Category: Cambridge

Lights and Shadows

My experimentation with HDR photography continues. Over the lovely weekend we had here in Cambridge I visited Anglesey Abbey and Lode Mill in Cambridgeshire. This picture is a composite of 3 photographs at -2, 0 and 2ev of a backlit tree. The images were processed in PhotoMatix Pro using the Painterly 2 filter with further adjustments.

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Shadows and Light

Click on the picture for a larger version. Thank you for stopping by!

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Cambridge in HDR: River Cam

The Cam river is at its widest near the Jesus lock on the navigable part of the river. This HDR picture was taken from the Jesus Lock footbridge that connects Chesterton Road and Jesus Green.

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Boats along the Cam. Click on image to see full size version

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On a farm in Cambridgeshire

I chanced upon this piece of farming equipment on a farm in Cambridgeshire last week while on a walk. The paint has peeled away and the equipment is rusty, but I’m sure this is still in use today. If I were to hazard a guess, this is probably used on a tractor to turn the soil, but not being a farmer, this is at best just a guess.

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And what about the farm, a panoramic shot with the iPhone below.

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All pictures from the iPhone 4S. Processed in NIK snapseed software on the phone. Click on any picture for a larger version.

Cambridge in HDR – Punting 2

I don’t intend to flood my blog and bore you with HDRs of punting pictures from Cambridge, but I had to share this with you. The following two pictures were taken immediately after my last post and so they are slightly different in composition. However, they’ve been processed using two different software (NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Photomatix).

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HDR Processed using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 (Deep 1)
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HDR processed with Photomatix (Evaluation License)

I liked the output from Photomatix as it was more intuitive to use and seem to allow a greater range of adjustments without making the images look grungy.

The three original images that went into making these HDRs are below (bracketed at -1, 0 and +1), and merged in either HDR Efex Pro or Photomatix.

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Image 1 of 3 – At normal exposure
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Image 2 of 3 – At -1 eV
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Image 3 of 3 – At +1 eV

All images taken in Nikon RAW mode – Nikon D7000, Tamron 18-250mm Lens at 23mm f/4.0 1/640, 1/1250, 1/320 exposures.

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Cambridge: Corpus Christi College

Founded in 1352, one of the constituent colleges of Cambridge University with a chequered and colourful history. The alumnus includes the famous playwright Christopher Marlowe.

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Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

 This picture has had to be extensively post-processed due to low-light winter conditions (4:50 according to the college clock). Processed in Adobe LightRoom and NIK Software Dfine and Color Efex Pro.

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Cambridge in HDR – Mathematical Bridge

The mathematical bridge is an 18th century wooden footbridge that connects Queens’ College across the Cam river. Although it seems to be an arch, it is composed entirely of straight timbers built to a sophisticated engineering design, hence the name. Can you see that the arch is made up of only straight timbers?

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The “Mathematical Bridge”, Queens’ College, Cambridge

Local myths talk about how the original bridge had no nuts of bolts, and how no one could put it back together once it was taken apart. However, these stories are almost totally untrue. The beauty of the design of this bridge lies in how the arch has been created to create the effect of a standard bridge.

Cambridge in HDR – The Round Church

The Round Church in Cambridge is probably one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city.

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Cambridge Round Church (12th century AD)

Dating from 1130AD, this is (according to the website) one of only 4 circular churches in England. It is now maintained by Christian Heritage. Not the easiest building to take a picture of, sitting as this is on a busy crossroad in the city. A lovely little church, well worth the visit for sheer character and history. Please click-through on the picture for a larger version.

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Sundial – Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College – the fourth oldest college in Cambridge (Estd: 1348) has a very interesting six-sided sundial on one of the gates. The exact time I took this picture was 1:54PM GMT, and interestingly the sundial shows a time that is just an hour off.
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Is this due to difference in local and GMT? Or was I looking at the wrong sundial? A later visit may answer that question.

Trinity College, Cambridge in HDR

Of the 31 constituent colleges that make up the University of Cambridge, none is more famous than the Trinity College. Apart from being the largest constituent college in Cambridge (or Oxford), members of the college have won more Nobel Prizes (32 of a total of 75 awarded to Cambridge University members) than any other institution in the world! The college itself is one of three royal colleges in Cambridge (St. Johns and Kings College being the other two).  Trinity was established in 1546 by King Henry VIII of England, but it was under the leadership of Thomas Nevile, that the college was designed and built. The list of notable alumni of Trinity makes impressive reading, from Isaac Newton, Lord Tennyson, Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr to Jawaharlal Nehru, Amartya Sen and Bertrand Russell, and definitely worth a visit on days the college is open to visitors.

The following pictures of Trinity College, were all shot in sets of three and then merged into HDR using HDR Efex Pro from NIK software.

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The great court of Trinity College, Cambridge
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Central fountain at the great court, Trinity College, Cambridge
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ante-chapel with marble statues of famous Trinity alumni.
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The Trinity College Chapel organ – built between 1693-1708
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Trinity college chapel with the eagle lectern (foreground) and stalls.
Statue of Sir Isaac Newton, a prominent Trinity alumni.
Statue of Sir Isaac Newton, a prominent Trinity alumni. (non-HDR)

Technical Details

Nikon D7000 
Tamron 18-250 f3.5/6.3 Lens
Adobe Lightroom 4.1 with HDR Efex Pro from NIK software
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