Using fill flash for backlit subjects is a very useful technique. You can also use post processing techniques such as shadow/highlight tool to pop the subject further enhancing or lightening shadow areas.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
A Stroll By Cow Pond
Cow Pond in Windsor Great park has recently been refurbished and was opened by the Queen on Wednesday. Apparently she took a personal interest in the plans as Cow Pond holds fond memories for her, Princess Margeret and her used to fish here before the war. The refurbishment has been extensive, with a lot of overgrown vegetation having been cleared. There is also a lovely bridge at one end and a gazebo at the other to sit and enjoy the views.The water lillies aren't out yet but it'll be even nicer when they are.
I took this photo of Haley and Peter as they were walking off after we'd chatted.
Heavily textured in Photoshop for a painterly effect. There were about 4 texture layers using various blend modes. There was a duplicate of the original 1/2 way up the stack with a multiply blend mode to counter the effect of the textures and bring some of the original back.
I finished off with an "underpainting" layer as a CS5 filter to give the canvas effect.
I really like the way the lines lead you to the couple and that they are highlighted against a darker area of trees. In a months or so's time if the water lillies were out this shot would be even better.
I took this photo of Haley and Peter as they were walking off after we'd chatted.
Heavily textured in Photoshop for a painterly effect. There were about 4 texture layers using various blend modes. There was a duplicate of the original 1/2 way up the stack with a multiply blend mode to counter the effect of the textures and bring some of the original back.
I finished off with an "underpainting" layer as a CS5 filter to give the canvas effect.
I really like the way the lines lead you to the couple and that they are highlighted against a darker area of trees. In a months or so's time if the water lillies were out this shot would be even better.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Attitude !!
My continued lethargy and post viral recovery may be stopping me getting out for runs or on the bike, but I'm loving the fact that I've got time to shoot and edit.
This is the first time i've opened Photoshop for several months. I love Lightroom for RAW conversions but you can't beat the power of Photoshop for really making images pop.
Mono conversion done with a gradient map plus a slight adjustment in levels. Then I applied a quad tone for a richer B&W with more depth. Selective sharpening with a high pass filter (soft light blend mode) and a layer mask to reveal the eyes and other areas to sharpen. Eyes were brightened ever so slightly with a screen blen mode for a levels adjustment layer, again with a layer mask to reveal just the eyes.
Finally I added a diffuse glow efect and took down the opacity of the effect to my liking.
... and this is the end result. A beautiful non-posed captured moment of my youngest daughter, showing all of her (significant) attitude.
This is the first time i've opened Photoshop for several months. I love Lightroom for RAW conversions but you can't beat the power of Photoshop for really making images pop.
Mono conversion done with a gradient map plus a slight adjustment in levels. Then I applied a quad tone for a richer B&W with more depth. Selective sharpening with a high pass filter (soft light blend mode) and a layer mask to reveal the eyes and other areas to sharpen. Eyes were brightened ever so slightly with a screen blen mode for a levels adjustment layer, again with a layer mask to reveal just the eyes.
Finally I added a diffuse glow efect and took down the opacity of the effect to my liking.
... and this is the end result. A beautiful non-posed captured moment of my youngest daughter, showing all of her (significant) attitude.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Black and White Curves
Loving my camera and the process of taking photos again. Not so much becasue of my camera now having a clean sensor but because of the renewed ease of processing and editing... I'm the proud owner of a new Sony Vaio laptop with a core i5 processor and a dedicated nVidia graphics card. Got a great deal from COSTCO. Uploading, processing and editing in LR and CS5 are all so much quicker and easier.
This shot was from the Liverpool museum which had a very interesting and photogenic curved staircase. The brightness, exposure and blacks were increased in LR3 to accentuate the form and lines of the curves.
This shot was from the Liverpool museum which had a very interesting and photogenic curved staircase. The brightness, exposure and blacks were increased in LR3 to accentuate the form and lines of the curves.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Obolisk Pond Sunset
Picked my camera up for my first "planned" shoot in a while.
It was a beautiful day and I had an hour to kill around about sunset so I headed up to Windsor Great Park, knowing hte sun would be setting over the Obolisk Pond. This was the result.
It took me ages to clone out the dust spots (they reqally show up at small apertures (f/18 onwards) and so later int he weekend I did a wet sensor clean. Always a nerve racking experience.
A test shot of a white wall @ f/22 showed the cleaning had been successful though so time well spent.
I'm looking forwards to more spring time shoots up at the park, including a family portrait session for some friends.
It was a beautiful day and I had an hour to kill around about sunset so I headed up to Windsor Great Park, knowing hte sun would be setting over the Obolisk Pond. This was the result.
It took me ages to clone out the dust spots (they reqally show up at small apertures (f/18 onwards) and so later int he weekend I did a wet sensor clean. Always a nerve racking experience.
A test shot of a white wall @ f/22 showed the cleaning had been successful though so time well spent.
I'm looking forwards to more spring time shoots up at the park, including a family portrait session for some friends.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
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
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Joy Of Running 1
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.
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