Tuesday 9 December 2014

Cambridge Playing Cards

Cambridge playing cards deck


Almost a year ago Simon Wincott approached me with an interesting concept, to use my Cambridge photographs on a pack of high quality playing cards. 54 different images across the deck. This was an interesting and unique project and I was keen to be involved.

After a number of prototypes to hone both the colours and design we settled on a supplier who could produce a really nice quality pack of cards. The cards not only felt nice in your hand, but the colours really popped in the photographs.

The first few stockists have been signed up and include: City Hotel, Heffers, the Round Church and the Holiday Inn. More to be added soon.

Simon who heads up British Culture Cards plans to roll out a series of themed packs including Great Cities, Great Counties, Great Estates & Great Regions. The Cambridge pack was set to be the first. I'm also hoping to be featured in a Lake District set soon so watch this space!

Why not buy a pack for Christmas or as a great long lasting souvenir of Cambridge. Heffers are selling the cards for £5.99 per pack.

Cambridge playing cards for sale
Cards for sale in Heffers
Resources: 

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Three men go to Arran

Lochranza - Arran

Back in October 2011, Doug Robar set up a CamPhotoWalk group inviting a bunch of men from Christ Church Cambridge to go out and take photos.


"A photo walk is simple -- we gather at a specified place and time and walk around for an hour or so taking photos that fall within our pre-determined topic. When done we either all go some place to download everyone's photos to a laptop/projector  or if time is short commit to uploading to a flickr group within a few days with the object of delighting in the good ones, learning and encouraging one another about how our photos might be improved, and having a great time in the process."

I have to admit I didn't join straight away, but Doug didn't give up so easily inviting me along and before I knew it I was part of the group. Numbers swelled and we visited quite a few locations in and around Cambridge. Just over a year ago we spread our wings a little further afield and spent a weekend on the North Norfolk coast. 

Fast forward another year and three of the hardy CamPhotoWalk group have just returned from a long weekend on Arran. This last trip has been in planning since April, we could have gone earlier, but we didn't want to be getting up at the crack of dawn. After checking sunset and sunrise times we pencilled September into the diary. Flights, car, ferry & accommodation all booked we could sit back till a bit closer to the time.

All too soon September came round and the next thing I knew we were all travelling down by bus to Stansted for the relatively short flight to Glasgow. Phil had his trekking poles confiscated by security and Jeremy had a particularly dodgy looking flashgun he had borrowed from Doug which set off all sorts of alarms at check-in. After signing his life away and confirming he wasn't a terrorist we got under way.

Touching down in Glasgow we picked picked up the rental car and drove down to Ardrossan. 40 minutes later we hit the supermarket shelves to stock up on some essentials before checking in for the ferry. With still 2 hours to kill before our sailing Phil disappeared off with his camera taking some macro shots of the sea wall and foreshore, I didn't bother unpacking my kit opting to take a few snaps with my phone. After a pleasant crossing and all important tea on-board we arrived in Brodick. The light was starting to fade with no hint of a sunset so we headed off north towards Corrie and the famous boulders.



Corrie boulders - shot actually taken on our last day

Soon enough the light had almost completely gone so we packed up and headed for the hostel at Lochranza, our base for the next 4 nights. The hostel was very good indeed, great facilities, clean, tidy, comfy beds, friendly staff & perfect location, what more could you want?

Although I had made quite a detailed schedule of photo locations times etc. before the trip much of this was based around suitable weather. Having spent a week on Harris during the summer I wasn't holding out much hope. However, I couldn't have been more wrong the only rain we had was on Monday night when we were back at the hostel. 

I will rattle through our itinerary over the next few days with all of the locations we visited. I had to do lots of digging on the internet and flickr to come up with this list (pre trip). Hopefully if you are planning a trip to Arran it might help you a little.

Saturday:
  • Early start at Lochranza, Castle & harbour reflections.
  • Back to hostel for breakfast!
  • Drive over to North Glen Sannox photos down the valley and then a stop off to take photos of the river.
  • Brief stop at Corrie harbour
  • Early lunch in Brodick
  • Parked back near the brewery (off the A841) to start the walk up Goat fell via Glen Rosa
  • Shots of the river and Glen Rosa (Not much water in the river though!)
  • Over the saddle and then the scramble up Goat Fell from the north
  • Sunset & packed tea top of Goat Fell
  • Decent in the dark with head torches
  • Back to the hostel 11pm, bed!

Lochranza castle & harbour

North Glen Sannox


Glen Rosa

Jeremy & Phil on Goat Fell

Group shot - Summit Goat Fell

Sunset Goat Fell

Sunday:
  • Sunrise at Machrie Moor standing stones
  • Breakfast back at Lochranza
  • Walk to Newton point Lochranza followed by lunch
  • Afternoon at Drumadoon, Phil walked on to King's Cave
  • Sunset at Machrie bay
  • Starry sky Lochranza 

Machrie Moor stone circle
Machrie Moor stone circle

Drumadoon
Drumadoon

Machrie Bay sunset
Machrie Bay sunset

Lochranza starry sky
Lochranza starry sky
Monday:
  • Sunrise at Lamlash bay (sadly it didn't amount to anything)
  • Glenashdale mushrooms in the forest
  • Glenashdale falls & river
  • Giants graves
  • Kildonan (Jeremy fell asleep in the car)
  • Arran cheese factory!
  • Evening shoot at Glen Sannox & the Stone of Sannox

Mushroom magic Glenashdale
Mushroom magic Glenashdale
Glenashdale
Glenashdale

Kildonan
Kildonan


Glen Sannox
Glen Sannox

Tuesday:
  • Sunrise at Lochranza  (Phil & Jeremy had a lie in, Jeremy somewhat longer than Phil)
  • Corrie Sandstone, harbour & sheep on jetty
  • Another quick stop off at the Corrie boulders
  • Brodick check in for ferry
Lochranza stag
Lochranza stag

Corrie jetty sheep
Corrie jetty sheep


Sandstone patterns Corrie
Sandstone patterns Corrie

Ten minutes for a quick souvenir dash in Brodick and we were back on the ferry homeward bound. Another very calm crossing followed by the short drive back up to Glasgow having only clocked up 250 miles. Slight delay on flight, but we still managed to catch the same coach out of Stansted after Phil had picked up his trekking poles! Home by 7:30pm a bit tired, but a great time away with friends. All I had to do then was go through my 400 shots!      

Thursday 2 October 2014

Harris Landscape Photography

Seilebost Harris
Seilebost looking across to Taransay
After what must be almost 25 years I finally returned to Harris. Last time I was a teenager holidaying with my parents, this time with my own family (10  & 12 yr old daughters!)

Photography back then was very much an ad hoc occurrence, I was keen, but certainly not driven. I've swapped my Velvia slide film for compact flash and my Olympus OM2n for a Canon 5D mk2. Back then I travelled light no cumbersome tripods, filters or accessories, just two prime lenses 50mm & 28mm. Now I pop an extra body and spare tripod in the car just in case!

UK map
Cambridge to Harris
Cambridge to Harris is a very long way. How I convinced my family that a holiday on Harris was a good idea I'm not sure, we looked into flying, but in the end decided to drive. Two stop overs on the way up, one near Moffat and the second at Dornie. Then a relatively short drive the length of Skye to catch the ferry from Uig.

Google maps said it would take 11 hours driving followed by 1 hour 40 on the ferry and another 30 minutes on the far side, unfortunately that didn't account for any traffic on the roads! The first day of travel was slightly slower than intended, but we were in no rush to get to Moffat. The second day the goal was to get to Dornie in plenty of time for sunset at Elian Donan Castle. This didn't go quite to plan since we got stuck on the A87 for 3 hours due to an accident. By the time we arrived in Dornie I had the choice of eating out with the family or taking photos of the castle. I had a packet of crisps for my tea and headed out in earnest.

Reflections Eilean Donan Castle
Reflections Eilean Donan Castle
The next morning we were back on the road again. A quick stroll around Plockton and then over the bridge to Skye. The previous day when we had been stuck in traffic it was high twenties, now the weather was decidedly cooler with a thick covering of cloud. Sure enough by the time we passed Brodick it started to drizzle. Ever the optimist (it will probably clear!) we drove over to Talisker Bay. After sitting in the car for lunch we, or rather I, decided a walk to the beach would be in order. This was met with a certain degree of resistance and unfortunately it didn't clear as I had half hoped, but the rain just got heavier and more persistent. Very wet with slightly grumpy kids we headed off to Uig. We booked in for the ferry about 3 hours early had a cup of coffee pottered around the solitary shop and by this time the weather eased a little and despite a little resistance from the family we headed back up the road a few miles to Fairy Glen.

Fairy Glen Skye
Fairy Glen Skye
To lighten the mood we had a family photo competition to see who could capture the Glen in the best possible way. I think Naomi's batteries went flat after about 2 shots, Julia got her iPhone out and Hannah did some strange acrobatics! We didn't officially judge the results, but here is my effort.

The rain didn't stay off long so we headed back down to queue up for the ferry.

After a good crossing we arrived in Tarbert for the final leg of our journey. Despite leaden grey skies and drizzle the light had a special quality, as we caught the first glimpse of Luskentyre Bay it simply shone turquoise out of the gloom. What would it look like when the sun shone!

The first few days we didn't see much sun, the weather was a little mixed, but that often leads to some of the best conditions for photography. You have to make the most of what you have. 

Harris isn't the easiest to get to and a very long way from Cambridge, but there are lots of great photo locations in a relatively small area. One of my bug bears with Scotland is that you have to drive a long way between good landscape locations. Harris is compact, I like that especially if you have a central base. Staying in Borvemore was an ideal spot, walking distance to Traigh Mhor beach and only a short drive to Northton (ironically in the South) and Luskentyre in the North.

Northton salt marshes

Luskentyre bay
Callanish Standing stones - Separation
Mid week we did venture a little further afield up to the standing stones at Callanish on Lewis. There was no visitor centre 25 yrs ago, but the stones themselves have remained unchanged for thousands of years. The challenge at Callanish was to try and get some photos devoid of people. I tried long exposures, standing around waiting for the crowds to clear in the end I decided to concentrate on a smaller sample of stones, giving them separation and room to breathe. However, I think my most memorable photo was one that did include a person snapping away in amongst the stones, a silhouette I converted to b&w. 

In amongst the stones
All in all we had a great week, I did get caught out early one morning without my midge hood (absolute must in August). Thereafter it remained in my camera bag and was frequently used. Here is a selection of other locations only a stones throw away from where we were staying.

Toe Head rays of light
Toe Head rays of light

Stripey Gneiss
Stripey Gneiss
Curves Luskentyre
Curves Luskentyre

On the return leg of our journey we spent a few days on Skye before heading down to the Lakes. The weather was much kinder to us despite an abysmal forecast. We hiked up to the Old Man of Storr in thick mist, but just as we approached it magically cleared. On our last evening I drove down to Elgol, it would have been rude to visit Skye without popping in. En-route I spotted two Golden Eagles, what a awe inspiring place it is.


Old Man of Storr
Old Man of Storr

Elgol sunset
Elgol sunset

All in all we had a great Scottish adventure I look forward to my next trip North.

Resources:

Thursday 10 July 2014

Cambridge Timelapse

I've been meaning to have a go at timelapse photography for some time, but not willing to sacrifice my 5d mk2 to so many shutter actuations. Collecting dust on a shelf  I've got a 5d and a 400d both of which are about 7 years old now. The 400d has been used less than a dozen times and I should have really sold it on Ebay, but it's hardly worth it. It's a good little camera a bit fiddly to use and the viewfinder is positively tunnel like. Just over a year ago I saw a cheap intervoltmeter on Amazon compatible with the 400d and added it to my wish list. I often add stuff to my wish list I find interesting or for reference (I have since created a private wish for such things now). A few weeks later to my surprise my mother-in-law had bought it for me and it arrived in the post. Having read the instructions I did a few test shots then put it back in my computer cupboard to gather dust along with the cameras.

I'm notoriously impatient when it comes to photography and the idea of taking hundreds of photos to do a load of post processing on and convert into a video dampened my enthusiasm somewhat. 

Three weeks ago when my daughter was out punting with pathfinders (youth group from church) I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. It was a disaster, for the following reasons:


  • A poorly framed photo will not make a good timelapse
  • You need lots of photos, 30, 40 or 50 is a complete waste of time.
  • Movement in the frame is good (it goes without saying) and setting the right interval is key
  • Landscape images only please! At one stage I found myself taking a portrait timelapse because that was more pleasing framing, 16x9 video for screen doesn't work in portrait!
  • Have a decent sized memory card, I was shooting Raw on an old 2gb card I had kicking around
  • Charge your battery properly (not 15 minutes before you leave!) and take spares
  • Switch everything to manual and switch off autofocus (this is one mistake I didn't make)

So after learning the hard way, I decided to do a little more planning, charged up my batteries broke out a few 4gb cards (i've now bought some 8's) and set off to the Lion Yard car park roof on a nice sunny day. First off I found that the nice puffy clouds were moving quite slowly, I opted for an 8 second interval, but in hindsight 10 seconds would have probably been a bit better. 33 minutes later and 250 RAW shots in the bag I hot footed it off to my next spot. Parkers Piece was covered in lots of activity setting up for the Big Weekend, not sure I wanted to capture all the railings and hoardings so I headed over closer to the Fire Station and started off another timelapse. I set the interval to 2 seconds since there were quite a few people walking around.

After amassing 500 photos from a very short period of time I had to decide how to process them. 

I downloaded the lot into Lightroom made some simple adjustments to the first image, copied develop settings then pasted these settings to the next 249 shots. Exported them as .jpg full res.


Lightroom interface

I now had my first batch of jpgs and needed to find some software to create a timelapse. After a bit of googeling I came across Panolapse http://www.panolapse360.com/  in the blurb it describes it's self as :


"Add motion to timelapse videos. Panolapse uses perspective correction to create real-world rotational panning through your scene. Also zoom, deflicker, blend RAW metadata, auto-exposure, create videos, and more."


Sounded promising so I downloaded the free copy which has a few of the bells and whistles turned off, but as a start was perfectly adequate. It's quite basic, easy to use and the video quality isn't half bad. At some stage I will certainly buy a copy so I can step up to full hd. Free version only allows output at 720p.



PanoLapse interface


After processing my first 250 shots at 24fps with deflicker switched on I opened up my video in media player and sat back for 10.4 seconds. Flipping birds every 2 or 3 seconds which just appeared as black dots on a single frame! Back to Lightroom and the spot healing brush, some time later all the birds had gone.....

After a few more lunchtime trips and a stack more photos I hit the next technical challenge, tripod movement! I was up on the top of Great St Mary's and the only place I could fit my tripod was on the benches you stand on to view over the railings. Half way through a time lapse sequence someone stood on the bench and shifted the image by a few pixels for a few shots then they stepped off. After some more googeling I came across Hugin and a command line tool which is bundled in with the distribution align_image_stack. Playing around with some settings and yet more googeling I managed to run the following command:

d:\align_image_stack -a out img_001.jpg img_002.jpg img_003.jpg img_004.jpg..........

To get the list of images I piped them into a text file and then edited this in excel, a bit of a faff, but it did the job. About an hour later I had a whole stack of out*.tif files. I've not found a way of using align_image_stack to output .jpg so I needed to batch convert these back to jpg for Panolapse to read them, I used FastStone Image Viewer for this.

Finally I was left with 8 Short timelapse movies, ranging between 150 & 300 shots each, now I needed to get them all joined together. Microsoft Movie maker is another free tool, easy to use after just a few minutes clicking on menu options.

Finally I was ready to upload my first timelapse to YouTube. I've still got a lot to learn, but I now have a set of tools I can work with when I take on my next timelapse project.






Resources:
FastStone Image Viewer:   http://www.faststone.org/

Friday 13 June 2014

Guernsey Landscape Photography

Just got back from spending May half term away with the family on Guernsey. Exactly two years since our last visit.

More than 90% of my landscape photography is holiday photography with the family in tow. The bulk of my photographic time is spent at either ends of the day. It does have the natural advantage that this is often when the light is best with the added bonus of possible sunrises and sunset thrown into the mix.

I'm particularly fond of small islands, since they usually give you the possibility of both sunrise and sunset shots. However, sunrise in June is unsociably early. Getting up at 4am to get to a favourable location is not much fun, certainly if there is no guarantee you will get a sunrise. In fact I only got up early on one morning, despite a favourable weather forecast the sun didn't make an appearance.

Morning blues - La Vallette bathing pools, 4.51am

 Much more appealing is at the other end of the day with sunset times around 9pm.

Sundown - Le Grand Havre, 9.05pm
I think Guernsey is rather underrated as landscape location, it has some cracking coastal scenery. In the week I was out and about I only saw one other tripod wielding enthusiast. I'm not complaining, it was nice not to jostle for position with other fellow photographers. Part of the magic of landscape photography for me is to experience the peace and tranquillity of being on a deserted beach or mountain witnessing a spectacular sunrise or sunset.

We were based for the week in the north west just a 10 minute walk away from Port Soif. It was great not having to travel more than a few miles to get to most of the locations I had planned to visit.

Wet rocks - Port Soif

Planning plays an important part to get the best out of any trip and I guess like many others I use Flickr and the web to search out possible locations. Don't get me wrong I enjoy finding new photo locations, but it's good to hit the ground running with a few key places already up your sleeve.

On any trip which involves coastal landscapes the tides play a major part. As the week progressed I was able to re-visit some of the same locations to get different shots.

Vazon - tide out

Vazon - tide in


The weather is also incredibly important and I was very lucky with a few decent sunsets and some changeable light. One day we took the ferry over to Herm. Two years ago we tried to make the same trip, but the ferry broke down and the rain was torrential, in the end after sitting on the ferry for over an hour we got off and got our money back. Our second attempt looked a little ominous, it started off a grey and damp, but once we had reached Herm it seemed to brighten a little. By lunchtime it was still grey, but the light on Shell Beach was really soft and delicate. Later on when the sun did come out the contrast was much harsher.

Soft light on Herm - Shell Beach
All in all it was a cracking week the family had a great time exploring and kicking around on the beaches and I came away with some pleasing photos. I would highly recommend Guernsey for both landscape photography and a great holiday location.

Friday 21 March 2014

Equipment overview - Part 3

Accessories

We all have our favourite accessories in our camera bags, here are mine which I carry with me most of the time. Hopefully it may give you some handy tips for what I find useful.

Accessories

Batteries:
  • It goes without saying you need to take spare batteries with you, sometimes when I'm only out to take a few shots I do sometimes wing it. A few years back on a cold morning in Cambridge I did find myself warming up my flat battery in a trouser pocket which was sufficient enough to get me a few more shots.

Cleaning cloths:
  • Very useful, spend a bit extra and get a few decent ones. I also use lens tissues which pack down very small and weigh next to nothing.

Cable release:
  • I did buy a cheap cable release, but it didn't last. I then decided to get the RS-80N3 this has lasted quite a few years, but recently the cable started to split at the base of the switch. I've bodged it with some insulation tape must get a replacement soon.

Bubble level:
  • I find a bubble level as vital as a tripod, I'm not too great at getting horizons spot on and this certainly helps. Beware cheap eBay knock-offs I bought one for 99p and popped it on my kitchen worktop and it was way off!

Rain cover:
  • If the weather isn't looking too good and I'm going to be out in all weatheres I pop an Optech rainsleeve in my bag, cheap and cheerful, weighs next to nothing, but does a good job.

Torch / whistle:
  • I often get caught out in the dark, so a tiny torch makes perfect sense an LED Lenser P3 is perfect. I've also got a Petzl Tikka head torch if I'm out early or late. I'm often taking landscape photos in somewhat remote locations on my own so I always carry a tiny whistle with me. I've never had to use it yet, but it could be a life saver. There are lots of places in the UK where you can't get a phone signal. 

Other:
  • Sunrise/sunset compass, I still like using paper maps especially OS Landranger  and this comes in very handy.
  • Quick ND reference card, I've printed out common shutter speeds and their equivalent when you pop on a high density ND filter - There is a handy app for that if you prefer.
  • Drinks stirrer - now I've got you puzzled! Occasionally when I'm taking a photo direct into the sun flare ruins the shot. Bring on the drinks stirrer, set the camera to manual on your tripod take the first shot then hold the drinks stirrer over the sun and take your second shot, blend the two together in Photoshop and no lens flare!



Lots of flare

Drinks stirrer in use - no flare

Final processed image

Monday 10 March 2014

Equipment overview - Part 2

Filters

Filters play an important role in my photography, I would much rather try and get it right in camera than spending time on the computer back home. Lightroom does have many great features for highlight recovery, boosting shadows & graduated filters which I frequently use to fine tune my images. However, there are some effects which are very difficult to replicate in software.

My collection of filters & filter accessories

Circular filters:
  • Almost all my lenses have standard or pro Hoya Skylight 1b circular filters attached for lens protection. When I'm using any other filters with these lenses the protection filters are removed to prevent vignetting.
  • My largest lens diameter is 77mm so I've only bought specialist circular filters in this size and combine them with step-down rings for all my other lenses.
  • Circular filters do have their limitations, but they much cheaper than their slot in comparisons.
  • I've got a Hoya pro circular polariser, B&W 3.0nd (10 stop) & B&W 1.8nd (6 stop).

Slot in filters:
  • I use Hitech 100mm ND grads, I've got a set of hard & soft in the following strengths: 0.3, 0.6 & 0.9 I've also got a non-grad 0.9  

Holders & pouches:
  • I've got a Cokin Z-Pro holder, with 2 mount rings, 77mm & 67mm. I can also use my step-down rings in combination with the 77mm ring if needed.
  • Lee filter wraps provide great protection for my Hitech filters and pack down really small, you can fit three filters in each wrap.
  • I've also got a few filter pouches for my 77mm filters, with a small cardboard separator in so you can store two filters or a filter and a step-down ring in each pouch.



If I was buying again, not on a budget and prepared to wait for availability I would probably buy Lee filters, but I've been very happy with my current set-up.


Friday 7 March 2014

Equipment overview - Part 1

Cameras & lenses

This is list of all my equipment, even on an extended trip I wouldn't take it all. I like to travel as light as possible and on most shoots will generally take 2 to 3 lenses and 1 body.



Cameras:

  • Canon 5d mk2 - my main workhorse purchased in 2012. Great camera all I would change is weather sealing, 100% viewfinder and a few more stops dynamic range.
  • Canon 5d - my first DSLR bought back in 2006, great camera only let down by a poor lcd.
  • 400d - bought as a backup to my 5d when I was doing weddings. Hardly been used, but I'm keen to use it for time lapse when I get the chance.

Lenses:

  • Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 - my general walk around lens, fast sharp (when stopped down a little) light weight and cheap. Focusing is a little slow and the build quality isn't up to Canon L series, but for landscapes from f8 to f16 it's sharper than my Canon offerings. 
  • Canon 17-40mm f4 - good for wide angle work when stopped down a little, but probably the least sharp of my lens collection.
  • Canon 70-200mm f4 - great zoom range, sharp and it's the lightest 70-200 in the range. 
  • Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro - great little compact macro, focus is poor and does a lot of hunting, but I usually use it in manual mode. If I were buying again I would probably have gone for the Canon 100mm macro. The sigma is much cheaper and is tack sharp.
  • Zuiko 50mm f1.8 - fantastic tiny cheap lens, everything is manual although I do get focus confirmation via a Big-Is OM-EOS adapter. I picked my copy up on eBay for £40.
  • Zuiko 135mm f2.8 - another Zuiko gem, cheap small and great bokeh.
  • Kenko 1.4x teleconverter - very rarely finds it's way into my camera bag even though it's quite small.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Cambridge E-luminate

Cambridge E-luminate festival is in full swing again http://www.e-luminatefestivals.co.uk/ I have to admit it passed me by in previous years, but when Phil one of my photo buddies suggested we went to take a look how could I refuse! The weather seems to have consisted of rain, rain and more rain so after checking the weather we decided to plumb for Tuesday evening after work.

We met up on the top floor of Lion Yard car park, still hoping for a decent sunset from here, but to date I've been refused.

View from Lion Yard car park
This shot was taken a few moths back, there was a little bit of a sunset, but it was way off to the left.












After a few "test shots" we headed over to Kings. The screens were lit up rather nicely and the light was just starting to fade, there was a bit of cloud cover and the rain held off ideal shooting conditions.

Kings College
Rainbow Kings

















Every so often the colours would fade from purple to rainbow across the screens, sometimes this was little frustrating since it was in the middle of an exposure, but generally quite predictable.

I tried to adjust the perspective in Lightroom with varied degrees of success using the "Auto" button, so in most of the shots I did a little extra work in Photoshop with a combination of perspective, skew and warp transformations.











Ominous colours - this could be out of Harry Potter!















Next stop along Kings Parade was Senate House, this was a little more tricky since the light display was changing rapidly and there were lots of people on the road either walking, cycling or stopping to take snaps with their phones. After 5 or so minutes the road cleared and with a higher ISO I grabbed this shot. The image on Senate House isn't that sharp, but you get the idea.

Senate House

Pretty in pink

By 6pm the sky was getting a little dark. This shot of Johns Tower was taken from the junction of Trinity Street & Sidney Street. The colours here are completely natural it was very, very pink.

Phil and I then wandered down to the Mathematical Bridge, but unfortunately it wasn't lit up even though it was mentioned on the e-luminate website.

Resources: 
www.cambridgeimages.co.uk