The Camera Cannot Lie

If it is there in the photograph, it must have been like that, because the camera cannot lie. Oh dear, how times change. So, here for your consideration are four striking images. I rather like them, what do you think?.

Kite and Moth

The Red Kite and the Tiger Moth were photographed from the same position with the same lens within a minute. Try as I might I couldn't get them in the same shot. So, I combined two image layers seamlessly using the "darken" option. So the question is: Does the picture now seem less striking now that you know that the camera lies in this case?

Sunrise over Donnington Castle, Newbury

If you have driven along the Newbury bypass, then you will have passed under the place this image was taken. I used the Photographer's Ephemeris to get the right time and place for a sunrise, but the local geography meant that I couldn't get the sun positioned next to the castle as I would wish. So this image is the castle moments before sunrise with the sun from a separate shot overlaid on it carefully. Knowing that, is it now less of a picture?

Low pass over the village

This is less believable, surely. The helicopter shot was taken 15 minutes earlier as it buzzed the playing field. As the sun was in about the same position, I overlaid it on a picture of the green I took on the way back to the office. The blurred rotor blades are courtesy of Photoshop too. All lies..

Chive flower

Actually, this one has not been faked... I took this in the garden, and the black background is our leylandii hedge. The reason it is black is because I used off camera flash to allow me a short exposure and a small aperture. This makes the background dark and gives the impression it is a studio set up shot.

There, cameras. Truth and lies.