Ho Ho Ho. Merry Christmas

This is a picture of Santa from the weekend. My kids think he could be the actual real one on account of his beard being "a proper one"

Santas Little Helper

Santas Little Helper
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I couldn't resist getting a shot of Santas Little Helper from our weekend away at Ribby Hall IN Lancashire.

The rest of the shots fromt he wekeend can be seen here on my flickr stream.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157622890714809/

Smiths Lawn to the Obolisk

Smiths Lawn to the Obolisk
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

First attempt at HDR. I wanted to make it as subtle as possible vs some of the extrem "in your face" HDR's that seem to be in vogue.

This was taken during a photowalk around Windsor Great Park (Saville Garden/Bolisk/Cow Pond area. Check out the rest of hte shots from this walk on my flickr stream. Each shot contains a geotag/map link for where it was taken.

www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157622956964952

Inspiration....

I stumbled across this today and found it really inspiring. I'm still struggling to find my style and as a result probably putting too much pressure on myself to improve vs just enjoy the process and let it come naturallly.

http://www.zarias.com/?p=284

This second video http://www.zarias.com/?p=465 about street portraiture also reminded me to get my ass into gear again regarding my own 100 strangers project. I'm currently on 17/100 (as I have been for several months)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157611320280959/

Quad Toning In Photo Shop ...

...this time Quad Toned
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I really like the richness of the B&W image you get with ha quad toning effect.... A trick I learned in Scott Kelbny's excellent book CS3 for digital photographers.

The shot is of a face paining in progress from my works Xmas party for the kids of staff. The face painter was excellent.

Virginia Water Waterfall After Heavy Rain

I hoped that the amount of rain we had this weekend would mean that the Waterfall on the outflow of Virginia Water in Windsor Great park would be in spate.... I wasn't disappointed. It was very late on Saturday evening before I had chance to get down there. Infact it was nearly dusk. I didn't have my cable release with me so I had to resort to upping the ISO and the aperture to reduce the exposure to 30 seconds. Processed in lightroom with an X=equals "super punch" preset and then a bit of fine tuning.
The second shot of the upper level, looking down has the road in the background which is where the orange glow comes from as cars were driving along plus the street lights.

Obviously both of these shots were taken with a tripod.

Little Man

Whilst doing the Photoshoot of the staff at school yesterday my wife came to pick me up, so whilst I had the lighting set up I couldn't resist getting a shot of "The Babsa", "The Little Man", "The Maestro" aka "My Boy"

First Follower.

I have my first follower.

Hello Angelique whoever and where ever you are.

You have the honour of being first..... but hopefully not the last person to visit these humble pages :-)

I'll have to try very hard to let my new found fame and notoriety not go to my head.

Another Photo Shoot Tomorrow...

I've just been preparing all my gear, formatting memory cards, charging batteries etc ready for the second half of the school photoshoot tomorrow.

I'm looking forwards to it. Apparently the (part time) staff who couldn't make it last time are really excited as they saw the photos from the first session and loved them.

I'll post some shots afterwards. Things I'm going to do differently tomorrow based on what I leanred first time around...

• Turn the ambient (flourescent) lighting off.
• Seperate subject from the background with more distance and get the background light in a better position to blow the background white.
• Get them to lick their lips before taking the shot. (can't remember where I read this)
• Interact more and direct the posing . Get poeple to smile more naturally via interaction jokes.threats of photoshopping in warts and spots :-)
• May be set the short lighting up from the opposite and swap poses 180degrees so not all facing left.

And one thing I must remember is to ask people if it's OK to put their photos on my blog and add them to my long neglected 100 strangers project. http://www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/sets/72157611320280959/

...and finally I must get some business cards printed out. I've been looking at some from "moo" via Flickr. Having some cards to give out to people at these shoots wouldn't do my word of mouth advertising any harm at all !!

Full Spectrum

Full Spectrum
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Another attempt at water drops on a DVD and I'm much happier with the results this time. This was done in day light with a much more definitive light source... the window is fairly obvious in the reflection.

Processed in Lightroom with a large amount of clarity and increse ont he blacks slider to make the colours really pop and the dark grey DVD surface go black.

This reminds me of my favourite Pink Floyd Album " Dark Side of the Moon"

I love how the streak of colour coming in from the left goes from red/orange through to yellow/green.

Taken with a 100mm macro lens with a 250D screw in filter attached for extra magnification. Each water drop was probablt < clear="all">

Splashing Around

Splashing Around
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Splashing Around
I was running out of time to come up with a shot for the Autumn themed monthly photo competition at work . The recent storms and rain have brought most of the foliage down off the trees. There is one nice bit left in Windsor great Park but when I went up there on Saturday it was raining so the camera stayed firmly in the bag... I've learned my lesson about getting it wet (see my star trails photo).

I thought I would take advantage of the rain and the puddles by having some fun with my kids. Dress them up in bright clothes and welies and try to get some frozen water and refelction action going on as they jump up and down in puddles. Half an hour and lots of fun later this was the best shot of the bunch and I have my entry to the autumn competition.

Canon EOS 40D, EFS 17-55mm IS USM, 580EXII strobe.

20mm. 1/250 sec, f/8 +1EV flash. Manual exposire mode to ensure the low lighting di not lead to a slow shutter speed and blur. Using manual means that camera uses the flash to expose the subject vs using ambient to expose for the background with the subject "filled" with flash. Slightly cropped plus boosted exposure, blacks, clarity, saturation and sharpening in lightroom.

Flickr 50,000 Hits Since I Joined

Flickr 50,000 Hits Since I Joined
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I joined Flickr back in June 2008 and was fairly slow uploading images. It was only when my Canon 40D DSLR arrived in September that I got more serious. I've experimented with a lot of things over the last 18 months, portraits, still life, macro, strobist lighting, freezing motion etc etc and I've certainly learned a heck of a lot. I've been really pleased to have been asked and be able to photograph a friends wedding, 2 christenings, a holy communion and recenlty a set of head shots for a local school.

When I look at my "most interesting shots" see link below I am really pleased with the quality of what I can produce, not just out of camera but with some post processing in Lightroom and Photoshop to take things to the next level. Looking at some of the other shots on Flickr that I admire I've still got a long way to go... but I will find that magic explore place sometime soon !!

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/marklandon/popular-interesting/

I'm helping to set up a photography group at work and it's great to see that there is so much interest ranging from complete beginners to seasoned experts. There will be a range of themed monthly competitions and regular seminars, tutorials etc. It's the subject of this first tutorial that I'm blogging about today. I've always suspected I was a bit of a geek when it comes to gear and kowing how to use it but this was confirmed on Wednesday lunchtime when I took a few fellow Canon DSLR owners "under my wing" for some basic training on their camera. I take my own level of knowledge forgranted and was very pelased to be able to share some basic information with the group that they just didn't know and were very grateful for. This was as simple as focus screen adjustment using the dioptre dial. Focus point selection using the quick slect wheel. SHutter half press to focus and recompose. (I know... I was amazed they didn't know how to use this either... does noone read the manual ?) They were basically using their expensive DSLr's as point and shoots and not venturing off the green "auto" function. We went into the basics of aperture and shutter speed and how to control DOF using aperture. I think shutter speeds was also a n insight for them too and made them realise why they were getting blured shots in low light. Basically theu were expecting this "majic" expensice DSLR to do everything for them without understanding the how and what limitations it has. In all we made good progress, I enjoyed teaching and they took a lot away and have some new skills to practice. Next time I think I'll use the camera tethered to a lap top so that we can get input from the group on how to change settings for a particular situation or effect, change them, and see the results straight away on the screen.

I Won a Photography Competition With This Shot !!

If The Pumpkin Closes Her Eyes, the Witch Can't Hypnotize Her !!
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

OK, so it's no big deal, there was no prize or anything... but the Kudos of being "voted" the winner. Come on, thats big !! Humungous !! ... and reward in enough itself :-) . The competition was in the "Unbearably cute" group on Flickr for their Halloween themed monthly competition.

The title of this shot is "If The Pumpkin Closes Her Eyes, the Witch Can't Hypnotize Her !!"

Here's my "winners notification"

"Kimberly Lynn says:
Congratulations, you are our first place winner of The Cutest Halloween Costume Contest! Unbearably Cute! "

Click on the image to go to my Flickr stream and see the lighting details.

Pro-Bono PhotoShoot for local School.

I had a great time this morning doing a "proper" photoshoot for a local school. The brief was to create some simple head and shoulders shots to update their website and school notice boards.

I spent a fun hour putting a lot of what I have learned into practice and look forwards to posting more of the resulting photos to my Flickr account soon.

This experience was invaluable and helped me to learn a lot including..... how difficult it can be to get some people smile.

• Knowing your gear, how it works, dialing in settings gives you confidence.


• Checking and readying gear (according to a checklist) the night before gives you peace of mind and lets you focus on the creative process vs technical issues.


• Turn off ambient lighting sources to avoid colour casts.


• Having a few poses in mind prior to shooting saves time and puts you in control.


• "Narrow" lighting is more flattering than broad.


• Interact with your models to make it less scary (for them) and a fun experience.


• Seperate the subject from the background more (difficult due to space limitation)


• Show people the shots you got on the camera LCD to get initial feedback.


• Some people just don't like being photographed OR the result... even if others love it.


• The strobist website has been invaluable in my learning experience.


• I am able to turn theory into practice and get a pretty good result.... judge for yourself when I post the images.


• A large school whiteboard makes a great background.


• I need more lighting gear !! (to blow out aforementioned white background)

Psychedlic Smoke : First Attempt

Psychedlic Smoke
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Bought some insence sticks at the wekeend to try this, inspired by the "tutorial" below.

www.flickr.com/photos/antsplan/1439859052/

Strobist. : 580EXII into Lumiquest "Ultrasoft" diffuser @1/4power camera right triggered with cactusV4's.

Bubbles @ Bathtime

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/4101016649/
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I've not shot any portraits for a while so I thought I'd give this some special treatment practicsing a few Photoshop tricks I'd not done for a while.

In low light conditions if you shoot with flash in Av mode the camera tries to expose for "ambient" conditions by having a really long shuuter speed with the flash for "fill". You can compensate by nicreasing ISO to get a daster sutter speed but that introduces noise. In certain situations you can shoot in manual mode in which case the flash exposes for the subject completely vs acting as fill. (read a more complete article here)

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html

I bumped up the flash exposure compensation to +3EV to get a high key effect. The rest was done in Photoshop...

Converted to mono in using a gradient map with a layer mask to reveal the eyes which were further enhanced with a little saturation. A high pass filter used for sharpening with a vivid light blending mode, again with a layer mask to accentuate the eyes only. A few other features were slightly sharpened by painting away the mask with a lower opacity brush.

The image was reinported to Lightroom then exported to flickr using Jefrey Friedel's excellent plug in. I also used the "mogrify" plug in from Timothy Ames to add the graphical watermark. I really like the functionality of these two features.

Despite the amazing blue eyes I struggled for ages and failed to be able to print this out with the same effect... no matter what print setting I tried I was getting a sepia effect vs B&W and no blue in the eyes ?? I tried multiple different colour management profiles including "printer controls colour" and they all came out the same ?? not sure whats happening there. (didn't try to print any other phots to check though. May reboot and try again.

What Am I ? #2/10

What Am I ? #2/10
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

The game is simple, I take a macro shot of an object I find in the house. To make things more difficult to identify the shot is from a strange angle and has a narrow DOF. All you have to do is guess what it is by putting your idea in the comments section. I'll then tell you if you're right. No prizes, just for fun :-)

...and the best thing about this shot... not a dust spot in sight which means the "dry" sensor clean using my new "rocket blower" worked.

Here is the first "what am I shot". This series was inspired by the arrival of my 100mm macro lens..... which I'm still loving !!

www.flickr.com/photos/marklandon/3981876530/in/set-721576...

Noisy, Dusty, Badly lit, But I like it

Noisy, Dusty, Badly lit, But I like it
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I'm not over happy with this image as I was just experimenting and was therfore lazy with the set up. I did learn alot though about how to do these shots and will revisiti them sometime soon to improve on my technique.

I've started fequenting "Digital Photography Shcool" website, I've been subscribed to the newsletters for a while but have now dipped into the forums too. Whilst I'm impressed with the tutorials and such the critiques are all very much "nice shot " "love it" even when the shots are less than mediocre. A few noteably examples are offering honest critiques so I'll stick around and see what happens.

Rain Stops Play on Star Trails and Kills Camera with Err 99

I thought I'd try some long exposures on "Bonfire Night" with the plan of stacking them together to form star trails with plane tracks accross and perhaps the odd firework if I was lucky.

Great plan ... but unbeknownst to me the weather had other ideas !!

My tripod was set up in the garden. Camera, lens (IS switched off, focus set to manual) and cable release were all ready and off we went. A series of 30 second exposures with the camera set on "burst" and the cable release locked down meant continuous shots.... so off I went to watch x factor. Planning to return in an hour or so to check on progress.

X factor over, out I went and was HORRIFIED to find it was raining.... and looked like it had been for a while. The camera (Canon EOS40D) worked fine to review the images I had but then started to do strange things and the dreaded "Err 99" appeared. Bugger !! I only get 14, 30 second exposures before it started to cloud over and then another 30 before it started to rain (there was no sign of any clouds when I started !!)

I looked up Err 99 on the web and got more nervous. Following the troubleshooting guides I removed the lens, still Err 99, replaced battery, still there. Removed CF card, still there. Got the hair dryer out, still there !! Finally I left the camera with everything detached and open overnight in a warm room... and thank god it worked in the morning. Lesson learned... don't

leave expensive gear unattended outside in the UK climate.

Now, onto the image. The individual shots were tacked together in photoshop with the great photoshop action below to form the Star Trails. Obviously I was hoping that they would have been longer with more plane tracks but you can clearly see the clouds starting to scud in. The orange glow is from the distant lights of Heathrow and London.

http://www.schursastrophotography.com/software/photoshop/startrails.html

Textured Red Acer

Shot a few weeks ago but only recently tweaked in photoshop by overlaying some textures. Sctratched metal is the main one.

This is the first blog post I've uploaded direct from lightroom using Timothy Ames' excellent plug in. http://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lr2blog.php

Test.... Upload

Just testing the upload feature direct from lightroom... needed to create a Picassa album to do it so just a quick test....

Sparkler Macro

Sparkler Macro
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

My attempt to try and recreate this shot by Pixel Addict....
www.flickr.com/photos/pixel_addict/2301302732/

Rather than increase the ISO (as he did) to get a fast shutter speed I opted for strobist off camera flash to freeze the sparks and provide some fill light to the sparkler shaft.

Strobist info : 580EXII with stofen diffuser camera left @ 1/4 power fired with Cactus V4 wireless triggers.

Pretty much SOOC apart from a tight crop and minor adjustments, including sharpening in lightroom as part of the raw conversion.

Exported to flickr using Jeffrey Friedl's excellent plug in and also the "mogrify" plug in to add a graphical watermark (signature) which lightroom can't do on it's own.

This was taken with the recent addition to my lens armoury, the Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro. I'm really liking hte stuff it can do !! Lots of fun.

King Gardens "Planet Panorama"

King Gardens "Planet Panorama"
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

My photography is in a somewhat experimental phase at the moment, trying out lots of new things and generally playing about.. Recently I've been macro'ing with my new lens, light painting, and now creating "planets" from panoramas converted into polar coordinates. This "planet" is of the lovely "KING GARDENS" where I work. It was created using the following tutorial and using photoshop. I was surprised at how easy it was....

http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/create-your-own-panorama-planets/

Shrek the Pumpkin Goes Strobist for Halloween

Shrek the Pumpkin Goes Strobist for Halloween
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Halloween fun with a pumpkin made using a carving template from http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/

Equipment used.....

Canon EOS40D
EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM lens
Hahnel Battery Grip and IR remote
Manfrotto 190XDB tripod and 390RC2 head
Cateye LED bike light
Canon 580EXII Strobe on lightstand
Cactus V4 wireless triggers
Sainsbury's carrier bag to gel flash orange.
Tea light inside shrek's head.

8 second exposure @ f6.3 (ISO 100) with 1/4 power flash camera left
about 2ft from the pumpkin. Flash head had the orange plastic bag wrapped around it a afew times. After the flash had fired I used the bike light to light paint in the background. Shutter triggered remotely by IR remore for battery grip. Flash triggered by Cactus V4'swireless triggers.

Dublin Marathon 2009 HR and Pace Plot

Dublin Marathon 2009 HR and Pace Plot
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

This is the plot of HR (Heart rate) in BPM and pace (mph) from my Polar S625x watch from the Dublin Marathon on Monday 26th October 2009. HR zones are shown as the coloured horizontal bands. The HR curve is the black line, the pace curve is the blue line and the altitude (relative not absoloute) is the grey solid background.

As you can clearly see the HR for the opening 9 miles was unsustainable and then a run walk strategy was adopted with increasing amounts of walking vs. running until the final few miels when I managed to pick myself up. I didn't hit the wall, I didn't struggle, I just couldn't run any further, faster without walking as a result of 5 weeks of inactivity froma virus. (and putting 7lbs on) 5 weeks ago training was going great and I was hopeful of a time around 3 hours 20... but on the day I was pleased to finish in a somewhat dissapointing 4:35:38. Still, it was an enjoyable expereince and I now know I can still "finish" even off a less than ideal build up.

A Lens' Eye View

A Lens' Eye View
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Messing about with my new toy... and some older borrowed bits of gear. The new toy is a Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro lens and a Hahnel battery grip with IR remote.

A bit about this shot. manual mode at highest flash sync speed of 1/250sec @ f8. The MR14-EX macro ring flash was ETTL metered off of these exposure readings with an A/B ratio of 1:4.

The lens had a 250D close up lena screwed in too. Gettign the framing was hit and miss and I had to take a bout 20 shots ebfore I got one nicely framed.

Processed in lightroom with a bit of clarity adjustment, sharpening and then a nudge up on the blacks slider to increase the colour.

I like the reflection of the macro ring light and you can clearly see the A/B ratio setting inth e left and right hand side of the flash tube.

Autumnal Macro Triptych

Autumnal Macro Triptych
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

description says it all really.... but I really like this composition... even if I do say so myself

Lightning

Lightning
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Not posted anything for ages... bit of a backlog of stuff to wade through. This is from my last business trip tot he US when I got strended in Atlanta airport due to a massive electrical storm. The shot was one of 50 or so long exposures from 6-30 seconds. This was the only one that actually captured any lightning. They were all hand held with the camera lens flat against the window to avoid flare and braced aagsint the frame to avoid shake during the long exposure. I think it worked out quite well.

Motion Blur Bike

Motion Blur Bike
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

My eldest son got his first "big bike" for his 8th birthday a few weeks ago. It's got 24 gears, disk brakes, front and rear suspension. He just loves being able to get up the hills and go offroad now and is starting to get quite adventurous....I don't know where he gets that from ?? (:-))

This was an attempt at a panning/motion blur shot with a slow shutter speed. It's worked quite well but you can see from the curve of the blur I was quite close. Camera set to AI servo mode to track a moving subject. Developed in Lightroom with a Direct Positive preset to punch the colours.

Harry Potter : The Set for "The Deathly Hallows"

Harry Potter : Deathly Hallows
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

This was taken in Windsor Great park, just by Virginia water lake. Over the last few weeks they've been building this mazing castle and galleon. Apparently for the new Harry Potter film. I finally got round to taking a shot of it last weekend but have only just downloaded and processed it.

Blow Your Own Trumpet (Terrell Stafford)

Blow Your Own Trumpet (Terrell Stafford)
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Whilst staying in the Kempinski Hotel in Falkenstien (Near Frankfurt in Germany) I was lucky enough to stumble accross this amazing Jazz musician playing a gig in the hotel bar. He'd flown in from the US, met with his backing group (Piano, Double Bass and Drums) did a 30 minute rehearshal and then went straight into the gig. What an amazing sound they had and the improvisation they managed with only having met that day was incredible. Great musicians.

You can find out more about Terrell here. www.terellstafford.com/

Terrell is #17/100 in my 100 strangers project. Go to www.100strangers.com
to find out more.

My Boy

My Boy
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Haven't posted anything for a while and stumbled accross this shot in an old folder. I reprocessed it with some of my new techniques learned from Scott Kelby's book CS3 for Digital Photographers. (B&W conversion with a gradient map, quad toning for a richer B&W and then selective sharpening of the eyes (using a layer mask with a high pass filter), toned down a bit with a reduced opacity.

Joanna Rodriguez : Runner

Joanna Rodriguez
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I completed with Jo a few times over the last few years in various races. We were pretty closely matched but my running bacame interlaced with injury and hers went from strength to strength. I'm not sure what time she did int he handicap last night but the speed she ran past me to get this photo I'd say it would be around 32 minutes. (avg speed for 5 miles being about 6:20 min/mile. I'll post the time when the results are up.

Coy Smile
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

This was taken at the weekend at my Son's first Holy Communion. He was busy playing with his friends and gave me this coy smile as he paused for a moment in between rushing around playing catch and chase.

Dragonfly Heart in a sea of Bokeh

Dragonfly Heart in a sea of Bokeh
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

This was taken in my garden a few weeks ago. I'm using a Nikon 105mm micronikkor f2.8 lens, strapped to my canon 40D with a cheapo adaptor from Ebay. It mean you can still do auto metering once the aperture is set (set aperture manually) but all the focussing in manual. It's a bit of a pain doing macro work on a manual lens as the depth of field is so small. I would love to get a canon 100mm macro lens but htere are other things ahead of that in my must have purchases.

Loosing My Triathlon Cherry

Well today was my big day. I lost my triathlon virginity. The knee injury of a few weeks ago and the cold that still lingered had put paid to any ambitions of a fast time but I was very pleasantly surprised to exceed my expectations with a time of 2 hours 47 minutes. The swim was as bad as I had expected, getting swum over and kicked in murky river water is not nice and frankly after only 100m I felt like turning round and bugging out. I'm glad I stuck it out though as it got better after I warmed up. On the downstream leg of the swim I was getting into a rhythm and starting to gain a few places back. I was in such a groove I went 20m last the last buoy and had to double back to the exit pint. My legs were all wobbly and I felt dizzy getting out of the water. Transition went well as I whipped off t he wetsuit and got the bike going. Within a mile my hamstrings were cramping badly though. It was another 2-3 miles before I was able to start cycling properly. A bit of electrolyte drink (2L through the bike leg) sorted me out and I was able to start cranking the pedals. I was making good progress and was steadily overtaking people, and only being overtaken myself by some really fast guys. I took great pleasure on my 15 yr old steel framed bike overtaking £3-5K carbon machines ridden by people who obviously had all the gear but no idea. The most pleasing thing about the bike was the average speed being a shade under 20mph. Onto the run. There is a nasty hill up past Windsor castle that you have to tackle three times, luckily I'd stationed the family at the top so there was always an incentive to get to the top for cheers and high fives. The run was survival mode at the end but I was quite pleased with my time of 51 mins 56 seconds for the 10k. All in all a fantastic experience, not as hard as a marathon but say 2/3 the difficulty. Even so I've still been wiped out all day and having to power snooze regualrly.... and when not snoozing, eating and drinking. I'll definitely be doing another.

James Cracknell OBE

James Cracknell OBE
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Today I was "racking" my bike in preparation for my debut triathlon in Windsor, which takes place tomorrow. I'm a bit nervous to say the least. Just as I was preparing to register I saw James Cracknell, Olympic rower, adventurer and all round nice guy. I asked if he wouldn't mind me taking his photo and he kindly obliged. We chatter for 5 minutes or so about his adventures, skiing tot he South Pole, rowing accross the atlantic and obviously his Olympic rowing successes. He was interested in my triathlon debut, as he's a hardened campiagner and he put my mind at rest. He's starintg the race early tomorrow so he can be back in time to cover the event for Channel 4 TV where he is a "celebrity pundit". James is #14 in my 100 strangers project and my second famous person.... I don't think I'm going to be able to maintain that kind of ratio !!!

See more about James Cracknell here. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cracknell

Smile !!

Smile !!
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I was looking through various folders in Lightroom last night looking for images that I had missed or that would offer an opportunity to try out the quadtoning technique on. I decided that this portrait would offer itself nicely. I'm very pleased wit the results and think it does the beautiful smile justice. This was a random and somewhat opportunistic "snapshot" taken in the car whilst stopped at a level crossing. You have to catch her unawares to avoid a terrible posed toothy smile/grimace.

Now I've got the quadtoning technique sorted I think I'll move on to another in Scott Kelby's book, CS3 for Photographers.

Jumping For Joy

One of my favourite shots from our recent holiday. B had a great time jumping down the sand dunes. I say sand dunes but really they were man made mounds that were being dumped by huge trucks to try and repair some of the beach erosion from previous years. You can see the trucks in the second shot

Flying Vizsla :Quad Toned

Flying Vizsla
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

I've been using Scott Kelby's book "CS3 for Photographers" to help me with different post processing techniques and one I tried recently I really liked. It's quad toning to add extra depth and contrast to B&W images. This shot is of our grorgeos pooch, Jasper. He's a Hungarian Vizsla, very photogenic and a bit of a poser. This is one of his favourite tricks when we're up on "Smiths Lawn" polo fields, jumping over the fence.

Water Drops.

I've been trying to take macro photos of water drops a few times now with some pretty good results.... but it "aint nothin" compared to some of these. See video ont he Strobist.com blogspot. There is some amazing footage.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-photograph-water-drops-with-one.html

Naughty Boy (Sorry Mum)

Naughty Boy (Sorry Mum)
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Just testing out attaching a photo to a blog entry.... and again. Sorry Mum !!

OMG

Oh My God..... I've got a blog. Now what do I do ??

I'm hoping over the coming weeks and months I can use this new (to me) tool to let my hitherto constrained creative juices run wild.

This seems woefully inadequate for what is a milestone event in my life !! My first blog entry.

At least now that I've popped my blogging cherry I can relax a little. Next I must think about a witty and smart profile.

...and thankfully there is a speeling checker too. Sorry, very poor joke.