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Hong Kong Nights

2011-12-03T04:15:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong skyline from The Mount. Canon 7D, EF-S 10-22 @ 17mm, ISO100, f4, 3sec

Well, after a month on holiday we're back in Glasgow. The wallet's empty but my hard drive is certainly full. It's just about grinding to a halt with all the pictures on it. Now the task of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Should keep me busy for many an hour. In the mean time here are some night pictures of the Hong Kong skyline. It's a hard place to get amazing shots as the sky is rarely clear from haze as you can see from the above picture.

The daily light show "Symphony of Lights" where over 40 buildings light up in time to music.
Canon 7D, EF-S 10-22 @ 10mm, ISO100, f6.3, 8sec

Canon 7D, TS-E24mm, ISO100, f16, 20sec

Canon 7D, EF 24-70 @58mm, ISO100, f2.8, 1.3sec

Hong Kong Island

2011-11-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Canon 7D, Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II, f16, 20sec

Well, yet again the weekly blog has taken a slow turn. However goodbye wet and windy Scotland, hello Hong Kong and hello to cheap (ish) camera equipment, hello to a new 24mm Canon tilt and shift lens and hello no more converging verticals and to 50 megapixel panoramic shots like this one. The shift function is amazing. 3 shots taken at various horizontal shifts and stitched together in Photoshop. Because the lens keeps the same plane the whole time there is none of the bending of perspective that comes with wide angle lenses and therefore no information is lost. This is definitely my new favourite toy!!

Kotor, Montenegro

2011-09-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally managed to get my camera out again after many months of studying followed by a period of life's bane, work. It has however, taken me to Montenegro for the first time and it turns out it's quite beautiful. The town of Kotor (a UNESCO world heritage site) lies in a bay surrounded on all sides by mountains. The picture above was taken from a fort on the hill above the town. The old city walls run from sea level all the way up to this point.

A view of the old town with the ubiquitous cruise ship in the bay.

Sun setting as we started up the walls.

The old city walls running up into the mountain.

Badelona

2011-04-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22@14mm, F22, 0.3S, ISO100

The beach at Badelona, a few kilometers along the coast from Barcelona. Not too sure what these pyramids are for but they've done a nice job of turning them into art. Was quite disappointing after getting up at 6am to have such a dull sunrise but you can't have it all.

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm@12mm, f16, 1/4s, ISO100

I think this is an old power station but I've not managed to find any info about it. It can't be that long since it was in service as on google maps there's steam coming out of one of the chimneys. Some of the graffiti around the perimeter wall is quite stunning.

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm@12mm, f10, 1/60s, ISO100

A view from the road side.

Lady Birds

2011-03-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f9.0, 1/125, ISO200

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f13, 1/320, ISO640

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f13, 1/250, ISO640

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f5.6, 1/250, ISO640

After another hiatus in posting, and photography really to be honest, it's about time I got something on the blog. This week we were inundated with lady birds on board the boat. We had literally hundreds of them all over the deck. I think it must be breeding time as that appeared to be one of the main pass times while they were here. That and getting squished by unsuspecting shoes. They really are tricky little things to get a decent shot of. Took hundreds of shots and only kept a few, but at about 8mm long and quite evasive when you get close, it's not surprising not too many came out well. They all seem to be well dusted with pollen too. They could have made a bit more effort for the camera. For those who are interested I believe these are seven spotted lady bird or Coccinella Septempunctata to give it it's full title. The most common lady bird in Europe

Callanish round 2

2011-02-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the best of the rest of my shots from last night

The sun going down on a beautiful evening.

The almost full (it was full moon's eve) rising.

A different view of the Callanish Stones.

2011-02-17T16:41:00.000-08:00

It's pretty cool what you can do with a couple of torches. I took a load of shots at the Callanish stones tonight. None are edited, just as shot with long exposures, a mini Maglight and a 1,000,000 candle power torch. It's my first real go at painting with light and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

This is probably one of my favourites. Taken just before I packed up.
f5.5/Exp 120sec 10-22mm@17mm ISO100

My first attempt with the Maglite and floodlight. The moon was so bright you can see the shadows it casts in all the pictures.
f4.5/Exp 201sec 10-22@21mm ISO100

f5/Exp 157sec 10-22@19mm ISO100

f4.5/Exp 198sec 10-22@18mm Special prize for naming the constellation in the top left.

f5.3/Exp 53sec 10-22mm@18mm ISO100

An old cottage beside the 2nd circle at Callanish.
f4.5/Exp 174sec 10-22mm@13mm ISO100

I've taken plenty more which I'll probably load up soon.

Tribidabo, Barcelona

2011-01-18T04:49:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while now since I posted. A busy month has passed in the shipyard in Barcelona. Great spot for Christmas and New Year though. Missed all the snow in the UK which is a mixed blessing. None of the transportation difficulties for me in the sun but no opportunity to go skiing or climbing. Anyway I'm back in Scotland now so hopefully there will be some more snow in the highlands and I can get out to the mountains.
In the mean time here are a couple of shots from Tribidabo which sits on the hill above Barcelona.

I'd just like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the best for 2011

Burj Khalifa

2010-12-16T12:42:00.000-08:00

After 3 weeks at sea I've not had a huge amount of time to get the camera out unfortunately. This was a picture I took last winter in Dubai, not long after the Burj Khalifa was competed. At 828 m (2,717 ft) it's the tallest man made structure ever built (for now at least). It was quite a hazy shot to begin with and I've been playing around with layer modes in photoshop lately and thought it could improve this image. I used a copy layer with hard light style at 100% opacity and then another copy layer set to multiply at 35% opacity. The original is below for comparison.

Canon 7D, Canon 18-135 @ 118mm, ISO 100, f5.5, 1/640

Suez Canal Bridge

2010-12-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f3.5, 1/80

Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f5, 1/30

Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f5, 1/15

Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f3.5, 1/60

Apologies if this makes anyone a little seasick. I' not usually a fan of squint horizons but I thought I'd throw this one on there anyway.
Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f3.5, 1/60

We've been at sea for 2 weeks now which doesn't do a huge amount for a hobby like photography. The odd tanker on the horizon not making the greatest subject matter.
I had been looking forward to trying to get a couple of shots of this bridge which crosses the Suez Canal though. It's a very impressive structure with a height above water of 70m, giving a Suez Max height of 68m for vessels.
The bridge is also known as Mubarak Peace Bridge or the Egyptian-Japanese friendship bridge as for some reason 60% of the cost of construction was footed by the Japanese.
The bridge is 3.9 km (2.4 mi) long, consists of a 400-metre (1,300 ft) cable stayed main span and two 1.8-km (1.1 mi) long approach spans. The height of the two main pylons supporting the main span is 154 metres (505 ft) each. The towers were designed in the shape of Pharaonic obelisks.
Was hoping to get to the bridge a little earlier than we did. The sun had set a good hour before we actually sailed under it so much boosting of ISO to be done.

Sheikh Zayed Mosque

2010-11-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

The main entrance to the mosque. I was setting up to take this shot and the guy in the picture just walked in front of me and sat down. Was quite annoyed at first but now I'm glad he was there. Gives a good sense of scale to the shot.
Canon 7D, Canon 10-22 @22mm, ISO100, f11, 1/200s

Another shot of the front of the main mosque. This outside courtyard is also used for prayers and the mosque can hold 40000 worshipers, 9000 indoors and 31000 outside. As you can see, there weren't too many there that day, it was 8am though.
Canon 7D, 10-22 @10mm, ISO100, f9, 1/250s, -1/3ev

A view from the road outside.
Canon 7D, 18-135 @ 30mm, ISO100, f10, 1/200s

One of the side entrances and tiled pools
Canon 7D, 18-135 @ 24mm, ISO100, f6.6, 1/100s

A closer view of the main building entrance. The whole building is clad with white marble imported from Greece.
Canon 7D, 18-135@18mm, ISO100, f11, 1/320

Inside the main prayer room looking into the main dome. This is the worlds largest chandelier, manufactured in Germany. The main room also holds the worlds largest carpet at 5627m²
Canon 7D, 10-22 @10mm, ISO 100, f3.5, 1/25s

A view down on of the outside corridors and intricate roof detailing.
Canon 7D, 10-22 @ 10mm, ISO100, f7.1, 1/125, +.67ev

More of the external ceiling details
Canon 7D, 10-22@10mm, ISO100, f5.6, 1/100

Canon 7D, 10-22@22mm, ISO100, f4.5, 1/60s, -.33ev

Yas Marina GP, Abu Dhabi

2010-11-19T01:42:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel. This shot was taken a couple of days after the race during post season testing at the circuit.
Canon 7D, EF 24-70@70mm, 1/250 sec, f8.0, ISO100

A few shots from around the Yas Hotel. Stunning building. Only downside is that all those colour changing lights on the canopy never all stay working for more than a few days.

Rainbow

2010-11-13T04:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted. A holiday, a week left of leave and a lot of traveling and I'm now back at work with a lot of pictures on my laptop and I'm not sure where to start. So here are a couple of black and white conversions I've done. Taken on the Isle of Lewis. The first one I decided was quite dull in colour, even if it did have a double rainbow in it. Did a black and white conversion in photoshop and used a path to create a selection of the rainbow. Used the refine edge option to blend in the selection with the surrounding sky and then deleted the black and white rainbow section of the layer.

Second is just a straight black and white conversion from the Gearrannan blackhouse village done in photoshop.

London village

2010-10-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

An HDR of Tower Bridge. 3 wxposures blended with photomatix

The forward guns on board HMS Belfast, B&W conversion, clouds bodged to add a bit of atmosphere.

Side guns with the main mast above.

Another HDR taken of HMS Belfast taken from the south bank.

This sculpture resides in a small shopping arcade on the south bank. I love its quirkiness.

All shots taken with my wee Canon S90. HDR exposures done using a gorillapod.

Stornoway at sunset

2010-10-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

The wicker lady in Lews Castle Grounds in Stornoway. I really like this sculpture and have been trying to take a shot of her at twilight for a few days. Unfortunately the bright spotlight to her left keeps burning out the sky. I'll probably post another picture in the future when I take out a set of step ladders and a jacket to throw over the light.

Canon 7D, Canon EF24-70 @28mm, ISO100, f4, 30sec

Twilight on a lovely calm night in Stornoway.

Canon 7D, Canon EF 24-70 @35mm, ISO100, f20, 30sec

A short while later. Unfortunately a couple of boats came through the harbour and caused some ripples on the water. Some nice effects from the car lights going along the harbour front though which I quite like.

Canon 7D, EF 24-70 @35mm, ISO 100, f10, 30sec

Another sculpture in front of Lews Castle. The sky turned out a lot better in this shot than with the wicker lady. Lens wouldn't focus in the low light so bit of guesswork on manual focus. Could be a little sharper in the foreground but hey ho.

Canon 7D, Canon EF24-70 @ 24mm, ISO 100, f2.8, 30sec

The wicker lady in front of the castle. The castle could be very photogenic but there are 3 different colours of lights and the left side of the building isn't lit up at all (hence the blown out highlights on the tower).

Canon 7D, Canon EF24-70 @ 34mm, ISO 100, f2.8, 25sec

Turbine

2010-10-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of the 3 wind turbines on the road to Grimshader in Lochs on the Isle of Lewis. I have to say I find these machines quite mesmerising to look and almost beautiful in a way but I'm not sure I'd like to have hundreds of them on my doorstep as was proposed for the island.

This shot was a bit of a pain. I had my tripod but had forgotten my remote control so had to rely on the timer function in order to try and get the blades in the right position. After about 40 attempts I decided I wasn't going to get any better than this and called it a day.

Canon 7D, Canon EF 24-70 @ 30mm, ISO 100, f22, 1/25

Glen Coe

2010-09-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

Another archive shot this week. I'm now on leave from the boat but it seams I'm busier on leave than when I'm at work. As such I've not had the camera out for a couple of weeks so here's a shot I took in April. In the background is the Buachaille Eite Mòr at the southern end of Glen Coe. This cottage sits beside the road on the way to the ski centre. I camped here for the night before climbing a couple of the surrounding mountains the next day.

The shot is HDR, tonemapped using Photomatix Pro. 3 shots -2 ev, 0, +2 ev

Rothesay Castle

2010-09-15T02:39:00.000-07:00

Canon 7D, Canon 18-135mm @ 135mm, ISO100, f36, 0.4sec

Now that I've arrived back in bonny Scotland I thought I'd post these pictures from Rothesay castle on the Isle of Bute. I took them last time I was home and been meaning to post them for a while. I had intended to do some HDR images but once I'd done a black and white conversion in Aperture 3 I was pretty pleased with the result anyway.

Canon 7D, Canon 18-135 @ 77mm, ISO100, f36, 0.3sec

Dry Dock

2010-09-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

Just spent a few days in dry dock. You'll never guess where. Been a bit too busy to get out and about with the camera but here are a couple of shots from round the dock.

Jaume Plensa round 2

2010-08-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add these ones to my last post but here are another couple of this fantastic sculpture.

Jaume Plensa

2010-08-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Over the winter this sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa appeared on the newly refurbished battlements by the quay in Antibes. It's a fantastic structure which I've been admiring and wanting to photograph all summer.
Canon 7D
Canon 10-22mm lens @18mm
ISO200, f11, 1/250

I've been waiting 2 months to be around when the moon was full and get a shot with the sculpture lit up and when it's at its most impressive.
Canon 7D
Canon 18-135 lens @18mm
ISO100, f5.6, 5sec, Canon speedlight +2ev exposure comp.

While I was waiting I got a couple of shots of this yacht in the moonlight which I quite like.
Canon 7D
Canon 18-135 lens @100mm
ISO100, f6.3, 1/80

Canon 7D
Canon 18-135 lens @ 47mm
ISO100, f8.0, 8sec

Malta

2010-08-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

On a recent visit to Malta a few of us paid homage to the late great Oliver Reed by paying a visit to "The Pub" where he had his last drinks (I believe they were many), had a little snooze in the corner, which was a fairly regular occurrence and never woke up. As a tribute we had several pints in his honor. He died during the filming of the movie Gladiator which had to be completed by a double and his head was added to the figure by CGI.

The old town of Malta has some fantastic architecture. I'd love to be able to tell you more about this building but being a Sunday everything was closed.

This is one of the many old buses that run around the island. I didn't get a chance to photograph any more unfortunately but hopefully will be there again soon to record these fantastic machines before they disappear. Malta's entry to the EU will unfortunately be the demise of beautiful old vehicles such as these but to be fair when you stand beside one and it belches black smoke at you you can understand the legislation.

The attention to detail on these buses is exquisite. Union Jack a funny touch considering this is one of the very few buses that's not actually British on the island. Most are old Bedfords and Leylands.

Corinth Canal

2010-08-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Aegina entrance

Midway through

A tight squeeze!! Picture courtesy of Nathan Ward, Chief Engineer

All these years at sea and I still only had one of the big canals under my belt, the Panama. It is the biggest though and quite an experience.

Recently we sailed through the Corinth Canal, connecting the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf. Quite a feet of engineering in its day. The idea was conceived as far back as the 7th century BC by the tyrant Periander who instead built an overland passage for ships. Construction of the canal wasn't actually completed until 1893.

At 21m wide it's far too narrow for most modern vessels and even our boat takes up more than half the width. The 52m high walls are spectacular especially set against the contrasting azure colour of the water.

Suez here I come!!

The originals

2010-08-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

As requested by Mark, and his post on Helmsley Castle .here are the original shots from the Palace of the Grand Masters. As Adrian rightly pointed out, blown highlights do look pretty naff in a colour photo. I had thought about getting the tripod out and shooting some bracketed shots for HDR but always intended to convert these to b&w so decided against it. I rather like the shape the sunlight leaves as it shines over the steps.

I use both apple's Aperture and Photoshop for processing. Using a Mac, Aperture is an obvious choice and has some great features with a really straight forward library system. It is however lacking many of the features that even Photoshop elements throws in.

Anyway these 2 images were both edited in Aperture. First things first, goodbye to the people sitting on the bench. Used the clone brush to erase them from the scene.

Secondly was to reduce chromatic aberration which seams to be the plague of modern wide angle lenses. Not sure it makes much difference when converting to black and white but I just do it out of habit these days.

Next was black and white conversion. I left the colour balances as they were from the conversion. Aperture gives you a choice of red, green and blue which is a fraction of what Photoshop offers.
Next was the boost in contrast. Ordinarily I steer clear of too much contrast adjustment in colour pictures but b&w can be pushed with excellent results.

One great feature of Aperture is the definition slider. It brings out the details without adding to the contrast. It's probably the main reason I used Aperture over Photoshop this time as it quickly does what might take several steps in PS and really boosts the detail in the stonework.

Lastly was some dodging and burning. I used the burn brush to darken round the blown out highlights and bring back lost detail from the increase in contrast. Also round the edges to add some drama and draw the eye into the centre of the image. Then used the dodge brush to lighten some of the ceiling areas and in particularly the lamp holder in the portrait image as this had lost all detail.

And that's the finished article. 2 reasonable shots for not too much processing.

Rhodes

2010-07-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Inside the Palace of the Grand Masters in Rhodes old town. There's something very photogenic about vaulted ceilings.

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm @10mm, ISO 640, f7.1, 1/250

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm @ 10mm, ISO 200, f5, 1/80

A cliché I know, but couldn't resist the colours of the paint and wood against the mustard wall.

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22m @ 18mm, ISO 200, f4.5, 1/100

A beautiful morning

2010-07-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

The lovely old town of Rovinj in Croatia. Can't decide if I prefer portrait (all of the reflection) or the landscape (more of the town itself). Like the fact that the moon is still in the shot though. Was taken a couple of summers ago in the early morning before the regular daytime winds.

Both shots
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: Canon 10-22mm @ 22mm
ISO 100, f4.5, 1/400
Adjustments to levels and contrast made in photoshop

Somewhere off Corsica

2010-07-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

Been a busy couple of weeks so not much opportunity to get the camera out unfortunately. Snapped this sunset one evening through the side rails whilst sailing along the Corsican coast.

Amalfi

2010-07-18T00:33:00.000-07:00

Early morning off the coast of Amalfi, Italy.

It's work Jim, but not as we know it!

2010-06-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

Antibes is one of the main hubs for superyachts on the French Riviera. This year more than any other there are a lot of pretty big boats around. The following is a view of the international quay or IYCA (International Yacht Club d'Antibes) from the opposite side of the marina.

As some of you probably know I'm an engineer on board one of these nice vessels. It's a pretty good way of getting some year round sunshine. On the other hand there are some interesting live aboards in the marina. The following boat is permanently occupied and named ça suffit, or "good enough" in English. Quite amusing considering the overwhelming wealth surrounding it.

Antibes itself is has a lovely old town with some extremely expensive bars. There's also an old fort on the opposite side of the marina from the IYCA. Here's a snap with some dramatic weather coming our way.

And finally a picture of my boat (well, not mine, but maybe one day!!)

A little more of the Outer Hebrides.

2010-06-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

The community boat An Sulaire getting a bit of TLC in Stornoway harbour. An Sulaire trust is a registered charity which owns and sails the only full size Sgoth Niseach (Ness Boat) in existence. You can check out the website at http://www.ansulaire.com/

A panoramic of Tarbert. The main town on the Isle of Harris and the connecting point to the Isle of Skye. The Ferry link span can be seen on the right. Unfortunately the Calmac ferry Hebridean Isles had just sailed and gone round the headland before I took the pictures. The picture consists of 8 shots stitched together in Photoshop. Hopefully I'll get it again one day when the weather is a bit more clement and the ferry is in view.

North, South, East and West

2010-06-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

Firstly The Butt of Lewis

Next, not quite as south as you can get but Horgabost beach in Harris is getting there

A view from my Dad's house in Point on the east coast

Finally Dalbeg beach on the west coast

As I've just been on the islands I thought I'd load a small selection of my Isle of Lewis pictures. Unfortunately I was incapacitated due to a badly sprained ankle so couldn't get out and about too much. It's the perfect time of year to take photos up there at the moment as the dreaded midgy hasn't come into full force just yet.

Coming home

2010-06-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Looking from Stornoway towards Tolsta with Tong, Coll, Back and Gress in between.

Looking east over Broad Bay with Point in the distance and the mountains of the mainland on the horizon.

Another view towards Tolsta with Tong sands in the foreground.

The village of Coll where I grew up. Tiumpan Head light house can just be seen in the top right.

Another shot towards Tong over the sands, Sandwick in the foreground.

Coll beach in the center of the shot. My local beach as a kid.

Stornoway looking south west.

A closer shot of the town. Goat island on the left and the castle grounds on the opposite side of the bay.

The offending plane. Not exactly a jumbo but pretty expensive for the owner I'd imagine.

It's not very often you get put into a holding pattern when you're flying into Stornoway. I wasn't even aware of a holding pattern on the island. I thought you could just cruise around at your leisure. The co-pilot came across the tannoy to announce that an aircraft had crashed on the 2nd runway and they were awaiting assistance from the fire service. This half an hour sojourn above Stornoway and the surrounding area gave some fantastic opportunities to take a few snaps. They came out surprisingly well considering the scratched state of aircraft windows. Quite a few did have to be discarded due to the engine exhaust getting in the shot.

Colletta

2010-05-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Pictured top is the picturesque village of Colletta, a few miles inland from the Italian Riviera. The medieval village was in ruins by the mid 20th century but has been completely restored in recent years.

Both shots above are HDR compositions of 3 shots + and - 2 stops in RAW. All taken with my little Canon S90 mounted on a gorillapod.