[andy mcinroy]

November 5, 2010 at 1:35 pm

Interesting Alan,

I think that most good amateur photographers would to have to admit to selling the odd photograph.
Photographers up to competition winning standards will always receive requests for print sales.
They are unlikely to refuse these simply out of a moral highground to remain strictly ‘amateur’, whatever that actually means.

I was questioned in a recent amateur competition about my amateur / professional status.
I answered it thus and they validated my entry.

Just to clarify your question regarding professional photography. I am a research engineer at **** in ****. My photography is very much in the amateur ethic. I photograph for my own enjoyment. I don’t shoot professionally to any commission or for any customer. However, I do sell prints of my landscape photography through my webpage. My sales would typically be under **** per annum, This income would cover a proportion of my equipment and petrol costs, so these sales net me zero profit. I rely on my engineering job to fund my hobby. I hope this clarifies your question.

[andy mcinroy]

May 30, 2010 at 7:19 pm

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

DougL, I appreciate your suggestion. I think this does help the 1st image. I had already done a lens correction but my own image appeared to still have a problem with the lighthouse. I suspected it was because the lighthouse was placed slightly higher in the frame than in the other two images. I think your edit does improve the image. Thanks for that.

Andy

[andy mcinroy]

March 22, 2010 at 4:34 pm

This is an excellent recreation.

Not only have you got the view very close, but you have also caught some terrific light.
It’s great to see this section continuing to grow.

Andy

[andy mcinroy]

March 16, 2010 at 11:04 pm

JB, you’ve brought me out of retirement to have a crack at this one.

I don’t think that this is HDR. The main reason I say this is that the water is sharply frozen, so therefore the image has almost certainly been created from a single exposure.

Any image created from a single exposure exposure (either using film or digital) cannot be defined as HDR. Some folks refer to single exposure processes as pseudo-HDR but the reality is that they have just found a way to maximise the amount of detail from the single exposure.
HDR requires multiple exposures.

On a more technical note it is also true to say that no image visible on a monitor can be HDR.
HDR is a virtual state of zeros and ones that only exist in the computer’s memory during processing. As soon as we output it to a printer or a monitor it has a low dynamic range once again.

But whatever the processing, it is still a pleasing image to my eye. It does lack contrast which is typical of many ‘HDR’ images I have seen. However, that is the only similarity. It lacks the softness and garish colours of a typically processed ‘HDR’. It’s also a pleasing viewpoint with quite a stong feeling of depth. However there isn’t enough here to really get me going.

[andy mcinroy]

March 11, 2010 at 11:30 am

Very interesting recreation.

It does indeed look like some land has been reclaimed in order to make the carpark.

The castle hasn’t changed much.

Andy

[andy mcinroy]

March 2, 2010 at 8:21 pm

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I should be posting a bit more regularly now as we head towards the spring.

Cathal, I’ll give you a shout when the clocks change and we’ll get out to Urris.

[andy mcinroy]

November 9, 2009 at 8:19 pm

Ah yes Ken, I was hoping that you would comment.

I was sure that you must have been here yourself, but I couldn’t find your webpage any longer. Did you take it down?

These two you linked two are excellent and really show the standing strones very well. There can’t be many megalithics in Ireland that you haven’t visited?

Cheers for commenting.
Andy

[andy mcinroy]

November 8, 2009 at 10:34 pm

Cheers Mark,

That critique really helps.

Here’s the colour version if anyone else wants to compare. JB, maybe the ring and stone circle become more obvious?

[andy mcinroy]

November 8, 2009 at 10:30 pm

The tree is interesting indeed JB,

The question is, whether it was planted here or whether lady luck blew it here. I would say that this is a good example of a fairy tree, left here by superstition and a fear of the ‘good people’.

Of course, only the ring cairn and stone circle are 4000 years old, not the tree growing within.
Saying that, 4000 years ago, Ireland would have been covered with rich forest of alder, hazel and oak. The landscape would have been different again.

Anyway, the tree is only a small part of the composition. The stone circle and ring cairn are the really ancient bits.

[andy mcinroy]

October 22, 2009 at 1:52 pm

Sorry Mark, I just posted this before reading your other comments in the other thread.

Move it wherever you feel it fits.

[andy mcinroy]

October 22, 2009 at 1:31 pm

Looks good Mark.

However, simply renaming the forum hasn’t solved the fundamental problem. I still think that it has to be clear in the description that ‘photography’ related chat is allowed here. The current descriptions suggests that this is for ‘non-photography’ related chat only. What do other people think?

[andy mcinroy]

October 22, 2009 at 12:50 pm

Pete,

It was myself that mentioned a ‘photography lounge’ type forum. I think that nfl’s support of that idea what somewhat sarcastic. However, it is worth some consideration. It could be used for more lighthearted photography conversation and interesting photographic links. It could also be used for more general chat and joke threads but the overall theme of the forum would still be photography.

Luminous landscape runs something similar and calls it the ‘Coffee Corner’ and describes it as “a forum for open discussiom of both photographic and non-photographic topics of a general nature’. Take a look at the current topics and you will see a very well balanced and interesting forum section there.

It’s worth thinking about anyway.

[andy mcinroy]

October 21, 2009 at 12:33 pm

I’m not sure that this is a democracy.

Voting doesn’t take account of the potential members who are likely to join a friendly, well run site, free from this sort of aggravation.

I’m sure that Mark will decide what needs to be done (if anything), in the same way he always has.

[andy mcinroy]

October 21, 2009 at 12:13 pm

Is there a pie at halftime in this thread?

I’m not going to talk about the recent worthless drivel, but I’ll give my own perspective on the decline of PI which was the original subject of the thread. I agree about the ebb and flow of the forum. I have seen this on many other forums which I have been involved in and I’m sure the high tide will bring in fresh photographers with new and interesting viewpoints (and hopefully some alternative GSOH’s to balance things up). I think there is a danger that when a photography site starts to revolve around a hub of a ‘general chat’ section, it loses it’s way a little. For instance, comments about how people critique or how people interact etc are often brought in here. As such, this section is very hard to ignore and members will often get pulled into here whether they like it or not. If they are pulled in here then they are probably posting less about photography. I think this needs to be given some thought. A photography site has to revolve around the photography, not revolve around jokes or personality driven politics.

Personally, I’ve been frequenting other sites in the search for a better balance back to the photography again. PI is still number 1 in my book and this is where my forum life started. My personal suggestion would be to turn GC into a ‘Photography Lounge’. In doing so there would still be opportunity for a few jokes (preferably photography related) but the overall themes and bulk of the threads would still be more lighthearted discussion on photography. This might not suit everyone but I think that it would at least stop this section looking like a wart at the end of this very respectable site.

[andy mcinroy]

October 12, 2009 at 4:19 pm

Soda,

There wasn’t much inside to rob.

I know, because I was down lying inside it trying to imagine how a neolithic corpse might have seen the world.

Not a great photo this, but some might find it interesting.