Touching up

That got your attention didn’t it? But no, I’m not talking about that kind of touching up, more the photographic kind.

Several of you have asked what kind of trickery I’ve used in the most recent photos I’ve sent around. The answer is a little complicated, so feel free to ignore this and just look at the pictures…

The whole process revolves around ‘bracketing’ three (or more) photos with different exposures, then merging the three together. This allows you to get much more detail into the picture, including the very dark and light parts, much in the same way that our own eyes do.

I’ve tried this before using Photoshop, but the results were rubbish. The big change has been using a program called Photomatix. This gives loads of control over the final image. It can give very natural results, but can be tweaked to give 'hyper-normal’ photos that can look 'painterly’. It works great on scenery as above. It’s very good on buildings:

Note that the bloody scaffolding is still there…

This one has no scaffolding:

 

It even can work on wildlife, though movement is a real problem:

Thankfully, Sky doesn’t move very much.

I just took this one in the garden to show how all the detail is brought out:

A big thanks to Geoff for introducing me to this program:

Here’s some recent photos that use this jiggery pockery:

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In and around Montauban

An old(ish) schoolmate and vet is our latest guest, and apart from a goodly dose of nostalgia and some really fine games of snooker, he has taught me how I can (finally) take photos that look like the ones I can see in my head. And what a strange head it is…

Thanks to Geoff, we’ve visited the villages around Montauban normally reserved for better weather. We’ve had everything from balmy beach weather to blizzards all in the space of a single day. The up side of this was photographic skies and lighting, and no tourists but us!

Montauban, as always, looked terracotta red:

Cordes-sur-ciel was amazing:

Puycelsi, the ideal stop for a great meal. Tartar de boeuf with a great local wine refuelled us for our continued phototourism:

and finally Bruniquel with its hill top castle:

Now I’ve figured out how to photograph bricks, I’m gonna try mountains with Geoff this weekend!

Here’s all the photos from this trip. To see them in more detail, click on the first one then use the right arrow on your keyboard to see the next… [AFG_gallery id=‘47’]

a fortnight in february - epilogue.

For those of you with a strange sense of humour, here are few tips resulting from our experiences during this fortnight in february…

On skiing:

On war:

On photography:

On acting:

and on war & acting together…

Weird huh?

For all the photos of this debacle, click on the first image below…[AFG_gallery id=‘43’]

a fortnight in february - part 3

It has got to be said, of all the things that France is great at, food and wine have to be way up there near the top, and one of the greatest meals just has to be raclette. Here’s us having raclette, wine and a fine time. Cheers!

The downside of all this is, of course, the ‘cheese and wine’ belly, so walking off these meals is a must, and there is no better place than in the valleys of the Pyrénées wearing, er, tennis rackets.

Some of these walks degenerated into war

Though mostly we just had fun

Here’s a few photos to check out the fun:

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a fortnight in february - part 2.

The art of skiing

In this, much anticipated, episode, I will be looking at the art of skiing. I use the word ‘art’ advisedly, as, with our little group, the word 'sport’ seems somewhat inappropriate. In reality of course, using the word art is probably an abuse of the English language.

First, let me introduce the players on this stage of life. Lisa and Christian you will remember from part one. They spent a week with us, then to be replaced by Ruth, Luke and his friends Joe and Jenny.

Each of these players has their own individual handicap when it comes to skiing. These disabilities affected each player in different and amusing ways. You will know from previous blogs of my own family’s foibles, but it seems only fair to embarrass these new players by ridiculing them here.

Ruth starred in an earlier blog, so you may already know her by the phrase 'Mad Aunt Ruth’, called mad as she suffers with having a normal personality.

Jenny is a small, timid, woodland creature, who giggles and smiles a lot. She is the first and only person that I have ever known to, in a moment of panic, shout 'eeek’!

Joe is the diametric opposite to Jenny. Picture the Big Friendly Giant and you may have a clue to what I mean. This raised centre of gravity has remarkable side-effects when looking at the art of skiing (or life in general I guess), prominent among them being the urge to imitate a windmill.

Although skiing can be very taxing and take all of your concentration and more, some managed to find the time for alternative forms of relaxation:

Meanwhile, the hounds carried on with life as usual

For those of you who wish to know more of this facinating subject, here are some action photos to help you pass your time…[AFG_gallery id='45’]

a fortnight in february - part 1

Two weeks in the Pyrenees, or 15 days as the French say…

Day 1: Having packed the car with two weeks of food, booze, bedding, clothing and…er… booze for, at various times, ten of us, we had the luck to arrive at the Hydeaway during a short window of opportunity unhindered by snow. Unloading the car seemed to trigger a further snowfall that was to last unabated for the next few days.

Day 2: Skiing was out for us fair weather skiers, so we undertook a racquet walk up the hill behind us with the hounds. The combination of fresh snow on top of thick icy snow made going uphill somewhat tricky (see photos) and coming down only possible by bum.

Running up

Struggling up

Giving up

Humans sliding down steep slopes seems strangely attractive to Sky. She clearly thought I should continue careering down the mountain, thus helped me along by constantly charging me from behind like some crazed land dolphin.

Pricking up

Fuzzing up

They said it couldn’t be done; finding a good curry in France (apart from chez-nous of course). Spending the evening at Mike & Kim’s allowed Mike to prove his culinary abilities as well has his proficiency at kicking a man when he’s down by hammering me at both pool and darts.

Day 3: Picking Lisa and Christian up from the airport was an adventure in itself, with heavy snow en route. On our return, we took the dogs into the village so that Lisa and Christian could take out their frustrations upon each other.

With intent

First Strike

Revenge

What snow?

Waiting at heal

Love in the snow

Furry Lisa

That evening, we decided to test our fortunes by driving way up to le Mourtis on an uncleared road whilst the snow still ‘hammered’ down. This, to celebrate our 18th anniversary.

We had previously discovered that a four-wheel drive on snow, was equivalent to a no-wheel drive when it comes to braking downhill. Chains, we also discovered, were only any use if you could get the bloody things on… even then, after getting one chain on, the sodding thing disappeared en route.

This time we were well prepared with winter tyres (amazing difference, it’s almost like driving a…er…car) and made it without spill through thick snow. The return trip (after a generous oiling with 'eau de vie’) a couple of hours later was slightly trickier, being downhill. One interesting discovery on the way down was that when an avalanche hits, everyone in the car ducks! “Very useful” I thought whilst speeding off unscathed.

Next up, some skiing…

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If you go down to the woods today

There are more dangerous things in the Pyrénées than bears these days…

More dangerous than bears

I was warned that going to the Pyrénées this weekend would bring with it some risks such as road blocks and avalanches, but no one warned me I’d meet a stunning masked lady in the woods… She sure gave me a big surprise!

For the record, and it is a record, the depth of snow here has surpassed anything before seen by living man (although a few dead ones might disagree). It has passed the two meter depth at the bottom of the slopes for the first time since records began. (Do you remember ‘Telstar’ by the Tornados?)

The snow covering the roof has slowly slid into interesting shapes, the barbecue has all but disappeared under a snow dune, Peter’s restaurant has gone underground, walking in the snow has introduced me to muscles previously unheard of, and the dogs have taken to tunnelling.

As for skiing, well, perfect snow conditions with imperfect skiers. Annick and Mike both lost skis whilst on the ski lift. And I didn’t think disabled access would be that easy…

Nice views though…

 

 

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