Prom Strobist #2

Prom Strobist #2
Originally uploaded by MarkLandonPhotography

I've been taking a lot more portraits again recently... partly facilitated by being invited to shoot a friends daughter's pre-prom party.

It all started out with the teenagers being very shy and self conscious and not wanting to pose in the garden in view of all the others.

It started to rain so we had to move inside and as soon as they had a bit of privacy in the dining room, away from all of their friends they soon loosened up and we go some great shots.

It was nice to get the flash/umbrella/cactus trigger combo out again for some "strobist" action.

Processed in LR4 with the B&W Look 5 pre-set for a high key effect. I also added some more clarity, as unusually for teenagers, their complexions were flawless and their skin could handle having more mid tone contract (clarity slider)

Watching the World Go By

Watching the World Go By
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

An ND110 (10stop) filter can turn a mundane garden scene into a spectacular array of streaky clouds on a windy day.

@f/22 this was a 1/15 second exposure but add the 10 stop ND110 and a 2 stop polariser and it added up to a 3 minute exposure in broad daylight.

“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are socommon. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be themost startling event in the world.”

“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.”
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Despite Dandelions being the bane of any lawn they are pretty to photograph... and I took pleasure in plucking out the seeds to leave only one using tweezers. (does hurting flowers/plants make me a masochist ??)

There are several quotes I liked about Dandelions that didn't make the title. “Oh, hardy flower, disdained as weed,
Despised for head of feathery seed,
Your unsung virtues rate a ballad,
Choice roots for wine, crisp leaves for salad.”

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.