Cathedral Christmas Snowscene...

Further to my Blip, before Christmas , this is the same scene, but with added snow - and instead of pre-dawn, the onset of dusk.

For all you snow cynics out there - yes there are many - the transformation is remarkable - and almost ridiculous. I didn't even know that the Christmas tree would still be there, for a start, let alone that it would sparkle, as in Cinderella fairytale. I almost expect a shooting star to go whizzing over the roof of the Cathedral....

I took loads, as one does, on this 1.5 hr walkabout and using just the one lens - in case I slipped - and could have posted up something cleverer, or more artistic but for a Christmas card next year, it's going to be hard to beat - and yes, I sell cards and when the season's right, Christmas ones, too.

Technically (for those up for it), this the fairly rubbish Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens at its widest, the previous Blip was a wider, pro lens, on a tripod. I used the VR function, handheld, here. There are some nifty ways to - give an impression - of a better lens by:

a) this 18-200mm has oodles of barrel distortion at 18mm (& lots of distortion throughout its range). Correcting this via Photoshop's auto settings for this exact lens (it detects this by itself, it's within that pesky EXIF data, that Blip also relies on and gets into), well, it added so much counteracting pincushion, that the base of the cathedral dipped at the corner. Do this manually if it doesn't look right - fro this pic, it was 1.5%, not the (apprx) 5% it wanted to,

b) sharpness - it is tempting to use a previously used or auto setting, but if you're getting to this level of photography, like the distortion above, something tailor-made is called for. Again, in Photoshop, the choice tends to be simple - removal of 'subject movement' blur, which is as it says, camera shake etc, and often this cannot be corrected - especially if it's noticeable, even Photoshop cannot do miracles. The other is 'Gussian blur' and is the most commonly used and the one almost all of us twiddle with when wanting a general sharpen. The last, but not least, is 'lens blur'. This is what I used here and it sharpened up a treat, not too much where it looks spiky and unnatural (extreme examples will have white lines around twigs and such). Many lenses, especially complex wide-ranging zooms have recognised patches of lesser performance - and don't ask me how it works - it doesn't know which particular lens used, as it's not in the same folder as the above mentioned lens distortion folder. But, sometimes it does and thus is at least worth trying.