Final Piece

The final piece is now complete for sending in.

The topic has remained the Fife defences, concentrating on those from WWI and WWII. These are coastal remains that fascinate me, as they are so rarely visited except by the local graffiti artists, and were so important in the defence of Britain.

I ended using a mix of monochrome and colour to show the feelings they evoked in me. Many were taken in poor weather, a few in bright sunshine. Most were taken using a Panasonic Lumix G1.The images were taken in RAW, processed via Lightroom 3, and the pages put together in Photoshop Elements 8. The font for all the pages except the title page is Ariel.

Title Page.

This shows the tank blocks that were made in their thousands and lined the coast. They are hardly visible today in most places, and many have been moved. Monochrome was used to emphasise the graphic nature of the cubes. The font is 'Day Poster Black', which was then outlined with a white stoke in Elements.

Page 1.

The castles along the seacoast make dramatic images, especially when seen on a stormy day. I choose to concentrate on the skies to show the often threatening nature of the weather in Scotland in winter. This was emphasised further in monochrome.

Page 2

The later defences are much less dramatic, and often much less visible. Here the lower image shows how the bunkers sits on the hill, and uses the hill as protection, unlike the castles which stand above the landscape. The colour detail image shows the overgrowth of ivy and closed over window.

Page 3.

The colour images here show the scale of the massive gun emplacements, and how desolate they are.

Page 4.

The use of colour shows how different the bunkers look in different seasons, but they are still overwhelmed by the new (relative to the age of the bunkers) tree growth.

Page 5.

This page uses a combination of detail (above) and landscape of the same building. The lower image is taken from where one would stand if operating the gun.

Page 6.

The graffiti, from inside the last bunker in the line, was taken with a slow speed rather than using flash, as the flash distorted the colours and made it look too 'new'. An alternative would have been to use flash and alter the colours in Lightroom.

Page 7.

The landscape image shows a line of blocks looking over the coast, here the alien nature of the blocks is emphasised by the grey against the blue, but in most cases the blocks are being slowly broken down by the elements and lichen.

Page 8.

Colour was chosen here to show the deserted, rust streaked, nature of the hangers. A similar image in monochrome also worked well but did not fit so well in the sequence when looking from the previous page (7) to this one.

Page 9.

Here the defences stand out from the landscape of the nature reserve, and are being slowly destroyed by nature.

Page 10.

I returned to monochrome for the final image to show my emotion when faced with the lack of care given to these monuments of war. This image also has the only human figure, a hardly visible person  sitting waiting in army dress.

The hardest part of this project was to cut down the number of image used from hundreds of possible ones. Initially I had several more on some of the pages, but the pages looked cluttered, and the additional images did not add anything to the story.  I also tried using all monochrome and all colour, but in the end decided a mixture told the story better and was more interesting to look at. I also tried a variety of fonts for the text, but they made reading it more difficult and proved an unnecessary complication.

Leave of Absence

After a period of about 6 months unavoidable pause in this piece of work I have now got back on track again. I haven't been totally stopped from learning as I have managed to visit several fascinating photographic exhibitions and art galleries, and also done some reading. The other thing I have managed is to increase my repertoire by taking some 'street photographs', and concentrating on monochrome.

How tall am I?

Just walking

Waiting

This is proving an interesting departure from my usual nature and plants theme, and one I clearly would benefit from extending.

Exercise–Focal Lengths

This exercise is to look at the effect of changing the focal length of the lens on the amount of view you can take in at one time. I went down to the coast for this, the weather was not as good as I would have liked and the light was very changeable.

                                         1. Taken with  the widest end of a zoom lens – 14mm (equivalent to 28mm).
                                                    2. Taken at 45mm  (longest end of original zoom lens).
                                       3. At 200mm – equivalent to 400mm, (longest end of a longer zoom lens).
                    4.  Also 200mm, taken from the same spot as the last photo but with a very slight change of angle.
                                           5. A slightly different angle of view using the 14mm (wide angle) zoom.

It is clear that one can markedly alter the amount of view seen by changing the focal length from an almost panoramic shot (if cropped) to what appears to be a close up. It is also interesting that with the longer focal length a very small shift in angle gives a completely different picture – while a similar shift in angle with the wide lens makes much less difference.

Lessons Learned:

1. Think carefully about what the picture is showing and (when possible) use an appropriate focal length.

2.  A combination of different focal lengths may tell the story better than just one.

3.  A telephoto lens may allow one to get pictures that are otherwise unobtainable. ( I would have had to be on a boat to get picture 4 without this lens).

For Fun

After much playing around with the jug pictures I came up with this monochrome which I like:


and these come from my unsuccessful attempts at changing aperture:


both were taken while walking along the path at the end of our street, a place much photographed at all seasons

Out and About

Yesterday I went out for the express purpose of taking pictures to fulfil one of the OCA exercises. The morning was beautiful, sunny with some puffy clouds. Unfortunately i could not get out until after lunch and the minute I did so the weather changed. The clouds became heavy, the wind got up and the rain started.  I managed an semi-successful attempt at the exercise but did mange some other pictures that I am  pleased with.

                                                                                                                 Winter Trees

I have photographed this line of tree in all seasons and all weathers. Here I felt the shadows were interesting and I like the contrast between the heavy tree bark on the left side and the open lacy branches to the right. The square crop made best use of the diagonal lines of the shadows.

                                                                    Abbot House  - Dunfermline

This is inside on old building that is now used as a café, shop and exhibition centre. There was a house on the site from the 15th century, and the present building partly dates from 1600, although it has been altered many times. Inside the walls are thick and whitewashed, with few straight lines.

                                                                   http://www.abbothouse.co.uk/




                               On the way home the sky lightened slightly showing these impressive banks of clouds.

Gateway to the Underworld

Gateway to the Underworld, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

This is some of the way I want to go. Monochrome feels right to me. This one is pushed to the limit, nothing subtle, in your face Goth style.Lots of detail and atmosphere.

Evening Light 2

Evening Light_edited-1, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

Black/white version - in some ways I like this better, although it does seem an odd thing to do to a sunset. I have now printed 2 copies - one on Oyster and 1 on Artist Classic, initially I thought I liked the pearlised effect - but on further consideration I prefer the painting effect of the artists paper.

Flower 3

Untitled-3_edited-1, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

Again put to B/W in LR3, high pass filter and some dodge and burn work. The original print has a whiter border and the stem doesn't show - which leaves the flower floating in space - OK but not what I was after. Reprinted after some work on the stem to bring up the contrast on full A3 - much more effective. Printed on Permajet Oyster.

Flowers 1

untitled-3624_edited-1, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

B/W in LR then sharpened with the high pass filter. This was very pretty as colour - but I think more stunning in monochrome. Printed out on Permajet Oyster and the slightly pearlised suyrface worked very well.

Experimentation

untitled-1100476, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

This was a rather dull photo taken in the snow in our local park, processed RAW in LR3 (which markedly improved the light) and then worked over via the fractalius plug-in. I then printed it at A3 on Permajet Oyster paper and framed it in a bluish wood-effect frame.

The post-processing enhances the snow and ice effectively, almost monochrome - but not quite.

Watching and waiting

back view_edited-1, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

Another portrait without a face. Backviews show people in the landscape without confusion and give the impression thta this is someone else's viewpoint. His feet are firmly planted and he looks away - a very typical shot. The clothes clearly identlfy him and link to his hobbies and interests

Almost monochrome - to enhance the look of the end of the snow, melting and reforming as ice.
RAW conversion in LR and a slight textuer overlay to enhance the gritty look.

Walking in Snow

Back views_edited-1, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

This is part of my photo diary that connects with the book 'Visual Poetry'. The plan is to take 5 photos that are representive of a person without showing a face. This appeals to me as it shows the effort used to walk in snow while it clearly reminds me of the person as it mimics his everyday stance.

RAW conversion in LR, monochome with a textured frame overlay on multiply blend

Winter Tree - Pittencrieff Park

untitled-1100430_edited-1, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

Taken today on a typical drear, dark Scottish winter day. Converted to b/w in LR