Friday 31 August 2012

Favorites

Gondola In 60 Seconds, VeniceEilean Donan Castle Sunset, ScotlandFor Those In Peril On The C (Kraken Light Painting), Mill EndLight Harted (Reindeer Light Painting), HertfordshireThawing Hoar Frost, HoohillArticles of Faith (Backlit Cow), Dalaman
Backlit Winter Brambles, HoohillBombshell (Jessica Swimming at Lamp Liter Inn), VisaliaStray Kitten, OrtacaPainting By Numbers (Vintage Car Reflections), RomeElemental (Mill Stream & Fire), Loose ValleyWhite Gold (Bees Foraging On Blue Cloud), Wisley
Stag Eating Nettles, Boughton MonchelseaQuince After Rain, KentCaptivated (Ring Tailed Lemur), Blackpool ZooMany Glacier Hotel, MontanaGrazing Horse & Ruins, Capadocia Turkey [Lightroom 3 - Redux]Extinction #3 (Jurassic Coast Star Trails), Dorset
Blue (Bury Lake), RickmansworthGrand Geyser, Yellowstone [Lightroom 3]Madonna Del Carmine Statue, BolognaWing Tips (Butterfly Sunset), WisleyMeltwater, HertfordshireExposing Suburbia, Maidstone

Favorites, a set on Flickr.

A quick intro to the best of my Flickr Photostream.

Yin & Yang (Jessica with Bottlenose Dolphins), Sea World

Via Flickr:
Quick post just for a few people asking about our recent holiday, so comments disabled.

Still catching up with people and seeing some amazing stuff I missed in my few months away from Flickr. Back with a "proper" post tomorrow! Have a great Friday evening!

Thursday 30 August 2012

Facade (Hotel Bernini at Sunset), Roma

Via Flickr:
As the sun slides below the Roman skyline, the last lick of daylight paints the Hotel Bernini Bristol's deco facade. Lots of work in CS5 to correct the perspective - see Flickr for the SOOC version.

Hope everyone's having a great week!

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Exodus (Wawona Headlight and Star Trails), Yosemite

Via Flickr:
Twenty minute exposure, shot from the roadside on the arm of a deck chair (no tripod on long haul flight...) next to our hotel in Wawona, California. Convoys of road repair trucks were shipping tarmac into the park, whilst staggered convoys of cars left the park - hence the dense block of traffic trails.

The distant bank of trees looks much nicer on one of my screens - if it looks too orange to you, please let me know and I will adjust. The "nicer" screen for this one gives it a bit more grim threat; a real "edge of the dark wood" feel, that is missing from my main (much brighter) screen. I generally go with my iPhone as the final say on brightness, contrast and WB; but would love some feedback.

I might later post one of my short exposures of this. For any long exposure I shoot a few frames at ISO 25k and then calculate my "proper" exposure by doublings stopping down to 100-400 ISO. On the MKii those H2 ISO shots simply don't cut it, so I don't bother with them beyond the exposure calculation and checking what's in the dark areas of the frame (which are black at night!). A four second test shot like this saves me lots of time correcting basic stuff quickly.

In this case, however, I think one of the test shots might be usable, so might give it a go. The Milky Way looks really cool in that version. Lots of work I need to do learning to shoot the stars without trails, though. If anyone has tips for that, I'd love to hear from you - what's the maximum shutter to get sharp stars, for instance?

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Monday 27 August 2012

Beetle Rock Sunset #1, Sequoia National Park

Via Flickr:
One of a series of shots I'll be posting from Beetle Rock in Sequoia National Park, California. It's not the most striking of the set, but I like the orange light on the fallen log, and it's the colour gradient's blue corner appeals to me. Hope to hear what others think as the set goes up; I'll link them all.

This one is an advert for staying out a little longer. We'd been on Beetle Rock an hour before and the sky looked uninspiring, plus there was a bear poking around the edges of the rock. After going back to the lodge and bathing JSH it would have been easier to call it a day, but I headed out and drove back just in case, and the sky delivered after all. Plus no sign of the bear.

Amber Waves of Grey (Late Afternoon Fog), San Francisco

Via Flickr:
Shot through less than crystal clear glass from the Coit Tower viewing platform. Lots of the smudging came from the glass, shooting into the sun. I wish they didn't have glass up there; would have been nice to preserve clarity in a few areas like the church, but it's nasty, warped stuff and it can't be shot around. The colour was lurking in there, but needed a hard kick to the white balance to give it character.

As per my notes here, I do hope everyone is well and look forward to catching up after a few month's absence.

Sunday 26 August 2012

Bomb Shell (Jessica Swimming at Lamp Liter Inn), Visalia

Via Flickr:
Quick post chiefly for friends/family reference - so comments disabled!

It's been a while since I've been on Flickr for more than quick glances; a mix of workloads professional and private. For much of the year I've had to choose between either taking pictures or posting them - and I chose the former. Just back from three weeks in California, with close to 65 Gb of images shot.

I'm looking forward to re-juggling a few things, getting those shots online and catching up with Flickr friends I've not chatted with in a while. Will be cool to see what you've all been shooting.

Hope everyone is well and having a great weekend!

B&W Version of Bomb Shell