Mossley v Trafford - Manchester Premier Cup Semi ...

A bitterly cold Wednesday night at Seel Park - and a bitterly disappointing game for the hardy Mossley fans who braved the weather.  Once Trafford took the lead, there was only going to be one winner.  Just a few pictures - most of the action was elsewhere !

Mossley 0 Trafford 3

... and the Mike Pavasovic furore continues ...
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Stalybridge Celtic v Brackley Town

"Oi ref !!" .. Obi Anoruo is felled

Pretty much a "postponement-free" Saturday ... and a well-earned point by Stalybridge against their higher-rated opponents.  Not one of my better days behind the lens though - more a selection of player shots than actual action (sulk !) - pics nevertheless at

Stalybridge Celtic 1 Brackley Town 1

Now ... off to Nantwich - taking small boy back to college.

SUNDAY EVENING EDIT - Back from Cheshire to discover a story that has blown up of the weekend ... check out

Mike Pavasovic axed from Tameside Radio and Tameside Reporter

I've known Pav for a good few years - and the fall-out from this decision is going to be very interesting indeed - in the meantime I've decided to "tweak" my photos from the Celtic game accordingly ... I'm sure those in the Tameside area who read the "Tameside Reporter" will understand why ... 
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Day Off ...

... usually work it - but being half-term, Mrs S is off work so I didn't - and we headed off to Skipton for a bit of a walk.  Just a few pics (too busy avoiding the mud !!) at

Skipton Walk 19Feb14

Managed to "mess about" photo-wise though ... some grovelling about on the ground and we get this:

They call it "converging parallels" where the vertical tree trunks appear to converge onto one point (believe "vanishing point" is another term) - just a question of getting low down and pointing the camera straight up ... simple but effective - a long straight railway line is another good example (look out for trains though !).

 

This one was tweaked at home - an attempt to accentuate the sun's rays coming through the clouds - just dragged the "Levels" button down until they showed up more - whilst still trying to keep some colour in the picture.

(You've probably gathered by now that the Tuesday evening football option was postponed - waterlogged pitch strangely enough ...)

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Staying with "silhouettes" ...

... so many times peeps will say "a silhouette pic is a BAD pic" - as in badly composed, not taking light into account etc etc... as I said earlier I love silhouettes - although my particular "way forward" is usually to hit the "Remove Colour" option - as in this one taken last November up in't'Lake District ...

OK ... here's one from the BBC website today, courtesy of this story - hopefully Mr Getty and his Images won't mind me reproducing (in the context of education/learning rather than just "photo theft"). ...

Would love to talk to the snapper ... how he/she has managed to get a wonderful silhouette (plus "half and half" on the face) whilst keeping the colour - obviously Alex Salmond was sitting in the right place vis-a-vis the window ... and with a nice blue sky outside the window as well -   I'd guess that the blue sky background was fundamental in keeping the front of the face 'out of darkness' ... but was there some lighting in the room as well that assisted the light "half face" whilst keeping the 'prayer like' hands in darkness ??

Again we're back to the "I wish I was that good" option ...
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Attack of the Clones ...

Went for a bit of a walk together - bloomin' chilly mind ... some pictures at

Dove Stone Walk 16Feb14

Much messing about today as well ... shooting into the sun (because I like silhouettes !!) and then messing with Photoshop - actually using the "clone" technique.  Sometimes it doesn't seem to work too well (maybe I should read up on it instead of messing !) and a pic can look very contrived/unreal.  However today's effort doesn't look too bad - although to be honest I rather like the picture WITH the person in it (back to silhouettes again !) ...

Now you see me ...

Now you don't ...

Now then ... would I ever "clone" a football into a picture because I was a split-second too late taking the snap ??? You'll probably never know (tee hee !) ...

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Ashton United v AFC Fylde

Tremendous save by Fylde 'keeper Ben Hinchcliffe (a heavily cropped close-up !)
 
Almost a complete wipe-out for football in the local area ... however due to a hard Saturday morning shift put in by a number of volunteers, the Hurst Cross pitch was passed fit for the game against AFC Fylde  - well done to all concerned !.  Sadly a lot of the fans from the other clubs, whose games were off, decided to "stay at home"; it was a hardy band of 175 who watched an entertaining game between two of the top six teams in the Evo Prem.  Pictures at

Ashton United 1 AFC Fylde 1

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Mossley v Ossett Albion

Fascinating stuff - high winds, rain, injured referee, two penalties and five goals ... pictures at ...

Mossley 3 Ossett Albion 2

Rain is a right bugger for photography - best tip is usually "stay indoors" (!!).  My normal camera attire in this weather is a supermarket carrier bag with a hole punched in the bottom, wrapped over the lens and secured to the lens hood with a Royal Mail elastic band (I usually have the odd several about my person for some reason !) - simple but mightily effective.  The added bonus is that with the Canon 70-200mm lens and 7D body there is a certain element of "weather resistance" built into the kit - although there have been times when even I admit defeat and get under cover - can't take too many chances with expensive gear.  Must admit I was quite pleased with the Lewis Nightingale picture ...

... the camera was still set to a high-ish shutter speed (1/1000th) - I'd ramped up the ISO setting to 1600 to compensate, so the rain ... looked like rain. Start decreasing the shutter speed and the rain ends up looking like this (an example taken strangely enough at the Ossett Albion v Mossley game back in September 2012):

Have checked info - this one was taken at 1/250th at ISO3200 ... so four times as slow as the other one. And to go one stage further ... a very old pic taken at Stalybridge on the old compact camera - no file info, but it must have been even slower (camera shake much in evidence !) ...  the raindrops become lines and you end up with a very "foggy" image ...

Weather forecast dreadful again today - next football Tuesday night (at Stalybridge ironically !).
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Curzon Ashton v Cammell Laird

The thorn in the Cammell's back - Curzon's Matty Warburton

A cold cold night - in fact a frickin' cold night ... kick-off delayed by 40 minutes which didn't help either - pictures at

Curzon Ashton 2 Cammell Laird 0

What with cold cold cold and delayed kick-off ... I did leave early (the offer of a lift was too much to turn down) - but at least I got the goals !!
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Belper Town v Leek Town

 Penalty about to happen ...

Despite the gloom and doom "weather-merchants" here there and everywhere ... I got a game in on Saturday !!

Belper Town 1 Leek Town 0

Back to work in about 10 hours ... aargh !
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