Pareidolia

Runt

2012-01-27T20:52:00.005Z

Didn't mind getting wellies full of water, didn't mind running out of memory, didn't mind sitting the camera bag in a pool of water.... what I did mind was discovering halfway back to the car that the camera had been set to manual focus which meant I was left with only this the runt of the litter the rest the best out of focus.... the air turned blue!! should have listened to my instinct just couldn't put my finger on it until to late

Sketch 2 dilemma

2012-01-25T23:15:00.001Z

Second of the sketch shots and it gives me a dilemma! Single exposure ISO200 f/9.5 10 seconds... the thing is although this is one 10sec shot I am able to catch individual droplets of water splashing into the air. But does it ruin the shot by making it just look like there is water on the lens (lens totally clear/dry) or does it enhance the shot because you don't normally see indavidual droplet in a "silky" shot? To see the droplets better this image should be big enough when clicked although with bloggers compression it's still low rez. Oh and cloning out drops in the wrong place might do the trick?

Sketch 1

2012-01-24T20:42:00.002Z

with it being another miserable wet dreich day again i decided to scout out a new location and take some sketch shots... in the right light this could turn into a great wee spot

Culzean Castle

2012-01-22T22:24:00.001Z

Pronounced cul-lane. Bit of a disaster, usual story the light disappeared and there was a haze over the castle so it a rough mono conversion because it wasn't worth spending any time on the edit.

Blustery Day

2012-01-21T23:56:00.000Z

Although it was blowing an absolute gale at Irvine today there was some nice light for a wee while. Unfortunately waiting a couple of mins for more cloud to pass over meant the light vanished meaning I couldn't get a shot that included a sky full of streaking cloud.

That Rock

2012-01-15T22:27:00.000Z

What promised to be a good sunset fizzled away to grey but I still liked the quality of light so snapped this one.

Finnarts House Glenapp

2012-01-12T23:11:00.000Z

Not one of my images but it took so damn long to find it I thought I'd post it here in the hope of making it easier for others to find it in the future CLICK IMAGE to take you to where I found it. I've known about the existence of Finnarts House (now demolished or relocated to the States?? ) sinse I was a kid and while doing the family tree and looking through old books on Galloway the name cropped up again so I decided to see if I could find a photo to see what it looked like.

FOR

2012-01-11T20:02:00.000Z

still dreich for getting new stuff at least so one from 2010

For Me or Not For Me?

2012-01-11T14:32:00.002Z

Never been a fan of HDR but you cant judge until you have tried it... after all I hated the silky water look until I tried... now well I'm perhaps guilty of overdoing it. It is safe to say however although this is not a true HDR it is as the previous shot a single done in ACR am still no keen on HDR.

High Seas

2012-01-10T00:18:00.003Z

Just a quick, old, single shot, HDR type thing done in ACR as found on Mark Johnson's site

Passing Storm

2012-01-03T19:45:00.002Z

As I learned recently if you don't try you don't get.... so even although it was still blowing a gale I ventured out in the hope of capturing some drama as the storm front passed. Unfortunately the light faded before any drama occurred and only managed one poor shot.

Speaking of drama one consequence of removing the non-payers link is I now have one less item in my CV which leads to the dilemma. Be Machiavellian and add them back in or leave them out so as not to advertise their site.

footnote should have done some colour correction on the shot but forgot

it was buggin my mince so I did a quick colour correction still not happy but I never am with this particular rock

Still Chasin

2011-12-28T19:55:00.001Z

Weather is dismal again so a shot from a month or twa ago.... wish I'd spent more time on the edit Killantringan

Cloud over PEEBLES

2011-12-21T11:44:00.001Z

A total nightmare getting the church tower and the lamppost both vertical!!!!!

ROCKS Glen Nevis

2011-12-21T11:41:00.004Z

Water Water

2011-12-20T23:33:00.002Z

tried for a wee bit o' a splash instead of the full silk

Chucked

2011-12-20T13:59:00.000Z

This is just a quick edit of a throwaway shot trying out creating depth to the shot using levels, saturation
and the gradient tool instead of my usual method of working. Not to sure if I like the result so I think I'll try an edit in my usual style lol to compare.

note bugger i've been making the shots slightly bigger by altering the image coding just discovered by accident you can now do it by clicking the imagein edit before posting... my!

Evening over the WALL

2011-12-09T21:56:00.001Z

WINTER ROLLS IN

2011-12-09T21:53:00.001Z

TURNBERRY STORMS AHEAD

2011-12-08T15:30:00.001Z

Well you just have to give it a go in wild weather 70-90 mph winds and yes even today there were numptys out playing golf :)))

Didn't expect much and didn't get much just this one. For the best of the action with the howling gale and spume there was just nowhere to set up. Where you could get shelter the action was just not there, even then keeping the lens clear from rain and spume swirling around rocks and headlands was just impossible... instantly wet! Although it doesn't do it justice one will just have to do.

Falls Corsock

2011-12-06T14:40:00.001Z

Made a bit of a mistake with this shot... for some reason the camera was set to jpeg, not knowing that I did my work flow as usual so it's probably been over sharpened etc. There is another set of falls just out of shot on the right and both water flows converge unfortunately I just couldn't get a composition to include both.... until that is I had packed up and was heading home then I spotted a "possible" comp but the light had gone so i'll try again some day.

HALLOWED

2011-12-03T13:02:00.001Z

DARKLINS

2011-12-03T12:41:00.001Z

Rough as a Badgers Arse

2011-12-02T21:41:00.001Z

and it's not the weather i'm ta;king about

CUSP

2011-12-01T20:10:00.001Z

Shock horror I actually ventured out today with the camera instead of editing stuff from last year. Although I have done some colour correction I decided to leave in some green colour cast in one or two areas not sure if I should though.

Caul

2011-12-01T14:20:00.001Z

Two

2011-11-29T13:58:00.001Z

one rock at a time

2011-11-29T13:55:00.000Z

Fall to the Beach

2011-11-23T12:50:00.001Z

On the Dee

2011-11-22T12:55:00.001Z

Threave Castle

Autumn in Galloway

2011-11-05T22:19:00.001Z

Broken Gate Galloway

2011-11-05T20:26:00.002Z

Past years

2011-10-10T21:52:00.002+01:00

Tumbling Water 2

2011-10-08T21:58:00.000+01:00

The last twice I made the longish walk to this spot it had run dry... not dry this time but I had make a rush of it then wade back around a headland as the tide had come is fairly quick smart.

Tumbling Water

2011-09-27T20:35:00.001+01:00

High life

2011-08-13T15:37:00.002+01:00

An all to rare cloudless and calm evening at Fort William with Ben Nevis the highest mountain in the UK in the BG

Eigg & Rùm colour.

Steall Away

2011-08-08T22:05:00.002+01:00

One of the few places that that can never be surmounted by the first time you see it after the short walk into it from the Nevis Gorge..... the Steall Falls. The best way to describe it is like entering the land that time forgot after traversing the steep narrow gorge. Taken at around midday not the best of light but hey!!

Boat Killantringan

2011-07-30T19:41:00.002+01:00

Last night as usual always always clouds over when I get here.

Cloudy Day

2011-07-29T22:46:00.002+01:00

Talk about slow thick stupid! Perhaps one of the things that slowed down posting was all the effort of resizing etc and it just occurred to me for blog purposes just record a Photoshop action and do it all at one click. So a shot taken yesterday taken with the intent of converting to B&W but when I started the edit I preferred the colour version.

Smoke Signals (spur of the moment post)

2011-07-27T15:19:00.009+01:00

I knew I shouldn't have said I'd be posting on a regular basis in that last post Dec 2010, bound to put the prayers on it.

Anyhoo his is a spur of the moment post so not the best of shots of Eigg & Rùm, but all I could lay my hands on from this PC at this moment of spontaneity... caused I might add by a visit to Marks blog The Photographic Aspect (see sidebar for link). Haven't taken many photos of late, in a bit of a malaise I suppose also playing Black Ops to late into the night might play a part in it I suppose hmm....

Otter

2010-12-22T22:43:00.004Z

Work is slowing down a bit so it means I should be able to get back around to posting on a regular basis again.... not that I was ever regular :) Not the best of light in this one of the River Doon with the Brig O' Doon that features in Tam O' Shanter there in the background! So I'll give it another go in better light lol.

I doubt you will be able to see it, (so added a crop shot) but unbeknown to me as I was shooting an otter was working it's way down on the right bank from just below the modern road bridge to that clump of grass just above the FG rocks. I only noticed it when I got home and was flicking through the shots and noticed what just looked like foliage floating down the river if only I'd known :)

One thing that I'm not sure about and it's probably a stupid Q... is it a good or bad idea to change lenses in such cold conditions as it would let cold air into the water seal camera, possibly introducing condensation/moisture onto the censor etc when taken indoors to higher temperatures. both pic's enlarge with a click the lower to original size.

Swither

2010-12-16T21:48:00.003Z

I had to think long and hard about the trip for this one taken just over a week a ago. Long before it was mentioned in the media many of the local garages had run out of fuel for nearly a week, due to the snow! So whether to make the trip down or preserve the fuel I had... glad I decided to go :)

Winter Sun

2010-12-16T21:44:00.001Z

Something Simple

2010-12-08T22:40:00.001Z

Bit of a rush again tonight but hoping to get around my contacts tonight!

Mooks World in 180

2010-12-05T22:14:00.002Z

Bridge Beyond

2010-12-01T22:26:00.002Z

Not nearly the amount of ice I expected on the river but hey there's still time... just occurred to me up there at the bridge and to the left is the well according to Burns (probably repeating myself)

"And thro' the whins, and by the cairn,
Whare hunters fand the murder'd bairn;
And near the thorn, aboon the well,
Whare Mungo's mither hang'd hersel'
Before him Doon pours all his floods; "

and now in english for the hard of thinking ;)

"And through the gorse,
and by the pile of stones,
Where hunters found the murdered child;
And near the thorn, above the well,
Where Mungo's mother hanged herself."

Morning Light Loch Doon

2010-11-28T20:28:00.003Z

For some reason I always struggle editing these frosty morning shots whether it's the WB or what I don't know. Anyway I hope this top landscape version edited tonight is a slight improvement on the portrait version below (which I hate) edited a week ago.

Ness Glen

2010-11-26T23:03:00.003Z

Another new discovery but I'll need to try in different light/time of day as the sun was shining straight down the glen making shooting the myriad of opportunity's extremely difficult.

November ICe

2010-11-26T00:11:00.002Z

Jagged Rock

2010-11-19T22:25:00.003Z

I thought I'd try this spot again as I probably haven't been here for over a year and never when all the leaves are off the trees. Added to which I should know what I'm doing by now with the camera and PS lol... a slight improvement just ISO100... f/9.5.. 1.5sec

2010-11-18T22:21:00.002Z

The strange thing about taking this shot today was the foot with the leaky wellie boot filled with water was warmer that the foot in the watertight boot which felt like it would drop off with the cold.

Neolithic Banksy

2010-11-13T22:18:00.011Z

These should click to as large a blogger allows. Some of over 200 cup and ring marks from this spot dating from the neolithic to early bronze age... in other words a 1000 years of graffiti... and I love it! I'm tempted to try a pano on this just to get them all in, considering it's classed in the top 10 sites in the UK and in my opinion beats Kilmartin Argyle by a long shot!

Not only that word must spread fast. these only discovered in 1986.... but standing next to me while taking these shots were folk from Anchorage Alaska and I a relative local only found out they wiz here two weeks ago... not sure what that says about me eh ;)

September Thoughts

2010-11-12T23:04:00.000Z

Solar Power

2010-11-12T20:48:00.000Z

Roman

2010-11-11T21:44:00.003Z

Not the best off shots of the old Roman bridge, distinct lack of contrast as the midday sun was directly behind me :(

Rush On Bye Bye Bye bye

2010-11-11T21:37:00.002Z

bit of an echo here

ice

2010-11-10T23:00:00.002Z

Not something I usually do but found the link to this video over on The mindful Eye and quite liked it.

Skate: Väsman 2009-01-02 from Tobbe Arnesson on Vimeo.

Ripples Beneath

2010-11-09T22:16:00.002Z

At one time the worlds largest masonry span arch started 1846.

Chuckies

2010-11-09T21:44:00.002Z

Had a lot of computer problems over the last day or two just glad to be back posting :)

Clouds Over Ailsa Craig

2010-11-07T13:18:00.002Z

Permission

2010-11-06T21:00:00.001Z

Failure of a Portrait artist

2010-11-05T21:34:00.010Z

I always said I was crap at portraits! I always cut the heid aff.. and why do some(the wife) always insist the don't need a jaikit on a trip, it's no that caul they say...then find they do need one leavin you founert?!

I've added this flipped version to late (should have been first/only) which I think has the stronger composition.

Down Mauchline Way

2010-11-02T23:02:00.003Z

I wish I'd researched this place before going I only had a rough idea where it was and had to follow my nose to find it. If I had I'd have realised that there are over 200 cup and ring markings unique to the area. Dating to between Neolithic to early Bronze age carved over a time-scale of around a 1000 years. The markings should have eroded long ago being carved in sandstone but the sandstone in the Mauchline |Gorge in an unusual "hard sandstone". They lay undiscovered until 1986 hard to believe especially considering the site is regarded as one of the top 10 most important "Cup and Ring" sites in Britain. Looks like a good excuse to head back on another shoot :)

Red Rocks

2010-11-01T22:18:00.005Z

Great how it takes a guy way up in the Isle of Skye to suggest a great wee location virtually in your own back yard that you knew nothing about.

Browser

2010-10-30T23:07:00.002+01:00

For some reason I've just looked at this blog on IE instead of firefox and was shocked to find that my carefully crafted background just shows up white! The big shiny red tab bar at the top of the page that has tabs for home, about, cv to date, critique etc etc is totally invisible on IE damn what next!!!!?

Deils Night Apparitions

2010-10-30T21:37:00.005+01:00

Donnie spook to soon as regarding witches cheers Donnie!! :) A single 30sec exposure!! It's not by intention but for some reason I always end up here at this time o' year?? Apparently the 5th most haunted place in the country ( I don't know why!!) Alloway Old Kirk yard the setting for Tam O' Shanter by Robert Burns.

Banks of the Minnoch

2010-10-30T12:51:00.001+01:00

Rabbies Hoose

2010-10-28T23:54:00.001+01:00

The birthplace of poet Robert Burns hopefully a wee bit different from the norm!

In the Fall

2010-10-27T23:38:00.002+01:00

Soft Proofing

2010-10-26T21:55:00.006+01:00

I haven't posted anything for a day or two as I'm trying to get to grips with soft proofing and the ICC profile for the printing firm I hope to use. If I can get the printing right and the shots to look the way I want.... then I might even have a try at selling some in an interested coffee shop chain. That's if I can even find shots I think are worth printing, don't know which is the more difficult :)))

Anyway here is another shot in the ongoing combat series of shots :)) Interestingly this has been viewed by over 300 people and no one has spotted THEM

click pic to enlarge

Goin Off Along

2010-10-23T16:32:00.000+01:00

Another Burn

2010-10-23T12:43:00.000+01:00

The One I should have

2010-10-20T22:44:00.006+01:00

worked on last night lol it was trying to rain in this one also

Autumn on the Minnoch

2010-10-20T00:10:00.001+01:00

Autumn Burn

2010-10-19T23:49:00.000+01:00

ISO100 f/9.5 4sec

It was a choice between two edits tonight and I just couldn't make up my mind which. Eventually I went with this one and decided at the very end a crop helped the composition. Although the crop was the right way to go, it suddenly showed the other image had perhaps the stronger composition and I should have gone with it.

Me thinks I'll need to alter my work-flow slightly and try various crops at the beginning duh! I've also desaturated the banking at the top of the shot to help contain the eye something I don't think I'd need to do with the other... the opposite perhaps being the case duh duh!!!

Old Roman Bridge

2010-10-18T23:03:00.001+01:00

Sorry a bit of a rush post I'll try to get around my contacts later tonight.

I haven't been here at the Roman bridge down in (wild) Galloway since I upgraded to the DSLR well over a year ago. A fact that needed to be remedied, so I spent today dodging some pretty hefty rain showers trying to grab a shot in between.

And I have to say there is nothing better than sheltering below a holy tree beside the Minnoch while it pours with the sun beaming down all at the same time!

River Haze

2010-10-12T22:25:00.004+01:00

And the part of the river featured in Tam O' Shanter by Robert Burns

By this time he was cross the ford,
Whare, in the snaw, the chapman smoor'd;
And past the birks and meikle stane,
Whare drunken Chairlie brak 's neck-bane;
And thro' the whins, and by the cairn,
Whare hunters fand the murder'd bairn;
And near the thorn, aboon the well,
Whare Mungo's mither hang'd hersel'.--
Before him Doon pours all his floods;
The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;
The lightnings flash from pole to pole;
Near and more near the thunders roll:
When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,
Kirk-Alloway seem'd in a bleeze;
Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing;
And loud resounded mirth and dancing.

Jacob

2010-10-11T23:49:00.006+01:00

Back after my broadband has miraculously self-healed (while on the phone for the third time to the ISP) after days and three different explanations from the ISP who say they did nothing to restore it

Carrick Lane

2010-10-07T22:52:00.004+01:00

I just realised at the end of this edit that using the recovery slider in ACR added artefacts to the shot right at the beginning... so in theory it should have been better than this!! I took a short cut and used a RAW file with a sky that was to blown out and recovered it only to end up with ghosting along the tree line and it must be in the cloud also. This could never even be printed the best of it is if I'd been more careful (known this could happen) it could have been recovered without the artefacts. But really I should have used one of the other files... damn that learning curve :))

Peace (galloway)

2010-10-06T23:22:00.000+01:00

Whitespout Lane

2010-10-05T21:56:00.002+01:00

click pics' to enlarge

Balloch Castle B&W

2010-10-04T23:21:00.001+01:00

A slightly better day weather wise at Balloch Castle today to say the least It's an eleven-sided curtain-walled castle one of the finest and best preserved examples in the country. Originally sighted on an island at the southern end of Loch Doon hewn from blocks of ashlar that have stood the test of time sinse the 13th century and part of the Earls of Carrick lands ie Robert the Bruce

Fading Light

2010-10-02T22:39:00.000+01:00

Really not sure about this one

Rain

2010-10-01T23:27:00.003+01:00

Carrick Lane

2010-09-30T23:05:00.004+01:00

Lane what lane?? Hereabouts a lane is also a small river burn confusing to some. The Whitespout Lane and the Eglin Lane flow and combine to make what you see here the Carrick Lane that runs into Loch Doon at the southern end of the Loch.

In Dark Places

2010-09-30T22:25:00.002+01:00

Repetition

2010-09-28T22:27:00.001+01:00

Through The Brambles

2010-09-27T22:46:00.004+01:00

I could hear this small waterfall but trying to get to it was tricky the first three attempts were blocked and failed. Eventually after following a sheep trail through gorse and down a steep slope I managed to get to it. A 30sec exposure taken at 2pm in bright sunshine not a cloud in the sky with just a polariser and an ND4 @f/9.5.... yes it was that dark and gloomy down in there!

Darkwood

2010-09-25T23:50:00.001+01:00

Tomb With a View and the Crimea

2010-09-24T22:34:00.006+01:00

Graveyard.... founded by the Earl of Carrick in 1193 around the time when William I 'the Lion', King of Scotland was about, he who founded the Auld Alliance with France, unfortunately he was captured at Alnwick and forced to acknowledge Henry II as Scotland's overlord in 1174.

I digress back to the graveyard, Kirkbride it's pertinents was granted to the convent of Cistercian nuns at North Berwick in whose possession it remained until the Reformation.

As to one of the occupants below this cold stone he was in the Scots Greys and participated in the charge of the heavy brigade (yes heavy not light) at Balaclava. We have all heard of the charge of the light brigade at Balaclava technically a military disaster, less so the charge of the heavy brigade a success, under no less difficult circumstances/odds.

Lord Tennyson who wrote a his more famous poem about the charge of the light brigade also wrote a lesser known poem about the charge of the heavy brigade.

Here's a wee snippet from the poem.... the full version can be found HERE

"The charge of the gallant three hundred, the Heavy Brigade!"

Down the hill, down the hill, thousands of Russians,
Thousands of horsemen, drew to the valley - and stay'd;
For Scarlett and Scarlett's three hundred were riding by
When the points of the Russian lances arose in the sky;
And he call'd "Left wheel into line!" and they wheel'd and obeyed.
Then he looked at the host that had halted he knew not why,
And he turn'd half round and he bad his trumpeter sound
To the charge, and he rode on ahead, as he waved his blade
To the gallant three hundred whose glory will never die-
"Follow", and up the hill, up the hill, up the hill,
Follow'd the Heavy Brigade.

Sheep and Cloud

2010-09-22T22:44:00.001+01:00

Behind Twisted Oaks 2

2010-09-22T22:11:00.003+01:00

The last shot from Hermitage down in the borders. In October 1566 it was visited by Mary Queen of Scots, when she heard the Earl Of Bothwell who held the castle at that time was injured in a fight with border reivers. She rode the 25 miles from Jedburgh to be with him. As she was still married to Lord Darnley she could not stay at Hermitage with the Earl of Bothwell so after a short two hours she returned the 25 miles back to Jedburgh, en route she stumbled into a bog (marsh) and contracted "man flu" (a cold) from which she nearly died. click pic to bigger it

Behind Twisted Oaks

2010-09-21T23:11:00.005+01:00

Just couldn't get a decent angle to include the river and the castle to show Hermitage castle to it's best because of the trees. Some brutal architecture in a brutal landscape miles from anywhere (let me tell you!!) created for brutal times in the heart of wild border country, the Scottish borders.

Originally built around 1240, firstly just a wooden Norman Mott and Bailey castle later built in stone around 1371 to 1390

As this shot was taken in the harsh light of the early afternoon I wasn't to happy with the resultant blue-green casts in the colour version. Even after some colour correction I still thought there was to much of a green cast, so it called for a B&W conversion! Using a simple blend of the red and green channels. I posted both for comparison but it's the B&W for me... click pics to bigger them :)

The Gate

2010-09-17T22:05:00.003+01:00

Not much time to post due to ultra slow PC and heading off to Reiver country hopefully as far as Lindisfarne and hopefully taking a few shots.... hopefully!

Taken for RGB assignment

2010-09-13T21:14:00.001+01:00

Not That I'm repetative or anything ;)

2010-09-12T22:37:00.005+01:00

The colour version, only cause I likes the colour in the sea and bein of a sanguine disposition I hope it doesn't bore to much :) a sanguine disposition I hope it doesn't bore :)

Crash Bang Splash b&w

2010-09-11T22:30:00.000+01:00

Wynd

2010-09-10T22:23:00.002+01:00

September

2010-09-09T23:32:00.001+01:00

When September Comes

2010-09-08T23:39:00.002+01:00

Spoiled somewhat by to much noise (and i never get around to removing noise in my shots) I didn't check my ISO when I started shooting again grrrr!

Slide Show

2010-09-05T23:23:00.007+01:00

Aldis 500 cost £25-18'-6' new, average working weekly wage at the time £5-10 quid. Full working order with spare bulb, what more could you ask for! Not withstanding the fact that me old grandfaither was trying to electrocute me from beyond the grave with some dodgy wiring which blew the fuse when I was holding it (thee projector ... when the live wire contacted with the all metal casing.. MOST unlike him!!!! especially for a man at ninety who rewired his house. In mitigation it was the original wiring so perhaps I can't blame him. Needless to say for this shot I sorted the wiring :)