The Sunday Ramble: from rivers to runner beans
Today’s photo is of the River Tame. It’s the subject of some research now into it’s industrial history. Here you can see it running through Sandwell Valley Country Park towards Forge Mill Lake. There’s a bridleway to the left where you can ride your horse , cycle or walk. (more…)
Photography: Getting a message across
Today I’ve tried to get a message across with an image and with words. This is a picture of the bridleway where it goes under a road bridge in Sandwell Valley Country Park. (more…)
Photography: Cropping pictures
I took this photo on Sunday. I’ve added a little contrast. I was disappointed, the light wasn’t as good as I expected. I also took my tripod and couldn’t find anywhere level to use it! My Nikon doesn’t zoom in very much compared to some of the bridge cameras. My Fuji is a few years old and even that has a 10X zoom. (more…)
Adding to my bucket list
One of the things on my bucket list (things I want to do before I kick it) is to have a picture in an art exhibition. It could be a summer exhibition and so I’m thinking about what kind of picture might be suitable. I think local art galleries should be encouraging me. Don’t you? What do you think of today’s picture?
What to do this Bank Holiday weekend
Last weekend I took this photo in a park. The UK has lots of parks and nature reserves and so there are lots of picnic areas. Going somewhere and perhaps taking a picnic blanket, food and drink and even a small radio for a little music; could make for a nice afternoon out. Others might go shopping and take advantage of the sales on this weekend. You’ll find those bargains on Monday.
Whats it like to live in Wednesbury?
What’s it like to live in Wednesbury? This is a question I’m asked quite a lot. People overseas think it’s great because they see photographs like the one above. That’s the canal on the west side of town from me running through an industrial estate. That bridge goes across to Moorcroft Wood. There was a teddy bear’s picnic for the kids in Moorcroft Wood this week. (more…)
Black Country Art review
I’ve come to the end of my art week and so I thought I would start today with an artistic edit. You never know, pictures like this might be displayed in the art gallery one day. We could launch a whole new school of art from here in the Black Country. We could call it, “Flyin’ Pigs”. We could do worse…
Neodigital Art | The River Tame
Neodigital Art is about editing pictures to create something with emotion. I was quite annoyed when I took this photo, because the sun had gone behind a black cloud. I’ve used colorize in PhotoScape for an artistic edit. What do you think? (more…)
Spring flowers in May
The river in the picture is the River Tame. This photo was taken last May, but I drove past there yesterday and the flowers are just starting to bloom again. They seem to grow all along the Tame, I’ve seen them at Walsall and Dudley.
Neodigital Art | Ice and snow
The snow pictures that I took, all look good. If the sun is quite bright, lots of light is reflected off the snow and you get this blue effect to the photo. You can add a little blue to the picture, if it’s ‘too white’. The snow will also reflect light from street lamps, but the pictures will be quite dark later in the afternoon. (more…)
Autumn sunshine this weekend?
After a miserable summer, Autumn in England is more of the same; more rain. We had sunshine in October last year, I took this photograph. It was like summer, I had a salad for dinner! We could have sunshine this weekend! Next week, it will be half-term for the kids and they can enjoy a week off and I won’t have to worry about the school run to the local schools twice a day. I think all kids that walk to school should get a free school lunch; whether they want one or not!
Neodigital Art | Step by step edit
As I write this I can see blue skies and sunshine. It wasn’t like that when we went out to take photographs on Sunday, it was dull and cloudy. It looks nice today, but the wind is a cold Arctic wind. I might still try to take a few photographs later. This picture is after I did the edit, take a look at the before picture, very dull.
Neodigital Art | Landscapes
Regular readers will probably recognise this stretch of water, I have taken photographs of it lots of times. I’ve got a rotten cold and sore throat and so I didn’t want to go far on Sunday. It looks like a huge lake, but isn’t really large enough to be called a lake. It looks bigger because I shot down the length of the lake and away from the sun. I had a blue sky and plenty of light, so quite a nice scene.
Neodigital Art | Light and colour
I was trying to get my printer/scanner working the other day and scanned this picture. This is an old picture, but it shows that you can do something interesting with a scanner. I used to play on that field as a child! The land and the road was actually on fire because of the coal and gas underneath. The coal has since been removed and there is a sports field and new houses there now. That row of little workers houses is still there! (more…)
Neodigital Art | Sunshine at last
I took this photograph yesterday and it’s the River Tame. I remembered that the flowers grow down the edges in Spring. The Tame runs all over the Black Country or at least the brooks do, that feed it. These flowers seem to grow all along it and so I might go to another location and photograph that while the flowers are still in bloom today. I could take a picnic! (more…)
Neodigital Art | Light on the lens
Looking for depth
I set the camera on landscape for this shot which gives a narrow aperture and some depth of field. The shot in is focus and there are a lot of interesting colours. I couldn’t get anything in the foreground though to give the shot depth. I have edited and made the photograph darker to get the colours right. (more…)
Neodigital Art | Difficult Light
Winter photography
When I’m taking photographs in winter the light is often difficult. I was standing on the bridge over the canal to take this shot. The sun was low in the sky in the afternoon and behind me for this shot. I edited this photo and added highlights to try to make the tree silhouette against the white bleak sky. Depth is provided by the tree and the canal going away into the distance. I also like the hedge row that runs along the side of the canal. (more…)
Victorian legacies
Black Country canals
The canal in the picture was built in the 18th century and was part of a valuable transport system for the goods that were made in the Black Country. It runs into Walsall and to the ‘Waterfront’ near the new art gallery. The canal goes past those factories then crosses the M6 motorway; the modern transport link to the Black Country. Then on to cross the railway that was to come later as a major transport network then an aqueduct takes it over the River Tame. The Tame looks like little more than a brook there but that was an important source of power at one time driving the hammers of a local forge. (more…)
Neodigital Art | Update 26
The Moon
You might remember the super full moon in March this year; this is my photograph of it! It goes well against the black background! (more…)
Video Blog 1
Video
Yes, my first video blog! No I’m not standing there boring you. I made this yesterday and uploaded it to Facebook. It’s clips, stills and most importantly it has relaxing music to go with the relaxing pictures. Play this when you need to relax! (more…)
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