NORTHERN LANDSCAPE ISSUE # 02 * MAY 2013
NORTHERN WINDS FEATURED WORK THE BIG CHALLENGE HDR TUTORIAL THIS IS (HI)STORY!
HAVING COFFEE WITH HEBRIDESLIGHT
COVER The Old Man at Sunrise by hebrideslight Isle of Skye, Scotland HDR using Photomatix and Photoshop Canon 40D with 10-22mm lens at 10mm ISO 100 – f8 – 8 exposures at 2ev intervals between 1/2000 and 1/15 sec Anyone who is familiar with the Isle of Skye will have seen the famous rock pinnacle of The Old Man of Storr as they drive north from Portree. I have passed there many times but the mountain has always been shrouded in mist until our trip there last week when we had glorious weather for several days. On this particular morning we had parked the camper van at the foot of the mountain so that I could get up there for the sunrise. There is a ‘classic’ shot of the Old Man from a distance from this side but I wanted to get a more intimate view closer to the pinnacle and so chose this viewpoint which enabled me to include the rising sun. Quite pleased with the result which is quite different to other photos I have seen of the Old Man.
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FROM THE EDITOR Direct to the point: The second edition of whatever (a music album, a show, an art exhibition, or in this case, a magazine) is always the hardest one to do. People have seen the first one and now they have an idea of what to expect. No matter how good or how bad the first edition was, the second one will have to fight hard against the image left on the first edition. And this is where all can go all the way down or in the best case scenario, go up in the clouds! I am trying to aim for the second possibility if you don’t mind!
Editor Chief
Anyway, now that the bar is set, I do feel that I need to explain some things to my group members. First off, I love you, don’t leave me! ahahah... And exactly like in every loving relationship, there are good and bad moments, fights and moments of joy and so on. Judging by the behaviour/reactions of some of my group members, I feel that I need to explain some of my attitudes, though I must not, but I do want to do it.
www.northernlandscape.org
João Figueiredo
Test readers Malin Lundgren, Daniela Monteiro, Sophie Brain
Graphic Artist João Figueiredo
Web site E-mail contact info@northernlandscape.org
Featured artist hebrideslight
When I sign a contract - no matter if it is a paper contract or a contract on internet which you sign by clicking in a button - I never do it without reading what I am agreeing to. YES, I am talking about the group rules and rejections, two things that are directly related with each other. It’s unbelievable the amount of users that submit works into the group that don’t comply with the rules, and when I speak about complying with the rules, curiously it is only 2 of them (there are 10!): 1) No location at all or no country; 2) Too much post editing on the photos like for instance and more specifically, “collage”; I have to admit that after two or three months I already got tired of bubblemailing some of you. This happened because after every single submission some of you do, I have to bubble mail or otherwise I will have to reject works. And this hurts because when I reject due to missing location, it means that in 99% of the cases it is AMAZING photography! So, because of that, I have started to refuse works based on the amount of bubblemails sent before (regarding the same issue). I’m
Northern Landscape Magazine • 3
FROM THE EDITOR
sorry... I don’t mean to make a “witch hunt” but I feel that some of you are starting to take this personally. Well don’t! Like any of you, I also have my own life: work, free time, family, etc. Incredible, huh? And RB is just a part of it. Now imagine how much time I spend mailing everyone about the same issue, over and over again... Can you understand now? You can always ask me: Why on earth these obsessions with the location and not too much post edition?? There is a very simple answer for that: It’s the group theme! Since I took over the group in February, I have been finding - in the moderation queue of the old works and as well on the new submissions - works that do not belong at all to the group. People try to submit all kinds of “garbage” you can imagine: Shots from Australia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, New Mexico, California, Croatia, Italy, pets, collages, etc... I think the name and the rules are pretty clear: Northen Landscape - Natural or man made. Not southern, not fantasy landscape, not anything else... But why do people “love to try” to break the rules, that is another discussion that will have no place here, at least today! My point was, if there is no control of the submissions, in the space of just 3 days we will have all kinds of stuff in our group and it will lose it’s theme. Is that what you really want? Do you really want to see your works mixed up with pets and collages? I want to create a place for our PHOTOGRAPHY from our “corner of the earth” to thw whole Earth! A place that you can come in and you see things that we all have in common, though we live spread across the world! A community! Nobody said it would be easy, and I was always aware of how hard it would be, but there is no need to take these things personal! Just think afterwards about why did I reject your work. Was it really the most adequate place for your work? Did it miss anything in the title/description? In case of any doubts, PLEASE, do contact me! I do not bite, and even if I would, I have all vaccines! :) I seriously hope that you stop taking this as a personal matter and enjoy being a part of this community as much as one can enjoy! And now, ladies and gentleman, your Northern Landscape Magazine, issue #2! Your host João Figueiredo
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Northern Landscape Magazine • 5
02 About the cover 03 From the editor & technical data 08 Northern winds 12 April features 78 The BIG Challenge ~ April 86 Featured artist 87 Having coffee with Raoul Madden + his Featured works
92 NLM photo tutorial #2 106 This is (hi)story! 112 Northern Landscape: Some facts 115 Back cover artist 116 Back cover
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INDEX
Northern Landscape Magazine • 7
Nord wind J
ust because we are having fun with our cameras, exhibiting our artwork, getting flattered and g walking on the walk of fame. While we are on our “bubble”, things keep on happening, politicia to make money, the sun keeps on rising and the rivers keep on running torwards the sea.
This month I decided therefore that I would dedicate some space of our magazine to talk about a q about what happens to your artwork after it is uploaded onto somewhere on the internet, DO READ
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den ds
Do you care about your photos? Do you care about your rights? Then you definitely want to read this!
geting some money with those same artworks, that doesn’t mean that world has stoped to watch us ans keep on doing their very much competentent work (?), new companies come up with new ways
quite boring issue. Boring but extremely important if you care about your artworks! So, if you do care THIS!
Northern Landscape Magazine • 9
D
o you upload your works on facebook? Instagram? Both? Other? Well... you might have a problem and you might not even know about it. For some days ago I came across this post from Janis Zroback on Redbubble who talks about this issue very often. Most of the times I don’t pay much atention because she speaks about things that I am already aware of, but this time was different. In her post called “All Your Pics Belong To Everyone Now....” (the title pretty much says it all...) she explains both in her post, links provided and answers to the coments how the UK has aproved a new law that is going to strike at our hearts, no exceptions, all of us, creative minds who paint, draw or photograph and upload our work online.
ones not!). Note well that I use the term “images” and not “photo” here. This means that any, and I mean any (for real) image that is found online with no watermark or registered copywriting is considered to be orphan, even if you have had it uploaded onto your Redbubble profile!! No matter if it is a photo, illustration, drawing, painting, etc...
So you can think like I tought in the beggining that this law would only affect UK artists and envolve UK companies. But I was just too naive!! This new UK law opens a “galactic” doorway to a new golden era of the ripping industry. Did you think that Pinterest was awfull? Well, get ready for more and worse! Companies from all over the world will be opening offices in the UK so that they can In her post, she provides a link to a newspa- exploit this new law and rip off literaly billions per from the UK (The Register). If you click of works from all over the world! Then, when in that link you can read the entire new. I they’re done, they will be making billions would like to copy it and with your artwork without paste it here, but I canyou even know it! And the not because I never got “The UK has just passed worse part: It is all legal! the permission of it’s a law that authorizes anyauthor to do it. But I will one (...) to use with any There is another way you make some coments to protect your uploadkind or purpose, in any can the article itself and the ed images: Through fillissue that we are here way any image found on ing all it’s metadata. In talking about. internet” other words, some kind of a “digital label” that says First things first: What is this all about? The that you are the author and the owner of that UK has just passed a law that authorizes image, along with the creation date and othanyone - no matter who, private or corporate ers. Are you already smiling and thinking “Oh, - to use with any kind or purpose, in any way that’s fine then, I always have that metadata - any image found on internet and that is so with my files...”? Well, don’t be naive again! called “orphan”. And now you ask: What is an If you have an artistic social media profile orphan image? An orphan image is an image like facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or othwithout any “parents” as the name says. An ers, than be sure that all of your uploaded image that nobody owns. Well, technicaly images have a huge-hard-to-remove-withthat doesn’t exist, does it? When I create photoshop-watermark, otherwise you are something and the owner is automaticaly as framed as anyone else due to those kind me, right? Well, not from now on... From of websites who automatically rip off all now on, and according to the article on The the metadata when you upload anything!! Register, you will only own the image if and So, from that moment on, not only they can only if you take active steps like register- use your material in their own advertisment ing the copywriting or setting a wattermark canpaigns (read the terms and conditions of that is not easilly removed by Photoshop your accounts please!) but as well they auto(for instance, small watermarks can be very matically transform your works into “orphan” easilly removed in Photoshop, while big ugly works, by other words, public domain.
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“So, now what? Am I completely on my back. But this wasn’t enough, said the politiown?? Shouldn’t there be any kind of law cians. Internet was a place without law and or mechanism who protects me from this it needed to be legislated. They never said kind of scheme?? Do I have to get used to how and we never really cared... Slowly we be riped off??” - Well... kind of! Like I said, are being pushed into some kind of capiyou can take active steps to ensure that talist /corporate modern dictacture (a bit you protect your images. like in the Hunger Games But that is very time con- “registering your copy- story - read the book if suming and like if it isn’t never did, so you right (wich should never you enough, it is also very can have a more clear expensive. Think about be needed due to the idea of what I am talkregistering copyright to Berne Convention that ing about) where we lose your entire portfolio... says that copyright is our freedom to become How many “images” do hostage of money and yours automatically) will you have? This is a pronice toys like internet, cess that is done case by provide you with some nice cars, nice and comcase and not by “whole super powers” fortable houses, fashion portfolio”. Now imagine clothes, gadgets like the the time and money in fees that you have to latest smartphone or iPad, and so on... More spend... and more these powerful lobbies are getting the upper hand and more and more we But, registering your copyright (wich - the creative people - are becoming nothshould never be needed due to the Berne ing more than just the cow that lives in the Convention that says that copyright is yours farmer’s barn within that tiny space, eating automatically) will provide you with some the whole day and being milked the whole super powers: your legal challenge is paid day long by some modern milking robot. for, you can get injunctive relief, and also claim statutory damages of up to $150,000 I wish I could say that there are groups making per infringement! a strong preassure on Mr. David Cameron’s government to withdraw or change this law, Back to Janis Zroback’s article, in one of the but unfortunately so far, and according to several comments I did, she provided me the information I have, all that there is are with two more links to have in consideration. threats of some US artists groups because Both are from professional artists that talk most of the people worldwide don’t even about this issue, though their articles are know about this! A law that was made and from before this UK law was even on discus- aproved under the table... sion. The first one is from Andrew D. Epstein and it is called “Did Someone Remove the Copyright Notice from your Photograph?” Thank you so much Mr. david and the second is from Dan Heller and it is Cameron! called “Digital Watermarking”. Unfortunately I am forced to admit that Internet is more and more a dangerous and outlaw place for anything in general. Politicians legislate over and over, and instead of making things better, they make things worse. Powerful lobbies seem to have the upper hand now. Before all this wave of new social networks and all of these new legislations that come up every once and a while, the Berne Convention was having our
Post Script: All the links to these articles were added to this article. Pass with the mouse over the names of the articles and you will find the direct link in case you missed them.
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April Featu I
f there is something that surprises me so much in this group is the quality of the works that various authors submit. Now I am not talking about only a small group of authors that submit great quality work every week! I am talking about a big group of people that everyday or almost everyday submit great quality works into the group!
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And even those who only submit from time to time do contribute with incredible quality artworks which is just perfect! But, moving on (I have the feeling that I do talk about this a lot! lol)... After last month’s issue, I decided that the features were being displayed in a very boring way. They were just splashed in the magazine’s pages and I really
didn’t know what to do about it. So, this month I decided to separate them into 3 different categories: Pure landscape, Man touched and Man made. In some cases it was hard to judge which photo was what, but I did my best and I did try to follow some logic. Hopefully, you will enjoy it...
l ures 125 FEATURES
30 DAYS
Northern Landscape Magazine • 13
D.O.F.~ ~dgscotland
Winters Coming???~ ~Mark Williams
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Scenic Scotland~ ~Stephen Knowles
pure landscape Northern Landscape Magazine • 15
Bow River~ ~Emin Cavalic Upper Kananaskis lake~ ~Emin Cavalic
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Snow covered tree~ ~Charles Kosina
Inbhir Pollaidh~ ~Ranald
Northern Landscape Magazine • 17
Coniston Water~ ~mikebov
Causeway Twilight~ ~Michael Breitung 18 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Spring Mountain Glow~ ~camfischer
Time and tide~ ~Peter Gallagher
Northern Landscape Magazine • 19
Sands of time ‘12~ ~Peter Gallagher
Winter Waterfall~ ~camfischer
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Fall Colour on the Blackstone River~ ~Yukondick
Ben Nevis North Face~ ~Justin Foulkes
Northern Landscape Magazine • 21
St Patrick’s Day PartyMagazine in the Sky~ 22 • Northern Landscape ~Kristin Repsher
Sunset over Lismore Island~ ~Fe Messenger
Early Morning April Mists along the Cocker Beck.~ ~Ian Alex Blease
Sunset on Ice~ ~KatiesCorner
Northern Landscape Magazine • 23
A New Day~ ~Irina Chuckowree
24 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Glowing snow~ ~camfischer
April Sunshine, Broken Scar, River Tees, England~ ~Ian Alex Blease
Pink, Green & Gold~ ~Kristin Repsher Northern Landscape Magazine • 25
Giant’s Northern 26 Causeway, • Northern Landscape Magazine Ireland~ ~Ludwig Wagner
The Old Man at Sunrise~ ~hebrideslight
EYE 2 EYE.....~ ~johnrace
Endless Daisies~ ~KatiesCorner
Northern Landscape Magazine • 27
Skies Lighting Up Over Finland~ ~Kristin Repsher
Gold Rush~ ~Michael Breitung 28 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Derwent Water Panorama~ ~mikebov
Winter stream in the mountains~ ~camfischer
Wetherlam Panorama~ ~mikebov
Northern Landscape Magazine • 29
Garden of the Great Spirit~ ~jules572
ON THE SCAR...~ ~johnrace 30 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Falls Of Dochart, Killin, Scotland~ ~Jim Wilson
Seven Sisters White Cliffs~ ~Ludwig Wagner
Northern Landscape Magazine • 31
Rum in Pastel Skies~ ~hebrideslight
The River~ ~Kathleen M. Daley 32 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Cat Bells~ ~Jeanie
Boiling Earth~ ~Silken Photography
Northern Landscape Magazine • 33
Winter in the Rockies (HDR)~ ~zumi Hunneberg Waterfall~ ~Mark Williams
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Fiery Skye~ ~hebrideslight Fairy Green~ ~hebrideslight
Northern Landscape Magazine • 35
Ice Tree~ ~Ludwig Wagner LINDISFARNE GOLD...~ ~johnrace
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Last of the Summer Sun~ ~Kathleen M. Daley
Frosty~ ~Remo Savisaar
Northern Landscape Magazine • 37
Artic Tern over Jokulsarlon~ ~Silken Photography
Mist of Gold~ ~John Dunbar
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Rainbow Rises from Niagara Falls Waterfall~ ~Silken Photography
Winter Trees~ ~Ludwig Wagner
Northern Landscape Magazine • 39
Cleethorpes Sunrise~ ~John Dunbar
A Dales View~ ~Stephen Knowles
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man touched
Castle Stalker~ ~Brian Kerr Northern Landscape Magazine • 41
Lights in the Playground~ ~Bruce Guenter DAVEY BROWN...~ ~johnrace
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Coast 11~ ~BKSPicture
THE LONG ROAD BACK... ~ johnrace
Northern Landscape Magazine • 43
Breaking the Ice in Reine ~ Kristin Repsher
Winter in Forsheda’s track II~ ~João Figueiredo
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Skogafoss near Skogar, Iceland~ ~Margaret Hyde
Athnamulloch bothy ~ Ranald Northern Landscape Magazine • 45
Rock~ ~Paul Richards
Solar Storm Over Rovaniemi~ ~Kristin Repsher 46 • Northern Landscape Magazine
MORNINGSIDE..~ ~johnrace
“Early Tide, Saltburn-by-the-Sea”~ ~Bradley Shawn Rabon Northern Landscape Magazine • 47
Nostalgia~ ~Bogdan Ciocsan Coast 12~ ~BKSPicture
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Stepping Stones~ ~Paul Richards
A Rain of Lights~ ~Kristin Repsher
Northern Landscape Magazine • 49
The Smell of Money in the Morning~ ~Kristin Repsher
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Stone Wall~ ~Kat Simmons
MORNING HAS BROKEN..~ ~johnrace
Factory in Dublin Harbour~ Northern Landscape Magazine • 51 ~Ludwig Wagner
Frozen Poplar Trees II, Northern Ireland~ ~Ludwig Wagner Matthew B. Martin Farm - St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada~ ~jules572
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Golden Oban (2)~ ~kalaryder
On Patricia Lake~ ~Charles Kosina
Northern Landscape Magazine • 53
Harvest Time, Northern Ireland~ ~Ludwig Wagner
Windy Beach in St. Andrews~ ~dgscotland 54 • Northern Landscape Magazine
WP&Y RR along Lake Bennett in BC~ ~Yukondick
Nature 24~ ~BKSPicture
Northern Landscape Magazine • 55
Luddington Weir~ ~Paul Richards
Field of Gold~ ~Kathleen M. Daley
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On the Loch~ ~Kasia-D
Loch Ard,Trossachs ,Scotland~ ~Jim Wilson
Northern Landscape Magazine • 57
Harris: Walking Hand-in-Hand~ ~Kasia-D
EARLY LIGHT DERWENTWATER..~ ~johnrace
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Dawn at Derwentwater~ ~Jeanie
Hot in the Snow~ ~Kat Simmons
Northern Landscape Magazine • 59
Rocky breakwater (Bovbjerg)~ ~Dirk Wiemer The Dark Hedges, Northern Ireland~ ~Ludwig Wagner
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Clashganny Lock, on the River Barrow, County Carlow, Ireland~ ~Andrew Jones
Latefoss waterfall - Norway~ ~Arie Koene
Northern Landscape Magazine • 61
Jarlshof, Shetland Isles~ ~Nancy Richard
From up here I can see...~ ~João Figueiredo
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Camasunary Bay - Isle of Skye~ ~Kat Simmons Meon Sunset~ ~Paul Richards
Northern Landscape Magazine • 63
Solitude~ ~Irina Chuckowree
Viking ship, Reykjavik, Iceland~ ~Margaret Hyde 64 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Whitepark Bay, Antrim, Northern Ireland~ ~Ludwig Wagner
Mountains and lake ..~ ~julie08
Northern Landscape Magazine • 65
Humber Estuary Sunrise~ ~John Dunbar
A Moody Reflection of Reine~ ~Kristin Repsher 66 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Misty Woodland Lane~ ~John Dunbar Past, Present, Future~ ~Irina Chuckowree
Northern Landscape Magazine • 67
Evening Light~ ~Jeanie
Sunset - Beitostølen - Norway~ ~julie08 68 • Northern Landscape Magazine
The Great Stones of Callanish~ ~Kasia-D
Afternoon Stroll~ ~hebrideslight Northern Landscape Magazine • 69
Hope Valley~ ~John Dunbar
To The Glory of The Mountains~ ~hebrideslight 70 • Northern Landscape Magazine
A Glimpse of Sun~ ~Irina Chuckowree
Northern Landscape Magazine • 71
b&w Forth Rail Bridge.~ ~ninjabob
Fresh Powder~ ~Bekah Reist 72 • Northern Landscape Magazine
A Good Day to Hibernate~ ~Bekah Reist
man made Northern Landscape Magazine • 73
Green Skies Over Camp Tamok~ ~Kristin Repsher
The Pavilion Sunrise~ ~John Dunbar 74 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Lost in Gamla Stan~ ~JoĂŁo Figueiredo
Flatford Mill~ ~VoluntaryRanger
Northern Landscape Magazine • 75
The Shard at night, London.~ ~DonDavisUK
Nyhavn, Denmark~ ~Margaret Hyde 76 • Northern Landscape Magazine
Riksväg 1 - Bridge over Lagan - Värnamo (panorama) ~ João Figueiredo
Dublin Harbour Lighthouse~ ~Ludwig Wagner
Northern Landscape Magazine • 77
THE BIG CHALL 78 • Northern Landscape Magazine
25 ENTRIES 35VOTES 1 WINNER 4 DAYS FOR VOTING
LENGE ~ APRIL Northern Landscape Magazine • 79
THE OLD MAN AT SUNRISE
HEBRIDESLIGHT
7 VOTES
PAUL RICHARDS STEPPING STONES 6 VOTES
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The BIG top ten
Northern Landscape Magazine • 81
ZUMI
WINTER IN THE ROCKIES (HDR)
LUDWIG WAGNER
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WINTER TREES I
4 VOTES
3 VOTES
KASIA-D
THE GREAT STONES OF CALLANISH
REMO SAVISAAR
FROSTY
3 VOTES
3 VOTES
Northern Landscape Magazine • 83
FIRST SNOW ON TRAWSFYNYDD LAKE NORTH WALES UK ANNDIXON
KAT SIMMONS
3 VOTES
CAMASUNARY BAY - ISLE OF SKYE
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2 VOTES
LEZVEE
THE GLENFINNAN MONUMENT AND LOCH SHIEL
KRISTIN REPSHER
ST PATRICK’S DAY PARTY IN THE SKY
2 VOTES
2 VOTES
Northern Landscape Magazine • 85
HEBRIDESLIGHT
P
Featured artist
hotography from the very heart of beyond ….
I always thought my main interest was landscape photography but I’ve come to realise that I have no ‘main’ interest and like to photograph anything and everything that catches my eye. That could be my downfall since it is difficult to develop a ‘style’ when you are skipping about all over the place. That said, when all my diverse photographs are collected together as in Red Bubble a sort of style does emerge, a sort of realism but with impact, at least that’s how I see it (at the moment!). For the time being I’ll put up a wide variety of photos and see where it all leads. Les Ellingham
THIS SHOT MADE HEBRIDESLIGHT WIN OUR BIG CHALLENGE ~ APRIL! 86 • Northern Landscape Magazine
INTERVIEW # When did you join Redbubble? I first joined Red Bubble in 2008 but only posted half
a dozen photos before giving up because I am not good at sticking with anything long term and few people seem to respond to photo sites. I did sell my one and only print during this time though! I tried again at the beginning of 2012 and got a couple of features which encouraged me to keep going this time. More and more features followed (astonishingly over 450 to date) which has encouraged me to keep seeking out better and better photos to submit to Red Bubble. Hopefully I will stick with it now but I find it hard to keep on posting individual photos. Now if Red Bubble could come up with something like AMinus3 where I can post a hundred photos in advance direct from Lightroom and have them automatically appear each day then I’d get a lot more photos posted!
TO THE GLORY OF THE MOUNTAINS # What can you tell us about yourself? The name is Les (I am not sure if that is clear
on Red Bubble). Independent, solitary (though happily married with a son) and happy to do what I do for my own pleasure. Definitely not a club person so I’m not quite sure why I joined Red Bubble! Around 24 years of age although living in a body that will turn 65 this year. Spent most of my life trying not to do what other people do although have had to admit defeat on occasions (got to eat!). Back in 2008 I was delighted to be made redundant which helped fuel plans made a few years earlier to move to the Isle of Lewis in The Outer Hebrides (off the north west coast of Scotland). The dream was achieved in 2010 and now I can do what I have always wanted to do – everything and nothing, whatever I want, whenever I want, without seeking the permission of others (as everyone who has to work is required to do).
# How does photography fit in your life? And where do you want to get with it? Photography is just one part of the desire to put whatever talent I have to use in creating
something that I and those around me can enjoy. The enjoyment for me comes in creating something that did not previously exist whether that be a photograph or a book or a refurbished house or a cake or a website or a new deck in the garden. Some things escape me – how do you find a person inside a block of stone? – but generally I will try my hand
Northern Landscape Magazine • 87
Having coffee with hebrideslight+ his Featured works
AFTERNOON STROLL at anything that interests me. Photography is part of this process of creation. I can look at a scene (or a pile of timber or some ingredients) and see what others don’t see. The end result is usually in my mind before the shutter is pressed or a tool is picked up. Where do I want to go with it? No idea. I certainly don’t want to turn it into a job for I have turned my back on all that but I have this little dream of turning an outbuilding in our back garden into a gallery where I can show my work. If someone were to buy a print that would be good but it would not matter if I sold nothing. The enjoyment would be in knowing that I had built my own Gallery – just another step in the desire to create something.
# What photographic gear do you have? Canon 40D, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
USM Lens and Canon EF-S 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS Lens. I do have another couple of lenses which I no longer use and must get round to selling. Those are the basics. Other ‘essentials’ are a Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 carbon fibre tripod with 486 R2 head and a Hahnel Giga T Pro II 88 • Northern Landscape Magazine
wireless remote control. Not so essential is a Lee Filter Holder (for the 10-22mm lens) and a Hi-Tec 10 stop filter which I will probably trade in for a Lee Big Stopper. Other essential ‘gear’ includes Lightroom and Photoshop CS5 which I consider every bit as essential as a camera and lenses. I cannot imagine creating great digital photographs without this software and would recommend to anyone to consider Lightroom and Photoshop as important as any camera gear and to make those their second purchase after the camera and initial lens, no matter which make of camera they choose. I am happy with the lenses, especially the 10-22mm which should be THE lens that any landscape photographer should have, and would probably now only want a zoom that went up to 400mm for a bit of wildlife shooting. That and maybe an upgrade to a 7D body (upgrading to a 5D would mean that I could no longer use the 10-22m lens). And those who say ‘gear doesn’t matter’ are talking rubbish. The better camera and lenses you have the better chance you have of getting great photographs. You still need the eye for composition and the skill to process your photographs but you get a huge running start with a top quality camera and lenses. Have you ever noticed that the people who say ‘gear doesn’t matter’ already have more gear than most people can ever afford?
# How does it feel to win our BIG CHALLENGE and have such a feature on our monthly magazine? Tricky one! It’s good to have created a photograph that other people
felt worthy enough to vote for but I am not one for fame (or fortune) and so won’t be going round telling everyone how great I am or how great my photo is! I appreciate the enthusiasm and encouragement of João and of those who voted for the image but find it hard to regard it as any more than a small triumph. Maybe I am a little jaded because I published my own (computer) magazine for almost 15 years and so see things from a different perspective. I do know that many hundreds of people were over the moon to have had articles featured in my magazine and I can understand that the next winner of the Big Challenge may well feel that way but for this jaded soul it is simply nice to have been singled out for the honour but not
FAIRY GREEN
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much more than that. I don’t mean in any way to denigrate the great effort put in by the editor and the commitment to encourage others that is the magazine’s purpose. Hopefully my winning entry will encourage others to believe in their own abilities and that will be a small achievement in itself. Maybe I should just shut up now!
# Tell us about the winning shot! The photograph is of a famous rock pinnacle on the
Isle of Skye called The Old Man of Storr. I had known about it (him?) for over thirty years but on numerous other trips to Skye over that time I have only caught a glimpse of the rock in mist and cloud or have driven by and said ’It’s up there somewhere’. April 2013 was the first time I had been to this part of Skye with the sun shining so this was my first opportunity to photograph a photography ‘classic’ that has appeared in a thousand photographs before. We arrived at the Old Man late afternoon but the light didn’t look right from the road (that’s what I said but the truth is that I was too knackered to trek up there!) so we parked our camper van in the car park at the start of the path and stayed overnight. I got up just as it was getting
RUM IN PASTEL SKIES
light and began the long trek up the hill arriving at the Old Man just as the sun rose. I should really have set off half an hour earlier as I didn’t have enough time to scout locations. I took a few shots from the usual locations but I wanted to try and create something of my own so ventured closer to the rock than most people go.I found this place where the sun was rising between the two sets of rock but then had to scramble up the hillside over boulders large and small to get the best vantage point. It was definitely not your ‘shoot from the path’ shot! I had in mind from the start a HDR since having got heavily into realistic HDR over the past six months or so I could ‘see’ the end photo and the subject was especially suited to HDR because of the rising sun and the shadow on the rocks. I knew that the ‘standard’ three exposures would not be sufficient so took a series of shots at two stop intervals ranging from 1/2000 sec to 1/15 sec all at f8 with the lens at 10mm.
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Back home I used eight shots, initially lightly processed in Lightroom for noise and chromatic aberration and then combined with Photomatix. The resulting image (which should never be considered as finished in Photomatix) was sent over to Photoshop where it underwent much tweaking of contrast and balancing of tone. Some selective brightening and colour saturation produced the final result which is a photograph of The Old Man of Storr unlike any I have seen before. I am pleased with that as it is a feature that every landscape photographer in Scotland has photographed at one time or other.
# Describe us how would your perfect photo be! I have no idea what a ‘perfect’
photo might be. I only know that I see photographs that are much better than mine and I see photographs (even by well regarded professional photographers) that are much worse. Many ‘perfect’ photographs arise simply through opportunity and occasionally through luck. Most of the photographs that people consider to be great or ‘near perfect’ are taken by those who have the means to get to the great or near perfect locations. My ‘perfect’ photo might, for example, be taken in Antarctica, a place that I have dreamed of going to but I may never have the opportunity to visit, therefore I may never get that ‘perfect’ photo. No matter how good a photographer you might be you can never get a perfect shot without a perfect subject. Would Ansell Adams be as famous if he had spent his entire life photographing the peatland of the Isle of Lewis rather than Yosemite?
FIERY SKYE
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NLM PHOTO T HOW TO DO HDR PHOTOGRAPHY? Many people look at HDR photography and wonder “How the heck did they do this?” Some others - like myself in the past - will even think “Sure this looks great, but this isn’t photography, just loads and loads of Photoshop post editing...”. Well, in this tutorial I will not only explain you how wrong you are (in case you are the second type of person) but as well I will also explain you how to do HDR photography using 3 different programs: Photoshop, Photomatix and Oloneo PhotoEngine. Have a look!
AT FIRST SIGHT THIS LOOKS LIKE A SHOT TAKEN WITH A WIDE ANGLE L 92 • Northern Landscape Magazine
TUTORIAL #2
LENS, BUT ACTUALLY I DON’T HAVE ONE! THIS IS A NICE STICHED PANORAMA! Northern Landscape Magazine • 93
F
irst off, what is HDR? The name itself means High Dynamic Range. and this means that it provides higher dynamic range of light on the imaging process. Most of the people say and claim that HDR is a brand new technique that came with this digital era, but that is wrong! As wrong as when I say that the sky is yellow with flashy green spots.
A LITLE HISTORY OF HDR HDR photography was invented in the 1850’s by Gustave Le Gray. Mr Le Gray wanted to render seascapes showing both the sky and the sea. But, due to that time technique, such rendering was impossible. The luminosity range was too extreme. So, one day Mr. Le Gray used one negative for the sky, and another one with a longer exposure for the sea. Later on in his darkroom he took a scissors and combined the two negatives into one picture in positive. How about that?? Later on in the mid-twentieth century, manual tone mapping was done using dodging and burning (literally speaking and always manually, remember, no Photoshop at that time!) – selectively increasing or decreasing the exposure of regions of the photograph to produce a better tonality reproduction. This is effective because the dynamic range of the negative is much higher than it would be available on the finished positive paper print when that is exposed via the negative in a uniform way. One excellent example that we can see is the photograph “Schweitzer at the Lamp” by W. Eugene Smith, from his 1954 photo essay “A Man of Mercy” on Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his humanitarian work in French Equatorial Africa. The image took 5 days to reproduce the tonal range of the scene, which ranges from a bright lamp (relative to the scene) to a dark shadow. Google it! With the advent of color photography, tone mapping in the darkroom was no longer possible, due to the specific timing needed during the developing process of color film. Photographers looked to film manufacturers to design new film stocks with improved
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response over the years, or shot in black and white to use tone mapping methods. By the time the 80’s were here, the desirability of HDR was being recognized for decades, but its wider usage was, until quite recently, precluded by the limitations imposed by the available computer processing power. Global HDR was first introduced in 1993 resulting in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject (matter by Steve Mann and Rosalind Picard). This method was developed to produce a high-dynamic-range image from a set of photographs taken with a different range of exposures. With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy-to-use desktop software, the term HDR is now popularly used to refer to this process. And this is more or less where we are today. Thanks Wikipedia!
A LITLE INTRO TO THE “STUFF”: This would be a very short tutorial if I would tell you how to do HDR shots using only one computer program. Instead, I will explain you how to do it using 3. The first one is Adobe Photoshop, that usually you always need to use to give some finishing to your photos even if you use another software to produce your HDR shots. But I also ill show you how to make HDR photos using Photomatix due to it is by far the most popular (and very cheap as well) software to make HDR, and finally, I will explain as well how to do HDR photography using Oloneo PhotoEngine because I really like it and I think that is the best HDR software around here. In the end of the day, it is always your choice.
MATERIAL YOU WILL BE NEEDING:
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A camera. Almost any camera will do, as long as you can make at least 2 shots with a different exposure. In 99,99% of the cases you should use a steady tripod, so your camera will need to have a tripod dock, so that it can fit into a tripod. Don’t panic, 99,999% of the cameras have one! Please have in mind that if you are shooting something that is
mooving (like the sea, boats, cars, people, etc), the final result will be blured. This is not necessarilly a disavantage, you can turn this into an advantage, like I did wth my “Änglar” exhibition in 2012. Take a look if you have doubts.
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A tripod! It really doesn’t matter which tripod you have, as long as it is steady and do the job. If you don’t have a tripod, use your imagination! I have already used a pile of books to simulate a tripod! Whatever that can make your camera stable while shooting will do. A tripod is always the best by far!
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A computer with Adobe Photoshop. If you don’t have it and are considering buying it let me save you som good cash. You can always download the trial version first and use it with any purpose. This is not ilegal and it is for free! After those 30 days, you can always buy the program or try out the Creative Cloud that depending on your needs can even be a better solution. You can also use Photomatix that you can purchase in it’s own official website for a quite low price. They also have a trial version but the trial version will leave your photos with an irritating watermark. Photomatix is by far the most popular piece of software to produce HDR photos. Finally but not least, you can also use Oloneo PhotoEngine (also for sale at their official website for a quite fair price). Not many people know this program, but for me it is the best. You will understand why later on. You can use any other software, but I will be covering only these three.
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Time and patience. If you don’t have at least patience, forget about this, HDR photography is not for you! Weather you like it or not, HDR is something for who has time and patience, especially patience...
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As soon as you have chosen your subject, set your camera and tripod as steady as it can be and shoot in “Auto-bracketing mode” or “Auto-exposure mode” (depending on the camera manufacturer). This is a mode that not all the cameras have. Basically what it does is taking a batch of 3 shots according to the exposure settings you have input into the camera. If your camera has this option, than you have an advantage because your camera will shoot instantaneouslly all those 3 shots with no time interval between them. This will allow you to take the 3 shots without even touching the camera. This will also allow you to avoid suden light changes that can happen while you change your camera exposure settings between the shots. The “Auto-bracketing mode” or “Auto-exposure mode” will take an over exposed shot, a “normal” exposed shot and an under exposed shot of the same subject. If your camera doesn’t have it, then you will have to do this manually. Don’t dispare, it is not impossible at all! You just have to be more careful and have a litle more work. All you have to do is set the exposure settings for each one of the shots: The over exposed one, the “normal” exposed one and the under exposed one. If this is your case, remeber that your camera and your tripod have to be really steady, steady as rock because otherwise your camera or tripod will be moving when you touch the camera to change the exposure settings and then you will have problems later on when assembling the HDR shot on the computer. Check the example image we will be working on:
GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY: It is not 100% necessary to plan ahead, I don’t do it always, but when doing HDR, planning ahead the photo shooting can bring you some very good advantages.
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And this is the result of the three exposures after my camera was done with it’s Autobracketing mode:
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Please note that in this tutorial I am using only 3 exposures but you can use as many as you want. 3, 6, 9, 1000, you decide. Honestly, I don’t think that there are any advantages in using more than 9 due to the human’s eye range. But like I said, you have freedom to use as many as you wish.
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The last big thing you have to think of is the file format you shoot in. If you are going to do an HDR with JPEG files, the final result will be much worse in terms of image quality. RAW file format is by far the best to shoot because in RAW the image is not yet processed, it is just “raw” data! So, if your camera does not allow you to shoot in RAW, remember that your final result will not have the same quality as an HDR made with RAW files.
GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY WITH PHOTOSHOP: In what matters to my personal opinion (and that is only that is: a personal opinion), Photoshop should only be used to give a final touch and never to do HDR. The truth is that in what matters to HDR, Adobe is still much behind it’s competitors. Nevertheless, here it goes:
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Load you batch of photos into Photoshop using the “File --> Automate --> Merge to HDR Pro” (See the image on the right). A window should appear to you where you can browse and load your shots. When you load the images, make sure that the option “Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images” is checked in order to align
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your images in case of anything went wrong when shooting the HDR. Nevertheless, if the mistake was really big, this option won’t make any miracles. After that, a window should appear with the HDR options (See the image bellow). The first thing you should do is change the “Mode” from 32bit to 16bit in case of it came in 32bit.
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After you made sure that your image is now in 16bit, all you have to do is play with the options. On the right top corner you have the “Preset” options that will provide you with some pre-made HDR presets. After you have chosen one, you can adjust other options such as Radius, Strenght, Gamma, Curves, etc.
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Now that you have been playing for a good while with your HDR photo it is time to press “OK” and save the file in the file format that you prefer. JPEG/JPG is probably the best one if you want to be done with it. If you save it in JPEG/JPG remember to choose maximum quality (12) when saving the file like I show in the image on the right.
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GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY WITH PHOTOMATIX: Finally, Photomatix! Everybody talks about it! It’s the “sensation” program to produce HDR photos nowadays! The greatest advantages that Photomatix gives you torwards Photoshop are the options and the Presets. But Photomatix is unfortunatelly quite slow. Let’s see, this is how Photomatix looks like:
Quite different from Photoshop, right? Forget about any image editing like you know it if you are already a Photoshop user. This is completely dedicated to HDR and Tonemaping (basically “faking” an HDR with just one shot).
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Press the button that says “Load Bracketed Photos” and load the photos and press “OK”. The window that you can see on the right will appear. In this stage you shouldn’t jus press “OK” without first take a look at the options that you have in the front of you. Read carefully each option, they are all valuable to your final result! A big plus torwards Photoshop is that over here you can choose the desired white balance, something that you cannot do when you are making and HDR with Photoshop! Unfortunately, one down side about Photomatix is that their “Reduce ghosting artifacts” and “Reduce noise” doesn’t make a “desirable” effect. Photomatix producers still have much to develope in those two areas. Even after you try to remove or reduce ghosting on your shots, most of it still will be there and if there is something that Photomatix is good at, it is
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at producing beautiful HDR shots with “tons” of noise. Even though you select the option that should remove noise, this will not work as “desired”. This is why Photoshop is a great complement to Photomatix. When you are sure of what you want, press “OK” and wait. You will have time to get a cup of coffe, check your e-mail and perhaps even to prepare a dinner for all your familly and friends in between. At least the wait is worth for! In the middle of this process you’ll have the oportunity to do a bit of deghosting. A window will come up and all the instructions are provided. When you’re satisfied just press “OK”.
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Welcome to your workspace in Photomatix! This is where the real fun begins!! So... where to start? The first step is to choose the Preset you want. Play around a litle bit. Do spend some time exploring each and every single one of those presets until you get used to them and know them by heart, I promisse you that it will be worth! For this tutorial I have chosen the “Enhacer - Painterly” preset. But you know what? You are the one who is doing the HDR, so you are the one (and only you!) who can decide what you will chose. Chose according to your desired result, and if you regret you can always do Ctrl+Z or (Command+Z in Mac), change preset at any time or just start over from the beggining.
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Now that your preset is chosen let’s take care of it’s adjustments. Yes, you could be done right here and save the file, but there is a lot more to explore and now comes the time where I am going to tell you how to adjust that litle thing that you did not like in the preset you chosen. So, basically, there is a lot more to explore and try than to speak about. The names are quite intuitive, but if you don’t understand what they mean, go ahead and try them until you are satisfied with the result! When that happens, just press “Process”!
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Have in mind that your final result will not look 100% like the image you had when you were adjusting. This is a very big down side of Photomatix! With time you’ll get used to, but yes, it is annoying. As if this wasn’t enough, you cannot save a own file format (the same in Photoshop), so if you want to correct something after the image has been processed, you have to restart all over again from the beginning! As soon as the image is processed don’t close the window!! You need to save it first! So, go to “File --> Save as” and save as you prefer!
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GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY WITH OLONEO PHOTOENGINE: The last part of my tutorial will teach you how to produce HDR photos with a program called Oloneo PhotoEngine. It is by far my favourite, so I will try to be as neutral as possible without saying things like “this is by far the most awesome of all HDR programs out there!” and others. No, but actually, it really is the most awesome HDR program! I’m joking! Relax, like I said, I will try to be as neutral as possible, I will keep on speaking about the facts. The facts are that Oloneo PhotoEngine is a powerful tool that will give you complete full control over your HDR work. And you will see that I am not overreacting! So, if you are a control freak or a perfection freak, this is the program for you! If you get confused with the details, too many options or have few time, better to stick with Photoshop or Photomatix...
Assuming that you have downloaded and installed Oloneo PhotoEngine, this is how your workspace is looking like. Does it look familiar? Adobe Bridge users will certainly get familiarized pretty quick!
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It is so easy to make HDR with program that in the beginning I couldn’t figure out how to load the files and get started! But after I took a look into their help videos (YES, Oloneo PhotoEngine doesn’t give you just ordinary text help, it also comes with soundless videos (so that you don’t have to depend on your English knowledge in case if English is not your main language!) with clear visual instructions of “How to...” - a clear plus that neither Adobe nor Photomatix provides!). So, all you have to do is press “Ctrl+single mouse click” (Command+ single mouse click” on the files you want to use to do your HDR and click on “Add” on your right side “Project Image Selection” window (see image on the right).
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So after you press “Add”, the small thumbs will appear along with their EXIF info so you can edit it in case of necessity. Exactly bellow this window, there is another window called “HDR ToneMap” where you can chose or not to align your images along with the ghost removal method selection. I am pleased to saythat this ghost removal method works much better than the one in Photomatix. Try it yourself and compare... In this very same window, there is also the button that says “Create HDR ToneMap Project”. Let’s press it and see what happens?
even better that all these presets is the fact The image will load in much lesser that you can also press “Reset All” and go time than Photomatix, and even Photoshop. back to square one! Now tell me, is this good So if you see the image above, your work- or what? space will now look like that. In this image I placed some arrows so that you could easilly Don’t get convinced yet! I’m not done with see the changes that have happened to our the workspace! On the top right side we workspace. Now you have some pretty amaz- have an RGB histogram and the tone maping unique features. Starting from the top left ping options for your shots! And this last one side we have a Timeline! Yes, that’s right, a is where you can get lost for hours... Play a timeline! Neither Photoshop or Photomatix litle bit with the options you have. It might has one. For those who are Photoshop users, take a while until you realise how powerful this timeline works exactly the same way these tools are, but if I have to summarize it, “History” in Photoshop does. For those who you can do here things that you cannot do aren’t, with this timeline (that registers any in Photoshop or in Photomatix. Here you can litle thing that you do) you can always see achieve the same results as in Photomatix what your progress was and go back directly (you can never achieve with Photoshop the to the step you wanted to without having same results as in Photomatix!!) with the to do “Undo” a kazillion times! Next (down exception that you have even more control left corner) we have another neat thing: the and quality! Oloneo PhotoEngine is not going Presets! Yes, I know the other programs also to fill up your work with noise or chromatic have them, but Oloneo PhotoEngine has 40 aberrations unless you define so! different presets! Besides, you can as well add your own preset just in case your needs I am not going to talk about every single one were not covered by the default presets. But, of those options because I would need some
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10 pages to do so, but I can tell you about the main ones: Detail Strength, Exposure and Fine Exposure, Low Dynamic Tone Mapping, Hue’s, Saturation, Luminance, Natural HDR Mode, Brightness and Saturation curves, Photographic Print Toning, Flip the image, etc, etc, etc... All things that basically or don’t exist on Photoshop nor on Photomatix or they are very hard to achieve! All this because Oloneo PhotoEngine combines functions that are typical of a single RAW file Tone Mapping on the Camera Raw software with a simple image editing program functions and with the best HDR functions and presets!
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So, after you have been playing for a while and get happy with the final result, it is finally time to save. Let’s do “File” and see the options we get? Check the image bellow: With this program you get the option to export it directly into Photoshop if that is your intention! No need to save the file and open Photoshop, press that option your work will be automatically exported into Photoshop! Practical! But if that is not what you want and you want to save the file you get one more bonus! Do “Save as” and what you see is an amazing own file format (rcd) that allows you to save an unfinished project and finish it later! This is a really important feature that once again, none of it’s direct competitors have! So, are you done with your project? If so, chose to save in JPG file format. It is not over yet! You will be bombarded by one more first class candy! A dialog box will come up and ask you wich color space you want to save your file in (sRGB, AdobeRGB 1998 or ProPhoto RGB), the desired resolution and really important these days: The Artist info that will be
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writen on the EXIF file. After pressing “OK” the file is saved in no time.
CONCLUSION I am not going to make any! The point with this tutorial was to teach you how to make HDR photography in three different programs, and not convincing you which one is the best! If all this made you feel confused, take a step back and have a deep breath. It is not as complicated as it might sound. It is actually very simple (no matter wich method you chose!) and above all, FUN! If you are considering in trying the HDR technique, DO IT! Once you’ll try, you’ll never more will want to go back...
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US TO:
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This is (hi)story! Double, double, toil and trouble
A mysterious Valentine’s Day murder set in the shadows of an ancient English village!
WE MOVE FROM SCOTLAND TO THE SOUTH CENTRAL ENGLAND WHERE P 106 • Northern Landscape Magazine
PAUL RICHARDS IS GOING TO TELL US A CREEPY STORY OF A MURDER... Northern Landscape Magazine • 107
A
s dusk fell on Valentine’s Day 1945, the murdered body of an old farm labourer was discovered on the slopes of a desolate Cotswold hill. The victim, Charles Walton lived with his adopted nice in the nearby Warwickshire village of Lower Quinton. A murder in such a small, tight knit community is always a shock but what made this murder more disquieting was the means of his demise.
Charles Walton was killed with his own farming tools: in his neck a pitchfork, driven with such force that his body was pinned to the frozen ground. More macabre, his hedge-cutting blade had been used to carve a cross in forehead. Such was the violence and horrific nature of the crime that Chief Inspector, Robert Fabian from Scotland Yard and his assistant Sargent Andrew Webb were called to investigate it. These detectives worked alongside a local officer, Superintendent Alec Spooner. At first Fabian put the killing down to the work of a ‘manic.’ However, knowledge of local folklore provided by Alec Spooner revealed a more sinister possibility. In 1875, an eighty year old woman was also killed with a pitch fork in a nearby village by a man who had promised to ‘kill all the sixteen witches in Long Compton.’ The method of pinning with spikes (stacung) dates back to Anglo Saxon times and was believed to prevent the body from rising from the dead. Even in the twentieth Century it was a time and place where anything bad that happened was the result of the ‘Evil Eye’ – supernatural forces at work over the ancient land. So why would Walton be considered a witch? Firstly, he was a solitary soul, preferring drinking homemade cider to frequenting the public house, the College Arms. He was known to ‘converse with the hedgerow birds and animals during his life as a farm labourer, again spurning human company.
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The village remained silent after the murder and no evidence to prosecute a killer could be found. Instead rumours of his communion with the animals that his death was an ‘evil-eye’ killing, a consequence of him being a witch. Villagers mentioned poor crops despite good weather and a bull was mysteriously found dying in a ditch for no reason. A little while into the investigation a further eerie connection came to light. In the Warwickshire village of Alveston a young ploughboy saw a black dog nine days in succession. On the ninth he reportedly encountered a headless woman in dark lane him and the following day his sister died. The name of this cursed boy was Charles Walton (his house on the right). Symbolically, black dogs are a well known portend of death. Strangely, dogs also featured in the investigations of Charles Walton’s murder. A police car hit and killed dog during the investigation. This silenced the village and the officers were almost treated with fear as they went about their enquiries. More bizarrely, Robert Fabian saw a black dog in Lower Quinton. A Farm lad was following down the lane. Fabian asked the boy if he was looking for the dog. The boy went pale and replied. “Dog, mister?” And without a further word the terrified boy ran off. Northern Landscape Magazine • 109
Further witchcraft connections can be made with the actual date of the murder. In the old Julian calendar, in use until the Middle Ages, February 14th was the best day for a blood sacrifice. The earth was starting to recover from the winter and a ritual sacrifice was seen as a certain way to ensure a good harvest would follow. The mythology of the region also played a large part creating the air of mystique surrounding the murder. This part of world is less than ten kilometers from Stratford-upon-Avon and the ghosts, spirits and witches of Shakespeare’s imagination.
Meon Hill contains signs of it’s ancient past with an Iron Age hill fort at it’s summit (in the photo above). The hill itself is an imposing feature on the landscape, looming over the village of Upper Quinton. The hill was supposedly a creation of the Devil, a clod of earth thrown to destroy the new 8th Century abbey at Evesham but deflected by the prayers of St Egwin, landing safely and becoming Meon Hill. Despite the full investigation and the hill being scoured for evidence, Fabian drew a blank. The villagers were reluctant to talk and desired to leave the death a mystery to the outside world. The wall of silence remained throughout the investigation and does so to this day, which again has added to allure of the story.
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St Swithin’s church, Lower Quinton where Charles Walton was buried. The grave is now unmarked to remove all traces of the ‘witchcraft’ murder.
BY PAUL RICHARDS
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MAIL US TO:
INFO@NORTHERNLANDSCAPE.ORG Northern Landscape Magazine • 111
Northern La Some facts
How to queue in Russia (
N
o one in the world knows better how to stand in a queue than the Russians. Alright, some nations might contest this fact. Many folks might think that they know all there is to know about queue-standing. Sorry, folks, but you are mistaken. The Russians have managed to elevate this know-how to the highest state of art, which has its own rules and laws. They have also managed to complicate the matter in the process, and nothing is as straightforward as a foreigner might expect. I shall prove this by a specific example. Let’s say you need to buy a train ticket. You are on one of Moscow’s train stations and you have even managed to locate the ticket hall. A helpful hint: do not search in your dictionary for the Russian equivalent of the word “Tickets”, which is “Билеты”. Instead you need to look for a word “Кассы”, which means just that – a ticket hall, a cash register or a cash office. First thing that you need to do upon entering the hall is to assess the situation. There will be multiple ticket-selling windows, each with its own queue. Some windows will be selling
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andscape -
(a practical guide) Part 1 tickets for the local trains only, others – for the long distance trains. A train going to the same town could be a local one or a long distance one, depending on how many stops it will have in between. You should choose the window carefully as the “local” window will never sell you a ticket for the long distance train. And you would end up wasting your time standing in that queue. Let’s assume that you have located the right ticket windows selling the right type of tickets. As I said, there will be a few. Each one – with a queue. Now, here is the crucial part: you have to make a decision which queue to join. In order to come up with the right decision you have to consider the following facts: 1) the length of the queue (not that easy as it seems at first, but I’ll explain later in more detail); 2) the presence of obvious groups of passengers (friends, families, who are planning to travel together and who are likely to enter into lengthy diplomatic discussions with the ticket sales person about the types of train carriages and meal options) which it is advisable to avoid. For general knowledge, it is vital to remember at this stage that the queue could be “standing” as well as “sitting” (the latter is a very important
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occurrence at banks, hospitals and other venues with provided sitting areas). You should never ever induce hostile feelings in the sitting queue by ignoring it! The hostile feelings will unite the whole queue and turn it against you. OK, so far so good. You have made the decision. This particular queue appeals to you for all the above reasons. Plus, you also have that “gut feeling”, a “sixth sense”, that tells you instinctively that standing in this particular queue would be the best decision you have ever made in your life. A word of warning: if you are willing to join the queue, you should never just quietly stand behind the last visible person in that queue. Because this person might not be the last. There might be other invisible queuing people, who at this given moment have decided to leave the queue “for a minute” to deal with their other pressing needs. In order to avoid an unpleasant situation later, you should now loudly announce to the whole queue your intention to join it. The typical question for that purpose is: “Who is the last person in the queue?” For an answer you will be instantly given all the required information about the missing people by the last visible queue-holder in front of you. Take a note of it. You wouldn’t want to admit anyone in the queue in front of you, if they don’t match the given description. And believe me, there will always be a volunteer or two, who would like to infiltrate the queue ranks by pretending that they were there all the time, but only left “for a minute”. As soon as you verbally confirm that you are now the last person in the queue, you will have to take upon yourself the whole responsibility of being “the last person in the queue”. You will also acquire a code name, something like “that man in a stripy shirt” or “that woman in a red skirt”, by which you will now be known to the whole queue. Still, before you actually join that queue and despite that gut feeling, you need to make one very important move. You have to go to the front of that queue to the ticket window itself. It might not be very easy getting there, considering the impenetrable crowd and the barricade of luggage, but you still have to do it. There, behind the glass counter next to the saleswoman (always a woman, for some reason!), is located a small notice board. It’s a timetable for breaks that the saleswoman is going to take no matter what. Please note that the breaks always start, but never finish, on time. Obviously, before you leave the queue for that little quest, you need to warn the person in front of you about your intention to leave the queue “for a minute”. Back to the break timetable. If you have a clear one hour (or better – two) until the next break, you can go back to the end of the queue to resume your position. But if the break starts, say, in (God forbid!) 30 minutes, you might have a problem. Because, when you finally get your turn to buy a ticket, you risk having the ticket window shut right in front of your nose! It is the human right of the saleswoman to have that break, and no amount of pleading to change her mind will help you. Even if your train leaves the station in the next five minutes. So, what you are going to do next is up to you. You could take a chance and still get back in the queue. Or, you could start your task from the beginning and choose a different queue. Simple. A useful hint: the queues are usually shorter at the windows where the break is about to begin. Don’t be tempted. (to be continued…)
BY IRINA CHUCKOWREE MAIL US TO: WANT SENDLandscape US YOUR FACTS? 114 •TO Northern Magazine
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Back cover artist
P
aul Richards manage to achieve a brilliant second place at our BIG Challenge of april.As a consequence he is the owner of our last 2 pages, more especially the back cover. All he did was entering that amazing shot that we can see as a thumbnail here in this page (showing the final results of our BIG challenge ~april). You can also do the same, and if people like your shot you can achieve the same as Paul did, or even better, you can achieve the first place! Now a litle space for some words about Paul himself, writen by the own in his Redbubble profile: “Paul Richards is a UK based Landscpae and Nature photographer. Formally a research scientist for scientist for over 20 years he is now pursuing a career in photography. Please don’t hesitate to contact if you have and question or you would like to use his images.” - Paul Richards
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NORTHERN LANDSCAPE ISSUE 01 * APRIL 2013
STEPPING STONES BY PAUL RICHARDS
Dovedale, Peak District, UK C a n o n 5 D M K I I , E F 17-4 0 F4 L , L e e f i lt e rs .
NORTHERN LANDSCAPE MAGAZINE - ISSUE #2 - MAY 2013