit again but like many such establishments, they could learn a thing or two about service times in the restaurant from places like The Thai Orchid.

Our room was top left, here. The one with the open window. A superior room (?) mostly because of its character, it is full of beams - did you see the roof?

At six foot three inches, this was a real problem for me. However, I only banged my head once or twice - narrowly failing to finally concuss myself going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, LOL.

More travel photos soon ...

Abstract Photographs Using Oil & Water Mix

2014-10-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if I have posted about these images previously, but a search has not given any positive results so I am posting about them again. And why not?

By using a shallow dish and coloured paper on top of a sheet of glass; positioning this so that it can be lit from the bottom we have a basic (very basic) way of creating some great abstract shots. With this set-up in place pour a thin layer of water into the dish, and then dribble a little oil - vegetable oil is fine into the water. Stir to create bubbles of oil. Simples!

All you need to do then is to switch on the bottom light for illumination, and take a photograph or two. I apologise but cannot remember where my son found this technique described.

Here are two of the shots from a series which I took using this technique.

I think they have possibilities, but even more variation can of course be aquired by using post-processing in Photoshop. Here is one edited shot which increased the range of colours.

The technique is so easy and really great fun - if you are into abstract images.

I

Here is a shot taken on a visit to Whitenge Gardens, a faux stoneage folly I guess you could call it. A modern way to add a little interest into a large park or garden. I show it here because one of our favourite destinations are the many wonderful neolothic (stoneage) sites from around the country a number of which are featured in prvious posts on this blog.

Photographic Montage or Collage?

2014-05-21T03:24:00.001-07:00

I have never really understood which term is the correct one to use for a photograph edited from several others.

Recently we visited Whitenge Garden Centre, a large adjacent garden is open to the public (for a small fee) and is used as an examplar for the garden design business operated by the owners. Lots of unusual features and water features, follies, etc. An enjoyable visit. However of course, I had my camera with me and took lots of photos. Now I am in the middle of writing a novel - yes I know, boring ... but in order to bring characters to life, I am using images which I have edited to visualise various scenes in the novel.

It is a fantasy novel and features a wizard. So I made use of two of the garden sculptures and a photo of one of the follies. Bringing them together to stand in for one of the scenes in the book. now my question is, is this a montage or a collage? Does anybody have a definitive answer?

If you study the knight and the wizard, you will see that they have been hurriedly extracted from shots of other parts of the garden. Then pasted into the shot of the folly with "ruined brickwork" and resized to match the perspective of the two figures. The little imp looking over the wall was in the folly to start with.

OK, a lovely feature for the larger garden, but id does help me with visualising my story. I have done this a number of times now and am finding it so helpful. Want to read more about my novel, pop over to my blog, "A Novel Appears". You can also use the navigation bar under the heading at the top of the page.

Oh by the way, I have used two overlapping images of the wizard and blended them with the soft light mode to increase the contrast and bring him forward in the image. Also, just a little touch ... I added the grass at the magicians feet to place him within the scene.

The original photograph of the folly and the statues:-

See you next time.

Still playing with blend modes in Photoshop

2014-05-18T03:55:00.001-07:00

I seem to have started something for myself with the book I mentioned in a post back in March. When I take a digital photo now, the first thing I do before I use it, is to just see if a better image can be "developed" by using blend modes rather than simply individual tools like brightness and contrast and opacity levels.

The book I found in a charity shop, inspired me to start playing around with the blend modes but it is rather like a cookery book. The author himself actually calls the examples recipes, and gives settings to explain the results on the photos which he shows. Great for showing what you can do - not so great for explaining what you do to achieve a required effect. I started looking around on the internet using Google and lo and behold, as you might expect, there are lots of great tutorials. Some are just a little too technical with lots of maths, but bookmarking one or two is well worth while for reference. I would recommend

Photoshop blend modes explained to understand how they work

Photoshop’s Five Essential Blend Modes For Photo Editing, a brilliant article explaining how to use the blend modes to achieve a desired effect

Photoshop, using blend modes - a little more complicated usage but well explained.

I am sure that a quick search will bring up many more, of which, you may find your own favourites. There is a mixture of ( fairly complicated maths), what they are, what they do and how to use them in all of the articles and your own requirements will colour your choice. But for now, take a look at how I improved this simple macro-photograph of an amaryllis flower.

Quite a decent shot but I prefer a little more contast in my images, a personal choice. So I looked at the blend modes which serve to increase the contast. After switching through those half dozen modes, I decided to go with "OVERLAY" which gave me the results as follows:

I thought this bought out the scarlet of the petals whilst darkening the centre of the trumpet. If I was looking for a botanical image then the first is going to be best because more detail is seen in the shaded centre of the bloom. But this was to be purely for effect, so I went for it.

I also edited the shot to reduce the information in the background here. I selected the flower using the magic wand tool, setting a high tolerance and adding small areas by shift +clicking until the whole area was selected. I then inverted the selection and used image/adjustments/hue&saturation to give the effect which I was after.

But the flower then seemed to be floating rather then existing in the scene, a last touch was to copy the stem and paste into this image.

A small touch but it worked for me.

More Blend mode experiments in Photoshop

2014-05-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

I have a lot more images of flowers to show you but don't panic!

I have been playing around with blend modes again and will simply show you a photo and note which blend mmode was used. Just for fun really, I am not even going to show the originals but encourage you to try these experiments for yourself, if you have a photo-editor which allows it.

This amazingly shaped tulip just had to be photographed, the problem was that it was white and in strong sunlight. Little detail of the flower was seen in my original photo. I used the MULTIPLY blend mode to bring out detail in the centre of the flower.

More tulips, the centre of these blooms was a beatiful profusion of colours. To enhance these I used the LINEAR LIGHT blend mode.

The VIVID LIGHT blend mode was used to bring these yellow tulips forward and suppress the background earth.

And finally a little fun. The bright red peatals on this little group of blooms was given this strange appearance using the EXCLUSIVE blend mode.

Why not try experimenting yourself? Some of the effects are startling and beautiful.

More Spring Flowers - Shrubbery

2014-04-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

About 4 or 5 weeks ago at the beginning of March, I posted a few photos of some early flowers in my garden. I do it every year, its always the same flowers but I still take more photos - maybe one year I will get a definitive shot and be satisfied.

Now it is the turn of the flowering shrubs, the daffodils have come and gone and the tulips are looking sorry for themselved and the bluebells and their cousins the whitebells are coming to the end of their flowering season. But the forsythia, japanese quince and magnolia stellata have come into their own.

Beautiful red blooms on the japanese quince

the startling yellow flowers of the forsythia

(last years trimmed shoots look sorry though)

A corner near the bottom of my garden, the two shrubs

I have shown above, with the magnolia between them.

The magnolia is just coming into flower in this shot, and guess who forgot to go back and take a close-up of that bush. A little too late now as it is past its best. But the Eonymous (variegated leaves and later on white flowers), right at the bottom is coming along strongly. You can just see a remnant of my vegetable garden in this shot as well. I still have one rhubarb crown which feeds us without taking over the freezer these days.

I have started the work which needs to be done in the garden, yesterday I was painting the sheds. Last week I mowed the lawns and now they will need it everyweek. And I have been vainly trying to stop a bamboo from colonising my stream-bed - a never ending task. Ah well, We enjoy it, don't we?

Have You Discovered The Usefulness of Blend Modes On Photoshop?

2014-03-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

I guess most old hands on Photoshop will know all about Blend Modes. But I have used it for a couple of years and never really touched these useful tools. I would not class myself as an expert but I thought I could do most things I needed with other tools.

Today however I finally found a book which explains what they do and how to use them. I have been playing with these for a while since returning home and thought I would post a few of the results. I have yet to really get to know them but at least I have an idea of what they will do - or at least some of them. I will be working on getting a better understanding and maybe pass some of my learning on in this blog.

So lets take a simple photograph of Kennilworth Castle, it leaves a lot to be desired; quite flat and little contrast / colour even though the day was reasonably sunny.

Now after copying the background to provide a second layer (drag background to the new layer icon) select the blend mode for the new layer and choose overlay.

The result is a much more lively image.

Now this could be have been achieved by using the IMAGE/ADJUST/ ... menu and going through the brightness/contrast and maybe compensating for colour; but it will take much longer.

Now without giving any details, here are a few effects (I will give the blend mode of the copied layer. All were done in a similar manner. Again, there are many ways of achieving the same thing in PS; use whichever works for you but I know I have found these to be very useful.

Here I used vivid light mode, the shadows are rather deep but good for effect.

Exlusion mode was used here, although other edits were made to the image as well.

This was a combination of effects, so I am not going to name just one of them.

I have enjoyed playing with these effects, and as I said may post some other results of my plaaying around with them. Definitely adds another string to the photographers bow.

Oh, for the record, the book I am referring to is PHOTOSHOP Blending Modes Cookery Book by John Beardsworth published by ILEX Digital Studio. I have no affiliate connections with the author or publisher.

Visit To Whitlenge Gardens near Droitwich

2014-03-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

Another promising day - another garden visit, this time to Whitlenge Gardens. This garden is a show garden for a garden design company. We were a little disappointed with the weather as it's promise was not upheld; and after we had had some lunch in a wonderful tea-room the rain started coming down in buckets.

Not to be outdone however, we fetched our brollies from the car and paid for a look around, as it is still early in the year we knew there would not be too many plants and we could enjoy the architechtural features and water features. A few things had been added for the youngsters since our last visit.

There are many water features around the gardens, this Green Man feature shows just waht can be achieved in a small area.

This log bridge separates two areas of the garden. From water features, fountains and bubblers you arrive at Hobbiton, with a hobbit burrow in this bank - I do believe it was not real grass growing there however.

Another bubbling water feature which reflects one of the three labrynths near the back of the garden. One of these is a simple path with the path laid out with pebbles at the edges. Very simple and easy to do. In the centre of this labrynth were three standing stones as in the water feature. each stone was 3-4 feeet high. From the labrynths there was a splenin view across the adjacent countryside.

I want to include one other shot in this post, I edited a photo of a stone built folly and a statue from the hobbit area which I think was supposed to be Gandalf. I have used this as part of a collection which I am building for inspiration to write my first novel, a fantasy.

There were lots more photos, but maybe next time ...

Arrow Valley Country Park

2014-03-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is a country park near Redditch, UK. A place which is so interesting when they wanted to create a calendar, they used photos of the roundabouts in the town. (no affiliation)

But it does have some interesting places of interest if you look hard. The Arrow Valley country park is one of these. Last week, making use of the sun to enjoy a walk around the main lake, I took a few photos as we walked around. It is a pleasant walk mostly on tarmaced surfaces so it is easy and flat so that all ages can enjoy some pleasant exercise.

Here are one or two images from this collection:-

It was a lovely sunny day, seeing a few whispy clouds made me want to take this shot. No I don't know what the clouds are called, but tell me if you do.

The sailing club was inactive, waiting for the summer and better weather I expect.

There were lots of water fowl around but although I took lots of shots of the birds, I thought this one of the noticeboard was my favourite. There are spots for fishing all around the lake but this one spot has a deck built for the kiddies (of all ages) to get close up to the birds in safety.

Turning your back on the lake presents a number of shots of undergrowth and "country" subjects. I loved the small bridges over the streams running through the park.

See you again with some shots with "fantasy" subjects next time.

A Vist To Hanbury Hall

2014-03-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Taking an opportunity whilst the weather has suddenly turned to spring, I took my camera along on a trip to the National Trust property, Hanbury Hall.

There are plenty of shots of the grounds and property on the NT site (above) so I have chosen some more unlikely subjects.

OK, an apple orchard is pretty normal. But this was spring and there were lots of apples lying under many of the trees. As I walked through the orchard the smell of fermenting apples was just like being in a cider brewery - which I have also visited in the past. In fact it was Westons Cider Mill in Herefordshire.

Unfortnately, it looked as though the grounds at Hanbury Hall had suffered the loss of a large number of mature trees in the extreme weather that we have seen this year. This one had seen the chain saws and was waiting for disposal. not a pretty site but I found it interesting enough to take this shot.

At the side of the remains of the trunk, there was a pile of pieces which have been cut up and probably waiting to be used as firewood, The shadow is of course myself.

Hoping that the weather men are right about this great weather lasting for several weeks.

Springtime And The Garden Blooms ...

2014-03-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well almost, but with the excellent spring weather we are finally seeing there is some movement on the flowering front in my garden. Daffodils and primula are in evidence but many others especially the early flowering shrubs are in bud and willl be flowering very soon. A couple of early risers in my garden are The hellebore, commonly known as the christmas rose because it flowers so early...

I love this colour, and the pieris ...

such a delicate flower. Of course after these white flowers we shall see the wonderful red new leaf bracts forming which give the plant its nickname of the flamebush.

I am always in the garden with my camera and each year I follow the different plants through their flowering cycles, in fact I have written two Squidoo articles about this topic. You can find them:-

1. A virtual tour of my garden

2. Ten favourite red flowers for your garden

But Spring is a wonderful time for the gardener and photographer, although so I guess are the other seasons each has its own charm. Enjoy your garden.

Snow Wars - SLR digital photograph published

2014-03-12T03:33:00.000-07:00

Published, my son has just had one of his photographs published in the April copy of Digital SLR Magazine.

My son is really the photographer in the family, My interest is a passing one, related to my art/painting really but he is quite serious about it. This represents quite an accolade and is important for him. He did also get one of his photographs published in Our local newspaper The Solihull Times, This was a landscape taken at a local beauty spot.

The photograph in question was of a group of toy (Lego) Star Wars figures in a snow storm. The snow was actually flour, ordinary plain flour. Neat idea really!

This photo also got over 1000 views on Flickr, something I would give my back teeth for

Ladybird, ladybug

2014-03-05T03:40:00.001-08:00

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home

Your house is on fire

Your children are gone

Do you remember this verse from your childhood? We always used to quote it when we found a ladybird as kids, and tried to get it to open its Elytra (spotted case) and spread its wings. Mind you we didn't know what the case was called then.

Found this one in my kitchcen sink, after a sunny day yesterday

Shows up the poor macro feature on my camera at extreme close-up, or was it my hands shaking as I tried to keep it in the viewfinder. It would not keep still for me at all, LOL. Also spoiled by needing to use thte flash, again at close quarters is reflected from the shell.

The Floozie In The Jacuzzi

2014-03-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

Anybody living in Birmingham will know what this title represents.

Some years ago Victoria Square in the centre of Birmingham was redeveloped, A large water feature / fountain was included and a modern statue (included when the Square was redsigned in 1993) by Mistry. A monumental female figure representing the life force,, was positioned in the fountain. She became known as the floozie in the jacuzzi.

I passed this on my way to the new central library (see my last post) and couldn't resist that as my photo of the day.

I hope this is a suitably selected angle for the site. BTW the square was re-opened by Princess Diana after the rebuild.

On my way back to the railway station, I took this hurried shot of St Phillips Cathedral behind a tree.

As you can see the day was very bright at this time and the clouds had passed. C'est La Vie. I could have done with that weather on the library roof.

New Birmingham Library - Photos From Roof Garden

2014-02-26T03:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, it has taken me along time to get downtown and see this amazing new library in the centre of Birmingham; however I finally got there yesterday. Wow! The building itself is neat enough but the inside space is enough to m,ake me want to go back and spend a day browsing. I love books. They also have various features to make it worth spending a littlte time there. Poetry workshops - and others of course, cafe, shop and wonderful views either from the roof garden or from the top floor viewing room.

I am sharing here a couple of photos taken from the roof garden. The day was bright but windy and cloudy. Good enough for a few shots however. Just to be different, I have taken screen-shots from Google Earth showing the direction of the shots for those who are not too familiar with the rapidly changing skyline of the centre of Birmingham.

Not much in the way of sky here as The sun was almost in my face. The amazing thing is the reflection in the building.

Secondly a view across The Hall Of Memory (War Memorial), the domed structure and down Navigation Street. A little brighter this time as the sun (or what there was of it as it was starting to rain) was well to my RHS.

And the explanatory screen shot from Google Earth

Imperial breakfast - fun with lego figures

2014-02-25T04:19:00.000-08:00

I simply had to share this photo with you, using lego figures in strange situations my son is developing a series of photographs using a well known set of figures.

He called this photo, IMPERIAL BREAKFAST

see more of these on his Flikr photostream, he posts there under the name Kaibakorg.

It does offer a glimpse into how a creative mind with a decent camera can have a whole lot of fun with simple props. A litttle different from my landscape images!

The Green Man - Folk Tales

2014-02-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Not long ago we visited Abbey Gardens in Malmesbury, There were a number of ornaments which I found interesting and as I am not making a great deal of use of my camera in these rain soaked and wintry days I thought they would be worth posting.

They are of course images of the so-called green man, a forest spirit, etc. Read more about him and his legendary exploits on Wikipedia. I just found them very photogenic.

I also took a shot of this hooded monk at the same location:

Another character full of life, sitting in a quiet corner of the garden. In fact, I was so taken with the image of the quiet, brooding character that I used the image to bring to life for me one of the characters in my novel.

Yes as well as a painter, artist, photographer, songwriter and poet; I have now added novelist to my list of accomplishments. Or at least I hope to, it is my first attempt at writing a novel and I am in the process of designing the plot / characters / locations / etc. To get to know the characters and locations, I am writing descriptions and bio's for each of them. This sculpture is representing my hero's protaganist. I must admit that this new project is taking most of my attention at the moment, however I am sure that equilibrium will be reached as the weather improves and I can get out with my camera again.

I hope that doesn't infer that I am a fair weather photographer, but I do prefer the dry!

photo of the day - Los Hervideros

2014-02-17T16:10:00.001-08:00

Not been very active with thte camera in all the raain although we had some sun yesterday - quite a cracking day in fact but time escaped me.
I decided to revisit some images from last year and this shot at Los Hervideros in Lanzarote presented itself.

A rock formation formed when the last vvolcanic eruptions were happening. At this point the lava flows reached the sea. The waves rush in to one side of this columnar structure and out of the other side, there are series of caves in the lava formed as it cooled and has been further eroded.

Hope to have more recent photos for the next time.

A Daily Photograph - Have you been affected by the weather?

2014-02-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, the weather seems to be so crazy at the moment, here in the UK it is all about floods. Due to heavy and continued rainfall coupled with high winds. The wettest start to a year for over 250 years. One thing that is being seen is that public spirited people seem to be pitching in everywhere - as well as the army and the rescue sevices. Even our young royals are doing their bit it seems.

My daily photograph shows the wet canal towpath only yards from our front door - BUT - and it is a big but, the canal flows through a cutting with 30 - 60 foot high sides as it flows under the bridge on our road.

Also, the roads around us all slope away because we are on a high point. So thankfully it is unlikely that we shall be affected by the flooding. Except of course by the inevitable cost of increased home insurance and the sure and certain rise in the sost of food as farmers experience difficulties.

See more photographs on the BBC News web site, which do show how bad the flooding is nationaly.

And for an explanation of why it is so bad see this explanation of the ground water issue.

But back to my photo, although the canal can look cold and uninviting, I have written an article on Squidoo of the many ways in which the canal and the towpath can be enjoyed; although I must admit many of the activities do rely on the weather behaving itself.

More photographs in the next post.

A Daily Photograph - The walk to work

2014-02-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

Sounds exciting :)

A pathway between the town hospital and a school on a wet morning.

But I do walk to my place of gainful employment two days a week. This last week I had taken my reserve camera (a cheap and nasty Samsung compact), which I used before the one I have now. Not that it doesn't work too well or that is is really nasty, but I have graduated to a camera with a lot more options and a real optical zoom. OK, not really professional class but it works for me and I get on with it.

But I digress, this idea of a picture-a-day is not going to be as easy as I thought. When going on a day out, or taking shots of a memorable occasion, it is easy to take lots of shots and choose a selection of the best for posterity. In fact that is the way that most great art, whichever genre, is created. The poet or songwriter, the painter or photographer will all create far more than they keep for their portfolio. The not-so-good is thrown away, or at least put away at the back of a proverbiaal shelf.

This is not because they are not good enough, but the creation of every great piece of art is helped by lots of middle-of-the-road pieces. Even the most prolific artist makes a few "rasberries".

On one of the trees, I saw this pidgeon. The branches make a lovely abstract design

So, what do you do for this project. On an ordinary day, with nothing particular in mind how do you select a quick shot for your "one" for today. After all you can't (or at least I can't) find stunning subjects every time.

A recently erected incinerator chimney-stack, looking in the opposite direction

For the first few, which I posted elsewhere, I wrote about something that the photograph reminded me about. For example:-

A shot of the road outside my front door reminded me of traffic accidents which happened over the years we had lived here, including a fatal aaccident right outside our house.
A photo of the pub at the end of the road gave me a story about how pubs were changing into restaurants or grills to survive in todays world
A shot of a crocus with two flowering stems, which I had never seen before, gave me an excuse to write about this beautiful plant and its family.

But after only a short while I seem to be running dry. I can't believe that I can't find something to say about any photo, so I will be carrying on with the project for a while longer. In actual fact I seem to have found quite a lot to say on the subject of creativity if I think about it, set off by this batch of ordinary photos - so maybe there is hope yet.

By the way, have you read the article I wrote entitled, "Is all photography art?". In which I posed the question, "what makes a photograph a work of art?". What are your thoughts on this subject?

Daily photo - sunrise over my back garden

2014-02-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and as I got out of bed, caught a glimse of a fantastic sunrise . Knowing how quick and fleeting these can be, I rushed downstairs for my camera, straight back up and then opened the window (I can still feel the blast of cold air rushing into the centrally heated bedroom, and me in my jammmies) leaned out and took a set of photos. Did not stop to compose or set anything - just trusted to the auto settings and clicked again and again.

Later, at my PC, I downloaded the results and was pleasantly surprised. So todays photo is a sunrise over my back garden.

Later on in the day, the weather was brilliant. The sky turned into a wonderful clear blue ceiling with the sun, yes the sun heating up the air and a very slight breeze just about shook the tops of the tallest and spindly branches of the eucalyptus tree.

Amazing after all the rain and storms we have been experiencing lately. It is definitely a "lull before the storm". The forecast is for more of the wet and windy stuff for tomorrow and the rest of the week. But for today, I intend to make the most of the weather and will be going out with my camera this afternoon, so my fingers are crossed that the light stays with us and allows me to get a few decent shots of my excursion.

A TIP: I know many people will know this but I hope that I can pass on a few of the obvious tips which beginners often need to learn.

When taking a photo of this sort, decide what you are after in the shot and make sure the settings are relevant to this. Here for instance, the sky is the obvious focus. I said above that I used the automatic settings, but my camera will focus and adjust itself with a half click on the shutter button. Making this focusing action on the sky allows the camera to set for that area. I.e. it is the lightest part of the image and the exposure/contrast of the sky will be allowed for when the shutter is fully actioned.

If you wanted to bring out more detail in the dark area at the horizon, then you would need to make that first half-click with the cross-hairs on that area. So even though it is in automatic mode, I make sure the camera is doing what I want it to do. Of course if you prefer and have the camera for it you can make all the settings yourself. But I know that I and many others rely for many of their photographs on their camera. This is fine, as long as you realise that you still hold the key to a good photo.

And of course that then opens up the idea of composing the shot - maybe some future post ...