Month: April 2016

A really lovely day – 20 April 2016

Posted on by Zogman

comboToday was a lovely day from start to finish – unless you were a Rangers supporter because they were beaten 3 – 2 by Hibernian for some cup or league or other.  Personally, I couldn’t care less.

Stayed in in the morning waiting for the postman to bring my second camera strap.  This one destined for my E-PL5 or ‘5 as it’s now known.  While I was waiting, I put my boots on and went and cut the front grass.  It seemed a shame to just sit there on the step soaking up the rays when I could be doing some useful work and since Scamp had a muscle pain in her arm, the grass cutting would probably make it worse.  Postman arrived just as I was finishing and he did indeed have the strap.  A bit wider and more colourful than the previous black one.  I’m quite impressed with the quality of these straps.

After a quick bite to eat I rolled the bike out and went for a run.  The weather couldn’t have been better.  Almost no wind and a blue dome above me.  It’s a while since I’ve had a chance to wander over one of the wilderness walks and a bike is the only way to get there.  No parking places nearby, so a bit of exploration and some exercise too.  Didn’t do very many miles today, only about 6 miles all in, but hopefully I’ll get more done during the summer.  I meant to mention in yesterday’s blog that I saw my first swallows yesterday.  Three definite sightings.

As I was leaving, Scamp started painting an old orange box that will hopefully hold her sweet peas.  The orange box must be over 30 years old and came from my mum and dad’s house.  It’s wooden, probably beech and originated from Cyprus.  It might have been my brother Alex’s toy box at one time.  Notice the carefully mown lawn in the background!

While I was out I managed to get the shot of the spider hanging from its web.  I liked the translucency of the body with the light shining through it.

Before I went out I took the preparatory shots for the Weemen picture and finished it off tonight in Comic Life via Photoshop.  One more to go in the series.

Salsa tonight was easy as far as moves were concerned, but hard on the legs and feet.  Scamp says it’s because of the concrete floor.  I don’t know if that’s true, but it was sore on my wee feet.

May go in to Glasgow tomorrow if the weather holds.

Out for a Spin – 19 April 2016

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combo bGot up this morning and couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do.  Yes, it was sunny, but it was cold.  Yes, there was very little wind (good for cycling) but that wouldn’t make for interesting skies.  I was feeling quite down.  In an attempt to lift this “creeping malaise” to quote Floyd, Scamp suggested we go out for a light lunch.  So off we went.

I’d driven over the new Drumgrew bridge yesterday.  Now don’t look askance, this is quite a big deal.  The bridge has been closed for over 5 months now to allow it to be raised to accommodate the cabling for the electrification of the Glasgow – Edinburgh railway line.  The closure has been a real pain as the only other direct route from Cumbernauld to Kirkintilloch is a single track road with very few passing places.  So to return to today, we drove over the new Drumgrew bridge and out towards Kirkintilloch – nobody in their right mind actually wants to go to Kirkintilloch, which means that the upgrade of the Drumgrew bridge was a bit pointless really!  To cut a long story short, we drove to Drumgoyne and had lunch in a garden centre there at a table next to the window and in the sun.  My ennui was lifted.

Rather than drive back the same way we had come, I turned at the end of the road and we went back through Killearn then over the hills to Fintry.  It’s been ages since I’ve driven along that stretch of road and today was a good choice.  The light during the run was lovely with bright sun and fluffy clouds driving shadows over the hills.  Just what I wanted for another time lapse.
[Have you ever had one of those words or phrases that’s in your head, but just won’t come out your mouth, or in my case down to my fingers and out through the correct keys.  Time Lapse is my blind spot.  I know the technique.  I could, and often do, give anyone the MEGO effect (My Eyes Glaze Over) talking and enthusing about it, but ask me what it’s called and all I can say is “That time exposure thing, no, not exposure.  Delay, no, not delay either.  It’s that effect you see on the TV all the time.”  One day I’ll remember the phrase, but by that time I’ll have moved on to some other obscure effect, I’ll forget ITs name, and the whole thing will start again.  Aargh!]
The Time Lapse.

It wasn’t the most dramatic scenery.  We’re not talking Rannoch Moor here, just some low hills with interesting clouds casting shadows on them and best of all, a convenient parking place.  Unusual in itself in Scotland.  This time I set an interval of 5 second and 60 frames.  That would give me just over 4 seconds of video time for 3 minutes of filming / frame recording time.  This was a much better setup than yesterday.  Firstly because I was using a tripod today, but secondly and mainly because I could sit in the car instead of wandering around like a spare …  The video, once the Oly had created it, was good enough.  More leisurely than yesterday’s one.  That may have been due to the shorter interval or to the fact there was less wind than yesterday.  However, it worked and that’s the main thing – and the focus was correct this time!  You might notice that I collected a few cars on the road in my time lapse (see, I’m remembering it now) and also, towards the end was photobombed or should that be time-lapse-bombed by a bee!  Once I get the thing sorted out in my head and remember its name, everybody wants to get in on the act!  While I was packing up I noticed a goose sitting snoozing among the bracken over in the next field.  By the time I’d changed lenses it had woken up and was keeping an eye on me.  I grabbed a few shots and left it.  I imagine as it didn’t immediately fly off that it was either hung over from the Old Firm match on Sunday or it was sitting on eggs.  Either way, I didn’t want to annoy it and we drove away.

We stopped further down the road at the Crow Road car park (remember going there to do mountain climbing JIC and Hazy?).  Spent some time watching the shadows running across the valley rather than trying to record them.  That’s where the monochrome landscape came from.  Behind me some sheep were lunching on the thin grass over by the rocks and I thought they’d make an interesting shot or two.  That explains the shaggy sheep shot (be careful how you say that!).

Hoping for more sun, less ennui tomorrow.

The Time Lapse

Posted on by Zogman

comboToday we had an appointment with our financial advisor in Falkirk and it was an early meeting at 10am.  Not so early you may think, but working backwards from there it meant allowing 30 min to get there, making and devouring breakfast another 20 mins with essential lie-in, showering and shaving (for me!).  All in it would take about an hour and a half, so I set my alarm for 8.30.  Of course, we were awake long before that.  There’s a special little internal alarm that triggers as soon as you set the physical alarm and doesn’t allow you to go back to sleep after you wake two hours before the physical alarm.  So, we went to Falkirk and the news was good, so to celebrate we went to Tea Jenny’s for an early lunch.  The food and service were excellent as usual.  You really should visit this cafe the next time you’re in Falkirk.  I don’t really care if you are from New York or Tokyo, make the effort for heaven’s sake!

When we got home I considered wheeling the bike out and taking it for a run, but there was a cold north wind blowing and I decided to go for a drive and possibly a walk instead.  I’d seen the dodgy looking santa last week and wanted a photo of it.  Up close it looked even creepier, stuck in a hollow of an old tree.  After that I went down to Auchinstarry to try my luck at making a time lapse, like the bloke on Rannoch Moor.  When I got to my chosen place, the sky looked interesting and I found a hollow in an old tree to wedge the camera in.  I chose the 9mm lens on the Oly to get a decent wide sky and did a six minute timelapse of just 60 shots at 10 second intervals.  I calculated that this would give a 6 second film of clouds scudding across the skies.  You’ve seen these things on the TV.  Very arty.  Halfway through the exposure I noticed that I’d bumped the focus lever on the lens to the closest focus setting, about 20mm, so everything was going to be out of focus.  However, mastering the process was more important than the actual finished article this time and I was reasonably happy with the result.  Next time I’ll prepare more carefully, rain protect the camera and lens, use a sturdy tripod and take care not to nudge the focusing lever.

The bramble leaves shot was just a grab shot to make the most of the brilliant contre-jour lighting.  I like the colours you get in bramble leaves.

Hoping for that cycle run tomorrow if the weather is more forgiving.

Endorphins again

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Page_1-2- flickr--108A dull morning.  Cold and dull.

Afternoon was spent trying to ignore the ignorant Rangers supporters next door stamping and shouting their team on to an eventual win, while we watched the F1 cars whizzing around a hot track in China.  Neither of these sporting events really improved my mood.

Scamp wanted to go to the Sunday Social at Mercado in Glasgow.  I wasn’t totally over the moon about driving and parking in Glasgow city centre just after an Old Firm game.  We’d never been to Mercado, but had heard that the floor wasn’t great for dancing.  I thought I might just have enough time to go out and get today’s PoD, but just as I was going out, the rain came on.  Plan 2.  I’d left the ‘weemen’ setup and tripod in position in the spare room.  I took three of four shots of the same scene as before with differing focus points.  At least I’d have a potential PoD.

On the off chance that it would improve my mood, I drove in to Glasgow.  Tried to park in an NCP carpark just round from Mercado.  Luckily I didn’t have enough change to pay the exorbitant £6 for 2 hours.  Drove back round and parked on the street 100m away.  Parking free on a Sunday.  A bit further to walk, but a saving of £6.  NCP Normal Costly Parking.

Maybe it was the endorphins again, but after 2 hours of almost non-stop dancing, I walked out in a totally different mood.  Maybe it’s not anything so scientific, but there’s something in this salsa dancing that gives me sore feet, but lifts my spirits.  Watched a few ‘rubber men’ wandering around bemused with smiles on their faces and Rangers scarfs.  Maybe they were experiencing the effects of endorphins too.  Saw a few sad looking green and white dressed men too.  It’s a strange game this football.

The image  for this PoD is two shots.  One focused on the Queen and one on Shug and Tam.  I exported them from Lightroom as layers into Photoshop and painted a mask on Shug and Tam’s layer to allow the Queen to show through from the lower layer.  This gave the effect of sharp focus on the front pair and on the Queen at the rear of the stage while the ‘subjects’ were out of focus, a physical impossibility, but essential to the conversation.  The text was laid on using Comic Life V1 which, thankfully, I’d retained when I updated to V2.  Sometimes updates do more damage than good.  That’s why I’m still using Mountain Lion instead of the allegedly borked El Capitan on the Mac.  I’ll continue to use it until it isn’t practical anymore.

Hopefully a warmer day tomorrow.

Walking through the Toon – 16 April 2016

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We got the bus into Glasgow and went for a curry at Cafe India, where I’d gone to have my Indian cooking lesson back in February. The food wasn’t spectacular, but they were decent curries. Too much incense burning in the place and we both had the feeling that it was to cover up something. I don’t think we’ll be back.

Walked down to Glasgow Green via Parnie Street (Merchant City Cameras, but nothing inspired me). It was cold down The Green, but some Indian blokes were playing cricket. Cricket in Glasgow? Whatever next? Walked back through the town along Argyle Street taking in the sights. One bloke dancing and singing with his top off in a north wind that would cut the face off you. One bloke dressed as Superman, blowing hundreds of bubbles for the wee weans. One bloke dressed as a monster in Buchanan Street. Thankfully we missed The Bastard Drummers who were setting up when we walked down Bucky Street and having a rest when we walked back up. Sometimes we’re just lucky.

Bus home and that was our Saturday afternoon. I quite enjoyed our wee walk round the toon.

Dickheads, Dobbies and Dough – 15 April 2016

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comboToday was compressed into the afternoon.  We didn’t do much in the morning, but after lunch we went to the pool to test our theory that Friday afternoons are the best for swimming.

It would have been apart from a family of dickheads (isn’t it nice to be able to say what you feel without some censor redacting part of your prose).  The Dickhead family seemed to think that they owned the pool and freely ignored the signs that said ‘No Jumping’ and ‘No Diving’.  Still, the pool was big enough to accommodate us all, especially after I ‘accidentally’ swam right into Dickhead Junior when he stood right in front of me.  I could have avoided him, but why bother.  That’s what he expected me to do.  You must expect the unexpected.  I did smile and say “sorry”.  After that the Dickheads were no more trouble.

Went to Dobbies for a coffee and a browse round.  Scamp wanted compost and some more pots for hers and stuff.  We had our coffee and after discussion, decided that it was too wet to get the compost, better to wait for a dry day.  The pots were no use without the compost, so we crossed them off the list too.  Did get some seed potatoes and nasturtium seeds.  Plenty of time for compost since low temperatures are predicted for the weekend and I don’t think we’d be planting anything out in cold weather

Made some dough for pizzas for dinner and went for a walk to St Mo’s while the dough proved (rising process).  Got there and found I’d brought the wrong lens.  Not to worry, I’d just use what I had and change my subjects accordingly.  What I got were more shots of the leaves on 13th April which I now think are Dogwood leaves, thanks to The Beechgrove Garden. The other shots are of blackened rosehips and green shaving brushes from Larch trees.

After a miserable day with on and off rain, the sky cleared when I got back and blue sky moved in.  To be expected really as the forecast is for frost and ice overnight and a clear sky would pave the way for that.

Green Fingers – 14 April 2016

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CROWN- flickr--105Turned to my gardening side today and planted onions and peas, two rows of each. That and a coffee with Fred was my lot for today. Another uninspiring day that started well, then fell away.

Today’s photo kind of sums up the day, uninspired. I decided to use Comic Life to add some text to the Weemen picture. I’d forgotten just how awkward this app is to use. Clumsy isn’t the word for it, it’s just a nightmare. I got mine for free from work, but I see it’s on the App Store for £22.99. For £2.99 it might be worth the money, but it’s not worth any more than that. Version 1 was good, but version 2 became unwieldy and simply too much trouble for what it produces. I think it goes back in the box again and I’ll forget it for another year or so.

Brightest lights today were a phone call from Hazy, coffee with Fred and dinner from Sheila. Even today’s sudoku was a nightmare. Tomorrow will be better.

Just walking in the rain – 13 April 2016

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combo bIt’s been a bit of a mixed up day. It started off dry then it rained then it was dry for a while then it rained again. We had both decided to go to the gym in the morning. It turned out to be early afternoon, but who cares. Pool was busy when we got there, so we agreed to do a bit of gym work first. It looks like about 1pm is the optimum time for a swim. The “brown towels” (the spa folk) go for their lunch then and the pool empties. At least it did today.

After our lunch the sky cleared and the rain stopped and I went out to St Mo’s to get some photos, armed with both Olys in my new bag. I hardly got out the door when the rain started. However, I plodded on and got some shots of coots’ nests. I don’t remember ever seeing them before. Saw a deer, but it was off too quickly for me. There were lots of snails and slugs about, so that may be a sign that the worst of the frosts are past. Finally got some decent shots of bursting buds. Impressed with the sharpness from the Panasonic lens if I switch off the vibration control and rely on the in-camera anti-shake. Another lesson learned.

Queen for a Day – 12 April 2016

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P4120083- flickr--103A dismal day. Rain and more rain. Almost as if I’d predicted it yesterday, the cloud was low and milky white. Not dark grey, because that would have allowed some texture and I could have worked with that, just milky white and white clouds don’t hold a lot of rain, so that is why it drizzled all day.

I decided to use the flat lighting as illumination only and planned a table top photo. It was also a chance to introduce the minifig I got from Hazy to the rest of my “Weemen”. Although the Queen (or Mrs McQueen to give her her proper title) was the main subject, I thought it would be good to take the photo from behind her podium and leave Dennis to take the official photo from the press gallery. Just a little bit of nonsense for a dull day.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now – 11 April 2016

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combo bYesterday was a long day and a long drive, so today was just about relaxing and coming to terms with this urban environment again after the wide open spaces of Skye.

Didn’t do much this morning apart from my daily sudoku, but today’s game was an “Easy”, so not to much of a challenge.

While the “Gems” were practising I went for a walk along the Luggie, but under a milky sky, everything was dull.  I did find a new piece of graffiti under the road bridge.  Good bright colours, but poor shading and highlights which left it pretty 2D looking.  It looks like one critic has already tried to burn it off.  Difficult on a concrete wall, but that’s the Cumbernauld mentality for you.  Totally brainless.  The other shot was a couple of daffodils that looked like they were talking to each other.  Unfortunately, under the flat lighting, there was very little modelling.

I hadn’t realised until recently just how much the clouds and sky contribute to landscapes whether they are paintings or photographs.  The Indian bloke with the umbrella from a couple of days ago needed a plain, textureless sky to focus attention on the main subject, the man.  Contrast that with yesterday’s monochrome landscape.  A flat toned sky would have dragged that image down.  The wild sky in it – it wasn’t faked by the way – was in harmony with the wild land underneath it.  These are the extremes and there are degrees of cloud detail within those extremes and the sky must be in sympathy with the land and the subject.  Sometimes the land is simply a backdrop and then the sky too should be a supporting player, but if the landscape is the subject then the sky should play a more leading role.  After all is said and done, it’s the light from the sky that creates the modelling on the land.  Maybe I should think more about the effects of the sky light on the subject and if the light isn’t good or is too flat, I should re-assess my subject.

After all somebody said that it’s all about the light.