autofantasia's photos with the keyword: glass

For this week's Sunday Challenge , the theme for which was glass . A challenge that finally gave me an excuse to take some shots of this cute little owl. The wings, legs and head are metal, but the body is made from a single piece of orange glass. I tried him in various positions around the garden, but decided in the end to use this shot of him sat on the roof of our smallest garden shed, mainly because I liked how the light was illuminating the glass. Once I'd decided to go with this shot though I had to get busy with the cloning tool as the roof was covered in bird poo ... nothing to do with the owl I hasten to add! Please view on black for best effect.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which the subject title was heart . Right up until yesterday I thought I was going to need to dip into the archives as I'd been unable to find a suitable subject. Then during a visit to Ripley Castle we had a wander around the gift shop where I spotted a lovely heart shaped mirror hanging in the corner of the window display. The light wasn't all that great and I was struggling to get a clean shot, but having ran it through the processing room for a few tweaks I think it works okay. Also for Sight and Sound ... what else but Blondie and "Heart of Glass": youtu.be/gbnbMMCfyoc youtu.be/WGU_4-5RaxU youtu.be/aa911_8TP2s

A belated entry for this week's Sunday Challenge , for which we were asked to produce an image that matched our idea of maximalism . This is actually 3 images combined of the glass façade of the new £53 million Ayrshire College, which opened this year and occupies the area of the town where the old Johnnie Walker factory was located. Travelling through the town last week on the way back 'home' to North Yorkshire following a family funeral this was the first time I'd seen the new building up close and I was blown away by the scale of it. The design of the main entrance incorporates so much glass that it seemed an ideal subject to shoot for the challenge. As it happens, the world famous brand of Scotch whisky owned now by Diageo actually originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. It is believed to be the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country, with annual sales of over 130 million bottles. Sadly, in 2009 Diageo announced that under a restructuring programme production would be moved from the brand's original home to Diageo plants in Leven, Fife, and Shieldhall, Glasgow. So in March 2012, the Johnnie Walker plant (then the largest employer in the town of Kilmarnock) closed its doors and the name joined a long list of world famous brands that had once originated from or been heavily associated with the town: names such as Massey-Harris (later Massey-Ferguson) and Saxone Shoes. We can only hope then that some of the bright young students that will pass through the doors of this most impressive looking new college will go on to develop ideas, products and businesses that will in time become equally famous and provide employment for local people because overall it has to be said my hometown needs to find a new direction. Incidentally, the old Kilmarnock College campus on Holehouse Road, which was the predecessor if you like to the huge new Ayrshire college is still there although I'm not sure what the long-term plans are for that particular site.

A little bit of fun produced for the Come Slide With Me group challenge. It's based on a shot taken inside St Laurence's church in Ludlow and shared with the group by Ann Roberts . You'll find a copy of the original image in the Notes though it has been manipulated quite a bit since then. So much so that I can't even remember how I did it or even start to think how to deconstruct it.

So, a fun week for all involved with The Sunday Challenge , well at least for some and I include myself in that category. The theme this week was HDR (High Dynamic Range) Imagery . It's a technique that really does seem to attract quite diverse opinions as I've found out over this last week as I've posted various attempts at creating an HDR image. As it happens I've always liked HDR, at least for certain subjects and when it has been applied in a controlled and sympathetic fashion. However, it wasn't something I'd ever attempted myself until this week so as I said earlier it has been a fun week. So much so that after playing around with the trial version of Photomatix I ended up taking the plunge and buying the software outright. If nothing else it means that I can continue to experiment with the medium without having the Photomatix watermark applied to my final creations. This particular shot that I've ended up using as my main submission to TSC is actually taken inside All Saints Church in Northallerton. In the past I've taken several shots of the exterior, but this was the first time I'd ventured inside and I have to say I was most impressed by what I found. Not quite York Minster perhaps, but very attractive all the same. I just hope that my HDR take on this subject helps convey at least some of the beauty and splendour of this grand old church. By the way, this was the result of combining three RAW files: one at normal exposure, one at -1.5, and one at +1.5. You can a representation of the three base files in the Notes.

This was actually created, but not used for The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of collage , and comprises two images I'd produced for an earlier challenge entitled shadows .

This week's Sunday Challenge had the theme of bathroom . Sorry, what was that ... urk ? Yes, to be honest I thought something similar as we only have a very small and rather plain bathroom. However, at the last minute I thought that this scent bottle, which I bought for my wife many years ago and which now resides on our bathroom shelf might produce something worthwhile. I took quite a few shots of it yesterday, some of the whole bottle and others of certain aspects, but in the end opted for this one as I thought it showed off the vibrant blue detailing to best effect.

This was another of the themes I had in mind for the recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of low light. I created these ice cubes using plain water infused with blue food colouring. The shot was taken in total darkness, with the only light source coming from a small torch I placed to the lower right hand side of the glass. In the end I opted to post the little bear with the heart in the group proper, but really liked how this turned out and thought it worth sharing. It kind of reminds me of my earlier wet and red phase!