Faffing with Raws and HDR

 

So this weekend has also seen me playing around with some raw images from the M50 with a view to finding a good workflow for HDR.

Normally I shoot jpeg more often than not but wondered if the raw would give me a better starting point, or allow me to shoot a single image and then expose differently to get a set of three images from a single image.

Biggest issue was getting an HDR software to recognise the .CR3 files from the M50 - Win10 won't show a thumbnail either despite downloading/updating some codec.

Found an update for Faststone, the viewer I use to select which images I'm going to keep for further editing which at least allows me to see the .CR3 images - the older version just ignored them.

I'd forgotten the downsides to new cameras now I have an Adobe subscription for Photoshop & Lightroom - everything is seamless with them, no waiting for new camera updates, they just appear as if by magic.

So against my better judgement I downloaded the Canon DPP software in the vain hope that it would help. If nothing else I guess it allows me to convert the raw into a more readable format but then jpegs are already readable so not 100% sure that's much of a win. It's mainly around the noise reduction settings that I stress over shooting raw because this isn't applied to the raw and unless I use DPP, software such as Lightroom and Photoshop can't apply the same level because the data is proprietary to Canon and they don't share it. 

Which bring me back to why am I bothering I guess? Why not just stick to the jpeg and be done with it. My camera offers a built-in HDR which sometimes works well and sometimes looks a little flat.

Maybe I just need to experiment more with the right sort of subject - take a selection of images in different forms and see what works best...

Doggie Sleepover!

 

So this weekend saw Annie come to stay for the weekend whilst Julia & James headed off for a short stay in London.

Here she's lying in her mahousively large and soft bed which they bring along with her bag of toys and box of kibble.

She has a selection of Kongs in which to put her kibble which she then has to roll around to get the food out. Annie being an ex-guide dog this is how she learnt to be fed/rewarded and the games keep her brain ticking over. Added to these rolling Kongs are a couple of frozen ones full of mushed kibble which last her around a half hour each.

We took some walks, played some games and generally chilled out.

Here she is with her soft toys just before bed time - an Octopus and a teddy bear:-)

Storm Eunice

 

So this Friday, 18th February, saw Storm Eunice hit the UK with varying degrees of ferocity.

The Met Office issued weather warnings pretty much across most of the UK for the day but in particular were two rare red warnings across the South West and South East for extreme winds.

I guess I battened down the hatches as much as one can in these sorts of situations, took the rotary washing line down and laid it in the yard, moved a pot of Bluebell bulbs to the safety of the yard, put a couple of bungee cords around the topiary balls hanging on the back of the house thus tethering them to the downpipes to prevent too much swaying about. They are already cable tied to the brackets to stop them inadvertently blowing away which is what happened to one of them last time we had fierce winds!

And then it was simply a case of staying indoors with the local radio on and hoping to avoid any damage.

My fence is a new metal variety designed to withstand winds up to 130mph so less worried about that, more worried about the old shed perched on top of the garage - fortunately it's heavier than it looks and has been there for the duration and at least for now looks like hanging in a bit longer! Although I did have to prop the door shut with a piece of paving slab as the rotten wood at the bottom of the door means one hinge is now loose!

The picture above shows the things I did see from the safety of the bedroom windows - a piece of blue plastic sheeting which has wrapped itself up in the telephone wires, a neighbours gazebo which has lost some panes from the roof and an errant trampoline which had escaped from a garden up at Horsted Park!

Not long after taking these snaps with the long lens the trampoline had moved on, nowhere to be seen, from my viewpoint at least.

Glad I took them if only for a record of the day's impact. I think we were lucky around here although I've yet to go for a walk around. London and the O2 suffered massive roof damage, lots of falling trees caused damage and injury, the Isle of Wight clocked wind speeds of 122mph which is a new record for the UK. Roofs were damaged, some blew away and there were power cuts everywhere. The odd lorry ended up falling over and skidding along the road. Chaos reigned I think it is safe to say.

In the morning some hardy swimmers were taking their daily dip down at Dover - not quite sure that was sensible in spite of their assurances that they know the sea... That's what they all say until they need rescuing. Likewise a group of photographers lined up against a seawall trying to get that perfect storm image... Again an incredibly stupid thing to do given the force with which the waves can suddenly crash over the wall - you could be swept into the sea before you even saw it coming. Especially when the general advice from all sources was to stay indoors wherever possible. Indeed even work suggested that people work from home if possible, something most have been doing for months anyway, fortunately for me I don't work Fridays anymore so watched the storm from the safety of my living room. Several of our other sites were closed entirely, those on the western side of the country.

Eunice was likened to the great storm of 1987 - now that one did cause several felled trees on the estate. A storm we slept through having been assured by the now infamous quote from Michael Fish that there was no hurricane storm due. Talk about famous last words... I don't think the Met Office have ever lived that down ;-) Now they seem to err on the side of caution and issue warnings well in advance, although our amber warning didn't turn red until the wee hours of the morning which probably caught quite a few businesses out with regards to informing their employees of the need to come in - or not as the case may be. 

Let's hope that's the last of the dodgy storms for the time being, heading out of February and into March we should hopefully see some improvement in the weather although I always remember a hanky I had as a child with the saying "March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers" printed on it - so I guess we're not quite out of the woods just yet!

Medway Lights Festival

 

Went down to the Medway Lights Festival on Saturday evening with Dad - bit of a spur of the moment visit but we were very glad we went. Free parking on Jacksons Green at which we managed to bag a spot so not too far to walk back down into the High Street.

Lots of light installations dotted around the Rochester area:

This was a mirrored and lit up area which changed colours.

Fire shenanigans were held in The Vines.

Projections onto The Cathedral which were awesome.

Not sure if this will be an annual event or not, unsure if it's been postponed due to Covid-19 from a previous year, but it was really good, very well organised, lots of security around to help corral people in busy areas like the castle grounds.

All in all a really good event and one which was worth taking some photos of for this month's family photo challenge - Low Light & Night Photography.

Back to the Yard 2022

 

So Saturday 5th February saw the Dockyard reopen on time for the first time since 2020! And Tedster and I were there for the first day's opening, absolutely determined to be there having been denied the opportunity to visit as much as we'd normally do with all the various Covid-19 restrictions.

Both 2020 and 2021 saw the place close to the public for months on end, in 2020 it closed in April I believe and didn't reopen until July, 2021 didn't see it open until April instead of the usual February.

We had a sunny but windy and chilly day, packed the M50 and kit lens and test ran the new Sydney (Mia Tui) rucksack for the first time out in the field as it were. It was really good, place for everything and everything in it's place, from drinks bottle holders to pen slots and key fob clips. A few additional Mia Tui "cases" inside kept items safe and to hand when I needed them. I have several different sized, suede like drawstring bags to house my cameras in so one of those kept the M50 safe when it was in my bag. The baby flash and TG-6 (in case of inclement weather) completed the ensemble.

Was good to be back in our favourite place again and Tedster was recognised by some of the staff who have seen us wandering around on numerous past visits.

Low Light - Family Challenge

 

So we've finally started off the 2022 family photo challenge with low light and/or night photography - a good choice given the time of year.

This was one of my first ideas, some coloured plastic jewel shapes laid out on a mirror, suspended over some multi-coloured fairy lights. All sitting inside a pop up tent with a black backdrop.

This is just a quick phone snap of the general layout, I used some Systema pots to support the mirror, the final image came out quite well.

It's been a tougher subject than I first thought, mainly due to the distinct lack of subjects!

Still this year we're setting the subjects for a month at a time so we all have plenty of time to join in and it also means we don't have to think up lots of subjects, just twelve, which is good because we've covered an absolute myriad of subjects thus far!

Red Sky At Night - Shepherd's Delight!

 So this was the sunset on my walk after work, just as well it gave me an opportunity to snap it on the mobile whilst trying to walk off a pissingly annoying day at work.

Something like this reminds me that work is not the be all and end all, it pays the bills but that's about it. And I know that at times I let it and some people get to me far more than I should, but it's hard to just "let it go" when I'm very much the kind of person who holds a grudge!

Still despite the lack of a really good view, it was nonetheless an awesome sunset!