Author Archives: Sparkie

Photo stacking at the Women’s T20 Super League

A combination of a sleeping baby, a sunny day, a long lens and a pitchside seat gave me a great opportunity to brush up on my photo editing skills.

Freya Davies bowls for Western Storm (click for full size)

Details:
Camera – Sony a68
Lens – Minolta 500mm reflex
Frame rate – 5fps
Shutter Speed – 1/1600
Aperture – F/8
ISO – 1600
Images edited using The GIMP following this tutorial

Our holiday in Alanya

We took a last-minute break to Turkey, and stayed at the Sunprime C-lounge in Alanya, which was a great hotel for not many pennies. Turkey has had its fair share of unrest recently, but down on the coast there were no signs of this at all. The city and neighbouring hotels were quiet for day one, but then the Eid-al-Adha holiday arrived and there were plenty of Turkish tourists around, to complement the Brits, Germans, Russians, and the rest, (there were at least 10 nationalities shouted out during the pool activities).

Judging by the old photographs in the hotel, Alanya has grown a lot in the last 50 years, becoming a popular retirement destination, but the old fortress and tower dominate the skyline and were well worth the trek up the hill (though sharing a taxi is defintely recommended). Not recommended, walking backwards while taking a selfie at the top of the cliffs.