Fisheye Fun – 1

I knew when I bought it that it was not going to be for ‘serious’ photography, but I must admit that I do quite enjoy using my little Samyang fisheye lens.  It does produce some quite ‘daft’ images but it can also produce pictures that cannot be easily made in any other way.  There will be a series of rather odd images going forward into the future until either I get tired of the lens, or I start getting really discouraging comments to my posts.

First off is a rather silly ‘panoramic’ picture of Lyme Regis harbour, taken from the Cobb.  Why did I take it?  Well I must admit, it was probably because I could.  It is completely unrealistic, but it does get the entire harbour into one shot.

Lyme Regis Harbour through a fisheye lens.

I did find that one side effect of the fisheye lens was the possibility of getting odd bits of fingers and thumbs into the frame.  I needed to clone part of a finger out of this shot!

Lyme Regis – After the Storms

On a recent fine day, we decided to visit Lyme Regis, to see how it had weathered the storms.  Online and on television, I had seen many images of huge waves breaking over the Cobb, but I had not been able to visit at that time.  I took a few shots during this visit, and this post shows some images depicting the damage that needs to be cleared up and repaired.

The first image has already appeared in an earlier post, but I have included it again, to show how calm and peaceful Lyme Regis can be.  To be fair, the other images don’t really show how violent the weather has been, unless you already know Lyme Regis quite well.

The second image in the series shows where large stones and cobbles have been completely lifted from the Cobb road out to where the fishing boats moor to unload their catches.  This is on the inside of the sea wall, adjacent to a very sheltered harbour.  This demonstrates just how badly the storm was felt, even within the harbour.

The next three images show the degree by which the large pebbles of Monmouth Beach, have been washed over the sea wall onto the Cobb approach road, and even into the harbour.  It may not look much, but it really does show the power of the storm.

After this come a couple of images showing the debris that has been washed up on the normally pristine Town Beach.

The final image shows where the protective pepples further along the Town Beach have been washed over the Cart Road along the sea front.

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As can be seen, the damage will require some clearing up, but by comparison to the damage in many seaside areas along our coast, it doesn’t seem too bad.  This stands testament to how effective the Cobb at Lyme Regis really is as a sea defence.

Lyme Regis – Leaving Harbour

I was attracted by the colourful sail of this catamaran leaving Lyme Regis harbour, just as the sky was darkening as the next weather system started to appear from the west.  It was still fairly calm in the bay, so this boat and the paddleboarder on the right, should have enjoyed some pleasant time during the remainder of the afternoon.  As the sun disappeared, we thought that it was time to walk back up to the car and head home.

Lyme Regis – Tough Guy!

A rubbish photo, snapped on the Cobb in February, on a day when the sun came out for a while.  It was a nice day, but still pretty chilly.  I confess, that the couple was decapitated because I snapped the shot without raising the camera from my side.  I thought that I would post it like this, because the young man might, in later life, end up being embarrassed if he was identified.  His young lady was much more appropriately attired.  I’m not a fan of ‘flip flops’ at best, and the damaged cobbles in the Cobb (see a future post) will have made this footwear potentially hazardous for this outing.  I hope he didn’t hurt his toes!

Still, this vision may help us think of Spring, which should be here soon! 🙂

Have a good weekend everyone.

Lyme Regis – Miss Pattie

This was taken on 16 February, one of the days when a gale wasn’t blowing.  In fact, the sun shone, though it was still chilly.  Appearances can be misleading when viewing the peaceful and intact entrance to Lyme Regis harbour, with Miss Pattie quietly floating at her mooring and group family portraits being made on the Cobb.

There were very few boats in the harbour, most having been removed for their own safety during the chain of gales which have recently battered this coast.  Other viewpoints around the harbour and Cobb show that significant damage has been caused by those storms.  I will post some more images from this visit, some of which will give an indication of the damage.  Please keep an eye open for them.

More Cobb in the Fog

Thank you to those of you who have already made constructive comments about my Cobb in the Fog post.  There was some suggestion that the image may respond well to a mono treatment.  I have, therefore, revisited the image and here are a couple more interpretations.  I obviously haven’t spent long on this effort, in fact I have largely used the presets available in Lightroom.

Fog on the Cobb 2 – (Blue Hi Contrast)
A Sea Mist over the Cobb at Lyme Regis, Dorset.

This first image has simply been produced using the Blue Filter Hi Contrast preset in Lightroom.The second image was made using the Split Tone 1 preset and adding an Inverse Grad Filter with some increased clarity in the foreground.

Fog on the Cobb 2 – (LR Split Tone 1 + Inverse Clarity Grad)
A Sea Mist over the Cobb at Lyme Regis, Dorset.

I think that I prefer the second of these, however I do expect some differences of opinion from readers.  I’m very happy to hear them.

It further occurs to me that I have now got a Topaz bundle, which may well offer some further potential for playing with this image.  First though, I have some learning to do.

Cobb in the Fog

I took this photo of the Cobb at Lyme Regis because of the sea mist that was rolling in.  It was rather different from other photos that I have taken there previously.  In most of them, there have been too many people, and never any mist.

The Cobb always produces a nice ‘lead in’ to the photo, and in this instance it was leading out to the two lads fishing on the end of the wall, who were partially obscured by the mist.  I wonder though, whether it is a bit of a nonsense to lead in to a point of focus which is actually obscured by mist.  I think it may be.  The small group in the middle distance are clearer, but to me are not as interesting.  I suppose that I should really have tried to make the water ‘milky’ with a long exposure, but as usual, I didn’t have my tripod to hand.

Fog on the Cobb
A Sea Mist over the Cobb at Lyme Regis, Dorset.

I have to confess that I am a little disappointed with this image.  The mist hasn’t really provided the degree of mystery that I had hoped for.  Maybe it is the distraction of the moored boats the other side of the sea wall spoils it.  With this in mind, I resorted to Photoshop briefly, to see whether their removal would help, though I did experience a great feeling of guilt as a result.  The next image shows my efforts with the clone tool.

Fog on the Cobb 2
A Sea Mist over the Cobb at Lyme Regis, Dorset.

The remaining speck on the wall isn’t a bit that I missed.  It is a seagull that I thought deserved to remain.  Has this cloning helped or is it just plain ‘over manipulation’?

Any alternative suggestions on how this image could have been improved are most welcome, as long as they don’t suggest a tripod. 🙂  It is unlikely that I will ever have it with me. 😕

We found ourselves on the Cobb, in the fog, after a long day hiking the Coastal Path west of Lyme Regis.  It was hot during the hike and it was really quite pleasant to spend a little time cooling down at the end of the day as the mist came in.

Groyne or what?

I’m not sure what the correct description of this is.  It’s another shot from Lyme Regis, and although this is not a typical groyne of wood or steel, designed to prevent the migration of sand or shingle on long beaches, in this case it seems to provide the same function.  Over the years these rocks have generally succeeded in keeping Lyme Regis’ beach where it should be.

Harbour Life

Another Lyme Regis photo, this time of that part of the harbour where the sand of the beach can also be seen.  I thought that the foreground gull, standing by the post, and the background fisherman walking back up the beach, having just been down to inspect something by the harbour wall, were quite representative of how Lyme Regis would appear if there were no tourists present.  Lyme Regis still manages to retain a certain character which ensures all year round popularity, so that will never be the day.

Some other Lyme Regis photos can be found by using the search box.

Low Tide

Because we are spending some time with our Grandchildren, I’m afraid that I may be even shorter on posts for the next couple of weeks.  I will still try to offer the occasional photo, if I can find the time.

During the week before last we took an opportunity to spend the afternoon in Lyme Regis, one of our favourite spots on the Dorset coast.  Here is a shot which may be a little too abstract for some, but which I also hope will be appreciated by others.  It was taken at the east end of the beach at low tide.  I did think about cropping the sea out altogether, but in the end decided to include just a ‘sliver’ of water to provide some context.

I found the rock formations quite interesting, though it may be difficult to appreciate this from this crop.

I may well have a few more images of Lyme Regis for you in coming days, and one from the past can be found here.