Just to make us feel inadequate...

As it happens, Guardian photo competition this month was "Landscape" also...

Landscape- 2nd batch

An ideal counterpoint to Toby's sundrenched landscapes - I give you the west coast of Scotland, in one of those rare moments when it wasn't chucking it down with rain during our week up there. These are both from a little fishing town called Kirkcudbright, now an "artists' town" according to the signs on exit and entry. Horrible grey, overcast and flat-light day - all you can do is turn to a bit of black and white and curves/contrast turned to 11.



Above is my favourite of the two.

LX5 again. f8, 1/100, ISO 80, 24mm



Liked this as well, but slightly soft (taken at long end of the Panasonic's lens range might be to blame).

LX5. f3.3, 1/400, ISO 80, 90mm

And I can't work out why my photos are uploading so small - I'm selecting "large" in the options...

Landscapes from Spain #4 and #5

f5.6, 1.6 sec. Using the gorilla pod.

f5, 1.3 sec. Trying out the gorilla pod again.

Tried some longer and shorter exposures, but these seemed to work the best.

Landscapes from Spain #2 and #3

f13, 1/250 sec.

f13, 1/350 sec.

I think I prefer the portrait orientation, because it is more unusual.

Landscapes from Spain #1

OK, here are a few. Be gentle.

f14, 1/640 sec. First up, I had to do this. Stood in the middle of the Mar Menor with an expensive camera, took some shots and stitched them together in Photoshop. Sarah really likes this, but I'm not so sure.

Landscape - first attempt and also-rans

First try, been meaning to try to get a shot here for years but it's on one of our regular cycle routes, so never managed to stop for the shot. We walked the route this time (all 12 bloody miles of it). Very thankful I had the LX5 rather than the D300!



f2.6, 1/15s (-.3 EV), ISO 80, 47mm

Same place, more or less same shot - preferred the first though:



f3.5, 1/400s (-.3 EV), ISO 80, 26mm

Another LX5 shot - proving its worth as this was staggering back from a drinks do in Borough during GBBF week, never would have had the Nikon with me in these circumstances, but did have the Panasonic and gorillapod in my pocket:



f8, 8s, ISO 80, 24mm

And again, just trying out the long-exposure/low light capabilities of the LX5 - pretty impressed (this is through a hotel room window, which I think has made the blooming/starbursts a bit worse):



f4.5, 60s, ISO 80, 24mm

Compact Cameras and Mobile Phones (EDoF)

Here's something not entirely related to the usual stuff of this Blog. Since getting a new phone a few months back I have been using the camera more and more. It comes with some technology called EDoF - lots of post-processing involved to make everything from 50cm to infinity appear in focus.

Is it any good? Someone has done a side-by-side test of EDoF vs a compact camera. Lots of pixel-peeping nerdery but quite interesting. My take? Upside: I'm now happy to use my camera as a compact (for those occasions where carting a DSLR around is impractical). Downside: if I start using my phone as a camera regularly I'll begin to wish I'd paid the extra for something like the Nokia N8.