Alps Climbing 2011

Alps Climbing 2011, a set on Flickr.

Some photos from my recent climbing trip to the Alps. I'm particularly plased with teh sunset shot as that made it into Flickr's EXPLOPRE @ #229. My best showing yet.

Despite a couple of bad weather days we managed to get a lot done and I got some great photos with a borrowed Canon G12. We didn't achieve our main objective of Mont Blanc due to the weather, but thats just an excuse to go back next year.

We climbed ...

Petite Aiguille Verte
Traverse of the Valle Blanche
Cosmiques Arete
Mont Blanc du Tacul
Gran Paradiso

The Joy Of Running 1

The Joy Of Running 1
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Getting quality shots of moving subjects is relatively simple using a DSLR. Here are some tips.

Shoot in RAW, it means you can fine tune the white balance later, as well as have more leeway in finding details in shadow areas and avoiding clipped highlights.

It was a bright sunny day so I was able to shoot @ ISO 100 and still have a high enough shutter speed. If it's a bit dull or less light consider increasing the ISO to raise the shutter speed.

Set the camera to AI servo mode, this tracks moving subjects and keeps them in focus so long as you keep your finger half pressed ont he shutter buttton.

Set your camera to high speed burst mode and rattle off shots of the moving subject.

Don't start shooting too soon though, remember you are shooting in RAW and the buffer may fill up before you get to the real action you want to record.

Take a look in your manual to refresh your memory on how many shots your camera can take per second in high speed burst mode and how many shots in RAW will fill the buffer, causing the shot rate to drop.

Import the shots into your viewer (I use Lightroom) select the keepers and flag those short of the mark for deletion. You can then convert the RAW file as you wish, playing around with teh sliders or using a preset. I opted to use an x=equals preset called warm storm. This has given a great separation of the subject fromt he background and really accents the bright sunny day that we had on the beach.

Three from Four ?

Three
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I've not been taking many photos over the last 3 months or so due to a severe outbreak of decorating in the house !! But what I have shot has been very purposeful and specific. This last week I shot based on the theme of the number 3 ( a competition at work) and these 4 shots are the results.

2 out of the 4 are water drops on a DVD. one is treated with a quadtone conversion (a speciality of mine) to give a really rich B&W. The colours on the other one were just spectacular so I left them be and enhanced them some.

The third shot is a digital recreation of a film effect called the "Harris Shutter". Read here for more details. http://www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/5464828842/in/set-72157626028668207/

The final shot is the word three from the Oxford English Dictionary with a heavily processed texturisation in photoshop.



I've also finally got around to creating my 2011 signature.... and it's already nearly march !!

Fionas First Float

Fionas First Float
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

....alternative title suggested by my other daughter is "Wingardium Leviosa".

When I joined Flickr over 2 years ago one of the first photos I faved was this levitation shot by Miss Aniela http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndybisz/2915848831/in/faves-marklandon/

I'd told my girls about how I could make them "float in mid air" and so on rainy saturday evening we gave it a try and this is the result. Here's a basic overview of what you'll need to do

Set the camera to manual and dial in an appropriate shutter speed, aperture and ISO to get a well lit background. Using a tripod is critical to avoid movement between shots. A remote release is also useful or you could get by with the self timer. If using flash, also set that to maual too, so that the results are consistent. Take a shot of the background with no subject. This is the image that you will have at the bottom of the layer stack in photoshop, so that when you erase things later the background will show through.

Next introduce your subject and have them lie down on a chair or similar (in this case I was actually holding her up by lying underneath. Take a second shot with the subject and support in frame. You'll later remove the support in photoshop to create the illusion of levitation.

Load your images into photoshop and using a layer mask (allows for non destructive erasing) paint over the support area to allow the background to show through. You may have to do a bit of cloning to ensure that fabrics and hair appear normal vs creased/obscured and heh presto you have a levitiation shot.

I'll be doing more of these with the girls as they thought it was great fun.

Fractalius Fireworks : How to Create the Effect..

Fractalius Fireworks.
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

To create a similar dreamy/ethereal firework photoy ou'll need a good base image to start with. Some advice for shooting fireworks can be found here. http://marklandon.blogspot.com/2010/11/watching-in-awe.html

This image was from the Legoland Windsor, fireworks display last weekend, which was truly spectacular.

You'll also need the Fractalius plug in for Photoshop to create the dreamy effect. Read more here. http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm

As you can see from some of the fractalius images at the above link I toned the effect down a bit by having it as a duplicate layer with reduced opacity.

Create a duplicate layer of your image and run the fractalius plug in on it and play with the sliders/experiment until you find an effect you like. There is a back button that reloads previous settings so you can find your way back if you continue to explore settings. Once you have an effect you like save the changes and let your computer churn away and then change the blend mode opacity of the fractalius layer until you have the look you want. Save and post to your favourite photosharing site.

Have fun.

Watching In Awe

Watching In Awe
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

This was one of many shots I got from yesterday evening at the Legoland Fireworkds display.

The others can be seen here. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?id=542234067&aid=260216

To get decent shots of fireworks you need to use a tripod and use "bulb" mode, and ideally a remote release. I only had a small tripod which is really for a compact camera vs a big bulky 40D but it worked OK.

Mount your camera on the tripod. Turn image stabilisation and auto focus off. Using IS on a tripod is not necessary and can even create negative results as the camera tries to remove shake that isn't there. You need to use manual focus as the light levels are so low auto won;t work and your lens will "hunt" trying to lock focus. Manually focus on a distant object and check againt hat your lens is set to manual focus.

Set the camera to manual (or bulb if you have that setting) and dial up the shutter speed to 30sec ... the next click after this should be BULB. This means that the shutter will remain open for as long as you keep the shutter release pressed down... this could be 1 second or 1 minute.

Set the aperture to a noimal value of f/8 and ISO to 100. If you press the shutter release now you'll get pretty much a black frame as light levels are so low but a firework will have anough light to give a good exposure.

Set the widest angle you can (ulktrawide zooms would give a great creative effect but the max I have in my lens is 17mm) and create a composition for where you think the fireworks will go off. Connect your shutter/cable release if you have one.

When the fireworks start to go off use the cable release to start and end the exposure. the longer you leave the shutter open the more light trails you'll get. Experiment with differnt times until you get an effect you are pleased with.

Outdoor Autumn Portrait : Tutorial

Find a location that has some nice coloured foliage in the background.I used some stunning red acers in Windsor great park. The place where your subject is positioned should ideally be shaded from direct sun to give a more flattering/softer light. Use the aperture priority setting on your camera and set the Aperture as large as possible. The aperture is lens dependant. Remember a large f nmber = small aperture, so you want a small f number to have as large an aperture as possible. A large aperture lets in more light giving a faster shutter speed and creates a more limted depth of field. It's the limted depth of field which will give the bokeh/blurry background... and if you have chosen well you'll get some lovely colours blurring into each other.

Zoom in (the higher the level of zoom the more the background will blur) and compose your shot. Remember to position your main subject off centre rather than in the middle. Think of the rule of thirds and position key elements on or near intersecting points of the 1/3 lines.

Set your ISO as low as possible to maximise image quality but keep your eye on the shutter speed. In this case the shutter speed at ISO 100 was too low and would have resulted in camera shake ( I didn't have a tripod with me) so I ramped up the ISO to 400 to give a shutter speed of 1/80 allowing me to comfotably hand hold the shot.

Fire off a few shots and remember to keep the camera ready as you quite often get t he best shot when your subject thinks you've finished and relaxes. The most natural expressions, especially in kids can't be forced or requested, they just happen and you need to be ready.