The annual bluebell shoot!!

Yesterday I took my annual trip to Ashridge Forset to look at, and photograph, the bluebells. It is such a well known spot which has been photographed so many times that it is difficult to get something which has my 'stamp' on it. I think I really need to give it another week, when it will be a blaze of colour. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-ashridge

At my camera club I am known for my 'quirky pics' so here is one which might fit into that category.

                                  







This was taken with my fish eye lens and processed to give a painterly, hazy effect.













This one, called a Worm's Eye View, involved me getting on the floor and making myself look rather foolish, not the first time I hear those who know me shout!!! Anyway I think it was worth it, so far this is my favourite.

Infra Red

Well it has been a while since I added a new post, mainly due to work and other commitments. As I have mentioned I have kept up my Project 52 pages and the most recent mentioned my recently purchased Infra Red camera.

The advantage of a converted camera over filters is that it can be used as a normal camera, no need for long exposures. Of course there may be times when a long exposure is beneficial, silky water, blurry people etc so, as with most things, it's not a case of one is better than the other, rather the opportunity to try something different.

As with all photography it takes a while to get your eye in, to 'see' in IR. It is true of all images that a badly composed, out of focus picture will always be a badly composed, out of focus picture, turning to mono, adding a filter or converting to IR will not rescue it. Having said that it seems that some pictures work better in IR, the learning curve seems to be to do with recognising which is which.

This is one of my first attempts. This is Pitstone windmill, a site I have visited regularly since starting to take my photography seriously, I still have to take a good picture of the windmill.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-pitstonewindmill

Of course I wanted to try something different so I swapped the red and blue channels in Photoshop to create an image with, what is known as, false colour.I tried using lead in lines and framing it with foliage from a conveniently placed tree. I suppose its OK but a friend would probably describe this as a 'so what' picture with nothing to distinguish it or make it stand out from the many hundreds which have probably been taken of this windmill.

Message to self - don't be so predictable, return to the windmill and look for something unusual, or at least take a brilliant pic of the 'normal'!!!

I then moved onto College Lake near Tring in Bucks. An old quarry which is now converted into a lovely wildlife area.
http://www.bbowt.org.uk/content.asp?did=23523

I do struggle with landscape and nature photography and find that this is a good place to experiment. I must admit when I first converted this I rather liked it, however I uploaded it to a forum I frequent and it was pointed out that the two blocks of dark colour are distracting and the viewer would not know if they were water or shadow...fair point.

Sometimes it is difficult to be objective about your own work.

So having tried some colour versions I then went for the more familiar mono conversion, again this is an image taken at College Lake. This I am happier with, I like the composition, reflections and the ripples in the water.

It has been commented that the ripples look rather strange, on this occasion I have to say that I don't agree. No prize winner but, for me, a decent landscape.

This is another from the lake, interesting in that unless you had been told you probably wouldn't know that this was an IR photograph.  I find it a pleasing photograph, but again nothing to write home about!

Now this one I am pleased with - it may well find its way into a club competition sometime.

Once I had finished at College Lake I moved onto Whipsnade Tree Cathedral http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-whipsnadetreecathedral, only to find it was swarming with young children on an Easter egg hunt. I took a couple of pics but you always have to be a little cautious of taking photographs of young children.

This all I could manage without feeling awkward. With hindsight I should have made more use of the reflections in the dew pond.



This is another of the same area, showing all of the dew pond, which is in the process of being constructed. I enjoy this because of the drama of the black sky, which in non IR was bright blue, with not a cloud in sight, and the glow on the trees.









Today I had an hour after work and travelled into Luton to visit Wardown Park http://www.luton.gov.uk/internet/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_recreation/parks%20and%20open%20spaces/wardown%20park. This time I took, not only my IR camera,  but also a fish eye lens with the intention of finding out what I could do with that combination.

Advice from my photography advisor and friend is always to take the obvious first, which I did, the fountain, museum building, lake etc. Then I looked around to find something which would take advantage of the fish eye effect.

This one is called "When is it my turn?"  Not only is it IR and fish eye but I have also added a touch of Fractalius to give it a bit of a painterly effect.

This one is called "Just one bottle between us". This is deliberately cropped to give the feeling of space but I am unsure if there is just too much emptiness.

Finally the one I am most pleased with, probably because I am back in my comfort zone. Called "Wait for us" (or at least it is until I can come up with something more imaginative.)

Well that's enough for tonight. This is clearly going to be steep learning curve, but it seems as though the possibilities are endless. One good thing from my point of view is that I have seen very few IR prints, this means that I am not limited by what I have seen before or by what others tell me is or is not possible. Thinking outside the box usually produces much more creative images. Thanks for reading and looking.

24HRS IN BRIGHTON

A welcome short break in Brighton gave me the perfect opportunity to do some serious photography. I realised that I was exploring a city which had potential, but also one which had been 'done' many times before. So the question was 'How could I make it my own?'

The first thing I did on arrival was to explore the beach front between the two piers. In 2003 the West Pier was destroyed by fire, since then the elements have done their worse leaving a skeletal structure in the sea.

This image was taken from the West Pier looking towards Brighton Pier which is still very much a working Pier.

In order to get both Piers in I used 8mm Fish Eye and straightened the image in Photoshop.

Walking along the beachfront, even in February, can produce photographs of some interesting characters. Street photography is not a forte of mine, I am just not bold enough to go up to people and push my camera into their faces, although afterwards I always wish I had been! Anyway these two were sitting there playing some interesting African drumming music, it really was very pleasant, who could resist this one?

Continuing my quest for something different I thought there might be a picture to be had using the warning signs in front of the West Pier.
I took several but I enjoy the composition of this one which I call Keep Away.
Differential focus keeps the background sufficiently out of focus to maintain the point of the picture to the fore.

As the sun began to set I returned to the Fish Eye in an attempt to produce something different. I have seen many pictures of the West Pier but I don't recall any with a Fish Eye lens, I am sure there are some out there but I enjoyed the composition and impact that this has with the curve of the earth greatly exaggerated and the incoming waves.













My final selection from the first day is a sunset picture with starlings swarming over the pier at dusk. What an amazing natural phenomenon, which I understand is called murmuration. I have seen it on the TV and had not known before Thursday evening that this happens each evening at dusk, during winter months in Brighton. What a treat and a lovely way to end the day.

On the second day I awoke early with the intention of getting some sunrise pictures to go with the sunset images from the evening before, unfortunately on looking out of the window all I saw was fog and/or mist. On second thoughts I realised that this gave me further opportunities to try something I had not tried before, misty pics, so off I went.

On walking along the seafront there were few people out, one or two dog walkers and a tramp or two rousing themselves, but then it was only 7.00am.



Then, next to Brighton Pier, I saw this bunch from the local swimming club. I have no idea why they would do this, but it would have to have serious health benefits to make me strip off and go in the sea at 7.00am in February, or indeed at any time!!!

One for fun, taken a few minutes after the swimmers, called My Patch. Even the bird seems surprised at the men's antics!

I felt cold just watching them and so made my way along the seafront towards the West Pier. By this time more people were out and about, enjoying the exercising possibilities or simply getting to work.
 
It was still very foggy and I struggled to photograph the scene effectively.
In order to emphasise the foreground and give a greater sense of fogginess in the distance I added a filter, which darkened the cobbles whilst lightening the top of the image as the fog became more dense. This has created a more graphic image which I rather like, not sure if it will win any prizes but I enjoy the atmosphere and like the image, so that is all that really matters.

 
 
 
 
 
 
And so back to the West Pier, still using the Fish Eye but a very different feel. At this point I was feeling rather bruised as I had fallen flat my back as I walked down the concrete walkway, it had some pebbles deliberately placed to catch unwary, lady photographers!!! No I am not getting paranoid, really, I'm not!!! Fortunately nobody was there to view my gymnastics and  no harm was done, apart from some rather large and very colourful bruises.
   

And finally one taken with no special effects or photoshopping, apart from the usual sharpening.

This is a colour image however there was no colour anywhere to be seen, I was particularly pleased with the detail, which is just apparent through the mist.

 

 
After all the exertion it was a brisk walk back to the hotel for breakfast and several cups of strong, warming coffee. After breakfast I did explore the other side of town and visited The Lanes, but on this occasion it did not produce anything of note. However I did stumble across the Brighton Pavilion and took this image, again looking for something different, I suspect this has been done many times but I am a bit of a sucker for a reflection.
 

It was a very enjoyable break and although I doubt if the pictures will be award winners or get themselves into any exhibitions I enjoy them and am pleased with the variety I managed to capture in under 24hrs.

I will return to Brighton....summer hols Mr W.?

FISH EYE FUN

Monitary Christmas gifts and a good deal from 'thestickman' on the Four Thirds User forum meant I was able to purchase the Zuiko 8mm fish eye lens. I am already enjoying the possibilities of this lens, which really is much more than a gimmick.

On Tuesday my daughter and I took a trip to London to visit an exhibition at the V&A and to go to the theatre. I took along my camera with the fish eye attached to make myself try out the lens.

We used the underground and I was able to use my camera without any questions from 'the powers that be'. I am told that provided you are 'passing through' there should be no problems taking hand held, non flash photographs. My experience has shown this to be true, as I have never been stopped or questioned when using my camera on the underground network, perhaps it's a case of work fast so they can't catch you!

This was a grab shot as I got off the train and turned around, looking for a picture. This is as taken, apart from a RAW conversion and a bit of sharpening and is pretty well a classic fish eye shot. I must admit I rather like the effect with this type of image and of course the walking man had no idea he was in the picture!


We then moved into the V&A. I walked around for a while taking lots of 'so what' pictures, I think you will know what I mean, if not I am sure Richard will come along soon and explain :)

I was heading towards my meeting point, to join my daughter for lunch, when I suddenly saw this man sink to his knees in front of the statue, well it had to be taken. I realised that my fish eye was not the most appropriate lens for this pic, however it did enable me to get the shot unnoticed. It required some cropping afterwards and I converted to mono, adding a slight sepia effect, to remove the distracting colours and thus keeping the eye focused on the man and the statue.