Just a very quick sample of a shot that I took last week of the ‘multifoil arch’ at the Alcazaba of Malaga, which is significant for a couple of reasons. It’s the first holiday that I’ve taken my new 5D Mark III on, and it’s also the first time that I’ve tried to use control points properly in Silver FX Pro.

Multifoil arches, the Alcazaba of Málaga

It’s still a little blown out in the bottom right [unavoidable, given the time of day], but it’s a fantastic tool.

We are just back from a really lovely long weekend in Bath, which was my first extended play with the latest toy, my 16-35mm L, which I picked up at the end of December. The lens is the last step in my preparation to go full frame. The wide end on a crop sensor is a bit of a shock in comparison to the lens it’s effectively replacing for me – the 10-22mm S mount, as it’s weighing at about 25.6mm with multiplier effect. The build quality is fantastic, and very similar in feel [and materials] to the macro 100mm L.

A few quick shots:

Georgian Infinity

Rebecca Fountain

Finally, an HDR shot of the Abbey:

Bath Abbey HDR

So this is bracketed around a 5 second exposure at F8 [the other exposures are 1.3 and 20 seconds respectively]. I still find the HDR to be very hit and miss, so while this isn’t the best shot I’ve taken, I have a few rules of thumb, which at least minimise the failures.

I find dusk gives the best results, as it makes for the broadest range of exposure without super stopping down [F22] or using filters during the day, and B setting long exposures at night. Trying to keep electric light sources out of the shot also helps, as you get massive halos, and blown out sections on the long exposures.

One variable which is very hard to mitigate for – other than a postponement! – is the cloud cover. When I took the shot above – actually, it was something of a photographic scourge all weekend – there was very even cloud, with no variability in light quality. The long single exposures made for a very deep blue colour, which by the time the HDR software had stirred the pot, looked pretty awful. I will often desaturate in post, or even go for full black and white.

All of which is a lovely story. In a deeply unrelated final comment, if you are in Bath, try to get a table at Sotto Sotto. It’s fab!

Well, this one always impresses me. It’s in Liberty, the department store in London. This was taken with my iPhone, with a bit of post processing in Aperture.