Gateway between Leicestershire and Rutland - Launde

Gateway between Leicestershire and Rutland - Launde, originally uploaded by Guthlac.

Yesterday was the start of a very occasional series of walks based on the Leicestershire Round. For those of you who are not aware the Leicestershire Round is a 100 mile long distance walk around the county of Leicestershire. Only it does stray into Rutland for just a mile of so and this gateway leads into England's smallest county. This photograph also appeals to my technical side.

I love boundaries and their influence on people. I have spent many a happy hour trying to retrace ancient boundaries in the land mark. Also it does have just a hint of Narnia. Just what is through this mysterious gate?

One final thing on this part of country. It is so very silent. There are the noises of the countryside, the wind in tress, the rustle of autumn leaves but no human noise at all. However this was shattered by the military. Harrier jets from the nearby airfield on from time to time shattered the peaceful idol. It was so unexpected and at times disconcerting - you find your hearing or to be more precise your brain straining for noises that modern urban life creates. They just weren't there.

High Dynamic Range...Some Thoughts...

Langton Caudle - Stonton Wyville

I keep coming back to this subject and having played around with it for a while I thought it might be useful to try and marshall my thoughts and see if they make sense - to me at least! So High Dynamic Range (HDR) what is there to say? I think the first thing to say is that it can result in some very bizarre and, to my eye at least, unsatisfactory images. (See Google Search) I am not sure why this is. I suspect that many people have been intoxicated by the power of Photomatix. It is all too easy to produce some strange outcomes with Photomatix and many people seem to to do this.

Fosse Way - Sharnford

But what should a HDR photograph look like? This is a ridiculous question but what I mean is why use HDR at all? Well the main reason HDR was developed was to capture a much higher dynamic range than a normal sensor could. There are a whole series of problems with this, not least the problem of producing a true HDR output, either as a print of or on screen.

So the technique is fraught with complications and problems. Over the past few years many software developers have produced software that automates the mixing of images to produce a HDR image. Here we start to enter a problem area. Each of these software packages produces their own outcomes, probably slightly different from the next, and so we have to ask the question exactly who produced the image? Now this an angel on the head of pin argument with no real conclusion apart from leaving a bad taste in your mouth. But it is important when considering HDR images as they are amalgams of two or more images captured at the scene.

In part as a result of concerns over control and, if I am truthful, never really feeling comfortable with the Photomatix software I now blend my own images together to produce a HDR. I also feel this helps me produce the result that I want rather than what the software insists on producing. One example that I feel I have been able to overcome is the problem of movement between images of such things as leaves, people etc. I can now address this problem with much greater certainty by controlling the whole process myself. This is also the case with the control of details within the image as well.

So what is the result of all this? Well, I feel I have moved away from the metallic look and feel of many HDR images. I am now able to produce images that have significant increase in details and tonal range and whilst retaining their original look and feel. The photographs from my current Leicestershire Round series demonstrates what I mean - the later would have been very difficult to produce with Photomatix as the sheep moved quite a bit between the three images.

I am coming to any conclusions or am I just confusing matters even more? Both and neither. I feel that HDR is an important technique that I currently use extensively but it can be a dead end if you let the software control what you are doing - however this is true of all photography - it is the photographer that makes the photograph - the equipment facilitates nothing more.

Time Team and the Leicestershire Round...

Langton Caudle - Stonton Wyville

It's a funny thing this Internet. You just don't know where it might lead you. This morning I was doing some photography in the Thorpe Langton area. I decided to walk along the Leicestershire Round to the top of Langton Caudle. It was a wonderful morning - the type that I love, a fresh breeze and the autumn sun warming the air just enough - not hot or warm but just right. As I stood on top of the hill I had a wonderful view of the Welland valley and I just took my time to soak up the view. The way that the hills had been moulded by the glaciers - the ancient landscape stretched out infront of me - I was standing on a suspected bronze age track, next to a mound - also possibly bronze age. Quite intoxicating.

So I finished my photography and walked back to the car. A good day all round. I got back home and started to process the images. As I did I decided to undertake some light historical research into the meaning of the hill name 'Langton Caudle'. To my surprise I discovered the Wessex Archaeological report on the Time Team dig that had taken nearby. Now I am great Time Team fan and I had always wondered what happened after the dig was over. What happened to all the information? How stupid. Of course there would be formal report I just didn't expect this to be on line. Again I suspect I was naive - of course it would be on line. It was fascinating to read the report's sombre recording of the details and then compare this to the Time Team's programme. Talk about spin - the great strength of Time Team is that it makes a really dry subject so accessible.

So the morale of the story? Well I suppose you just don't know what the Internet is going to throw up - the connections that you will make. As for the history of the name Langton Caudle - well I am still working on that!