Silver Doctor's photostream  

Will never find this tree again, it's down a narrow lane near Maidstone in Kent where there's a lousy GPS signal. Somewhere in the background is either the M2 or M20 motorway, yes we were that lost. I'm also not entirely sure I could ever repeat the image as I had the camera settings all wrong, white balance was cranked all the way up from some LE work done yesterday. The post processing, however, is rather simple, just an increase in contrast to accentuate the minimalism of the scene. We obviously found our way back, though it's interesting to reflect that only photographers would take the next available exit on the M2 while doing 70 mph after exclaiming simultaneously "Look! Sticks in fog!".

Many thanks to Andrew Gibson for featuring one of my images, Papaver Dissected, in an article on the square format on his blog - well worth reading for there are some great images.

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The sign pinned to a post on the road to the old car park asserted that they were "Helping communities adjust to coastal change". This apparently translates as "We're letting nature take its course and your house may well fall into the sea eventually".

A visit to Happisburgh in Norfolk the other weekend revealed just how much of the 50 year old sea defences have now been removed. Images I took previously are now no longer possible as the "debris" has been removed from the beach. Nature will indeed take its course and I'm rather glad I had the privilege to to capture some of the starkness of the futility of attempting to force it to do otherwise. 残りis the Japanese for remainder.

Nikon D300 with 18-200mm f.3.5-5.6, 2m@f/16, ISO 100

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I think we were supposed to be going shopping for some household stuff, but these were being sold off so I could not resist the opportunity to get one home and have a go at photographing it before the light finally fades. After a bit of a lull from photography over the past 6 months, still life work forces me back into thinking about some of the basics of black and white photography such as placing the emphasis on contrast, pattern and symmetry, which the slinky seems to have in abundance.

Point of Ayr lighthouse on the North Wales coast has been inactive since 1844. However, in 2010 it acquired a new keeper, in the shape of a 2m tall silvery figure standing on the lighthouses main gallery. Designed by artist Angela Smith, it's reminiscent of Anthony Gormley's work but in this case seemingly inspired by local stories of ghosts.

Can't quite give up on the long exposures, though acquiring this one was not without discomfort in a well below zero wind chill on Talacre beach. Making the decision to use a 2m exposure required a certain amount of commitment to stand and freeze a little longer! Boy did I wish it was easier to get the exposure right first time on some of these sort of shots.

Here's something I was unaware of: I always assumed that as I shoot exclusively in the NEF Raw format it was not essential to get the white balance spot on in-camera. I could always alter it at a later stage. Well, I found out it does matter, the histogram I use to assess the exposure is drawn from the embedded JPEG preview image, not the Raw file data itself. Therefore, shove a Big Stopper over the lens, with it's huge blue cast and you skew the histogram. Simples!

Nikon D300 with 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 28mm, 2m @ f/18, ISO 320
Lee Big Stopper & 0.9 GND, WB Auto
Post processing in Silver Efex Pro

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