Imsticking's Leica D-Lux 4 Blog

I post it here and it sticks.
 

I Don't Want To Believe

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This is Alton Parish Church. I've never been in it, and probably never will, but I must say one thing: you don't get harassed for trespassing or that other crime, taking photographs in public *collective gasp*, while nosey'ing about. Two thumbs up. I found the title of this post hilarious, hence it's permanence. If you've ever watched the X Files, you should too.


I spent more time processing this image than I'd really care to admit. You have no idea how long it takes to remove the red from tree bark. You'll see some still remains towards the top of the right tree. My ladder simply wouldn't reach that far. Also this is actually an HDR image. It's also firework-free.

Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
March 8 2010
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Elliott In Later Life

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I took a car ride out to one of the woods around the area in which I live this afternoon. It's near an oil refinery, of all things. There should be a law against that. Oil refineries in the middle of a woodland area. But I digress. It was pretty miserable in terms of subject matter. I spent about 40 minutes walking around a rather open area with a lot of sparse trees covered in very think green moss.

None of that in this post however, because a gentleman in his (lets try and guess his age) mid fifties cycled up to the gate of the forest and greeted me with a very strong Devonshire accent. He asked me what I was taking photographs of. For a split second, I thought "Oh Jesus not again. Not another busy-body wanting to stop me from taking photos". What was I taking photos of? Well I had to stop myself from saying to him "well in about 20 seconds, I'm going to be taking a few photographs of you, so get on your bike and start peddling mate!". Luckily, after ensuring him that he wasn't going to be getting in my way if he continued on his, he set off into the distance and I was able to catch him in the act.

I'll name him Elliott after, well, you know who else rode a bike and was named Elliott, don't you?

 

Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
January 26 2010
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Cottage Road - Another "Scanned Postcard"

I'll take is as a form of flattery when a friend of mine asked me if I scanned a postcard to get the swan image I posted just before this image of a snow scene. I won't tell you what I said to her, because this is a family site.
So here is my latest postcard. There is a lovely little cottage behind me and to the left while taking this shot. I would love to get a shot of it, but it is on private property surrounded by a restrictively high fence.

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Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
January 8 2010
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About Swan Lake

Taken at Kings Pond, the kings of the pond now are clearly the swans. There are no artificial flavours in this image.

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Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
January 8 2010
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Self Portrait In Snow

This photo was taken at the summit of Mount Everest when I climbed it earlier in the year.*

I spent 2 hours taking photos in the snow this afternoon. This is almost the best shot of the day.* I'm not actually Canadian, if you're wondering. That backpack is almost 10 years old. I bought it in Ottawa and it's long since fallen into the 'socially unacceptable' category of personal belongings. The trainers are Merrell approach shoes (you're supposed to use them to reach places like the base of Mount Everest), and no, I have no idea why I'm telling you this. I may post images of actual snow soon. No promises.

*this is not true
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Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
January 7 2010
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Dead Airplanes in HDR

One more HDR image from some of the shots I took today out at Lasham Airfield. Taken with a Leica D-Lux 4.

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Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
January 5 2010
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Stairway to HDR Flight N0-WH3R3

I took a drive out to Lasham Airfield this morning. It's home to one of the largest gliding clubs in the world. It's only a 5 minute drive from where I live, and apart from catching anything from gliders and single engine planes to Boeing 737's taking off and landing, they have a small airplane graveyard. There are only a handful of planes and a helicopter on display, and they are in pretty bad condition, but I figured all that damage would look good in HDR.

I am beginning to think I should actually start reading up on creating HDR images. I really have very little idea as to what I'm doing, and I'm still only using the trial version of Photomatix, which limits you to tone compression and no detail enhancement whatsoever. At the very worst, I'm learning a lot about tone compression. I'm yet to post before and after image of the work I've done. I sometimes think it would kill the mystery. The image below gives you the impression I shot it at dusk, when in fact I shot it just before noon. Spooky huh?

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Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
January 5 2010
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Crowley Drive In HDR

My spirits were boosted today by the return of Loaded, which led to a spontaneous outing to photograph something and create a new HDR image. This time I thought I'd actually use a tripod. Yes, quite a novel idea when asking a camera to fire off 3 shots in quick succession. It was bitterly cold today, partly due to there being not a cloud in the sky, so I though I'd take a sky-related shot (or whatever it's called in photography world).

This is my first attempt at actively removing color from an image. I'm not going to say where. That would be like asking a lyricist to explain him or herself at the end of every song. I am really starting to love the process of creating these images. This image had a ridiculous amount of noise in it, and I'd almost given up trying to reduce it, and improve on the realism, when I suddenly decided to change tack and set about removing color saturation from the original in certain places to go for a totally different, but ultimately more realistic look.  

I think I got quite lucky with this shot, because after I'd set-up the tripod, only then did I realise there was a lamppost behind me! 

 
Lamp_trees_tonemapped

Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   photography  
January 4 2010
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Carnaby Street in HDR at Christmas

It isn't impossible to take a bad shot around Carnaby Street at Christmas time in London. I took many, but these three shots are my favorite from those I took on the day. I've used Photomatix to try and increase the vibrancy of the images without sacrificing or altering the natural light captured in the RAW images.

(download)

Filed under  //   HDR   Leica   London   photography  
December 27 2009
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My Big Trip To Egypt

I spent nearly a month in Egypt this year. These photos were taken on my second visit in September. The last photo taken at the poolside of the wonderful Maritem Jolie Ville Hotel that I stayed in at Sharm El Sheikh, on both occasions delivered one of the most relaxing and blissful experiences of my life. The night shot was taken out the window of a coach shuttling us to the plane at Cairo airport after a long day spent sight-seeing. 

(download)

Filed under  //   Egypt   HDR   Leica   photography   travel  
December 27 2009
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