Winter Photographs 2014-2015

Created; 29-03-2015, Changed; 04-03-2020, 06-04-2020

Old this webpage; http://ww1.andrew-lohmann.me.uk/photographs/winter-photographs-2014-2015/

WiP

Winter features grey days, white sky’s rain and cold. These can spoil photographs but there are bright things colour in traffic lights, cars lights and red post boxes. You can frame a picture with overhanging trees for example to exclude white sky.

Christmas 2014 VegiVenture at Hawkwood, Stoud, Gloucestershire

A lovely building with enough common rooms for people to do different activities or sit in front of the fire. This is a very good venue for VegiVentures.

I walked in to Stroud there is a nice park at the edge of the town called Stratford Park. 

The statue is of George Holloway Industrialist and 19th century MP. More details at Stroud local history society - Old fashion social conscious Conservative reading the inscription. They do exist but it is not fashionable for any political party to be that and electable at the present time. 

T

his was a nice blue sky day. More on the surrounding area; http://www.cotswolds.info/places/stroud/

When the sky is blue with cloud that is a good time to take open scenery. 

The photos have been taken back lighted with flash (Slow Syncro setting on my IZUS Cannon camera) in order to illuminate the window frame.

Christmas day the tall chap is Edin he has been a business partner and friend of Nigel's for decades.

The lovely lounge with the log burner. The instructions were by the fire and you could start a fire with newspaper and logs without kindling. But you have to watch the temperature it can easily go above its working temperature. It was very noticeably more efferent than an open fire.

International Photographic Society - Pantiles Walk 29-03-2015 (First day of summertime)

Before meeting the group I sat in one of the teashops on the Pantiles with Coffee and Carrot cake. I thought I would take a few pictures to illustrate things, if asked. The camera is set to manual but many things are automatic the flash is set to slo-sync for back lighting the picture. That means that the foreground things are lit instead of dark and in silhouette.

The auto focus is set to distant. The disadvantage is that there is a reflection of the flash in the window. This is partly because my small camera's flash is very close to the lens. I have used bounced flash in other situations effectively with another camera I have also have a flash slave (my own work photo diode + Thyristor), flash meter (my own design analogue computer using an integrator with sample and hold) and a white umbrella that soften the flash effectively. 

Available light photography (no flash) - first is plus two stops to get the foreground reasonable well exposed. The second is normal automatic.

These last two pictures are taken with the focus set to centre of the picture. That did not help.

The Sky is white and that is why I took the first pictures in the tea shop so that the sky would be framed and reduced. The picture on the left is quite busy varied on the ground and the tree fills some of the white sky.

Adria and Tony really are talking to each other but they have posed for the photo because I asked them to do that for me. Available light has the light just right but the pictures are not sharp but that is fine I won't be enlarging them.

I think greys of this day has worked reasonably well. This view (Film Half a Sixpense) has been taken so many times it could become boring. I chose to take the same old view because I saw the orange street light which fills some white space. The wet paving stones are a feature.

The Forum (Theatre was once a Victorian Public Toilet) in the back ground I have chosen to make the cars coming up hill and the roundabout road and its furnishings be what it is about. Life is often Grey and routine. Point zoom and shoot. Many years ago I watched on TV, film producers framing with there hand so that they could see what the camera would get. I did that for a few years until it came naturally.

Union House - An example of building boxes architecture I hope that not all of it is demolished as it adds the variety. The trees and bunting in front do what I was doing with the white sky reduce the amount of it seen.

Framing to reduce white sky. I interrupted a conversation and asked Jacquie, Mark and Chris to wave at me then I asked them to relax.

More grey day featuring the subject of most people of Tunbridge Wells like to talk about cars, traffic and the weather. The answer is to then stay in doors?

The Forum again and Halls Book shop I selected this cannon camera because the colour and grey scales seem very accurate. Some cheaper camera's the colour can be too saturated. Google had made me a second version that had been automatically adjusted which was quite nice aged painting effect but I have deleted it.

The High Street; Snaking road line the bends out of sight to draw your eye into the picture, Ally ways, Cars with headlights.

Once again headlights and traffic is the feature but not things in the way, But Portrait or Landscape view - I prefer the second it is better any way because it has more activity and better framed?

Boring picture but Zoom brings everything closer together. The camera is slightly wide angle meaning things seem more distant. In both cases the perspective is not true. True is with a normal lens and in the case of 35mm film is 50mm focal length and then the perspective is the same as your eye. What I said earlier about thinking what the camera sees the first picture is what you may see the second may be what you are looking at. I am exaggerating to make the point.

Into Calverley Grounds (there are seriously expensive houses nearby) and down to the real point tea and cake for third the price on the pantiles and a chat.

We all went our separate ways - but look what we missed in the pub (Free Wifi, Good Beer just read the small print) The Bedford is a good CAMRA pub.

Next two pictures are; Mild Thai Curry in Kai's kitchen opposite Tunbridge Wells Rail station is always nicely presented best photographed without flash But with flash the other picture is sharp and correct instead of real and in context.

One's I took earlier then stitched together. Stick does not resolve getting all the things in the way out of the way. I shall have to try walking and taking picture rather than standing still? The picture has what I wanted but is quite disappointing - You can't have what you wish to see you can only have what is there. Conversely what is there is real and you can find at least as good as you imagined.

Here is an attempt to fill in some of the bottom of the picture with grey. It works but is in the sky as well. I don't have much interest in digital photo editing. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/InternationalPhotographySocietyLondon/

 The end of winter photography - The sun came in April

St. Mary’s, The Castle in the Rocks, Hastings, Easter Bank Holiday, April 2015. 

This is as good as it gets - the cars are there, not spoiling the picture that is as it is. 

I held the camera above my head even so to reduce the impact of the foreground and in that way the picture is like it is perceived.

 Camera is a Cannon IXUS 60

All the large pictures are very sharp but Google (host for this website) does not handle picture resizing to your screen well. Sometimes the pictures such as the one above of Hastings do not appear sharp.