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Hugin for panoramas: GW2 edition
Wednesday 6th June 2018
A long while back I wrote a guide to using the free panorama software Hugin with World of Warcraft screenshots. This guide is basically just an updated version of that, only using Guild Wars 2 as the screenshot source since I don't play WoW any more. Get Hugin Hugin can be downloaded from its SourceForge page: https://sourceforge.net/projects /hugin/files/latest/download Install it in the usua…
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Summer streets of London
Friday 1st June 2018
My work held its annual "let's all see how we did this year" meetup thing recently, except this one was much shorter than in previously, running only from 13:00 to 16:00. This meant a) I could get up at a normal time, since my train was at 7:30 and not, like, 5:00 or something ridiculous, and b) I could have a bit of time afterwards to explore London while I waited for my 19:00 train. My colleague…
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Carlton Marshes in fog
Saturday 26th May 2018
Another post with pictures from long after I made them! Getting to be a habit, although I'm not completely sure it's a bad one: letting the pictures stew for a bit blurs the experience of when I took them, forcing me to see them for what they are in themselves, uncoloured by my memories of the time. I'm mostly serious, but it's still partly an excuse for not updating my blog. Anyway. Carlton Marsh…
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Lowestoft before summer
Wednesday 16th May 2018
Winter didn't want to let go this year, clinging on until well into April. It's finally given over to Summer, which is a relief, both to my mood and to our energy bills. cold rocky groyne lifeguard station deserted beach small painted human figures on a fence stacked scaffolding poles abandoned sofa and armchair
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Yarmouth: remainder
Sunday 15th April 2018
I have rather been lax with my blog upkeep of late - looking after a 5-month-old baby will tend to have that effect. Still, Em is doing great, and even though I've not been posting, I have still been shooting. Not that this post is about anything recent: it's a collection of 'miscellaneous' pictures from our weekend away in Great Yarmouth a while back. big G from a 'BINGO' sign reflections in ch…
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Yarmouth: fronts
Wednesday 21st March 2018
A month ago, Zoe and I needed a break: work was stressing me out, and Zoe was having to take on all the housework duties. Since Emily was only 4 months old at the time, we didn't want to go far, so settled on Great Yarmouth, since it's only a short drive from where we live. February is not exactly tourist season, what with the freezing wind and frequent gloomy wet weather, but the chance to relax …
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Walking with baby
Sunday 25th February 2018
Although it's cold and wintry, last weekend the sun was out so Zoe and I decided to go for a walk in Dunwich Forest. Given the rough terrain we decided against Emily's pram and instead took the baby harness to put her in instead. yellow flowered bush in cleared forest land trees ready for logging Zoe at the end of the road forest path 1 forest path 2 archery range sign forest pond bench in the woo…
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Night and day, shadow and light
Sunday 11th February 2018
I didn't really appreciate just how much of one's time a baby takes up until Emily was born. It's not even just things like rarely having a moment alone; it's the other stuff, like major limits on spontaneity, especially in winter. Zoe and I can't just decide to go out somewhere now, as we need to consider how accessible it will be with a baby and maybe pram. Consequently this leaves less time for…
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The sea and the sun
Saturday 27th January 2018
My parents are staying at our house while the purchase of their new house grinds along. I don't get on well with them and have been feeling stressed lately, so Zoe and I took Em out for breakfast at the Lighthouse Café in Lowestoft, then for a walk along the seafront. A lovely shiny day it was, too! Cold, but good for clearing one's head. After being up and alert while Zoe and I ate breakfast, Em …
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Further darkness
Saturday 13th January 2018
As is common this time of year, the sky was quite heavily overcast. Despite the gloom, Zoe and I and my parents went to Norwich, primarily to look at beds for my parents' new house, but we also went for lunch at Giraffe. We took Em, who was again remarkably well-behaved despite the usual initial upset when we, big meanies that we are, put her in the car seat. Gosh she doesn't like being put in the…
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Afraid of the dark
Thursday 11th January 2018
The monochrome preset I usually use for my raw files in Capture One has a small amount of shadow boost applied, and I tend to increase it even more when there are large dark areas in an image. As I mentioned in a previous post , though, darkness isn't really a bad thing in pictures, depending on the feeling one is trying to evoke. Certainly for these pictures, taken on a dull overcast winter afte…
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Southwold Diptychs
Sunday 24th December 2017
The weather forecast said it'd be shiny at dawn today but that turned out not to be the case. Instead, it brightened up about 11 o'clock, so Zoe and I made the most of it and went to Southwold with Emily for a nice walk by the sea. As with yesterday I shot with the Acros +Y film simulation, and +2 highlights, +4 shadows. Generally it worked well, but there were a couple of cases where +4 shadows w…
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Acros is better than I thought
Saturday 23rd December 2017
Since I got my XT2, I've never really given the Acros film simulation a shot, but lately I've been trying it and been pleasantly surprised. I don't know if I just didn't have the right highlight and shadow contrast settings, but it's got a lot of subtleties that I hadn't appreciated before. The way the colour filters (e.g. Acros +Y) affect rendering is lovely - not too strong, but enough to make a…
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Winter sunrise at the beach
Tuesday 19th December 2017
I sleep too much, and poorly. I suspect the second thing is a result of the first, so I've resolved to try getting up earlier, since going to bed later isn't really an option as it would disturb my wife and baby daughter too much. contrails across the dawn sky And so! Up before dawn, although since it's winter that's not saying much; the sun doesn't rise until about half past 8. Still, it's nice t…