HMS Belfast sometimes feels like a poor cousin. Arguably less grand than the Cutty Sark, and overshadowed by both Tower Bridge (to the back and right) and the Tower of London (to the back and left) it is nevertheless an impressive structure.

Trivia

The HMS Belfast is over three-quarters of a century old, and has its guns aimed 12 miles away at the London Gateway services (previously known as Scratchwood)

Processing

The level of contrast and general habit led this to be a seven-exposure HDR on my beloved Canon 6D. Post-processing in Photomatix and Adobe Photoshop CS6. Several filters to drag out the contrast, put the blacks back how I envisaged them and a crop to 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen (possibly because I was watching “How to train your Dragon” Easter Weekend?)

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For background, Backblaze is a very cost effective, cloud based backup solution. You can backup an unlimited amount of data – which is handy for me, as with all my photographs, I backup 1.5TB of data.

Due to the amount of data I’m shifting, and despite having one of the fastest connections in the UK, it took around two months to initially backup my data. Whilst not Backblaze’s fault, Virgin kept throttling my 100Mbps connection over this period.

I pay $50 a year for the service, and it provides a useful insurance policy. To be clear, it is not my only backup, quite the opposite. I backup at least weekly to a Synology Network Attached Storage, around monthly to a portable hard drive (stored away from my home) and Backblaze is minute-by-minute.

So, this week I made a relatively routine upgrade from 2x1TB internal hard drives (in RAID 0, for speed) to 2x2TB. My plan was to break the array, as the speed difference is not overly significant as my boot drive is an SSD and RAID 0 is significantly less fault tolerant than a two drive solution. Sadly, in restoring the data and, with the two new drives in, Windows reviewed to rebuild the array. I could restore most of the data from the NAS (which itself took several days) but it was just over a week since I ran the NAS backup and had lost quite a few files, most irritatingly some shots of London.

Backblaze allows me to encrypt my files, and after entering my password on their secure site I received an email within about an hour saying my files were ready to download; this was painless and allowed me to rebuild the hard drive.

With hindsight, I should’ve made sure I was up-to-date on the NAS; but Backblaze provided an excellent insurance policy – the exact reason I use it. Whilst they will send hard drives to you in the post of large restores I plan on never using Backblaze again, I sincerely hope my $50 per year is wasted – however, as the last bastion in a four stage back-up plan, Backblaze will remain invaluably and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Backblaze backs up Windows XP 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit, Windows 8 and Intel-based Mac OSX 10.5 and newer.

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Perspective is such that you’ll rarely see a shot such as this of the Choir Screen in Canterbury Cathedral. As you progress through the Nave, you are required to ascend steps to this screen. I have deliberately shot this with a head-on perspective.

Processing

Seven-bracket HDR photograph (seems pointless keep stepping down to three as the 6D handles it) taken using the built-in function on the Canon 6D. Cropping and adjusted for perspective distortion in Adobe Photoshop CS6 – increased contrast, shadows and highlights to bring out some of the stone work.

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I’d seen this image in a variety of places, and using Flickr’s Geolocation facilities I tracked it down. In the light of day it wasn’t nearly as atmospheric as I’d hoped, so I’d like to revisit later at night.

It’s not nearly as “UrbEx” as it seems, only about two minutes from the Thames and five from London Bridge!

Processing

Seven-bracket HDR photograph (becoming a habit now I have the 6D) taken using the built-in function on the Canon 6D. Processed in Photomatix Pro with Adobe Photoshop CS6 addition of the stock ‘Lost and Forgotten’ filter in OnOne.

The post I know I have lost… (and forgotten) appeared first on Alistair Cunningham | Photography, Physics and Finance.

Photographers, especially wedding photographers, with Flash powered websites that blare out music when you enter them (frequently with no discernible way of turning them off) upset me.

Which is a shame, as I think this image of the Nave at Canterbury Cathedral could do with Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor playing for atmosphere. So for those who would appreciate a theme tune, this YouTube video can be played in the background while you soak in the ambiance!

Viva la ambiance!

Processing

Seven-bracket HDR photograph (spotlights pointing at the camera) taken using the built-in function on the Canon 6D. Processed in Photomatix Pro with Adobe Photoshop CS6 addition of a customised ‘Lost’ filter in OnOne.

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City Hall is currently the home of Boris Johnson, Mayor of London. Six hundred full time staff are employed in this building, which despite the unusual shape, is one of the few pieces of modern architecture that doesn’t have a sobriquet (to my knowledge)!

Processing

Seven-bracket HDR photograph (sharp contrast between shadows and lights) taken using the built-in function on the Canon 6D. Processed in Photomatix Pro with Adobe Photoshop CS6 to remove the passers by. Toyed with a vignette, but left it out.

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Looking West down the Nave (an interesting fact is that most Cathedrals “point” from West to East) with a wide angle lens you can see the sublime 600 year old structure of Canterbury Cathedral.

It was designed by Henry Yevele and is 26.5m (82ft) high (a photograph looking up will follow). Much of the window at the end of the Nave dates from the 13th century.

Processing

Seven-bracket HDR photograph (worried about the bright lights at the top I was shooting into) taken using the built-in function on the Canon 6D. No cropping, but considered fixing the perspective (then didn’t), processed in Photomatix Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS6 – with just a smattering of “blue dawn” to cool it down and tone enhancer to bring out the brick work.

I may revisit this photograph in due course

The post Canterbury Cathedral – The Nave appeared first on Alistair Cunningham | Photography, Physics and Finance.

A captivating corner of a beautiful building; probably one of the most famous Cathedrals in the world.

The post Canterbury Cathedral – Tomb of the Cardinal Pole appeared first on Alistair Cunningham | Photography, Physics and Finance.

Free art galleries? With no queues? We’re spoilt in this country!

The South Bank is one of my favourite areas, and the Tate Modern is one of the greatest places in this area. The view from the top floor, looking out is superb; it’s also a crackingly good value restaurant!

Processing

HDR photograph taken using the built-in bracketing on the Canon 6D. Image cropped to a 3:1 ratio, processed in Photomatix Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS6 – with just a splash of blue.

The post Looking north from the South Bank appeared first on Alistair Cunningham | Photography, Physics and Finance.

Definition of Absolute: a. Financial Services Marketing Speak.  (a) the value of the investment will be more, or less, over any time period, but let’s pretend it will only go up;  (b) (in relation to a fund) we will use clever hedging and arbitrage strategies that you, as an investor, have no hope of understanding, and you can be fairly confident your adviser doesn’t understand either. In some cases the manager doesn’t really know what they’re doing so valuations may be based on a “little bit more than it was worth yesterday” basis; that is until you want your money out when you may not receive any reasonable value.

How an absolute return fund should’ve performed in last 12 months

How the average absolute return fund really performed in last 12 months

Of course real world performance will vary, past performance is no guide to the future, and your investment can go down as well as up. Even if it’s an absolute return fund (despite the marketing blurb).

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