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Sunday 7 August 2011

Tourists


Here's Saltaire as I have never quite shown it before on this blog - full of tourists and in wide-angle too.  Last weekend's weather was gratifyingly pleasant so I was able to have a walk with my new camera and try it out.  Inevitably, most of the rest of the world was out having a walk round Saltaire too but the village has a good feel when it's full of people enjoying themselves.  As my house is not on one of the main tourist streets, I don't get people peeking in through my windows (just lots of cars parked outside) so I really don't mind living in a tourist hot-spot - and anyway there are plenty of times when it's quiet and still beautiful.

My new Nikon has an 18-55mm lens.  18mm is a wider angle than my other cameras and it makes quite a difference when shooting landscapes.  Here, it puts the church in its context quite effectively. (My book says: 'using wide-angle lenses causes things that are closer to the lens to look disproportionately larger than things that are further away'.  Yes, I would agree with that.)  Victoria Road is a fairly steep hill up from the river and the lampost on the left is genuinely a bit drunken, though possibly not quite as much as it appears in my photo.  (I did try a bit of Photoshop straightening but it affected the rest of the image too much so I left it alone.)

For those not yet familiar with my home village of Saltaire, the church is Saltaire United Reformed Church, a Victorian masterpiece commissioned by the founder of Saltaire, Sir Titus Salt and opened in 1859.  Click the label 'Saltaire URC' below, for more photos and information.

15 comments:

  1. Wide angle lenses will give 'converging verticals', which will be one reason for the drunken lamp post; this will be especially evident in city-scales like New York and other areas of buildings. It can be a great 'feature', don't be afraid of it.

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  2. I also live in a place where tourists come in summer. And luckily, I also live in a part of town where they have nothing to see..But it's hard to be in the center during juy and august..I'm longing for october! :o)

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  3. Congratulations on the acquisition of your smart new camera! I wish you many, many fun-filled hours of shooting! So glad to know you're revelling in pleasantly warm weather. Today's picture is delightful!

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  4. Wide angle is great for city scapes. You can get all the building in the frame. I missed mine in USA. It broke just before I left and had to make do with P&S.

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  5. I agree with John... and I find that the leaning happens more when my camera is tilted upwards, even if slightly so. I make some adjustment by shooting straight, then cropping the unwanted foreground. Still a lovely shot, and people add a pleasant buzz to a place.

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  6. It looks like a beautiful church.

    Greetings,
    Filip

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  7. I use Lightroom which has settings to correct barrel distortion (Lens Correction section) for various lenses. It works great.

    I don't think it would make the lamp post completely vertical but it sounds like it's not perfectly straight in real life.

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  8. I love the way some nice folk try to be helpful when a lady buys a new camera! FEMALES ! They don't know anything about things mechanical, they are scared of mice and spiders, and....by jingo they do read the instructions though!

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  9. I think that's a great view you've captured!

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  10. That is a neat wide angle shot! And it is fun to see the tourists. So funny that they peak in windows on the main street. People can be so funny.

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  11. Wonderful church. But if you think that's a lot of tourists you should come to Cambridge some time!

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  12. It looks great. For your every day photos, I wonder if the effort to sober up your lamp posts will be worth it.

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  13. Hi again. I agree with Jack that in this case it's hardly worth the effort to fix the leaning lamp. I use Photoshop and found this tutorial very helpful to learn how to fix distortion: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/photoshop-with-matt/removing-distortion-from-wideangle-photos/ :-)

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  14. Oooh congrats on your new camera, what a fun scene to behold with that wide angle! ~Lili

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