Date Added
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Posted In
Abstract | Photoshop, Featured, Landscape, Travel
Tagged
Bordeaux by dusk
Description
This is probably one of only a few salvageable pictures I took on my trip to France. Unfortunately during those days I was still deluded to think I could be a photographer with only a mobile phone. Some may say I am still deluded while I use a bridge-slr, but that’s really ok because at least with that I stand a better chance of making mistakes myself, rather than allow the camera to make them for me. 
That brings me to another point regarding this image; it is heavily photoshopped. Of course the metering on point-and-click often over-compensates, and with this picture the camera happened to destroy the scene by over exposing the shot to compensate for the low light. The final result here looks a lot like it did on that evening, with the dark blues/purples/oranges and reds mixing together along the horizon as the sun’s penultimate rays crept over a deepening sky.
Took this on a trip Back from a village near to where we were staying. I really want to go back there actually but for the reason that during the morning a heavy low-lying mist takes over the land, and some spectacular views are to be had. I wish now I had bothered to wake up early enough to go down to the road and photograph the corn fields in this mist, even with a crappy camera.
Ever wished that you’d followed your intuition and gone out there to take a photograph after the opportunity? I have no doubt every budding photographer has had similar thoughts.
In keeping with what I’ve been doing with these blog posts, I’m adding a few extra pics in here at the end to titilate your visual fancy. Nothing mind-blowing, but it is surprising how much can be done (sometimes) to save a picture that is crap. Well, to put it bluntly.
Cafe des Colonnes
This pic happily reminds me that it was August 2007 when I was in France, at the height of the Rugby World Cup. There are a few pictures from this trip that did turn out ok by themselves, i.e no photoshopping necessary, but I’ll keep hold of those for other posts. 
One good thing about this trip is the fact that it did convince me I needed a decent camera, and not just a power-shot syle point-and-shoot, but something more substantial that I could work with. To that end, it was a great experience, and the following March (My birthday month) I gathered together some cash for my current piece, the Fujifilm S9600.
I’m looking forward to the holiday that convinces me I need to get a DSLR.