A Walk Round the Back of the Church

Another day of glorious Sunshine yesterday so I decided we would take a different route for our mid-day walk. I don't use the route round the back of the village church much at this time of year. A lot of the footpath is below field level and soon gets waterlogged, muddy and very slippery. Fortunately it wasn't too bad. The idea was to take another batch of monochrome photos but this time many of the results were disappointing. Walking in shade with bright light showing through leafless trees was too much contrast for the Nikon. Also shutter speeds in the gloom were really too slow for sharp results. Fortunately I also took a few colour snaps.

Looking back to the start of the footpath:


Penny looking forward to see where we were going. It was only the second time she had walked this way so everything was new, strange and very interesting:


Looking back across the end of the churchyard ....


.... and forward to the next part of the footpath:


Once we had reached the next lane we had a look to see if there were any horses in the meadow - yes, three. It may be sunny but they still need their winter coats on:




I am sure the one on the right is Angel. She was the mother of the foal, Fred, we watched a couple of years ago.  Photos and video of Fred can be seen HERE.


Looking back down the lane:


Finally we reached the main street and the lych gates at the entrance to the church:


With all the stops for me to take photos and for Penny to investigate it took nearly three quarters of an hour to cover a twenty minute walk but we were both enjoying the Winter Sun while it lasted.

Views From a Sunset Walk

Yesterday it looked like there was going to be a colourful Sunset so I used the dawn/dusk setting on the Nikon S9050. This emphasises the oranges and reds which can often be washed out or lost on a general colour setting. They are cropped and tweaked just a little.











The final one is my particular favourite.

The Camera Never Lies

So the saying goes. When I think about it the camera can only record what it sees though many modern cameras have various tricks built in to modify the result. Also there are some useful programs (on the PC as that is what I use) to improve or maybe I should say enhance the final result. Take this morning's effort as an example. I had taken a few shots to try out the Nikon S9050's assisted panorama shooting. As usual there was brilliant Sunshine before our walk and brilliant Sunshine afterwards but typically dull and overcast skies while I was taking the shots. More about panorama shots another day.

This is the first shot as taken with the Nikon - a straight forward colour shot:



As can be seen - thoroughly dull and uninspiring. Yesterday I had discovered a free program - VirtualPhotographer - which can run stand alone and as a Photoshop plug-in. (Should work in any program which can handle Photoshop plug-ins). Many of the things this program can do are available in Photoshop Elements but this way can be quicker. Unlike many plug-ins which give a small view of what they are doing VirtualPhotographer can be expanded to near full screen. One thing I do like is its ability to show a split view with the right hand half showing the original and the left hand showing the modifications in real time. This is it showing Polarize Grad with a pale blue chosen to give some colour to the sky:



The result:



Now I wanted to see what might be hidden in the sky and the shadows. For this I used the ReDynaMix plug-in as it can find subtle changes in contrast and enhance them. Somehow it picks out details you hardly noticed were there.

The final photo being:



The camera may not lie but I can't guarantee the same for this photographer.

More Monochrome

Again taken with the Nikon S9050 using the High Contrast Monochrome setting.


One side of the village cricket field is bordered with a line of Poplars.

As taken by the Nikon S9050 - cropped

The same crop processed with ReDynaMix in Photoshop Elements

 The cricket clubhouse in Winter

As taken by the Nikon S9050

As above processed using ReDynaMix in Photoshop Elements

Some tree bark patterns (unprocessed):

All were taken hand held with one hand. The other keeping a tight hold on Penny's lead. Unfortunately with her four years training for greyhound racing her chasing instinct would kick in if she spotted any small furry prey. Considering the grey, dull lighting conditions they came out much sharper than I expected - a tribute to the camera's image stabilizing abilities.

Penny's Family

More of a menagerie really. Glo suggested that there should be a family photo of Penny's collection of cuddly toys so here it is:



Left to right:
Sammy Squirrel
Freddy Fox
Pooh Bear with Mervyn the Meerkat
Both on top of Bella the Lamb (I chose Jan's suggestion in the end)
Last but not least, Henrietta the Christmas Hedgehog.

No hope of getting Penny in the group photo as I am not allowed to keep any of her family for very long. She will take them from me gently and put them where she wants them.

The only one she rarely takes any notice of is Pooh. He is the only one which doesn't make a sound and, being pretty solid, is much heavier. All she does is try to bite his nose off. The others are light enough for Penny to hurl up in the air. Quite often they just miss the light fitting.

What a Grey Day

Not really. It has been wall to wall sunshine and cloudless blue sky so far today. Practising more with the Nikon S9050 I decided to try out the Special Effect Mode called 'High Contrast Monochrome'. The camera also has the ability to make b/w copies of the colour photos but the test I made gave soft focus b/w. Must investigate that further.

The advantage of the High Contrast Monochrome mode is having a b/w view of what you are taking shown on the LCD. This gives an instant idea of what the result will look like. That I found very handy and helped in composing the picture, focus point and exposure point. Not that I am saying my results are marvellous - far from it but I like the possibilities. It was just a pity there was a lack of white cloud.

All these are exactly as taken by the Nikon with its highest resolution jpg (no RAW available). If the odd horizon or tree is tilted blame the hairy monster who seemed to delight in trying to turn me into a 21st Century Houdini by wrapping the lead round my legs if we stayed in one place for too long.

The variation of shading in the sky is not a fault in the camera - distant blue in the sky was much paler than that overhead.

My favourite of this batch

As an addendum - video can also be shot in monochrome.

Village Fireworks Welcome in 2013

Filmed with the Nikon S9050. Yes, it even has a firework setting. All that does is lock the focus on infinity so there is one thing less to worry about. Video is as filmed apart from cutting out some blank sessions between fireworks, hand held, shooting through the bedroom window.




Penny wasn't too happy and found a dark corner the get out of the way. Afterwards it took some persuading for her to come back in the lounge. She crept in very slowly, looking around to make sure there were no nasty whizz bangs hiding there waiting to get her.

I see that the Nikon will be on offer again on Amazon UK starting at 5.40 p.m. GMT - look for 'Today's Lightning Deals'. It has many good points. Its main failing is its poor results in low light. Also, unless you buy a different charger the one supplied will only charge the battery while it is in the camera.