Green & Grey

GRD II, f7.1, 1/100, ISO 100, RAW

The weather has been again typical for the British summer we have here, grey and rainy for most of the day. I did not take many pictures and only took a handfull on my way home.
I wanted to give this picture a slight depressing and surreal feel to it. I have added vignetting, used fill light at 100%, added some noise and changes the contrast slightly. The result is what I had in mind although at first I wanted to have it in b&w.

Misty Morning

GRD, f6.3, 1/1600, ISO 64, RAW

As much as I like the GRD I, it is not the perfect camera for landscape photography. It works great for b&w landscapes taken in high ISO but low ISO is no a strength and color even less. For this shot it would have also been good to have some moderate zoom.

Thames Barrier

LC1, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 100, RAW, 41mm

After the Ricohforum meetup yesterday I took a walk with the Panasonic LC1 today. I walked to the Thames Barrier to take a few pictures, the light was very good with some dark cloud and rays of sun in between. I did take a lot of pictures but like this one best.

Howth

Took a trip to Howth today, it is a small fishing village near Dublin. It was really nice walking around and I got the chance to take some nice landscape pictures, the light was very good today.
I decided to put up a series on it since it gives a better overview of the place.

Conquering Lantau Peak

The weather was great as usual here and since it was Sunday, I thought, I will do some hiking in Lantau. After all the people yesterday I needed a change and also wanted to trial the GX200 as a landscape camera.
Taking the cable car took a while since it was packed but once up there it was fine. I took some pictures of the big Buddha and visited the temple but did not stay long since I will be revisiting this. What I won't be revisiting however is hiking all the way up to Lantau Peak. Before starting the hike I went on the 'Path of Enlightenment'. My enlightenment came although a bit too late. I realized two things while climbing up. First, do take enough water with you and if you think it is enough take some more. Second, this was the last time I ever carry my UMPC and more than one camera up a mountain ;).
The hike was well worth is and despite the haze I've been rewarded with some spectacular views. I can only recommend this but do follow my advice :).
As much as I might have complained about the GX200 yesterday as a decisive moment camera and the poor quality at high ISO but for hiking it's fantastic, the extra resolution and mainly the zoom are essential. If you want a compact camera to take along for hiking, this is it. Forget the GRDs or Panasonic LX3 and don't even think of lugging around the Canon G10 brick, this is the camera to take. You will appreciate the excellent lens and extra zoom compared with the LX3 and the extra wide angle and lighter body compared with the G10.
Enough talk, enjoy today's series.

London skEYE

R10, f7.1, 1 sec., ISO 80, JPG

Been to the Landscape Photographer of the Year 2008 exhibition as recommended by Yesbuts. There are some really cool photos there with great colorful and very detailed landscapes. Still, for me the best photos are a few grainy b&w and sepia pictures. Having been a bit inspired I went out and tried some cityscape pictures with the R10. This while different is my favorite although not as detailed as I would have liked.