Kissed By The Sun

A Sun Light Kiss / All Rights Reserved, originally uploaded by spotty photo.

Barmouth, Wales

Due to the very low cloud my intended spot for shooting the sunrise had been wiped out and the cafe we have breakie at being closed until 9am, we went for an explore.
I took a single track road just outside of Barmouth that lead up into the hills beyond. We followed the road until it turned into a mud track and decided it was best to stop. I got out and followed the public foot path up over a small hill and passed what was left of a sheep that had met a particularly grizzly end. As I walked over the crest of the hill this wonderful scene greeted me.
Unfortunately, alot of the detail in the cloud around the sun was lost when I converted it for the web but I still like it.

9 shot HDR (-4/+4) in photomatix and converted in CS5.

Thanks for looking!

" Arrr They Came From The Sea.......!"

"They Came From The Sea......." / All Rights Reserved, originally uploaded by spotty photo.

Barmouth Harbour, Wales

I saw this scene in the harbour and instantley thought "Arrr, they, they came from sea"! I could image the bouys dragging themselves up the beach some how with people screaming and running away, just like some 50's horror movie (sometimes, I think there is something wrong with me, would normal people think of something like that?!)!!

9 shot HDR tone mapped in photomatix (-4/+4) processed in CS5.

Thanks for looking

The Boat House In The Mountains...

Cregennan Lake, Cader Idris, Wales

The boring skies at the weekend lead to some location searching for future visits.
This lake sits at the foot of Cader Idris in Wales. It's really well known but it was my first time there. It was breathtaking, it was crystal clear with stunning views. I tend to get a bit carried away in places like this and shoot everything and anything!
The flat sky just didn't do it justice, I'm going to have to go back for a sunrise in a few months time.

4 image panorama with each image being made up of a 9 exposure (-4/+4) HDR file created in Photomatix and processed and stitched in Photoshop.


Thanks for looking!

When The Boat Comes In...

When The Boat Comes In / All Rights Reserved, originally uploaded by spotty photo.

Barmouth Harbour, Wales.

Flat skies, that's what greeted us this weekend. There's nothing worse than gray cloud with no definitionis there? Just before we left there was a break in the cloud and the sun came out. It only lasted a few minutes, just enough time for a couple of images!

This is the first one. I liked the blue colour in the boat and the yellow buoys.

9 exposure (-4/+4) image, tone mapped in Photomatix and processed in CS5.

Thanks for looking

Spotty!

Narnia Calling...

Narnia Calling... / All Rights Reserved, originally uploaded by spotty photo.

Dudley, West Midlands

I love going for a wonder to see what I can find. Having gotten lost in a local wood, I came across the beautiful place
The sun light was pooring through the trees making the frost glow and sparkle. The leaves had vanished off the track and had been replaced by grass. This gave it an even more fictional feeling, just like being in Narnia...

Its the middle ish' part of a 7 shot pano, with each image comprising of a 9 shot HDR (-4/+4) file.

Shot on a Nikon D300, Tripod, processed in Photomatix and CS5.

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed it!

Spotty

Rise of the Machines...!

Another image from the weekends photo walk. The building we where in had at some stage, been turned into a castings factory. The factory had shut and the machinery just left to rot for god knows how long. Great for us photographers though.
HDR reveals colours that just are not there when you view them with the naked eye.
I couldn't say what the yellow and green blobs are though. My first instinct was they where lens flare but I can't work out where they are coming from... Spooky!

9 image HDR +4 / -4 exposures, blended in photomatix, processed in CS5, tweaked in Topaz and sharpened in Niksoft Pro Sharpener 3.0...

The Lights Fantastic!

Mailbox, Birmingham

I've seen so much superb urban HDR lately, I really wanted to give it a try. I've never shot in a city centre and didn't really know what to expect. I hoped if I got there early enough, it would be reasonably quite and fairly devoid of people.
I got into Birmingham at 6am this morning (Saturday 12.02), there was hardly anybody about but I only managed the one image and this is it. I decided I needed a wider lens and somebody with me to keep an eye out while I was shooting (I'm clearly a coward!).
This underpass connects the entrance to the Mailbox with Navigation Street. I love the colours of the lights and the purple ambient light.

It's a 5 image pano comprising of 9 shot HDR images (+4/-4 exposures).

Check out my photostream @ www.flickr.com/photos/spottyphoto

I've Seen Better Days, I've Had Better Times

I went out on a photo walk with Stourbridge Photographic Society this weekend.It was pouring it with rain, really windy and generally not fit weather to be making photo's in. On the way home we stopped off at the old Lion Works.  It's in a right decaying state, such an important building as well in my opinion. The rubbish weather did add to the over run down ambiance of the place.