Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Winter in the Countryside - or going mad with HDR

I did ponder the idea of popping up the Cambridge Guided Busway to see how it had fared after the thaw - but ran out of time for a long ride and ended up popping out at the end of the day. Although it is thawing it feels colder out and about - partly the wind and partly the damp air. In fact I almost could not be bothered to drag myself out- Partly because it was so gloomy it was not really photography weather and partly because I was warm indoors.


But I did pop out and as usual enjoyed a bit of fresh air and took some more experimental pictures for trying out the Photomatix HDR software, which I have not bought a license for. I stopped to take a picture of this obstruction of the pedestrian/cycle-path. I guess they have to park on the pavement - but given the damage it does to the pavement I wonder if that is factored into the equation. I assume that it cannot stop on the road and lean across.


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Given the gloomy skies and wintry weather I wanted to take pictures that reflected the scenery. Here is a place I have not taken pictures from, well recently. It is near White Fen but off down a track. I went down it because yesterday I saw a digger at work and just wanted to be nosey. I was not really very hopeful but when I got home and "processed" the seven exposures I am quite pleased. It captures what I saw well. The seven pictures were taken by hand-holding the camera but propping my elbow on the wooden bridge.




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The observant will notice that this scene focuses on the tracks in the field - leading off to the tree in the distance. I used the Wooden Bridge for this - but with the camera at maximum zoom it was hard to hold it still whilst the camera took the seven pictures.




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I think that I over-processed this picture a little bit. I wanted to capture the bright red tractor in the bleak field - but the colours just wanted to pop out.




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Just after taking the picture of the tractor I stopped to take this picture of a burnt-out Land Rover. It looks as if it was stolen and the torched - it wasn't there yesterday/ As I stopped I was passed by another tractor and trailer hauling a load of carrots from the field with the red tractor. He gave me a good stare - I guess you don't see many cyclists out in the gloom taking pictures of burnt out Land Rovers.




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I got home to find that my son, home from Uni, had been cooking more dishes from some of Jamie Oliver's excellent cook books. Sausage Cassoulet and Winter Mexican Salad - it looked good and tasted delicious - just the thing for a cold winter's day.

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