Elemental (Mill Stream & Fire), Loose Valley

Elemental (Mill Stream & Fire), Loose Valley, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Something of a post-Christmas experiment; running burning wrapping paper through a mill stream tunnel in a foil wrapped Christmas pudding tub. Just one tub, with me shuttle running it, reloading with paper and relighting for each run. The 1112 second exposure (f/8.0 ¦ ISO 250) allowed for numerous runs, though only four or five made it down the rapids without toppling and quelling themselves.

The experiment was enabled in no small part by my new Christmas wellingtons. A good hour or two in the water constantly and no leaks or chills.

By way of putting ecological minds at rest, I spent about thirty minutes clearing the stream of debris before setting up in the middle of the stream. I also built a small damn of branches to ensure none of the paper or the pudding bowl escaped. Running back and forth in utter darkness to collect the bowl, knowing I was within feet of an invisible camera on tripod surrounding by cold water and stone was somewhat tense.

The green areas were in darkness and so I painted them with LED torchlight for around thirty seconds at the start of the shot.

Hope everyone is enjoying an exciting run up to New Year - whether that is only a day or some weeks away for you. Have a good one!

See Elemental (Mill Stream & Fire), Loose Valley on Flickr for additional notes.

Skeleton Coast, Rye Harbour

Skeleton Coast, Rye Harbour, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Foggy late afternoon at Rye Harbour. This is 444 second exposure (f/8.0 ¦ ISO 200) through a 9 stop ND filter. In response to enquiry in the comments, I use the "Lightcraftworkshop LCW ND500 MC filter 77mm" which works well. It does give images a bluish cast, which I correct in LR3, but was screw in - my main consideration to keep my kit bag light.

Probably best viewed on black - which brings out enough detail to see the soft grain in the wood of the posts. The large mass on the righthand vertical third is a tangled collection of discarded ropes and fishing nets. It's my second posted shot with the 9 stop filter. So far I'm pretty happy with it, though am yet to get a result that works in colour.

Hope everyone had an epic Christmas and is looking forward to a great New Year.

See Skeleton Coast, Rye Harbour on Flickr for extra notes.

Backlight (Winter Brambles), Hoohill

Backlight (Winter Brambles), Hoohill, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Hope everyone is well after a splendid Christmas and enjoying the run up to New Year!

Quick shot from Christmas day, as I start to learn my way around the new machine. Composition is a little wayward, but the colour demanded something quick. This light lasted less than a minute.

Catching up now!

See Backlight (Winter Brambles), Hoohill on Flickr.

Beware Of Dog (Leeds Castle Door Detail), Kent

Beware Of Dog (Leeds Castle Door Detail), Kent, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Quick shot from last week's bleak visit to Leeds Castle. Hope everyone is having a superb week.

See Beware Of Dog (Leeds Castle Door Detail), Kent on Flickr.

Pipedream #1 without lighting

For Whom The Bell Tolls (The Burghers of Calais), France

For Whom The Bell Tolls (The Burghers of Calais), France, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Close-up of one of Rodin's first cast Burghers of Calais, taken in front of Hotel de Ville in the town itself where they stand.

Full information about the sculpture and the grimly intriguing events they commemorate can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burghers_of_Calais.

See For Whom The Bell Tolls (The Burghers of Calais), France on Flickr.

Priced Out Of Lingerie, Milan

Priced Out Of Lingerie, Milan, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Female version of my compulsory fashion pictures from Milan. The chap's version is www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/49946703.

Lightroom 3 was used for the switch to black and white, and Photoshop may have been employed to make a thematic enhancement to the price tags. As you might expect, this one looks classiest on black background. If I were trying to justify the luxurious price, that is certainly how I'd pitch it.

See Priced Out Of Lingerie, Milan on Flickr.

Dying Of The Light (Rossall Beach), Blackpool

Dying Of The Light (Rossall Beach), Blackpool, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Firstly, apologies that the last few days have seen me away from Flickr and thus unable to catch up with those kind enough to leave comments on my last posting. I'm afraid this posting is made by convulouted juggling of memory stick and the lack of meaningful internet access is to continue another few days yet.

This posting is a farewell to my trusty old EOS 300D. After some six years of hard and unerring service, he is tomorrow being put to pasture. I still have a few more shots to post taken on it, so the 300D will still appear in the EXIF now and again. My crop sensor 18-200mm Sigma will now be partnered with the 300D permanently and they'll come along to offer a broad range of focal lengths to minimise lost opportunities whilst my new kit is toting narrower focal length lenses. As for the new kit, imsha'Allah we shall survive the night, and I will then be the proud owner of a (second hand) 5D MKii.

Though I have only a few brief moments now, I very much look forward to a proper catch up once I'm back at home after Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their families and a super couple of days' celebration.

See Dying Of The Light (Rossall Beach), Blackpool on Flickr.

White Out (Leeds Castle), Kent

White Out (Leeds Castle), Kent, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Snow, freezing fog and huddled forms at Leeds Castle today. Not the classic view, but one I like nonetheless! Nice on black.

Hope everyone is very well and having a great countdown to Christmas.

See White Out (Leeds Castle), Kent on Flickr.

Robin With Snow & Ivy, Rickmansworth

Robin With Snow & Ivy, Rickmansworth, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

A shot of opportunity from a day out battling the snow yesterday. I was trying to do daytime light painting using a 9 stop ND filter, with the camera cloaked from the snow under a half kilo of elastic bands and plastic bags. Not the happiest human being due to the constant harassment of snow and with the experiment failing, I looked up to see this chap watching from just 2-3m off.

I probably looked pretty comic attempting to extract the camera from its bags, off the tripod, remove the 9 stop ND filter, get out of bulb mode, etc. without frightening him off. Still, he was a bold beast and remained through the whole wretched juggling act. This one is a close crop against ivy. There are some nice snow ones to come too.

Hope everyone's preparations for the coming week are going well, or, if you aren't celebrating Christmas, that you are surviving the media/Flickr blitz of attention it gets!

The feathers look nice in large!

See Robin With Snow & Ivy, Rickmansworth on Flickr.

Ice Age (Woolly Mammoth Light Painting), Hertfordshire

Ice Age (Woolly Mammoth Light Painting), Hertfordshire, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Mammoth sighting in Rickmansworth following this weekend's drifting snow.

As always, the painting is done in camera using torch/flashlight. In this case, the mammoth and the sun are both created in this way.

It's a night shot, so the sky started bright orange from the sodium street lighting outside of the nature reserve and the "sun" turquoise from the Cree LED torch. The quality of the end shot is a little compromised by quite a bit of processing to transform that into the day time sky you see here, achieved in Photoshop using the hue slider and then layers to blend into the treeline. I also used the recovery slider in Lightroom 3 to achieve a better contrast between the mammoth and the snow.

There's a couple of errors in this one - the flare where the mammoth's ear meets its body, and my presence in the scene (also around its ear). Whilst I did gently tone these effects down, too strident a correction was unappealing. All in all, I don't think either detracts too much from the overall impact.

Hope everyone likes it and is having a superb week in the run up to Christmas. For those celebrating it, I hope you have a superb few days and a great New Year thereafter.

See Ice Age (Woolly Mammoth Light Painting), Hertfordshire on Flickr.

Love At First Light (Light Painting), Kent

Love At First Light (Light Painting), Kent, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Update: Featured on today's Flickr Blog - thank you!

First attempt at light painting having invested £19 in a remote shutter release. I took five or six attempts to get the man worked out, using a basic flashlight/torch, dressed in navy and thoroughly hooded. This was my first attempt at the couple and the hearts. I'm delighted with it! Lots more long exposure work to come.

It was taken around 2:00am last night in Loose valley just above the village. The scene is lit across the grass with light from a bright moon, with fluorescent light from Maidstone on the horizon, which is tweaked only with the camera's WB. I cropped slightly in from the left as a third heart had strayed half off frame, and gave a minor boost to vibrancy and blacks. Lightroom 3 did a great job with noise reduction - a fair number of random (single) bright green/red/blue pixels from the long exposure were pruned without hassle.

Details: 229 seconds ¦ f/8.0 ¦ ISO 100.

Thanks for viewing! To see my second light painting of reindeer please see Light Harted.

Update: Explored #14 and front page! Many thanks to everyone who has commented, fav'ed and viewed. I massively appreciate the attention and insights offered, and will be working through everyone individually as soon as I have a chance. Thanks to all!

SOOC Version of Sodium On Ice, Rickmansworth

Some Corner Of A Field (Black and White Light Painting)

Some Corner Of A Field (Black and White Light Painting), originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

One take light painting, pretty much SOOC - just a slight GND effect added to the sky in LR3 and obviously a conversion to B&W. The original colour version is in the comments. The colour isn't at all bad, though I though the grass was a little uninspiring. The black and white felt better suited to the subject matter too.

Just upfront I'd add a note to the effect that in so far as this is a memorial to the victims of conflict, the crosses for the graves are simply there as the image that was in my mind and a shape that would easily repeat into the distance. It's not meant to be religious at all, just a quickly understood icon for a western audience, I suppose.

On the technical side it's a 414 second exposure - enough time to make all 24 crosses, the saluting soldier and the distant flare. As regards the flare, I'm glad it worked - just a result of aiming the torch (aka flashlight) at the lens from 200m distance. I felt the image needed an anchor at the end of the field of crosses, and the effect worked quite well I feel.

Meanwhile, I wanted to give the impression of angled light from that point through the crosses to the soldier, so attempted to tilt the torch's face on the left side of his body to give the impression of shadow there. This gave a few bends to lines that might have better been straight (e.g. his helmet's left rim), but was, by and large successful, so it's a technique I'll try again.

As for the torch itself, this is a new one. I mentioned in www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5233410987/ I felt my cheap £1 torch was better than an expensive on due to lack of flare. It simply isn't bright enough over 10-15' though. So I invested in a ridiculously powerful torch with a much tighter beam. You can see above there's quite a bit of flare, but it produces better lines I think. It's also an aluminum finish, so you can trace it across your limbs without it catching - the rubber grip torch is too sticky to trace properly against the body.

Not sure if that's interesting, but I get quite a few questions about this sort of thing at the moment, so thought I'd note it here. I've also put a trial run from another location in the comments - probably a stronger scene, but it needed the soldier figure to tie it together, I think, and that only occured to me later.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the week.

See Some Corner Of A Field (Black and White Light Painting) on Flickr.

Some Corner Of A Field, Alternate Location

Some Corner Of A Field, Colour Version

Corner Of A Field B&W Version

Crop Of Man Made Cascade

Man Made Cascade, Virginia Water

Man Made Cascade, Virginia Water, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Thanks for all the kind recent comments, combined with a busy week I'm afraid I've fallen behind with a few contacts streams. Apologies - bit by bit I'm catching up and will have a clear run at it tomorrow night. I'm really looking forward to seeing everything, as it has been a few days in some cases.

This is just a quick posting from a walk around Virginia Water in Surrey. The waterfall looked man made, and Wikipedia has kindly confirmed that it is. Indeed, it is the work of one Thomas Sandby. I took a few 200-300 second exposures using a newly acquired 9-stop ND filter, but the best of the bunch was this 13 second effort. I was after the trails in the lower section of water, and they are much more distinct here.

Further to some comments about Harry Potter to www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5233410987/, the friends with whom we were walking today have explained their relevance. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, thus was unaware of the connection, but have duly tagged that image "Patronus" by way of homage.

Coincidentally, I see some of the outdoor scenes from the HP movies were filmed by Virginia Water. So there we go. Have a good one.

See Man Made Cascade, Virginia Water on Flickr.

Christmas Poinsettia, Staplehurst

Christmas Poinsettia, Staplehurst, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Just something quick, seasonal and colourful from a few days away from Flickr. Poinsettia (aka "Euphorbia Pulcherrima" or "Noche Buena") with bright natural backlighting through greenhouse windows. Catching up now. Hope everyone is very well.

See Christmas Poinsettia, Staplehurst on Flickr.

Field Of Dreams (Penalty Kick Light Painting), Rickmansworth

Field Of Dreams (Penalty Kick Light Painting), Rickmansworth, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Following on from www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5233410987/ and www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5022793280/ I'm really enjoying exploring the possibilities of light painting.

For clarity, as with all my light paintings, every line in this shot is drawn in camera by torch or flashlight. There were lots of kind comments, messages and questions on this front last time round, and that's all there is to it!

However, by way of full disclosure this one is a two take painting - I've used the cross, ball, goalkeeper and striker's head and legs from one shot, then editted in the striker's torso and arms from a second take. I've also had to go over the lines to remove an unwanted blue tinge which came with a white balance edit across the whole frame, aimed at allowing the night sky to come through against severe urban light pollution.

It's a 248 second exposure at ISO 100 and f/13, which has mostly worked, though the bush behind the goal has over-exposed a little due to passing traffic.

Perhaps I oughtn't to say I don't really like this image, at least not as much as the other two (which I adore). The setting was a little tricky, with traffic going by in the background and dogs rushing about in the early evening. I shot early than usual to try to catch some blue in the sky, and hadn't realised how busy it can be! However, I had the concept in mind and wanted to keep the momentum to my light painting - and unless I'm doing them and posting them, I won't be getting better!

Hope you like it, and are all having a great end to the week.

See Field Of Dreams (Penalty Kick Light Painting), Rickmansworth on Flickr.

Forever Ever? (Cartier Diamonds), Vienna

Forever Ever? (Cartier Diamonds), Vienna, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Night shot taken with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 from a bench top. Only a quick one with company, so quite a bit left to be desired, but I liked the scene with this couple and, between them, the warm glow of the Cartier window display and a stranger, balanced by the clock and the shifting crowds beneath Vienna's wealth of Christmas decorations.

As we were on the way to dinner I didn't have time to wait for the crowd by the store's door to move, and asking them might have alerted the couple, so I dusted off my cloning stamp and have done my best to remove them. I've not killed myself over it, if I'm honest, but have posted the original SOOC below for anyone interested in seeing the scope of the job.

Wish there was a little more room in the frame, but the 50mm is a prime and the bench was set in concrete, so one takes what one gets sometimes.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the week. I'm delighted with the Front Page showing of www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5233410987/ - thank you all for your kind comments and other such prodding of the Magic Donkey's critical eye. I'm off for a couple of days, but will make sure that I have the time to read all your thoughts and repay your kindness as soon as I'm back. Can't wait to see all your images.

See Forever Ever? (Cartier Diamonds), Vienna on Flickr.

Original Forever Ever

Hart Of Forest, Hertfordshire

Hart Of Forest, Hertfordshire, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Bit of a ramble! For those in a rush, it's enough to know the first attempt for North American viewers sits in the comments below.

Since delighting myself with my first light painting www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5022793280/, I've lined up a number of other light paintings I'd like to try. A few weeks back I got the chance for a second session, but having invested in an overpowered Halfords torch (the torch I used first time round was borrowed) couldn't tame the light and just got flare. A visit to a £1 shop later and this is my third light painting session, the second shot I'm happy enough to post.

I've had this in mind for a few weeks, but not seen the right place for it. This evening I was out in the heavy fog shooting some Mars like images (to follow) when I found the fallen leaves had made the setting I was after. So with Christmas closing in all too quickly, I gave it a go! I took a few images to work out the reindeer (the first attempt ended up as a moose, posted in the comments for North American viewers), and then added the second reindeer at first take.

By way of side note, the moose around a 2/3 stop shorter exposure, and the colour isn't quite as cool as a result.

Normally I shoot night time long exposures at ISO 100 to tame the noise on the 300D, but it was so dark in the forest that this needed a twelve minute exposure (729 seconds ¦ f/8) at ISO 200. With each exposure something of a dice roll due to the reindeer, I felt the noise was an acceptable trade off to avoid 25 minute shots! It's a very similar colour to the sodium cloud in www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5182134181/, and the fog does a similar job with the street lighting. The introduction of the forest and the lack of any moon, however, mean that shooting at the same settings (f/11 ¦ ISO100) last night's shot would have needed just shy of 50 minutes to get to the same place.

Kind of interesting, to me at least, sorry!

Few other things. It was raining quite hard by the end, and the mist stayed very dense, so I've amazed the torch didn't pick up droplets or flare more - it is very cheap (and dim) and I guess 12 minutes gives a lot of tolerance. I used an A4 sheet of bubble wrap I use as padding in the end of my bag as a makeshift camera cover; an innovation I can recommend.

Now I just need a red light to add the festive nose next time round. For now, I'm afraid you'll have to imagine it. Hope you're all having a great weekend and you like the image. Thanks for looking and indulging my ramble!

See Hart Of Forest, Hertfordshire on Flickr.

Alternative Hart Of Forest

Moose Light Painting

Coldfrontation (Bury Lake), Rickmansworth

Coldfrontation (Bury Lake), Rickmansworth, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

If you are looking at this photo, thank you! I know the thumbnail, which clips the geese, looks about as banal and flat as a pebble dash conference in Scunthorpe. So thank you for clicking through regardless.

Please do view on black!

Quick shot from this morning's wander in the snow and ice. A very foggy morning, so it's taken with the old 18-200mm Sigma lens - fortunately the misty atmosphere meant nothing doesn't resent it's softness! All ice in this shot, with a thin sheen of water which, in the stillness of the fog, created some lovely reflections.

For those few interested, the boat house is indeed the same one as in www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5184896770/, shown from the other side this time.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

See Coldfrontation (Bury Lake), Rickmansworth on Flickr.

Eilean Donan Castle Sunset, Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle Sunset, Scotland, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

I did try to make an HDR of this using some free software, but it was a resounding failure! Lots of turquoise patches appeared from nowhere. Clearly I have a lot to learn if I'm to do it successfully and I have a new respect for people that process HDR shots. Instead just brought through some of the stone detail in Photoshop, and perhaps not enough, but I wanted to try to keep it natural looking.

Perhaps I'm just not destined for proper HDR work. It always seemed a little excessive for me and my main interest is getting stuff done in camera first. That said, I'd love to have at least given it a go. So if anyone can recommend some free software they enjoy using, I'd be delighted to hear about it in the comments.

For the moment, it's all manual!

This shot is from a couple of weekends back hiking in the highlands, after my panicked realisation that climbing munros in November demanding technique as well as stamina. That curtailed a six top day to a single top day and meant we were down in time to take some pictures. It's a super place, though I'm still not sure about the seaweed through the foreground. Perhaps it adds a little quirkiness and sense of individuality.

Hope everyone is well and having a great week, as always.

See Eilean Donan Castle Sunset, Scotland on Flickr.

Inputs for Eilean Donan Castle Sunset

Advent (Lamp Shop Window), Venice

Advent (Lamp Shop Window), Venice, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Happy 1st December!

Not much to report on this, other than it's our Christmas card cover for this year. Just trying to find someone to print them. If anyone has any very good or bad experiences with such companies online, please drop me a note! I'd really appreciate it.

It's from a Venetian lamp shop window.

Hope everyone is having a great week and fun start to advent calendar season.

See Advent (Lamp Shop Window), Venice on Flickr.

Snow White (Apple & Bokeh In Naschmarkt), Vienna

Snow White (Apple & Bokeh In Naschmarkt), Vienna, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Another pair I had trouble choosing between. Seen large on black the main image wins through, I think - the main apple is much sharper and better isolated in its own little plane of focus (I moved several apples between shots). In the shot below there's an extra stalk and an in focus base of an apple which kind of distract. The bokeh are twice the size too in the main one, thanks to the harder zoom.

It's a night shot - f/4.5 and ISO 400 giving a nice exposure thanks to the market lights. It's a handheld shot, with the IS doing a super job, in my opinion, of keeping the apple sharp; it was taken handheld at 1/15. I only have a handful of (working) lens, and this (24-105mm f/4.0L IS USM) is the only one with IS. As I understand it the version on that lens is a little behind the curve, so new releases will offer an extra one or two stops of "handholdability" - which is remarkable.

If you have the time to see it in lightbox, I'd recommend it, and also a quick look at the one below which offers a nicer blue sky and a little extra detail in the chalk and a girl shopping.

As to the title, I hope it's not too obscure. The apple just had a landmine look to it, hiding sharp amongst the blur, waiting to do someone a mischief, and the bokeh and painterly feel of the bokeh set a kind of fairy tale mood.

I do enjoy the contrast with www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5217086663/in/photos... taken a few minutes earlier. Hope everyone is having a super week so far.

See Snow White (Apple & Bokeh In Naschmarkt), Vienna on Flickr.

Alternative Snow White

Generations (Naschmarkt), Vienna

Generations (Naschmarkt), Vienna, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Candid shot from this weekend's trip to Vienna and Bratislava. I saw a family of honey sellers at their stall, the elder of them in fierce technical debate with a customer, with the younger dreamily surveying their wares. I got lucky shooting through the shifting crowds of umbrellas and shoulders. I guess from seeing it to shooting it was all in a second. Usually I dither and frame too much and these opportunities escape me, so I'm very happy to have seized the moment.

It's a night shot, but almost overexposed as I'd been set up (ISO 800, AV-mode @ f/4.5, IS) for shooting in the shadows and the stall was brightly lit with tungsten bulbs. In the end, I'm delighted with the sharpness that's allowed - especially in the older man's face and hair. The bokeh from the wide aperture and blurred of the younger, mirroring figure are a super bonus.

Other than converting to black and white I've tweaked the clarity up slightly and cropped out a little unbalancing bokeh, perhaps a half inch, from the left.

Hope everyone is well and having a great start to the week.

See Generations (Naschmarkt), Vienna on Flickr.

Alternative Boheken Heart

Boheken Heart, Bologna

Boheken Heart, Bologna, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

One from September's trip to Bologna, late evening looking along the canals. Some cyan CA from the Canon 50mm f.1,8 which I haven't noticed before; not shooting wide open, but into some pretty harsh sunlight, I suppose.

There's a ghostly haze around the top of the padlocks which I can't identify - perhaps light making a nuisance of itself or maybe a smudge on the lens? Not sure what it is, but I rather like it. Without aiming too boldly for pretension, I was after a shot of all the scratches and stains on the heart, the rust and corrosion on the locks and the brace and the disintegration of the wall on the one side, with the transcendent bokeh on the other by way of juxtaposition. A sort of love arises in unsual places motif, which I rather like. There, pretension over.

Shot at f/2.5 to keep the heart and padlocks both sharp. Wide open it would have been game over for one of the details, and the background is still reasonably insane.

Have a great weekend everyone.

See Boheken Heart, Bologna on Flickr.

Going Nowhere Fast (Unhappy Couple On Scooter), Bologna

Going Nowhere Fast (Unhappy Couple On Scooter), Bologna, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

I think this one makes a nice juxtaposition to my significantly happier couple on a scooter, shot half an hour earlier; www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/4986711850/in/photos.... I was going to post it flipped horizontally in collision course with that image, but the "Liberty" text on the scooter was too neat to wreck for so minor a thing a consideration.

There's no small amount of supposition in my titling and tagging of this one. If you're one of the riders and you'd like to set the record straight, so to speak, please drop me a note. The expressions are so comically miserable, though, I can only think this follows some epic argument.

See Going Nowhere Fast (Unhappy Couple On Scooter), Bologna
on Flickr.

Not Interested (Italian Waiters), Venice

Not Interested (Italian Waiters), Venice, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

I don't usually like posting two shots of a series, but I simply couldn't choose between this one and www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5206698402/in/photos.... This one offers the better composition and fewer distractions in the background, but it's a shame you can't see the expression on the chap holding forth to the right.

This is another candid which owes its existence to Blackfoot Scout, my glamorous assistant, who posed in front of these guys so I could shoot them candid over here shoulder. I've found setting the AF to the left or right most point helps - you can focus and get a light reading from the subject whilst pointing at your accomplice, so that when you swing the camera onto your subject you can shoot instantly rather than risk alerting them to your presence.

Hope everyone's having a great week.

See Not Interested (Italian Waiters), Venice on Flickr.

View Of Rhum From Beinn Na Cille, Kingairloch

View Of Rhum From Beinn Na Cille, Kingairloch, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Another one of the cell/mobile phone pictures from this weekend's hiking. Apologies for the loss of meaningful EXIF data - I'm importing these from my iPhone by email as it is refusing to sync, and for some reason this has stripped the file of the most interesting data.

This was from a really classy non-munro horseshoe just down from the Corran ferry. Whilst the terror-induced ice and snow of the day before (see www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5198977853/) ruled out any proper camera kit, I'm reticent that I didn't take the proper stuff on this walk. That said, we were on the hills for 6-7 hours and the last descent was in the gloaming if not the dark. With a proper DSLR, it'd have added at least an hour and maybe tipped things into disaster.

In any event, the iPhone bore up quite well, even if the file doesn't live up to much magnification, especially in the upper reaches of the sky. It does look better pre-upload to Flickr; the first image I've ever had to say that about.

See View Of Rhum From Beinn Na Cille, Kingairloch on Flickr.

Highlands Trail (Creag A' Mhaim), Glen Shiel

Highlands Trail (Creag A' Mhaim), Glen Shiel, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Two versions of a shot from the side of the road with the full moon lighting up the ridge bookended by Creag a' Mhaim. My preferred above is a 79 second exposure of three passing cars, though the shorter version (below) is a little moodier.

The peaks are front lit by the full moon, with the car headlights lighting the grass and chevrons. There's a line down the side of the mountain (see note) which appears to have been created across the valley by the headlights. If anyone knows whether that's possible or if there's a strange fold in the slope, I'd be interested.

Looks great on black in lightbox - if you can tolerate the grain, of which there is plenty!

See Highlands Trail (Creag A' Mhaim), Glen Shiel on Flickr.

Highlands Trail Alternative

Aonach Meadhoin, Glen Shiels

Aonach Meadhoin, Glen Shiels, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Two pictures from Saturday. They're cell/mobile phone photos, which I'm always reticent about posting, but I didn't fancy carrying the full package along what was planned to be an epic ridge walk. In the interests of full disclosure I have to say that the summit of Aonach Meadhoin was the only munro of the day. It turns out climbing these beasts out of season requires skill and steely nerves - which I need to work on...

An amazing day nonetheless, with great weather, and the iPhone turns out to be an acceptable companion. It's strange using a phone for pictures after a few hardcore months of SLR. The key challenge is that, on the iPhone at least, composition and exposure are one. Rather composing then judging exposure, you compose and are shown real time how it will choose to expose. Interesting juggling act, and fun to see real time the decisions it is making as it meters for your chosen frame.

Queerly it doesn't like the rule of thirds - the best exposure for landscapes seemed to be pitching the horizon halfway up the frame. Setting it to a third exposes sky or land extremely harshly.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and apologies that I am behind after a few days away. Looking forward to catching up.

See Aonach Meadhoin, Glen Shiels on Flickr.

Aonach Meadhoin Alternative

Blue (Bury Lake), Rickmansworth

Blue (Bury Lake), Rickmansworth, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who had a look at and shared their thoughts on www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5182134181/in/photos... - I'm thrilled with the Front Page and really appreciate everyone's contributions.

This is a three minute exposure taken an hour or so earlier yesterday evening. It's a shot of Bury Lake in the Rickmansworth Aquadrome, looking across the kayak water polo court (is it called a court if it is water?) towards the sailing club.

Needless to say, the colour is completely different from the previous shot, which I guess is down to three key reasons. Firstly, this is just before streetlamps came on - the darkness is more from the shaded undergrowth and epic mist. Secondly, it's facing a different direction with fewer light sources - not least it is not looking towards London! Finally, and most importantly, this only had a minor cooling tweak to WB, whereas I lied wholesale to the RAW on the previous shot by telling it was shot in the shade (a lie with massive warming implications, obviously!). Or it could have been a million other things I guess; any ideas let me know!

Have a good one all!

See Blue (Bury Lake), Rickmansworth on Flickr.

Cow Nose Detail

Sodium Cloud Forest, Rickmansworth

Sodium Cloud Forest, Rickmansworth, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Ten minute exposure after sunset today, as the thick fog slowly cleared from the Aquadrome. The fog lingered in the trees, backlit by London's no shortage of sodium streetlights, whilst the bright moon rose high enough to bathe the foreground grass in a soft pearl light. I was startled by the colours on the LCD when it had finished "cooking" - I had been stood in near darkness.

My £19 cable release remains the best piece of kit I have. Long exposures keep surprising me with their interpretation of nighttime scenes. Early winter nights couldn't have come at a better time.

Hope everyone else is having a great week too.

See Sodium Cloud Forest, Rickmansworth on Flickr.

Priced Out Of Lingerie, Milan

Priced Out Of Lingerie, Milan, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Female version of my compulsory fashion pictures from Milan. The chap's version is www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/49946703.

Lightroom 3 was used for the switch to black and white, and Photoshop may have been employed to make a thematic enhancement to the price tags. As you might expect, this one looks classiest on black background. If I were trying to justify the luxurious price, that is certainly how I'd pitch it.

See Priced Out Of Lingerie, Milan on Flickr.

Mirror Pool (Trafalgar Square), London

Mirror Pool (Trafalgar Square), London, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Another one from last week's evening in town, in the cold. The original version (see below) looked a little lopsided with just one fountain, so I thought I'd try this reflected version. It's maybe a little over processed in Photoshop 7.0, but as I had it loaded up anyway for the reflection and to skew the lines straight, I thought I might as well take it a little further.

I'm delighted by the detail and symmetry in the very centre of the image which only really comes out in Lightbox so, whilst I feel terrible imposing on people as to how they might want to view it, I'd really recommend firing it up full size by hitting "L". I hope you like it!

Having whinged in several posts about (supposed) Terror regulations in London and the interference of security guards and so forth, I have to say that the Police in Trafalgar Square are fantastic. They were a very nice presence after a few (as yet unposted) nights out and about terrifying myself in fields, woods and towns!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and look forward to seeing your stuff now I'm home!

See Mirror Pool (Trafalgar Square), London on Flickr.

Venetian Noir, Venice

Venetian Noir, Venice, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Candid night shot from our first evening in Venice. I held off processing the first set of shots for a while as the Canon 50mm f/1.8's AF had been woeful in the rainy darkness and at ISO 800 the noise on the old 300D is pretty significant.

However, converting to black and white the noise comes across as an old film grain and the soft focus perhaps adds to the mood in this case. Hope everyone's having a great start to the week.

See Venetian Noir, Venice on Flickr.

Original Version of Mirror Pool

London Night Bus, Whitehall

London Night Bus, Whitehall, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

First shot from a night series in and around Trafalgar Square. I nearly lost a hand to frostbite taking this; autumn has turned to winter. This is actually a composite - like www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5121844152/ - of my favourite takes from the left and right hand sides of the road.

There's a traffic island at the head of Whitehall where you can set up looking down towards Big Ben. As the traffic is often stopped at the lights, there are awkward moments when 10-20 cars are all parked glaring at you, thinking the camera is pointed at them alone. I was worried some MP would leap out of his mistress's Saab to threaten arrest on Terror charges. I spent most of my time therefore avoiding eye-contact, looking over my left shoulder for the buses to come.

Hope everyone is very well and enjoying the end of the week.

See London Night Bus, Whitehall on Flickr.