Rod Fleming's Blog, page 81

Aswangs: supernatural beasts in the Philippines

The Philippines is steeped in folklore and mythology. The very air seems supernatural at times and even today, Filipinos firmly believe in the supernatural creatures which also populate their country. Best known of these are Aswangs and Engkantos.

Many of these beliefs certainly date from the pre-colonial period and before the establishment of Catholicism as the dominant religion. Prior to this, the Philippines was not a unitary polity, but was made up of many small kingdoms and tribal areas. Th...

I’m BACK

Hi people. This is just to say that Rod Fleming’s World is back online. There are still many things to do and many broken links to repair, but 90% of the material has been saved.  I’m pretty relieved about that. So I’m going to have a few beers now.

The post I’m BACK appeared first on Rod Fleming's World.

Dysphoria: Homosexual and Non-homosexual

Homosexual Gender Dysphoria is a function of the relationship of sexuality to gender.  Here, presenting socially, sexually and romantically as a man, when you have female sexuality, is the root of the discomfort. These individuals may strongly reject using their penises to penetrate and even refuse any sexual contact with them. They wish to appear to be feminine and to have masculine male partners, and to play the receptive sexual role; anything that conflicts with these will cause dysphoria. (T...

Early Summer at John Muir Park, Dunbar, 1990

Originally posted 2013-04-22 16:27:29.

Early Summer at John Muir Country Park, Scotland

I began with this picture because it representated a departure for me, and a point when I began a long journey of investigation, which is ongoing. I had become fascinated by the effects of sunlight passing through foliage, and it gave me a completely new direction in terms of landscape photography. Instead of the broad, I began to focus on the intimate, and instead of the general, the particular.

I had walked...

Photo Technique 5: Brightness and Exposure

Originally posted 2013-04-12 19:33:53.

We have looked at the ways we can regulate our cameras to get the right exposure, but until now we haven’t discussed exposure itself. Correct exposure is simply setting the camera so that the subject is rendered with an appropriate range of tones in the image.

If the camera allows too much light in, or over-exposes, then the image will be too light, appear washed out, and particularly in digital, highlights will ‘blow out’, that is, be rendered as solid, f...

What causes Autogynephilia? (AGP)

Autogynephilia (AGP) is ‘a man’s propensity to be aroused at the thought or image of himself as a woman’ (Blanchard) and it is the cause of all non-homosexual gender dysphoria in males. But what actually causes it? The key to this lies in first understanding that there is nothing at all unusual about a male with AGP, other than the AGP itself.

AGP has five recognised forms, transvestic, anatomical, physiological, behavioural and interpersonal, and these may occur in combination. Men with it have...

Film and Sensor Speed or Sensitivity

Originally posted 2013-04-12 19:32:08.

Four key factors in photography are linked: aperture, shutter speed, film or sensor sensitivity and subject brightness. These are linked in such a way that if any one is changed, then one or more of the others must also be changed to compensate. The first two, aperture and shutter speed, are easily controlled on camera, and now we will look at the third factor, which is also under the photographer’s control: film or sensor sensitivity.

In pre-digital days ...

Photo Technique 3: Shutter Speed and Movement

Originally posted 2013-04-12 19:30:34.

[image error]Freezing the action, here using flash. Pic: Rod Fleming

Shutter speed is one of four interdependent parameters that are central to photography. These are : Aperture, Shutter Speed, subject brightness, and film or sensor sensitivity. IF any ONE of these is changed then AT LEAST one other must also change to maintain the same exposure. The most common example of this is that if aperture is altered, then shutter speed must also be altered, reciprocally. So if...

Stopping down, Depth of Field and Bokeh

Originally posted 2013-04-12 19:28:25.

[image error]Limited depth of field, as seen here, can separate the subject from the background and strengthen the image. Pic: Rod Fleming

In the last article we looked at the optical principles that govern focus and depth of field. Now let’s explore how these are applied practically in the camera. For the moment we will assume that we are using a single-lens-reflex (slr) or rangefinder type camera, either digital or film.

If you look at the lens barrel you will probab...

The Naked Truth

Originally posted 2013-11-03 23:31:55.

I grew up in a world where photography, especially monochrome photography, was synonymous with ‘truth’. That was never strictly accurate, of course, and as a photographer I knew the extent to which the truth can be manipulated. Nevertheless, as evidenced by the incredible work we saw every day in the newspapers of the 60s, which I consumed with passion while still at school, a photograph was regarded as an equivalent to reality; it was not just a representa...