Mechanical Landscapes

  • #21 – Photopaper Sizes Rant

    I was reminded of this particular annoyance of mine by a letter in Amateur Photographer magazine recently- why on earth is there such little correlation between photopaper size and photograph ratio. I’ll explain. 35mm film (and DSLR sensors) are in a 3 x 2 format. This means that the whole image can be printed on…

  • #20 – Dial ‘M’ For Mining

    #20 – Dial ‘M’ For Mining

    One I took a while back but I still really like – Clipsone Colliery in Nottinghamshire. Despite being listed, these impressive artefacts of our industrial heritage are seemingly doomed due to a concerted campaign from a local councillor. Shame.  

  • #19 – Compact Cameras Part 2 – Top Tips

    Compact Camera Tips 1) Find out how to activate the macro focussing. This is normally a flower logo, and will enable you to focus as closely as 2cm. 2) Buy a mini tripod. This will allow you to take pictures at night, and will help you to keep the camera steady when you’re using macro…

  • #18 – You Must Have A Really Good Camera……

    Grrrrrrrrrrrr, how many times have I heard this? Why do people think that cameras are the only ingredient of a good photograph? Does a camera drive itself to an interesting location? Does a camera know how to compose an image? Does a camera know what depth of field to use? Does a camera know how…

  • #17 – Compact Cameras, Part 1

    #17 – Compact Cameras, Part 1

    What have all the above photos got in common? Well, nothing visibly, other than the fact that they were all taken with a small £150 Fuji compact. You don’t need an all singing, all dancing SLR to take a nice picture, it’s only when you want to start doing more complicated things that an SLR…

  • #16 – More Handheld Night Photography

    It was almost dark when our ship left Barcelona, but being a large industrial port, it operates round the clock. This container ship was being unloaded, so I took the opportunity to get a shot. I wasn’t sure how well it would turn out as our ship was moving, so I just had to set the camera…

  • #15 – Sardinian Shadows

    I don’t know why, but this scene just caught my eye. I loved all the little streets of Cagliari and when I wandered down this one the way the shadows created this wonderful image in front of me. It was an obvious candidate to convert to mono! All it needed was someone to be in…

  • #14 – Book Review – Henk van Rensbergern’s “Abandoned Places”

    Although this book was only published in 2008, it is now out of print and copies were recently selling for £60+ on Amazon! I’m glad I got mine when I did and am kicking myself for not buying several copies now!! The format of this book is superb, with each of the places visited having…

  • #13 – Kodak Ektar 100

    I bought three rolls of this new film a few months back, and I started using my first roll at Parys Copper Mine, and then didn’t pick up my film camera again for 3 months to finish the roll! So, as I was keen to see how good it was, I cast good sense aside…

  • #12 – Super Wide Angle Fun :)

    For several years, I used a Sigma 10-20mm lens on my Nikon D70. As this was a DX (crop format) camera, this gave a focal length of 15-30mm, and for urban exploration and landscape use, it was fantastic. However, I had to sell this when I upgraded to a full frame (FX) camera, as DX…

  • #11 – Welcome To The Voice From The North!

    After a successful 18 months on my old blog, I decided I wanted some more flexibility on the layout, and I was never entirely happy with the name, so I’ve decided on a clean break and moved to a wordpress blog. However, I have transferred all the previous posts over to here, so none of…

  • #10 – ARCHIVE JUNE 2009: Blurb Books

    I’ve used Blurb several times now, most recently for my City & Guilds Level 3 book, and I’ve been very impressed, certainly with the hardback books. Blurb are on of a number of ‘Print-On-Demand’ publishers who allow you to self publish a book, with a minimum print run of just 1. And if you want…

  • #9 – ARCHIVE MAY 2009: Long Exposures

    Night photography is something I enjoy doing but don’t get round to doing enough of. Why? Something to do with Not being arsed in the evenings once I get home from work – in the winter when it gets dark early it’s normally cold and wet, while in the summer, it doesn’t get dark until…

  • #8 – ARCHIVE MARCH 2009: Nikon D700 and Low Light Steam Railway Photography

    #8 – ARCHIVE MARCH 2009: Nikon D700 and Low Light Steam Railway Photography

    One of the prime reasons I bought the D700 was it’s incredible high ISO / low light ability, matched only by the D3, with which it shares the sensor. At low ISO it’s extremely good, with pretty much no noise visible, and my first shots for the night were at low ISO’s with pretty long…

  • #7 – ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 2009: Nikon D700 Low Noise Performance

    After nearly 4 years of reliable performance, I’ve relegated my Nikon D70 to the shelf as a back-up camera. In it’s place, and at great cost, I’ve invested in a Nion D700. What an incredible camera! I’m more of a photographer than a camera enthusiast, but the D700 is just amazing. Yes it’s bloody expensive,…

  • #6 – ARCHIVE JANUARY 2009: Revisiting old sites

    #6 – ARCHIVE JANUARY 2009: Revisiting old sites

    I rarely go back to sites I’ve already been to. Several reasons – 1) I always feel I’m pushing my luck, 2) I try to see as much as I can first time round, and 3) there’s plenty more places to go. However, I was after some easy explores for a college project, so I…

  • #5 – ARCHIVE December 2008: Proper Use of HDR

    #5 – ARCHIVE December 2008: Proper Use of HDR

    A quick tour of any of the Urban Exploration groups on Flickr will show you how many explorers murder their pictures in post processing. Sorry, and I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet here, but in my opinion, the best way of using HDR is with a degree of subtlety. This photo of Grove…

  • #4 – ARCHIVE APRIL 2009: Subtle Applications of HDR

    #4 – ARCHIVE APRIL 2009: Subtle Applications of HDR

    Having visited Ivy Bank Mill once, I somehow felt compelled to return. Given the appalling state of the building, this was arguably a rash decision, but the place had something about it. I also wanted to return with a tripod as I had, in retrospect, unwisely left it in the car on my first visit.…

  • #3 – ARCHIVE MARCH 2008: Composition

    Whole volumes have been written on photographic composition, which will explain things far better than I can. Not being artistically trained, I’ve tried to read a few, but I’m not sure how much has sunk in – I think I’ve learned more by looking at the work of others and seeing what works. I tend…

  • #2 – ARCHIVE MARCH 2008: Selective Colouring

    http://www.theviewfromthenorth.org/photo2926587.html I’ve been asked a number of times how I created this image, so I thought it was about time to explain. It’s quite easy really – here’s the steps I took in Photoshop CS2. 1) Open the image. This started off as a full colour image. 2) Duplicate the layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer)…

  • #1 – ARCHIVE JAN 2008: Getting Going Again, and HDR

    Getting going again, and HDR March already – and so far in 2008, I’ve done one explore (the Pickle Factory), and had one unsuccessful (site being decommissioned – couldn’t persuade security to let me on site, and there’s no other access. Yet.). Although this is the same tally as this time last year, I’ve struggled…