Monday, December 31, 2007

Great Dun Fell, Cumbria



Darren recently loaned me a book about Ansel Adams -- it made me want to give the ol' black and white landscape a shot. I can see why he preferred large format cameras -- there just isn't enough detail here. One could stitch a panorama to get more detail, except with a shot like this you're already at the limit of what most telephotos can zoom to -- this is effectively 320mm. I shot this as we were coming back from the Lake District. The white dome atop the mountain (Great Dun Fell, 2782 ft) is the Civil Aviation Authority's ATC radar.



Click to enlarge to 1024x768.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

London, 2007




Today's photo is a night shot of Big Ben and the houses of parliament in London, England, taken from Bridge Street. A passing doubledecker bus created the light streaks. I think Bridge Street is one of the most photographed places in London, as it has most of the iconic touristy landmarks in view -- Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, etc. And it's a stone's throw from Westminster.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Westminster Abbey at Night (free wallpaper)



Westminster Abbey in London at night, December 5th, 2007 (click to enlarge). This is an HDR photo composed of ten separate photos shot with a Canon 20D and a Canon 10-22 lens, tripoded and cable released (with numb fingers, thanks to the British cold!), combined and downsampled with Photoshop CS3.



Note that although you may use this as desktop wallpaper for personal use, any other uses require a license. As with all of my images, this image is (pending) registered copyright. :)



*edit* Here's a perspective corrected version (pan and tilt simulation) -- which one do you think works better?



Friday, December 28, 2007

Wigs!















My wife tries on wigs in the basement of a fashion clothing store in Harrogate, England. I like the French mousey look, myself. :)

Thursday, December 27, 2007

A few people pics












For today, I've picked a few snaps of people wandering around the Tower of London. I love the photographer; I know the feeling -- despite actually being there, you just can't help looking at the little preview screen to see what you've just taken a picture of. :)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Chapel of St. John the Evangelist




Today's photo was shot from inside the White Tower of The Tower of London. Built of French stone some time around 1080, Saint John's Chapel is the oldest church in London. Click to enlarge.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Children



This is shot from inside the armory at the Tower of London. Off to a side in an out-of-the-way nook, there was a window full of purple stained glass with one pane missing. Click to enlarge.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

American Airlines



A jumbo jet flies low over London, framed by two cranes. Telephoto snapshot; click to enlarge.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Ginormous London Panorama from Bridge Street



(Click to Enlarge)


Today's photo is of Big Ben, Parliment, and the London Eye -- a 360 degree panorama taken from Bridge Street. 16 photos total, stitched together with autostitch -- a very handy program! Note that this is a very large image if you click on it; however, it's still scaled down quite a bit, as the original is over 20,000 pixels wide!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Saint Mary Aldermary, City of London



HDR shot of the interior of St. Mary Aldermary in London, England. There has been a church at this site since at least 1200 A.D. This is a view to the east. John Milton, the poet, married his third wife in the church in 1663. I asked the man running the church what the story was on the slanted wall at the rear. Apparently, after the great fire of London in 1666, much of the church burned down. When they rebuilt it, there was a dispute between the city of London and the church as to where the property lines lie. The church, fed up with the city, just built the back wall directly along what they argued was their property line, figuring the city wouldn't knock the church down just to settle a dispute.



This is an "out of the way, completely normal" church in London. That is, it's a working church and is considered nothing special and definitely not a tourist destination. There are literally dozens of churches just like this, dotting the city.




Shot using a Canon EOS 20D with a Canon 10-22 EF-S lens, ISO 100, mirror lockup, tripoded, 13 shots at 1 stop bracket steps, merged and processed with Photoshop CS3.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Just got back



I just got back from a two week honeymoon in England, so I should have some new pictures to post soon. :)