The Problem With Photography

Introduction

This morning I went to post a birthday card for my friend Lynn, and it was a beautiful day. Walking across the park, I could see across the Tyne and thought that would make a great photograph.

I only had my phone on me, not my camera, and I took this one, and that made me think about how I feel every time I take a distance photograph.

The music is Ringo Starr's "Photograph", one of his best and appropriate for this story.

The Problem I Have

It's a problem everyone has. Our eyes can see the whole picture, and our brains fill in any gaps, giving us perfection, but our eyes can't zoom in.

The problem is, when we use a lens to zoom in, we start to lose the setting of the picture because we are focusing on one particular area.

So after the photograph above, I zoomed in a little. I suppose I wasn't too bothered about the park football pitch, I wanted to see across the valley.

So I brought the south of the Tyne nearer, but the left and right edges become truncated in the photograph, but I can still see them with my eyes. As the weather was good, I was going to get good pictures of whatever I photographed.

While you can't see the detail, the scene is still beautiful, as summer is becoming autumn for us.

As I zoom in again, I start to see a few buildings, more detail, but less of a whole. I don't know if I can see those buildings with my naked eye, but I can still take the whole scene in.

The price you pay for more detail is loving the bigger picture, but the reality is that I want both.

So this next one is the highest zoom on my Google 6.0

After I take the pictures, I can zoom in further, but then things become pixelated.

The problem is I want the full pictures that my eyes can see, but in as much detail as possible, and without some airborne panoramic photography, that will never happen.

I do like taking pictures from heights to get as much in the picture as possible.

This is Dunstaburgh Castle from many years back, maybe that was on a Samsung phone, so not as detailed, but quite atmospheric.

These are some camera shots I took from near Brizlee Tower in Hulne Park, and these are close to perfect for me because there is so much captured in them:

I love the windfarm ones. I am not sure if they are still in Northumberland, but these are camera pictures, which have a 16x optical zoom. The first one has sheep and the second has trees.

This is a standing stone in Hulne Park, looking north towards the Scottish hills. It is another camera shot that I am proud of because there is so much to explore in this picture.

When you are at the top of a hill or tall building, you can get some amazing pictures that would be impossible at ground level.

This is a particular favourite of mine as well, a couple of farm yards in Hulne Park from the Brizlee Tower Hill:

I love this one of Alnick Castle across the river Aln because of the birds flying above. Again, this is camera rather than phone:

Conclusion

This has probably been a demonstration of my photographic ignorance, but I am happy about what I have captured, and they provide me with some amazing memories.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope I have given you some ideas.