One Picture, One Day

Closed Door

amaczero — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:00:14 +0000

I have been at this blog for about eight months now and bar a day here of there missed while I have been travelling I have pretty much managed a picture a day. Rather reluctantly, but definitely, I have decided that I need to draw this to an end for now. It has been very demanding in terms of my very limited time and I feel I just can’t keep this up. I am extremely grateful for everybody who has helped me by commenting on my images – some good, some not so good – that I have posted.

To finish with here is a detail from the Catalan village of Peratellada, which we walked through yesterday. While very photogenic, the crowded streets make it very difficult to take a picture of the whole. Inevitably you are forced into concentrating on details. This village seemed to have a thing for the colour blue: blue plant pots, blue window frames and blue doors. I liked this old door, not only for the faded colour, but also the texture of the paint, the wood and the surrounding stone. It is very typical of the doors in these Catalan villages.

This was a shot developed from Raw in RPP (using a Kodachrome 64 preset, for nostalgia’s sake) and imported into Aperture 3 for finishing off. This was limited to adding a little Definition, a slight s-curve and a vignette.

So, that’s it for now. Thank you to everybody (especially Steve), who have helped along the way.

Colours

amaczero — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:30:26 +0000

Pals is a very attractive Catalan hill town that has preserved most of its architecture at the expense of giving itself over to the tourist trade – a sad but understandable bargain. There are lots os shops and boutiques vying for the visitors’ attention selling artisanal food (excellent, but pricey) and crafts through to more normal souvenirs. This collection of enamels caught my attention at the entrance to one such shop. Clearly it was the shapes and colours which were striking.

Punch preset applied in Aperture and cropped hard for composition, it had further contrast added by deepening the preset’s s-curve, and adding more Definition.

Sunday Lunch

amaczero — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:48:19 +0000

Walking into a village in Catalonia around lunch time in summer sometimes seems like re-enacting a Clint Eastwood film: the streets are completely empty …

The attractive Catalonian village of Monells has a thirteenth century square which these days is set out for that attractive southern European habit of having family Sunday lunches. Not being stupid, the tables are all set out in the shade or under the arcades. This is a great way to spend a leisurely couple of hours, watching people as they parade past.

The square is very pretty, but the harsh sunlight really made it difficult to cope with both the highlights and the shadows. After trying pseudo HDR (blending under and over exposed versions of the same frame), I opted for development from Raw using the excellent RPP programme. Here are views from either end of the square:

What a difference the direction of the sun makes!

Both images were developed from raw in RPP and required considerable care in bringing out the shadows while recovering the highlights. Brought into Aperture, both images had considerable Definition added, to bring out the detail in the stonework, and contrast raised through a s-curve.

Dolmens

amaczero — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:13:29 +0000

Deep in the cork oak forests of Catalonia we ran across a series of Neolithic grave stones. Dolmens are found across Europe and their characteristic ‘pi’ shape belie the fact that once they would have been covered with earth to form barrows. The chamber below would have been a grave. These stones are almost 5,000 years old. It was near midday with harsh shadows and the best way to deal with this was through a HDR exposure. This has been taken from 5 images and really enabled the shadows to be opened out.. The foliage is slightly blurred by the wind, but I prefer to see this as a commentary on the permanence of the stones.

And in B&W:

After the tweaking in Photomatix, the main additional editing in Aperture was confined to adding s-curves, Definition and a little extra contrast.

Catch of the Day

amaczero — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:31:52 +0000

After a long day (started at 2.30 a.m. when some clown set off the fire alarm in our hotel) we have travelled by plane, train and automobile (in that order) from London to the Catalan coast for a walking holiday. After a such a day there was little energy left to do more than find something to eat. Being on the coast means fresh fish in abundance. Once you have fresh sardines grilled over charcoal with olive oil and garlic the tinned variety seem a pretty poor alternative.

Very little was done to this shot. The WB was corrected and a little Recovery for the reflected highlights on the fish scales were the principal corrections. Contrast was boosted through moving the Black Point, adding a slight s-curve and giving Definition a real boost to bring out the texture.

They really did taste delicious!

Summer’s End

amaczero — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:18:12 +0000

The end of summer is in sight – at least so far as the weather is concerned, it seem s more like autumn than summer. The flowers seem to think so as well. These Shasta Daisies are reminders of how ephemeral all life is. I find these fading flowers rather moving.

Both these shots were developed in RPP and finished in Aperture. A little Recovery was needed and the Black Point were moved right. A s-curve added contrast and Definition brought up the detail.

Mission Church

amaczero — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:08:19 +0000

Back to Blist’s Hill Victorian Town. This is the 19th century Mission Church in the township – a far cry from the traditional stone-built churches that are associated with the UK. This was more a large hut made from ‘wriggly tin’. Indeed to me it looks as though it could have come from somewhere on the 19th century US frontier just as easily.

This required a long exposure with the camera held right up against the bars on the door (the church wasn’t open). It also needed a lot of Shadows Recovery, combined with Recovery and Highlights sliders being used to bring Back the details blown out by the light from the windows. Additional contrast was brushed in selectively and I applied the Pro Contrast effect from ColorEfex Pro, which put back some of the contrast I had lost in recovery shadow details. The effect might be considered a little like a painting, but is pretty close to what it actually looked like.

Ironbridge

amaczero — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:32:05 +0000

The world’s first iron bridge was constructed in … Ironbridge! Although now a pleasantly rural area in a deep valley with the River Severn running through it, it was a hive of industry and the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century, thanks in part to the raw materials of the area.

Since the sky was cloudy but bright and guaranteed to blow out a camera sensor which was exposing for the bridge and the gorge, I thought that I would try out a HDR composition, using a little-used tool in my toolbox – Photomatix. This image was created from 5 single images with varying exposures.

I tried for as neutral an interpretation as possible in Photomatix. Following import into Aperture, the image was given a slight increaet in Vibrancy, a boost to overall Definition, but with extra brushed in for the bridge pier, a slight s-curve to boost overall contrast, balanced by slight shadows recovery for the shadows in the bridge.

Forge Welding

amaczero — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:34:37 +0000

Another from Blist’s Hill Victorian Town – a live demonstration of forge welding. I thought that flash might be distracting for the smith and with fire and hot metal around I didn’t want to chance it; so, this is an available light shot.

The dynamic range of this shot was considerable and I needed to recover a lot of highlight detail using Aperture’s extended curves function and full Recovery. Hefty Definition was applied to partly mitigate for the shallow depth of field of the wide open aperture. A slight s-curve added some contrast.

Inside the Victorian Pharmacy

amaczero — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:22:54 +0000

My wife went down to the quilting show in the NEC; so, I took the opportunity to visit Blists Hill Victorian Town, the site of the BBC’s ‘Victorian Pharmacy’. Fascinating, and the pharmacy looked just as it did on the television, although without the interesting experiments in manufacturing gunpowder and fireworks, or drilling teeth, that seem to have been lucrative sideshows for pharmacists of the day.

This is what the interior of the shop actually looks like:

But then I thought, what would a more period look look like? This version is lightly split toned sepia/blue:

The jars make the colour version stronger, but the toned black and white version has its own appeal.

These were converted in RPP and the colour version had no other adjustments other than correcting for lens distortion and adding a vignette. The black and white version was converted using a yellow filter and the with a light sepia/blue split toning effect.