Things to make and do...

In a wave of creative inspiration Iam making an attempt at a light box. Hopefully once completed I'll be able to using is for some cool closeup shots.


It's basically a cardboard box cover with a side cut out of it then lined with black felt or white paper.


A good tutorial:
http://m.wikihow.com/Create-an-Inexpensive
Photography-Lightbox

Another handy tip was putting a cloth under the white sheet of paper to stop it rolling :)

Food Glorious Food...

After working the full weekend I came home to this most brilliant dinner it was so good I had to photograph it.

ISO800 - F8 - 1/13 Sec

I may had over saturated it  when editing but hey nevermind...

I'm in the mood for cupcakes...

As today is valentines day I am not spending much time blogging for obvious reasons but here is another picture of stickypinny's lovely valentines day cupcakes.

 

ISO800 - F8 - 1/5 Sec

More patterns with Macro Photography...

This shot was taken whilst I was playing around in the spare room / mock studio on a cold rainy day....... I experimented with a high ISO to add grain to the shot.

 

ISO12800 - F8 - Shutter 1/160

One of my favourite types of photography......

I often get the chance to freelance my skills to my better half who is a very accomplished baker.. below was a snap of her malteser cupcakes mmmmm they taste better than they look believe my ever expanding waist line proves this...

ISO 100 - F5.6 - Shutter 0.5 sec

Cameras in the mist... Or not ...

Today was supposed to be a challenge day. My plan was to visit multiple photographical sites setup my shot (whilst enjoying the views) then move on to the next.

Sadly this  wasn't to be as the mist and fog descended... today was now a blog catch-up day.

But I managed to get this brief one... I have also experimented with the RAW file as im sure you can tell...

Too Many Beetroot Puns......

As I am married to an amazing baker / chef it's easy for me to experiment with food photography. For this shot I used my tripod and a 70-300mm lens.


The subject was beetroot soup and the copious amounts of purple look great against the white bowl.

ISO 100 - F8 - 0.8 sec Shutter

NB; Food above made by (http://www.stickypinny.co.uk/), added under marital duress.

App -Re-voui Rodders....

Right...... Although this blogs backbone is supposed to be myself taking a photo and yapping about it I thought that nearly 70 blogs were enough and I would yap about relevant apps that have help me in my infancy with photography....
Social & effects:


flickr (free) - brilliant app very easy to use and you get everything you would do on the net version. fairly simple uploaded but I mainly using it for hand held searching of mine or other peoples photos. (http://www.flickr.com/)


Instagram (£1.79) - initially like Facebook for photos, some nice simple filters and easy interface. (http://instagr.am/)


DOF Master (free)- Depth of field calc, once I know how to properly use it to is potential happy days..this is my ability not the app - (http://www.dofmaster.com/)


DSLR kit For dummies - This is hands down the best app I have used so far, it features handy tools like settings and guides, tips, a shoot diary, check list ....I could go on and on but definitely worth a look.

SLR Photography Guide (59p) - This app again really helps someone like me who needs to understand the techniques and terminology. It has built in guides, videos and manuals useful for referring back.

This was taken on the Train after writing the above... 

 

Oh right so that's how it's done...

As ever my daily commutes to work leaves me with a lot of spare thinking / reading time, this is mainly due to the fact I hate public transport and most of my passengers.Regardless I don't however like the time to think..

Whilst reading digital photographer I found a brilliant issue on luminance and saturation editing... Top tip coming up (ripped from the magazine) ... Drum roll when trying to add colour or drama. To the snot always decrease the relevant colour as adding it in will only bleach it out Seemed to work rather well on a recent shot of mine I have added the before and after.

                                                                                                                                 

                 Original                                               Editied

There's Never enough Time...

More thoughts from the deepest recesses of my mind ... Lately what with work and other commitments it's been hard to keep up with the photos an blogg luckily tomorrow is a photo day of

and I'm feeling like some Inner city walkabout.

Oh and mental note for a great landscape pro search for Fay Godwin - brilliant

Heres one of mine in the meantime...

ISO400 - F16- 1/160 Sec Shutter

I see those cupcakes arising ... Mmm Cake

Quick close up shot of a great batch of cupcakes made by

 

NB; Food above made by (http://www.stickypinny.co.uk/), added under marital duress.

There's a light.....Over at the ....

Yet more moody B&W.......


A wicker lamp shade provided plenty of inspiration mid beer, this one like so many of the others has been faffed with pulling out the red whilst using the PS monochrome setting gives an overall Ikea poster feel to it.

ISO 1600 - F6.3 - 1/13 Sec Shutter

I need the countryside or a Nuclear Holiday which ever comes first.....

He's a cockney Geeza....

Yet again experiencing with people and lighting my good friend Edwardo....
A high ISO gave some good grain and the Overhead light's threw shadows in both the back and foreground.

ISO 1600 - F5.6 - 1/8 Sec Shutter

Pictures of faces the film Noir way ...

Now I have to be honest and say that at this point of my very earlier photographical career Portraits do now set my soul on fire... But seen as I haven't found my own "style" yet it would be wrong to dismiss portraits etc Until I have tried them out ... For a number of years.

ISO800 - F4.5 - 1/10 Sec Shutter

I also added some noise and grain then vignetted the frame of the face to draw focus. I think I will call this picture patience of a saint, this is mainly due to me annoying the subject (www.stickpinny.co.uk).

Can anyone say g-ottle of gear ?

Yet again a quick beer after work led to a night of it, The older I get the less control I seems to have (don't read into that). The below picture was taken in colour and covert with an infra red filter and adapting with the channel mixer.


For some reason the black and White added more drama than the original picture

 

Fortune favours a prepared mind.......

sadly I missed the guardian comp this week as I got stuck in work the brief was affection....


here's my entry..

  

A comp is great for me as it gets my head thinking about shots and images I usually wouldn't !!

Obsessed with Black & White Photographs

Lately black and White photography has been the majority of all my pics I have been emersig myself in "tones" rather than colours. I have learnt that you can achieve far greater effects by using different techniques ie, infra red filters and amending the clour ratio.


Now to try and re-train your brain is no small feet in itself, the trick is to look at the subject in tone rather than colour.


Helpful tips:
Try setting your LCD on your camera to mono ( this will help when shoot RAW + Jpeg)

when converting try not using simple grayscale and experiment with monochrome filters and the channel mixer within Photoshop or whatever software you use.

Rainy Days.......

yet more experimentation with Macro photography, I would really love a macro lens but sadly it's a saver upper. But I am starting to get rather Heath Robinson when it comes to using by large tripod and tele lens, the lens itself is a 70-300mm and although I have to setup at the other side of the room you can actually get some rather good results (look back at the chess guardian comp entry ).

ISO100 - F8.0 - 1/10 Sec

Murder and Motorways.........

Saturday was a manic day filled with work and then a brilliant Murder mystery party ! On the way back we stopped off so I could take the below shot, obviously my aim is to complete this at night etc but I thought I'd have a go during the day. Due to the amount of light I was getting it was hard to get the required motion blur without over exposing the shot.

ISO100 - F29 - 1/2 SEC

The Bells the Bells ...

After purchasing my first filter, a Hoya 52mm Polarising filter (from Amazon £24) this was the first shot I took of the town hall on my walk to work.

Lovely sky and fluffy clouds the filter seems to enhance the blue and the "fluff" of the clouds.

ISO200 - F4.5 - Shutter 1/60