Eye Candy for the Soul

[Colin Southern]

Colin,

Nice work. I particularly like #1 and #3, and like #3 (airport) a bit better because it has a nice color. #1 has a nice composition, but the light seemed a bit strong.

Just a by-pass question: how could you get so close to the plane?

Hi Yan,

Thanks for the kind comments

To be honest, they all look different when scaled down for these pages ... on my 24" monitor #4 expecially looks magnificent - probably one of the nicest skies I've ever captured, but it just doesn't translate well here unfortunately

The runway you're looking at is one I've taken off and landed on many many times back in my "piloting days", and whereas I'd like to say that I just "gave the control tower a call", in reality I'm really just setup on the other side of a fence that runs around the perimeter of the airfield. Unlike many international airports, things are quite casual in these parts -- there's a walkway around the airfield, and until about 7 or 8 years ago they didn't even have a fence -- just some signs that suggested that it wouldn't be in your best fiscal interests nor conducive to your personal freedom to cut across the airfield! These days they have the fence, but it's only about 4 feet high, and gets quite close to the runway in parts -- so on this occasion I've got 1 leg of my tripod over the fence and I'm shooting with a long lens (actual end of the runway is about 20 seconds sprinting from the fence if one had to for some reason) (not a good idea)

(Just found a photo that a passenger took when I was coming in to land on that same runway - I've put a ring around the fence)



Actually, you reminded my of a funny situation I got myself into whilst in the Air Force many years ago ... I worked in the control tower at the time and was involved in the base gliding club which operated across the other side of the airfield. To get there on foot would be about a 3km walk around the outside - or probably less than 1km cutting right across the runway -- in the airforce cutting across the runway is pretty much up there with the worst of possible offences one can commit (without permission) - but since I worked in the tower the duty controller said I could cut across (said he'd use the signal light to (literally) give me a green light when I got to the edge). So off I go - no problem - but you should have seen the looks on the faces of those waiting for me at the other side (including the orderly officer) - luckily all sorted out quickly! (whew).

PS: For all of those who've never seen the inside of an Air Traffic Control Tower, here's a shot of the Nelson Tower ...

[crisscross]

Shot No4 could be a stunner if some of the foreground detail could be recovered, and a bit of creative colour work could be done on the sky. Oh, and maybe crop up a little from the bottom.

You will be pleased to know that the foreground detail shows fine here....if wishing to stun I think I would crop to just the RH half; quite jealous of a mountain range that long and spiky, but nevertheless for a photo some concentration would help and your WA lens isn't going to get stiff from lack of use

[Colin Southern]

You will be pleased to know that the foreground detail shows fine here....if wishing to stun I think I would crop to just the RH half; quite jealous of a mountain range that long and spiky, but nevertheless for a photo some concentration would help and your WA lens isn't going to get stiff from lack of use

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the comments

Just a couple of things I thought worth mentioning ...

- The foreground detail shouldn't be showing "just fine" - it's set to be very dark, with barely more than just a hint of detail - just wondering if your monitor is setup properly? (reason I mention this is that by co-incidence I was looking at the same image on a monitor of one of my associates this afternoon, and saw the same thing -- in fact all of the blacks had shifted up over a stop in all of the images. It wasn't that way a few weeks ago so I asked him what had changed - that's when he told me it was a new monitor. It was waaaaaay out.

- My WA lens was already getting lonely - that shot was with my EF70-200mm F2.8L IS USM @ (off memory) the 70mm end - I hate to rub it in, but I'm afraid that the mountain range goes on for a LOT further than you can see there - they're at the start of the Southern Alps which pretty much run the length of the South Island - hundreds of miles worth

[crisscross]

- The foreground detail shouldn't be showing "just fine" - it's set to be very dark, with barely more than just a hint of detail - just wondering if your monitor is setup properly?

By just fine I did mean it was just possible to see some detail. MacBook has built-in calibration, so very easy to set up a few to cover different sets of ambient light (or none) and flick to appropriate one.

I hate to rub it in, but I'm afraid that the mountain range goes on for a LOT further than you can see there - they're at the start of the Southern Alps which pretty much run the length of the South Island - hundreds of miles worth

Jealousy will get me somewhere, but not 12000 miles, sigh

[Davey]

To get there on foot would be about a 3km walk around the outside - or probably less than 1km cutting right across the runway

My initial thought was OH DEAR! I thought it might be one of those sticky endings (pun intended) that usually result in doing something even I think would be a bad idea. Glad to hear you got permission first and what I thought was coming didn't (ie. a plane).

[Colin Southern]

My initial thought was OH DEAR! I thought it might be one of those sticky endings (pun intended) that usually result in doing something even I think would be a bad idea. Glad to hear you got permission first and what I thought was coming didn't (ie. a plane).

Off memory it was a Sunday afternoon, and the next scheduled flight wasn't coming in until around 4:30pm (which the controller knew) - so only other possibility was a private plane coming in - which we'd catered for with the signal lights. Actually, from a pilots perspective it's not a safety issue as we get a perfect view of anything and everything around the runway (in fact I aborted a landing once because another plane taxied onto the runway as I was coming in to land at an uncontrolled field) (student pilots ... Grrrr).

[Wirefox]

Just a by-pass question: how could you get so close to the plane?

Mmmm. If you got that close in the UK you would be sporting a Heckler Koch muzzle up each nostril. By the way what are the legalities of photographing aircraft from outside of the security fence. I guess it must be OK.

[Davey]

Mmmm. If you got that close in the UK you would be sporting a Heckler Koch muzzle up each nostril. By the way what are the legalities of photographing aircraft from outside of the security fence. I guess it must be OK.

Hehehe tell me about it. It seems unless you are a obvious tourist taking holiday snaps style photos or photographing a big event with many other photographers then you're in for it. When solitary or small groups like 2 or 3 photographers taking pics of your none standard run of the mill touristy subject then clearly you must be some kind of terrorist or criminal type up to no good. Of course I often am up to no good but that doesn't mean the police etc have the right to treat me like that for no reason

[Colin Southern]

Mmmm. If you got that close in the UK you would be sporting a Heckler Koch muzzle up each nostril. By the way what are the legalities of photographing aircraft from outside of the security fence. I guess it must be OK.

Thankfully the "Hysteria" hasn't quite caught hold here - so photography isn't an issue so long as you don't go into any restricted areas without permission. I have to say that I've had no problem with authorities here - on the occasions that I'm challenged it's pretty easy to prove that I'm legit at which point they just move on - all rather undramatic.

Had a touch of irony a few years ago - whenever I fly as a passenger I'd always ask if I could stick my head in the cockpit and ask the crew if I could sit up front with them in the jump seat (have never been turned down) - so long as the crew judge me to be one who can keep quiet when needed then I think they actually enjoy a bit of a change themselves - someone new to chat to enroute. So there I was - up front - best seat in the aircraft (well apart from the front left one, but they weren't about to offer that to me in a hurry!) - and enjoyed an uneventful 1 hour flight to Christchurch ...

... Did what I had to in Christchurch - and then make my way back to the airport for the flight home. ChCH airport is an international airport - so they have "real" security - and although it wasn't required for my domestic flight, the flight was departing through a gate that took me through security - so I got "the treatment" anyway. What I haven't mentioned until now is that I always used to carry a swiss army knife in a pouch on my belt - so when I got to the "business end" of the line I said "I guess that this is going to be a problem" ... to which the expected reply of "oh my goodness yes that's going to be a problem" - I was given 2 choices - forfeit it or check it as baggage (being a $300 knife I went for the latter option) (whilst hearing in the background "this is the final bording call for etc) - then once checked as baggage it's back to the end of the queue (although I jumped a few places!). (Made the flight).

I just thought it was somewhat ironic that the knife is a problem at the returning end and yet I'd flown down there on the first leg of the journey with the pilots in the cockpit with it still on my side (didn't even think about it being there). Had some great times "up front" - took my own headset once (a top-of-the-line Bose model) - I don't think the irony was lost on the crew that a guest on the flightdeck has a headset that's considerably nicer than their own! I remember one of them asking if I'd ever thought of flying commercially like them - to which I replied with a grin "yes, but I couldn't stand the drop in pay!" (I think he made some joke about how I could leave now!)

Ahhh - those were the good old days

[Alis]

Although obviously the image was completely ruined by my UV filter which was still attached!

Hi Colin,

I like number 2.

But I have a question: Could you please explain the quoted part a bit. I thought we can leave the UV on all the time with no exception. What was ruined by having the UV filter on?

Thanks.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin,

I like number 2.

But I have a question: Could you please explain the quoted part a bit. I thought we can leave the UV on all the time with no exception. What was ruined by having the UV filter on?

Hi Sedali,

Thanks for the comments

I was actually being sarcastic when I said that (hence the "sarcastic face") ... clearly the image wasn't "ruined" by having a UV filter attached; there was a bit of ghosting in the image, but that would have been there anyway - but in this case I think it added more to the image rather than took anything away.

The rule with UV filters is that it may be advisable to remove them when shooting scenes with extreme contrast (ie the likes of bright lights against a black background) (eg nightshot) - but that's about the only exception. This was one of those situations where it may have been desireable (in theory anyway) - but in practice I really don't think it would have made any difference - so the moral of my story was "IMO and in practice it's just not the big deal that many make it out to be".

The REAL irony of that shoot has been that of the 5 images that came out of it, the two I like the least are the two verticals - and yet they appear to be the ONLY ones out of the 5 that others like - which I'm quite puzzled by!

[CM Kwan]

Hi Colin,

Outstanding work. I love the last picture and its dramatic skies!

Cheers,
CM

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin,

Outstanding work. I love the last picture and its dramatic skies!

Cheers,
CM

Thanks CM

[Brigitte]

#4 is my favorite:

[The Analog Kid]

I really like all four but the last one has such a stunning sky, it's the one for me. My ony question is whether you could enhance the lower section to be a bit more in balance with the sky? It looks like a golf course and, being a golfer, I know what it's like to play until dark - but I think a bit of a pull on the sliders might make this one even more stunning...
Paul.

[Colin Southern]

I really like all four but the last one has such a stunning sky, it's the one for me. My ony question is whether you could enhance the lower section to be a bit more in balance with the sky? It looks like a golf course and, being a golfer, I know what it's like to play until dark - but I think a bit of a pull on the sliders might make this one even more stunning...
Paul.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for that. In the "real print" (on canvas) I've left a hint of shadow detail there, and it looks pretty good (even if I do say so myself) - keep in mind though that it may well look different on your screen - this type of shot is VERY sensitive to the black level adjustment on your monitor (in my fully colour managed environment I still had to print it 3 times to get it looking the way I wanted).

[Bill44]

Funny you should say that about printing 3 times to get it right. Yesterday, for the first time in a long while, I had to do the same. Oh for a 30" Eizo.

[Colin Southern]

Funny you should say that about printing 3 times to get it right. Yesterday, for the first time in a long while, I had to do the same. Oh for a 30" Eizo.

Hi Bill,

Yeah - with all the technology it still happens! Often I get it right first time, but revealing shadow detail can be darn tricky. On one occasion I had a 22 x 33" canvas print on diplay that I took back and reprinted because I wasn't happy with the shadow detail (which in all fairness did cover a large part of the image) - the necessary adjustment was to the black clipping point on a levels layer - and to produce the result I was happy with the adjustment made was a change of exactly ONE level.

Nothing beats a Mk. 1 eyeball for things like that (although perhaps I ought to get a 30" Eizo just to validate that last statement!)

[Colin Southern]

PS: Although thank goodness the repeatability of printing is spot on - once I've got an image sorted I don't even really look at subsequent prints.

[crisscross]

Although it might be nice to have a bigger and better screen, when it comes to printing are we not subject to the process the computer goes through to turn our lovely RGB into equally lovely (but slightly different as its no longer back-lit) CMYK?