Hornsea

Hornsea

I took this photograph in early 2011, composition took a while and few frames to get it right. I enjoy the lines and crispness of the blue. It was taken on a Fuji compact camera and goes to show it doesn't matter what camera you use, you can still get acceptable results. The blue was created by altering the white balance manually. Tec stuff, 1/160th sec at f5.0, ISO 200 and center weighted metering.

Bright Flowers

Bright Flowers

Again this was taken in my back garden and nothing was altered except a small distracting leaf was cropped out and then a little further cropping to give a more panoramic effect.


Tech stuff, 1/250th sec ISO 400, Pentax K100D S, 46mm f4 Pentax DA lens. White balance was manually adjusted to boost the colours a little on camera.

Daisy

Daisy

I have been experimenting with flowers, something I have not really photographed at any great length before. This was just flowering in our back garden at home so I took a crack at it. It is actually a yellow daisy and to be honest I didn't like the natural colours in the photograph so it was desaturated and a blue / grey tint added after some cropping in CS4.


Tech stuff 1/500th sec exposure @ ISO 1600, Pentax K100D S, 55mm f5.6 on Pentax DA lens.

Smokin Roses

Smokin Roses

I took this picture and to get the curved effect in the smoke I swirled a pencil in the smoke. I adjusted the white balance to tungsten even though I was shooting with flash as it gives a lovely blue cast to the smoke. I cropped in PS and then rotated the image to appear as it does.

Pentax DSLR, ISO 200 , 1/180sec at f6.7. Focal length 82mm.

Nuclear Dead

Nuclear Dead

I took this image using a black backdrop and some dead flowers fom the garden (I don't have green fingers!). I used a blue flash hand held above the flowers , set to 1/32 of full power and fitted a set of directional doors to the flash to ease up on the backgroundexposure. I also used a reflector to even out the light across the flowers. Originally I tried without the blue filter but it lost all the contrast and the blue / violet effect on the flowers that clinched it. I adjusted the levels in PS4 slightly and that was about it. I'm not sure it works on many levels other than it looks interesting and dark.

Shot 0.3sec / f16 / ISO 200 focal length 82mm.

Colours Of The Beach

Colours Of The Beach

It's not one of my favourite shots but I have put it up here anyway. It was taken on my 105mm prime lens with a high ISO rating to increase grain / noise to add more effect. I boosted the levels in PS and did a little cropping.

Pentax DSLR, 1/20sec f16, hand held exposure just about managed it without the tripod. ISO 800.

Violet Bubbles

Violet Bubbles

I set this shot up using a black backdrop and side lit from the left hand side with a diffused flash,  fitted with a red filter. I froze the glass for an hour beforehand to create the frosting on the glass stem. I filled it with fizzy water to give a good bubble effect in the glass. Yes I'm a cheap skate and didn't use Champagne! I fired the first few shots and found that the galss was too reflective to give a good shot, so I reduced the flashguns power output right down to 1/32 of full power, the lowest setting available. I altered the gradient of the colours in Photoshop to create the violet effect as it makes it look colder and prettier. I have plenty of these shots to play around with so expect to see another soon.

Tech stuff, 1/90th sec, f5.6, ISO200, manual flash, 60mm focal length.

Thirsty

 

Thirsty

This shot was very hit and miss at first, until I used electrcians tape to hold a pierced bottle of water above the glass. I used a blue backdrop and a very light blue filter on the flash mounted to the left hand side of the glass. The flash was set to about a sixteenth of full power, so as not to create too much flaring. I set the camera on continous shoot until I got the shot I felt was right. There has been very little post production on this shot except some cropping and a little boosting of the blacks. Cautionary note to anyone trying this shot, make sure your gear is inside poly bags for protection as water gets everywhere.

Shot on my Pentax, focal length 82mm, ISO 200, 1/180sec f5.6, flash manually set to approx 1/16th off to the left.

Whisper

 

Whisper

It took a long time to set this photograph up and I took many wasted frames until I got what I was after. I wanted to created a soft feel to the smoke as it rises in the air and twists around, almost to a point where the smoke is blurred. I used a black background and then changed the gradient in PS CS4. I originally tried my fixed lens (135mm) however the distance to focus was all to cock so I settled for my standard Pentax zoom and got in close. After getting the shot I wanted I cropped it so it gives the illusion of length, in reality its a very short picture. I added a very subtle grain to the ppicture to give it a more austere feel as I felt it was just a little to soft at first. Please click on the image to see the full size version as it make a lot of difference.

Taken on my Pentax, 82mm focal length, 1/125 sec f8, ISO 200, manual flash added from the side.

Silicon Valley One

 

Silicon Valley One

Electronic devices have facinated me for years, so it is with no suprise I have taken this shot. I used an old studio card out of a pc, cleaned it up and made it dust / fingerprint free and lit it quite harshly with a tungsten light. I underexposed by a good 4 stops and then desaturated the colour. I like dark pictures and I thought it would leave something a little more to the imagination for this shot. I like the moody shadows and harsh blacks and the sense of depth they bring. I have also embossed the edges and lines throughout the image to create a sense of future contrasting with the stark black and white of the picture along with the uniformity of the card. I tried several colours, but settled with an off white, it just looked better. I delibrately ignored the rules of photographic technique in framing the shot, as again the angle of the image contrasts with the uniform nature of the electronics, and creates a more eclectic shot. 

Only a hundred years ago our landscapes where teaming with tall chimneys and large mills, now they have nearly all gone, but looking into the technology seems to create a similar landscape, albeit in micro form. Love it or hate it seems to be the response to this shot from the people I have asked, nobody seems to sit on the fence for it.


Tech stuff, 0.3sec / f19 / ISO 800 / 82mm lens / tungsten light / CS4

Turn Up The Volume

Turn Up The Volume

I took this by adding subtle blue lighting to the picture and then created a black & white image by removing all of the colours in Photoshop. The use of blue light helps to give good contrast on the shot. I then editied in Photoshop and added a posterised filter to give it the finished look. I zoomed the lens in after around 4 seconds of exposure, so it I could place the small guitar within the bigger (even though its actually the same guitar).

Tech stuff, camera Pentax DSLR, exposure 8 sec f3.5 (for shallow depth of field), ISO 200, focal length 27mm.

Morning Coffee

Morning Coffee

I took this shot in Starbucks near Hull train station, while topping up on a cup of joe. I was the only person (except staff) in the place and I was sitting in the chair mulling over the rest of the journey I had to do that day and  I just framed this shot in my mind. So with my camera gear on my back, I got out my Pentax and fired off a few shots. I love the golden colours and the contours of the ceiling.

Tech stuff,  0.3sec/f16 ISO 200, focal length 34mm, white balance adjusted for tungsten lights and a small amount of cropping in Photoshop.

Beverley Beck

Beverley Beck

I had to balance the lines in this picture as best as I could, seeing as there are these wonderful lamps on one side, but nothing of interest on the other side. You can just about make out Beverley Minster in the back ground. Exposure was a tricky thing and I took a few shots until I got the one I liked. Exposure was 53 seconds / f19. Lens was set to 57mm and the ISO was 200 to keep the quality in he dark areas of the picture.

 I used a tripod and a cable release  (I also fitted a lens hood to make sure any light from passing cars did not interfere witht the shot).

Music Blues

 

Music Blues

These shots took me a long time to set up but I really think it was worth the effort. The CD's are lying partially on the floor, and some jammed under the blue LED (x3) light source. It was almost impossible to keep the dust from being atracted to the discs, so I kept a good air blower to hand and used it prior to shooting. For the red light I just pointed the LED from an optical mouse at the discs during exposure. It took a long time to get the exposure right and in the end I settled for a very long exposure with a polarising filter fitted.

Tech stuff, top picture 10sec / f16 ISO 200, focal length 46mm polarising filter fitted and tripod & cable release used. Second shot was 30sec / f16 ISO 200, focal length 46mm polarising filter fitted, tripod & cable release used. Both shots were slightly cropped in PS CS4 and levels were tweaked a little to boost colours and blacks / shadows. I carried out some selective burning on the very bottom of both images to help keep the detail.

Storm Brewing

Storm Brewing

I took this photograph just because of the sensational clouds seemingly coming from the small town of Wells in Norfolk. It was an opportunity not to be missed, especially as I had a tripod with me. I walked down onto the mud flat and positioned the camera as close to the water as I could without sinking my equipment into the mucky stuff. I then took several exposures bracketing on a few. As it turned out the first shot was the one that worked best and here it is.

Tech stuff, exposure was 1/10th sec at f8.0 / ISO 200, lens set to 27mm (in 35mm equivalent) and centre weighted metering used. I have slightly cropped the image and applied a ND grad to the sky in Photoshop CS4 to enhance the highlights of the clouds a little.

Starry Night

Starry Night

First of all, make sure you click on the image so you can get the full effect from the larger image. I am learning the ropes over again with my new(er) camera with an aim to do some serious astro-photography. I have a few new bits of kit inbound, so soon I will be able to attach my DSLR to my telescope. I should (in theory) get some good shots. The shot above was just a bit of test work to get a rough idea of exposures etc. It came out better than I hoped and since I like it, its up on here for everyone to look at.

Taken with Pentax K100D mounted on a tripod. A control cable to my laptop was used to control tha cameraand help avoid all possible blur (the earths rotation will cause blurring too). Exposure was 57 seconds / f9.5. Focal length 82mm, ISO 200 (to reduce noise in the picture). The exposure was very much trial and error, however, with this kind of photo you don't need to be quite so spot on. The camera was attached directly to my laptop via a cable and controlled from inside (nice and warm!).

Incy Wincy

Incy Wincy

I saw this guy in my back garden a few weeks ago, so it was a quick shot with the tripod. I manually focussed (autofocus is not so good for this kind of thing) and tried several shots to see what would bring out the web in a nice way. I finally settled on using a little flash to boost the highlight detail on the spider. He was a very good model to work with, not moving at all for the whole duration! Click on the picture to see the larger version, he really comes into detail then!

Taken on my Pentax, focal length 82mm, exposure was 1/60th sec at f13, ISO 200, bracketed back 1/2 stop to compensate for the flash. I spot metered from the green leaves behind the spider to get an accurate reading.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead

This is a photograph of the Mallard class A4-6-2 Pacific type locomotive in Yorks National Rail Museum, that broke the speed record for steam locomotives back in July 1938 achieving a speed of just over 125 mph. Thats an amazing feat using a boiler and steam power, without a single computer in sight. I have had a love for this particular train since a small child, when I had a poster including this locomotive as well as many others on my bedroom wall. It was the Mallard that held my gaze though with its streamlined body work and wonderful blue livery (it was painted green when it completed the speed record). The train is a fully restord version, however it was last active in Easter of 1987.

The picture was hard to compose, as I was at the museum in peak season and it was packed. Trying to dodge members of the public from the frame of the shot was nigh on impossible, however I just about managed it in this shot. I wish I'd had my tripod as the shot was taken in fairly low light. Another lesson learned. Taken at 1/6th sec, f6.7, focal length 27mm ISO 400, adjusted white balance for daylight and compensated for over exposed highlights.

All Is Wells

All Is Wells

I took this photograph this week when the great british weather was showing its true colours. So I decided to enhance the picture a little by using a new feature on Photoshop (CS4), the ND Grad option in ACR. It has helped pull out the colours in the sky, without altering the sand and beach huts too much. It is my first go with a digital ND filter and I am very impressed with the technology. I hope you enjoy it too.

The picture was taken using my pentax on a tripod. The exposute was 0.3sec at f27 / ISO400 (due to very low light levels) 36mm focal length. I have cropped the picture a little to get rid of distracting clouds, boosted contrast levels a little and apllied a slight grain to the huts and beach, to help push out the sky a little more.

40 Years Ago

40 Years Ago

Ok, so I didn't take the picture 40 years ago, but it is 40 years since man first walked on the moon. What an amazing feat of engineering especially considering how much things have advanced since then. I took this picture a couple of years ago through my TAL 1 telescope (Newtonian reflecting). I put my HP compact camera up to the eyepiece and after lots of tape, perseverance, trial and error, I managed to get a group of very passable shots. This photograph is best viewed in full screen so please click on the image to open it up fully. When I get more time I will set about doing more photographs through my telescope, maybe the polar caps on Mars?

I'm not going to post any exposure details for this shot, as they won't be any use, astronmical photography is a law unto itself I'm afraid. Go to http://www.nasa.gov if you want to see how the professionals do things.

Quiet Eyes

Quiet Eyes

I took this picture of my niece back in 2005 using a small compact camera, it is very basic by todays standards with a maximum 3 mega pixle ccd sensor. I cropped the picture in Adobe Lightroom and pushed the exposure up. I added extra contrast on the levels and added a film grain effect to help wash out the highlights, but not enough to lose the all detail. The shot was not posed for (as most good shots are not), but it gives a wonderful effect of calm.


HP compact (photosmart 735) 1/125th / f5.1, flash fired, focal length 17.5mm. Hope you like it.

Coastal Waters

Coastal Waters

This Photograph was taken at Sheringham in July. It had been a very dull day and not much was happening with the sky that day, until the clouds broke for about 10 minutes. I managed to catch this shot as the last rays of the sun were peeking through some broken clouds. I know this picture does not follow good photography technique (too much foreground and too much sky) but I like it just fine the way it is. I am a great believer in throwing the 'technique' out the window at times, especially when a photograph pleases me as this one does. Most photographers will accept there is a huge element of luck involved in capturing a pleasing image. I used a higher ISO (400) to create some grain to add texture to the sky. I have adjusted levels slightly in CS4.

Taken on my Pentax, focal length 55mm, exp 1/90th sec / f16, ISO 400 (hence the grain / noise) bracketed -0.5 stop. Tripod used with cable release. Spot metered from the rocks.

Sheringham Rocks

Sheringham Rocks

Ok, so any of you that have been to Sheringham know it doesn't exactly rock, more gently moves from side to side....occasionally. Still for this picture the title stands. I used a negative density filter (ng8) to slow down the shutter speed to create the blur for the waves breaking on the rocks. I always like this effect as it looks like a mist gathering on the rocks. The filter acts by reducing the amount of light hitting the sensor, without affecting the tonal / colour range of the light. I have also boosted the contrast a little and cropped for effect using my new Photoshop CS4 package (awesome software). Taken using my Pentax K100D S , focal length 64mm, exp 5sec / f32, nd8 filter, ISO200.

Red Dusk

Red Dusk

This shot of Joe was taken on a pretty lack lustre day in Sheringham. It was evening time and the sky was very dull and un-inspiring. However with a few teaks in the digital darkroom and we have a passable shot.

Taken with my K100D, focal length, 24mm, 1/8th sec / f27, ISO200, exp comp 1/3rd stop. I cropped the shot very slightly and then pushed the contrast and adjusted the colour temperature in ADC. I then created the JPG and adjusted the hue and saturation , pushing them to create red saturation in the sky and the ground. I then added a little bit of blurring to soften the shot a little. Enjoy!

Cherry Tree RIP

Cherry Tree RIP

I took this photograph over the Christmas period and have only just remembered it...derr...memory like a sieve..I know I know. Anyway, it was another hard shot to get right as the sun was so so bright in the winter sky. It was taken though a polarising filter, but due to the brightness of the sun it stil caused some lens flare, however I feel this adds to the shot if anything so instead of editing it out, it was left in place. Exposure details are 1/800th sec at f11 / ISO 800. I shot with the white balance set to tungsten to give the blacks more punch and the sky more blue. the tree has since been masacred by my Dad, much to my mums disgust...RIP cherry tree!

The Minster

Beverley Minster

This shot was taken on my Pentax K100D an was a total Biatch to expose correctly. It is hard to balance the highlights and shadows while keeping the detail of everything else. It seems ok anyway so I'm happy.

Exposure was 2 1/2 seconds at f11, pushed 1 stop to enhance the highlights of the windows. The white balance was set to flouresent (I hate those lights and they seem to be everywhere historic!). The lens was set to 38mm to keep perspective. I used photoshop to add the vignette.

Scarf

Scarf

I took this a while back, only getting around to looking at it now. Its really just a snapshot kind of thing, but I like it a lot so here it is. I have de-saturated the colour and thats it. Pentax K100D Super, 55mm focal length, 1/60 sec at f5.6 fill in flash fired ISO 1600 (for added grain and contrast).

Sarah

Stop The Press

This is one of my favourite pictures, unfortunately I can't lay claim to taking the shot, it was Sarah's son James. He was taking pictures with my Panasonic Lumix compact. I cropped the picture down (cutting my ugly mug out) and desaturated the colour, then I enhanced the contrast and altered the exposure by +4 stops. I increased the film grain slightly in CS3 to give it that 50's / 60's press look. I have this picture blown up and framed on my wall, its looks superb. Techy stuff, Panasonic Lumix compact, focal length 17.5mm, exposure 1/30th set at f5.0 / ISO 400.

Bright Lights

Bright Lights

I took this picture last year during a sheet lightning storm. It was taken from my music room window overlooking the streets opposite my house. The storm was about 5 or so miles away but was enough to create superb skies. It was an exposure of around 10 seconds on a very small aperture (can't remember what). I cropped the picture to panoramic proportions.

Roker Beach

Roker Beach

I took this shot around 2003. Yes it is sunny and I havn't messed with it. I came across this and a few other shots during a clean out of one of my computers. I don't have any tech details and it was before I got hold of a copy of Photoshop so it is a straight out of the camera shot.

St Marys Clock Tower

St Marys Clock Tower

This is a photograph of the clock tower of St Marys Church in Beverley. The church was originally built in the early 12th century. The tower was raised many years later in the 16th century. Unfortunatley the beams supporting it were not strong enough and part of the tower collapsed in on the congregation in April 1520 killing many men, women and children. The tower was rebuilt in the following 4 years. This church suffered greatly at the hands of both Royalists and Puritans during the civil war years.

The picture was taken on a dull cloudy day, but this added to the mystery of the tower and gives a slightly spooky feel. Taken on my K100D Super, focal length 50mm, exposure 1/90th sec / f8 / ISO 200 with a polarising filter fitted to the lens. I used Photoshop to crop in a little, no adjustments were made to exposure or lighting.

Ghosts On The Westwood

Ghosts on the Westwood

This picture was too good not to have a good mess around with in the digital darkroom, so here are two of the pictures I have created from this shot. I took the pictures in daylight, however the sky was dull and rather lack-lustre, hence the heavy editing. I cropped the picture to remove some of the dull sky and then adjusted saturation, contract and brightness. I then emphasised some of the highlights and applied a few creative filters to get the effects I liked.

Taken with my Pentax K100D, 40mm focal length, exposure 1/60th sec at f11 pushed by +1.5 stops, ISO 200.

Frozen Hands

Frozen Hands

This picture started life just as a photograph of Sarah's hands. I then desaturated the colour from it and brought the contrast fully up in Photoshop. I added a solorising filter and then adjusted the saturation. I then turned the picture upside down for a more interesting effect. Certain highlights were burned in at places to add extra depth.

Taken on my Pentax K100D Super, focal length 64mm, exposure 1/60 / f5.6 with fill in flash fired. ISO 800 (for extra grain) and polarising filter used for extra contrast within the shot.

The Old Mill On The Westwood

The Old Mill On The Westwood

I took this photograph to recreate the buildings natural foreboding in real life. It is an old mill built in 1802 on the free pasture land in the market town of Beverley, called the Westwood. It is truly an ugly thing, but reeks of history just by surviving for two hundred years. I felt this picture has almost got a whole life of its own as a very old looking scene, full of possible history and story. This has become one of my favourite photographs taken with my K100D. I hope you enjoy it too.

Taken using my Pentax K100D, 55mm focal length, 1/20th sec / f11 (+1.5 stops), ISO 200. I overexposed the picture via the camera by a large amount and then added extra contrast using Photoshop to wash out the sky and foreground trees a little.

Sundown

Sundown

I took the original picture using my small Panasonic DMS-LS75 compact camera last year. The original is the typical sunset picture. Again it was taken from my bedroom window and the colours just seemed to come out exatly the way I wanted. Focal length was 17.4mm and eposure was 1/80sec / f5.0 ISO100. I'm suprised the depth of field came out as well as it did for a compact camera. I cropped sligtly using Photoshop for composition purposes only.

The upper shot is the same picture, however I have used a gradient filter from Photoshop and the de-saturated most of the colour from the picture. It creates a very 'Silent Hill' kind of vision, not my usual style but it is good to try something different. I like the smooth greys and sharpened contrast it has created.

Marriotts Way

Marriotts Way

This was taken down an old railway line that has been converted to a long cycle track, many years ago, just over the road from where I live. It was a slightly misty day and I wanted to show the mist coming from behind the gate in the dstance. I like the way the winter sky fades the picture out towards the top. I had to spot meter and take several bracketed shots until I managed to get the correct exposure on the trees to the left and the mist in the distance. Taken with Pentax K100D Super, 55mm focal length, exposure 1/10th second at f11 / ISO 400. I used f11 to give the depth of field needed to keep the whole of the footpath in focus from front to rear of the picture, hence the slightly higher ISO rating than usual. The camera was tripod mounted and picture slightly cropped with Photoshop.

Morgans Field

Morgans Field

I normally go out looking for shots like this, but sometimes the beauty and the mystery of the world just presents itself before you. I was walking to the shops (I carry my camera on any walk now) and saw this, so I hopped a ditch and jumped a fence and took this shot in one go. Sometimes it just happens like that. Taken with my Pentax K100D Super, focal length 18mm, exposure 1/90th second at f5.6 / ISO 200 (I used a aperture of f5.6 to preserve a short handheld exposure, with the mist present there was little need for a large depth of field). I used Photoshop to crop it to panoramic proportions.

Venus

Venus

This is a quick picture of Venus I took at about 5 o'clock this evening from my bedroom window. The quality is not quite up to scratch, mainly through light pollution and the fact I have blown the image up considerably using Photoshop, exposure has been left alone.

Pentax K100D Super, 55mm focal length, exposure 30seconds at f5.6 / ISO 200.

Orion January 2009

Orion & His Belt, Jan 09

I have been facinated by space, the moon and the stars for most of my life. Although I never wanted to be an Astronaut, I love stargazing with my TAL1 telescope and have always looked towards the heavens. Taking good pictures of the constellations I found is hard, using just standard camera equipment, mainly due to the earths rotation. Still I managed to get a half decent shot of Orion this year (I try every year around this time). You can clearly make out the 3 main stars of Orions belt, Alnitak, Alnilam & Mintaka. At the top is Betelgeuse (the orangey one, Orions shoulder) to the upper left and Meissa, quite dimly lit, to the right (Orions head). Then Bellatrix (orions other shoulder) to the far right slightly lower down. Of the three 'stars' that make Orions dagger (or sheath depending on the depiction), the middle one is actually a part of a gaseous nebulae (The Great Nebulae M42). I hope to photograph this through my telescope later this year. The bottom left star, Saiph, is his knee. The bottom right star is Rigel and belongs to his heel.

The photograph was taken using the Pentax K100D Super, 45mm focal length, exposure was 8 seconds at f9.5 / ISO 1600. The picture appears orangey towards the bottom through light pollution, a common problem near any built up area.

Joes Christmas Candle

Joes Christmas Candle

This was a picture taken by my youngest son Joe. Not bad at all for a 12 year old! I helped him out with all the technical stuff after he tried a few different times with various settings. He nailed this one though, well done little dude! He now has my (very expensive) compact camera and I think he is also hooked on photography now.

Pentax K100D Super, 55mm focal length, exposure 1/30th second at f5.6, ISO 800, macro close up with no flash.

Self Portrait

Self Portrait

Ok, so I suppose I was being self indulgent? Maybe not. I took this picture as I have always felt I have a darker side to me than most people know and this helps to show it. Nothing to do with a tough guy image, I mean darker as in my soul. I felt this picture reflects that, especially in my eyes. I hate pictures of myself and that was probably one of the reasons I got into photography, to hide behind the lens.

Tech stuff, taken with my Pentax K100D Super, Lens 55mm, exposure 1/60sec at f13 / ISO 200, fill in flash fired. I used strong moonlight to light my face and the fill in flash gave the highlights. I then used Photoshop to de-saturate the colours from the picture. I enhanced the contrast by appox 4 stops, this allowed the lines around my eyes to show through so heavily.

Winter Berries

Winter Berries

This picture was taken using my Pentax K100D Super & Petax DA lens set to 55mm. The exposure settings were 10 seconds at f9.5 / ISO 200. No filters were used to adjust the contrast or colour saturation, this is how the picture came straight out of the camera. The picture was taken in my back garden facing west towards sundown early one January evening. I have converted it from RAW (PEF) format to JPEG for the internet, as well as adjusting the size properties. Click on the picture to see it enlarged.