The Bodleian Fortress

Yikes has it really been that long!? I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but didn't realise it had been nearly a whole month! Well it's a good job I've decided to revert back to an old habit. Oh yes, I will again be blogging 3 times a week, starting today. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (as opposed to previously Sunday), I will post a new photo or topic for discussion. It is the only way I can keep up my blogging habits on here, at a time when I am enjoying photography more than ever.

So having said that, I will keep it brief tonight. Today's photo was taken at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. It was processed entirely in Lightroom, despite the numerous black and white processing programs available for photographers these days. I am currently trialling Topaz BW effects, and am yet to make a decision whether to make the full purchase. Lightroom 5 (as 4 did previously as well) does a great job of black and white processing, and it's often difficult to judge how a stand alone black and white program can go further. What might win it for me with Topaz's program, is the detail slider they have added, to bring out those extra details in a black and white picture.

Tip: The key to black and white processing is contrast. It's too easy when converting a picture to black and white to overlook how boosting the contrast can really bring the picture too life. They can look quite flat otherwise. See you on Tuesday!

Dominus Illuminatio Mea

It sounds like something out of the  Da Vinci Code, but actually Dominus Illuminatio Mea means 'The Lord is my light'. It is the motto of Oxford University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. This emblem slash statue is above one of the great entrances into one of the university buildings. There are so many university buildings cluttered around Oxford, that it is difficult for me as a visitor to remember which is which. Despite only living 30-40 miles away from Oxford, I visit there surprisingly rarely and know even less about it. I can say that this entrance is near the Bridge of Sighs and behind the Sheldonian theatre. This is an HDR picture but taken from a single RAW file. There was no need to add any bracketed images, as this single picture had captured all the dynamic range necessary.

Have you seen my Flickr Photostream?

There are many avenues for photographers to show their pictures these days, but my personal favourite is still Flickr. I know it lacks the functionality of other websites and is perhaps a bit dated, but after initially developing a passion for photography, Flickr was the place I gained a ton of inspiration and spurred me on to want to create pictures like some of the fantastic ones I saw there. I went through a stage last year of having title plates on my Flickr pictures, which I got a bit bored of after a while. However, now I've decided that beginning with today's picture, I am going to introduce a universal border (without text) on all my Flickr pictures. At various times I've been for and against borders and title plates, but now I've just decided I want my Flickr pictures to have their own separate identity and an alternative way of presenting my pictures. So if you've never been there before, please begin seeing my pictures in a different way:

Pete Halewood Flickr Photostream