Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/04/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]So here's the funny thing, my wife's working and I'm not normally out alone, so on the way to pick up some medication from Tesco Pharmacy (British supermarket chain) I see the glassworks, feel the DLUX in my pocket and reckon I feel well enough to take some images. (the images are backwards in the portfolio and moving seems limited to between albums). Walking out of the Pharmacy and bearing in mind Daniel Ridings portfolio, I find this on the postbox advertising. Lucky Yes, but if I weren't looking... http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Philip+Clarke/18th_April_2009/L1010241.jpg.html This was taken with the camera above my head as it's quite high on the wall, note the focal length is not to the full extent either way, I found the image moved into position and then chose the focal length. It's gracious that nervous people are always welcome but good to have a safety net. I walk along to the Glassworks, it's not really suitable, because it is a rare and beautiful sunny day in the UK, Really I need a polarising filter in front of the lens to reduce the distractions in the windows, but it's passable, and I'm slapbang in front of the door to stop my reflection being there. I'm using a 24mm equivalent and pointing the camera dead centre to avoid perspective shift (some of the floor and flat windows above have been cropped) although not 100% successful as can be seen by the slight divergent parallel line to the top right. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Philip+Clarke/18th_April_2009/L1010243.jpg.html As I walk back along Pinner Green (you can do a google maps search), I shoot the advertising sign for window blinds on a wall without windows that I saw when walking to the glasworks. The camera is above my head this time to avoid divergent bricks. This is at the 60mm setting standing on someone's lawn and has been cropped slighty to reduce the to the sign and wall, any different composition leads to the guttering above the sign being shown. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Philip+Clarke/18th_April_2009/L1010245.jpg.html Walking back towards the pharmacy I now shoot another insolvent business, this one has a big sign by the bailiffs in the window but that's too obvious. The piled up letters is a better picture, I use the diagonals and the cameras on 4:3, I'm continually having to use program shift because the camera wants a wider aperture. The reason the opening times sign stands out so much is because of an internal shadow in the shop, that was intentional it doesn't show from the other side. I did consider cropping this but then it doesn't show the emptiness of the shop. You'll notice the word closed appears distinct, I've joined it to an envelope but used the shadow and blank space on the floor to make it more apparent. None of these pictures have been "printed" btw, they have been adjusted for contrast and color balance slightly and had some reduction in saturation levels. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Philip+Clarke/18th_April_2009/L1010246.jpg.html The next one is just outside the Tesco and my back would have been to it when I walked out. I like the irony. This "new way" to shop on a old sign with an advert for "nearly new" clothes beneath, on an old wall with the shadow of a barbed fence (thereby making it impossible to shop), is just my subtle sense of humour. The image was taken from a bush that I had to climb into. I have three different shots, one of just the signs, one taken from over the barbed wire after this one (I gained access through the car park) and this one. The exposure is correct but looks wrong because the wall isn't white, this has had some burning in to reduce the patchiness of the paint. The tree framing the top and the bush at the bottom are deliberate to keep the eye in the frame. Viewing the EXIF data, you'll note that I'm not going to the extremes of the telephoto end (nor the wide), any further right and the tree trunk bisects the sign, any further left and edge of the spiked fence goes, there are some divergent lines, I could have tried holding the camera up a little higher if my arms were working after this walk. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Philip+Clarke/18th_April_2009/L1010251.jpg.html I got myself home and thought bugger it, I haven't done a flower photo. And about 50 metres from the house is a cherry blossom tree. It rained last night and the blossoms on the ground are past their prime, shooting the tree would have a view of a road and quite probably an H12 bus. We already know it's blue skies and 1/250 at f5.6 ISO 80 so I find the blossoms in the shade, hoping that I'm going to get a slow enough speed to let the wind add some movement and I fail to get a slow enough speed it's got even brighter and is now 1/250 at f8 ISO 80 in the shade and I have to underexpose by a stop to keep the picture dark as it's an entirely shaded area and start shaking the camera and you can see from the frame numbers that something's gone wrong because I've skipped from 10251 to 10263 for the last picture, I am shaking the camera at the longest telephoto setting and I'm not getting enough blur and then I work out that I've left the Image stabilisation on and I'm only moving the camera in one plane. Lots of fiddling with the menu and it gets turned off and I get the shot I want. The picture gets colour balanced in photoshop and then flipped horizontally because upwards moving lines are move attractive. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Philip+Clarke/18th_April_2009/L1010263.jpg.html I have Chronic Pain Syndrome level 8 complication by Complex Referred Pain Syndrome, so I feel the pain from my legs in my left arm and my arm in my tongue, which is something you really don't want to have. I can't lift my elbows up now from that little jaunt and my left shoulder will dislocate inside the next 24 hours. I'll be partially paralysed for 3 days now which makes me pretty useless as a professional. That area is one that I have never walked along, I visit the pharmacy every month so that's ten times maximum. We (as in me and some other professionals) used to play a game when we were young when we met up off-assignment, about going to an unknown place and fulfilling a brief, it kept the competition between us fierce and kept us sharp. Could I go to a bar in Barcelona and practice what I preach. I believe so. George Lottermoser wrote: > May we see some examples of your waiting and moving, Philip? > > Regards, > George Lottermoser > george at imagist.com > http://www.imagist.com > http://www.imagist.com/blog > http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist > > On Apr 17, 2009, at 7:54 PM, Philip Clarke wrote: > >> All of these pictures could be improve by waiting or moving. > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information