Little mountains
Just a quick post today because I have to go to work soon and I don’t finish until 9pm. This is another shot from Granton Harbour. I think these shells look like mountains, and the stone around them looks like some of the glaciers you see in colder regions. It’s funny how nature can be so similar in a large and small scale.
Enjoy 
Monochrome flowers?
I would never have previously considered using black and white for a macro flower shot. However, in keeping with my current black and white fixation, I decided to give it a go with this picture because I really wanted to keep the focus on the shape and detail in the petals, rather than the colours. The flowers are cherry blossoms, of which there are lots where I live so I don’t think these ones will be missed from the tree next to my flat. I used two flowers in this shot because I liked the way it worked in my previous post centre of attention. I did do a couple of more shots with just one of the flowers, which I’ll post later on.
This shot was just converted to black and white in PS, no SilverEfex pro for a change! I used a sharpening layer mask to bring out the detail on the in-focus petals, and a reduce noise layer mask to get rid of pixel noise on the flatter blurred areas. I’m just getting into using layer masks and I’m finding them to be pretty useful tools, especially in fixing noise/sharpening and exposure problems.
When is a boat not a boat?
When it’ an office, of course! This is one of several boats that sits down Leith Shore in Edinburgh, one is a restaurant but all the others are offices, including this one. It must be very strange and also very nice to work on an office-boat, especially in this part of town. I definitely wouldn’t mind a job there, rather than in the call centre I work in!
Keeping it colourful
Here’s another picture from my adventure to Newhaven. I thought I had better post a colour pic, given my developing black and white addiction. Not much to say here other than the sky was actually like that, it looked amazing! This was taken from Newhaven Pier facing North West back along the River Forth, you can just barely make out the Forth Railway Bridge to the left on the horizon, next to the buildings. Hopefully I’m going to get some better shots of the bridges from here once I get my zoom lens through the post. Incidentally if your reading this Mr Postman (or woman)… hurry up!!!
Storm on the horizon
This is another HDR shot, taken at Leith Harbour next to the Ocean Terminal shopping complex and HMY Britannia. I was actually out to get some pictures of the sunset when I decided to stop and take a few shots of the pier, which I had never thought of taking pics of before. I ended up being there for around an hour. It looks like there’s a person at the end of the pier, but it’s a statue. There’s no explanation of the statue at the pier, however a quick search in Google revealed it’s part of an art project. More info here for anyone who wants to know.
I got lots of shots but this one turned out best. I think I’m just beginning to get get the hang of the effect that aperture etc has on focus and depth of field, it’ a nightmare trying to get the hang of it all. Do you ever feel like you know what your doing, then you read an article and all of a sudden you realise you know nothing again? That’s what it feels like for me every few days with photography, especially with landscape photography. But I suppose it’s a learning curve, and I’m getting there!
The Cafe Royal Noir
Some archituectural photography for you today. Well strictly speaking I was focusing more on the red lights, that’s what drew me to take a picture of this building in the first place. That and the building’s beautiful design.
This is The Cafe Royal on West Register Street in the city centre. I’ve never personally eaten or drank there but I hear it’s good. The building has been the Cafe Royal since 1863 and apparently the interior hasn’t changed much since. It has been a listed building since 1970. More info about the Cafe Royal here for anyone who’s interested.
Centre of attention
This picture was taken a few days ago in South Leith Parish Churchyard. We’ve been lucky enough to have some amazing weather the past few days so I’ve been out a lot. I thought the two flowers looked kinda like they were competing for the centre of attention, hence the name of the post.
I used single image HDR toning to bring out the detail, highlights and shadows in this shot. I also used spot healing in Photoshop to get rid of some bits of dirt and stuff that were on the yellow flower and adjusted slightly for vibrancy.
Three’s a crowd
Just a quick post today, because I have a report to do for uni and I’ve been sitting at it all day getting nowhere with it at all, bad times.
I only just noticed these two people on the hill, and I almost didn’t stop to take this picture but I’m glad I did. This is one of those pictures where I really didn’t have to do much post editing, just a bit of saturation to bring the colour out and that was it. So a quick picture for a quick post I suppose. Enjoy.
My favourite street
Yesterday I said I would post a picture of Victoria street (the West Bow as it’s also known) to show you why it was my favourite street in Edinburgh, so here it is. I love this street because of all the colourful shops that run along the lower half, and because it has the walkway running along the top of it with some amazing restaurants. The Restaurant along the far end of the walkway is Maxi’s, one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to, and also one of the most expensive, at least by student standards anyway!
This isn’t the best picture, I realise, but I thought it showed some of the best bits of this street. I sat for ages trying to get the timing right for the light trails, but it was windy and my camera only has a 10 second timer for using on the tripod, so every shot either had perfect light trails but was out of focus, or had broken light trails and was in focus, like this one.
Oh and apologies for all the urban pictures, I do try and keep a balance between different styles. I’ll be back with some sunsets and nature/macr0 stuff real soon!
Monuments and portals
I had been doing quite well with the ‘post a day 2011′ challenge up until this week, but it’s turned out to be more ‘post every other day 2011′. I’ve been really busy because I have an exam and projects to be handed in for uni in the next couple of weeks, so apologies for the lack of posts!
Anyway, this is Advocate’s Close just off the Royal Mile in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, with the Scott Monument in the background. The composition is a bit off but I was mainly focusing on getting the Scott monument and the light framed in the archway than the actual close itself. I was also in a bit of a rush because there was a man painting a drain right next to me, and since I was in his way he was looking at me with what can only be described as open hostility.
I edited this picture using Photoshop CS5 to get some more detail on the stonework, and to pull down the exposure so that you can make out the Scott Monument in the background. I also used Silver Efex Pro for the first time, quite impressed with the results so far, but I only touched on the program so I’ll need to sit down with it and properly use it at some point.
Our Dynamic Earth
This is a shot I took the other night while I was at Holyrood park. I was actually on my way home and I almost didn’t stop to take this shot because it was cold and I wanted to get back to the house, but I’m glad I did. I took a few similar shots but the light trails came out best in this one. The white building is Our Dynamic Earth, an exhibition about the history of the planet. I’ve never actually been to the exhibition, but I have worked at the bar in the conference centre part of the building, and it’s a really nice building inside. I think I’m going to go back and get some pictures around the building at night again, once the weather gets a bit warmer.
Weekly photo challenge: light
Here’s my entry for the weekly photo challenge, it was taken about a month ago on what I think must have been one of the first sunny days in a while. It was taken in Princes Street Gardens, like a lot of my pictures, the rock in the top right hand corner is the foundations of Edinburgh Castle. I decided not to include the castle in the shot for a couple of reasons, because there are a million pictures of Edinburgh Castle on the internet, nut mainly because I was really trying to capture the shadows on the grass. I’ve said it before but Princes Street Gardens is definitely one of my favourite places in Edinburgh, you just can’t beat having a park like that in the middle of the city.
Paying attention to detail isn’t as simple as black and white
I don’t know about you, but I’m a massive child when it comes to being down the beach, I can’t actually help myself from picking up every interesting looking piece of shell or stone. Me and my girlfriend where down Portobello beach last week and where the tide had stopped and started to recede there were loads of shells left of the sand in a line, so we collected a few, and now the side pockets of my bag smells (and feels) like the sea.
I waited until now to take some pictures of them because I had bought a (very) cheap macro lens from Ebay. I call it a macro lens but it’s essentially just a glorified magnifying glass that fits onto the front of my existing lens. Now I don’t know if this is a problem, or if this problem is as severe, with all macro lenses (cheap ones and the proper Canon/Sigma/Tamron etc ones) but I’m having real problems getting more than a very narrow area of focus, regardless of aperture setting. You can probably see in the pictures above that some of the shell is in focus but an area right next to it isn’t. It’s an effect that can look quite nice if used well, but I think I need more practice.
Anyway after messing around with it for a while I got these three shots which I’m quite happy with, especially some of the textures. All three were put through a minimal amount of single image HDR toning in Photoshop CS5 to bring out detail, shadows and highlights. After that I converted them all to black and white and then further adjusted the shadows and highlights and also the brightness and contrast in Photoshop.
Lighthouse
This is a shot I took a couple of nights ago at The Shore in Leith, Edinburgh. The old lighthouse sits on a a walkway at the end of The Shore where there are a lot of trendy (expensive) restaurants and pubs. The Shore is quite a nice part of Leith – in fact its probably the nicest part of Leith – despite being right next to the docks. I was going to go to the library, but got completely sidetracked and ended up roaming about taking pictures instead, it was a really nice night with beautiful colours in the sky, and it actually felt kind of warm for a change.
Crocus field
I took this picture yesterday in St Andrew’s Square in the city centre. Crocuses have been popping up all over the city so I’m taking it as a sign that spring is here, just the Daffodils and then it’s official. I can’t wait for summer, it feels like winter has been going on forever! Roll on the good weather.
Spring sunset over Edinburgh
This shot was taken today from Waverley Bridge in Edinburgh city centre, about half past 5. It was the first sunny day in a while so me and Vicky decided to go into town and I got lots of nice pictures. It was actually a little bit warm, first time I’ve been able to walk about in a t-shirt in ages! The trees are in Princes Street Gardens, and the silhouetted building on the left is Edinburgh Castle. I love the colours in this picture, the original wasn’t great but once I had tweaked it I managed to get the actual colours that were there at the time. This was meant for a competition but my camera recorded the wrong time and date for the shot, and for the comp it had to be taken between the 27th February and the 1st March, but never mind. Hope you like.
Withered butterfly bush
This is another picture taken at Napier’s Craiglockhart campus in the south west of Edinburgh. I think It’s a withered butterfly plant, but I’m no expert so if anyone knows better feel free to tell me! I love the background of this shot as much as the plant in the foreground, the blurred grass looks quite nice, I also managed to get a lot of detail on the plant itself so I’m quite happy with it.
Old row boat
This picture was taken yesterday where the Union Canal runs along Harris Park between Shandon and Polwarth In Edinburgh. It’s a nice part of Edinburgh where I’ve spent a lot of time, especially in the summer, and there’s always people walking their dog, playing football, jogging or rowing on the canal (even in the middle of winter!). I know this type of effect isn’t the most original but I think it looks quite nice for this picture.
Old staircase
I took this picture today at Merchants of Edinburgh Golf Course, at the back of Napier Uni’s Craiglockhart campus in the south west of the city. This isn’t far from the Pentland hills, which I was trying to get a shot of. I gave up though because it was too cloudy and hazy, and because my camera can’t handle the long distance landscape shots. I like the textures in this picture, I think it really works well in black and white. I couldn’t help but wonder about how many people had used these steps over the years, they were in pretty bad shape. Not far from the steps there is a plaque detailing how Siegfried Sassoon had played golf at this course while he was recovering at the old Craiglockhart Military Hospital (which now makes up half of the uni campus) after WW1. Apparently he wrote his famous Poem ‘Dreamers’ while he was staying at the hospital in 1917.
Flowering Ivy
This is technically a re-post, but I had to change my blog theme because of issues with the images and subsequently had to take down most of the pictures. It’s a nice shot so I decided I would put it up again. I really like the detail of the water droplets and the overall texture of the flower itself. I’m not 100% sure it’s a flowering Ivy, but that’s what Vicky seemed to think it was and Google seemed to think it was as well. Enjoy!
Bear
I’ve been trying lots of close up shots of objects and I thought Vicky’s bear would be a good subject because of the texture and the colours, the natural light in this picture makes it look quite nice as well I think. My camera isn’t great for this kind of shot, you can see some colour noise in the shadows, but I still like it, hope you do to!
South Leith Parish Church (#DPSWHITE)
I’m posting this picture for the Digital Photography School weekly photography challenge. The topic is white so I thought this was pretty appropriate for the competition. The picture was taken a few days before Christmas at the church yard over the back from my flat in Leith. It was taken on my phone so it’s surprisingly good quality considering (I did fix it up a bit in Photoshop though). I’m going to stop looking at it now because it’s making me feel cold….
Light trails
Accidentally got on the X25 after uni today instead of the 25, which goes to Meadowbank instead of Leith, and had to walk the extra mile or so back to the flat. I decided it would be a good opportunity to try to get some nice light trail shots and shot this one on Easter Road. I took a lot before I worked out the timing and settings for this, and even then I had to crop it, which I think makes it better anyway. The original looked really flat and lifeless, but I also got Photoshop CS5 today (wahey!) so after about half an our of tweaking I managed to bring out the luminescence and I’m really pleased with the results. I wish it was a little bit sharper but I think this is about the limit of my digital camera in low light conditions. And incase you were wondering the light trails are from a double decker bus. Enjoy, comments welcome as always!
Leith lampost
I took this picture the other day while out in Leith, Edinburgh. All I did was change the brightness and change it to black and white and I’m really happy with it. I’ve been trying to get that blurred background effect with my digital camera and think it worked out pretty well with this shot. I realise lampost seem like quite a boring subject but they always have graffiti or stickers on them and in a sense I think they serve as a sort of illigitimate social pin board and a bit of an insight into a citys subcultures.
