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/