The Iron Giant

 infrared  No Responses »
Jan 102013
 

The Iron Giant

Ok, so it’s not really THE Iron Giant, but it will always be that to me.

This is one of my first infrared images, taken on my second trip out with the IR converted Canon 350D, but it’s still one of my favourites.

Normally with images taken with this frequency of IR filter (650nm) there are two conversion options:- black & white or false colour (which is done by flipping the red and blue channels in Photoshop). This image however really grabbed me in its raw state, with the off-world colours matching the science fiction look of the structure, which is in fact part of an abandoned bridge.

Another reason for my liking of this is that, more than any of my other images, it reminds me of the importance of continuing to look for new images in familiar places. I must have seen this dozens of times, both as a child and on my numerous photo trips to this location but I only ever saw it as an old bit of bridge, now I find it impossible not to see its robotic features.

Prints, posters, cards available from photo4me or ArtFlakes.

Fallen Tree in Hoar Frost

 landscape, stock images  No Responses »
Mar 262012
 

Fallen Tree in Hoar Frost

For most of the year running up to the December that this picture was taken it was quite marshy around this tree in Cossington Meadows, making it difficult to get to – not that I didn’t try, I just got a bit fed up with having to cycle home with wet trainers after each failed attempt. This cold spell made reaching it possible though as the ground was rock solid.

A funny photo this – it’s not glossy or romantic, doesn’t feature a killer composition or great light, hasn’t been tarted up to make it look like a work of art and doesn’t ask the viewer to question their very existence – but it still causes me great happiness because it reminds me how great it is to see the changing seasons and to be able to experience them rather than watching their passing from a car window on the daily commute.

Available for licensing on Alamy

Rainbow

 landscape  No Responses »
Sep 132010
 

Rainbow

Something a bit different today. As a landscape photographer I spend so much of my time trying to take photos that have a large depth of field and worrying (or at least thinking) about whether all parts of the image are as sharp as they could be.

Often though I get really bored of this – the more practice you get, the more robotic the process of taking photos can become – so occasionally I like to stick one of my cheap prime (fixed focal length) lenses on and use them wide-open (at their widest aperture/lowest f-number) or thereabouts.

Whereas shots with a large depth of field can end up leaving nothing to the imagination, a shallow depth of field can make an image about something totally different – about the light, colours or textures.

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The shot above was taken using the Canon 24mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon 5D. The 24mm is perhaps my favourite lens – I don’t use it anywhere near as much as I should, but it always makes me happy. Using it wide-open (at f/2.8) on the full-frame camera gives such heavy vignetting – something that some people try their best to avoid, and others spend time trying to recreate, but I think if you know when to expect it (it’s generally gone by f/8) you can use it to your advantage.

Canon EF 24mm f/2.8

Above, the Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 – old, clunky, no full-time focus, and not the quietest motor in the world – but great value for money, especially considering just how cheap you can pick one of these up for on ebay.

Reviews

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/reviews/canon-ef-24mm-f-2.8-lens-review.aspx
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=21&sort=7&thecat=2

Sunrise Over The Lake

 landscape, sunrises  No Responses »
Jul 062010
 

Sunrise Over The Lake, Cossington South Lakes

One of the most boring and time consuming tasks that comes with any serious amount of photography seems to be dealing with the large amount of files (and the amount of disc space that they take up). I try to keep two backups of all my images – at the moment I’m finally archiving them all to DVD, chronologically, but I’m also taking the opportunity to get rid of some rubbish and duplicates.

Often I’ll take a couple of shots of something and then notice a distraction in the frame, or I’ll increase the exposure time to get a little more light into a scene. At about 15MB a time all these extra shots add up and despite going against the “never delete your raws” mantra, hanging on to all these extra versions doesn’t really serve any great purpose, other than helping Western Digital stay in business.

The above image is from January 2010 (I’m about 6 months behind with my tidy up at the moment and my progress is constantly hampered by the arrival of new images which I’ll briefly scan for favourites and then ignore for a few months) and was taken on a frosty morning out with John Houghton

This was one of the last shots that I took with my Canon 450D and despite having been back since with my other camera, this was my favourite sunrise shot from this location – mainly due to the good fortune of the cloud picking up the pink glow of the rising sun, which is then also reflected in the ice.

Technical info: ISO100, f/16, 11mm, 1.3s, Cokin ND4 soft grad

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Spring Afternoon

 textures  No Responses »
May 022009
 

Spring Afternoon

Earlier in the year I set myself a challenge in order to improve my photography and broaden my horizons a bit – I’d seen this concept mentioned in some old magazines that were passed on to me. I find it can get terribly difficult to think of things to photograph so I decided to combine two of my favourite past times, cycling and photography.

The idea was that I would attempt to find something to take pictures of each time I went out – it didn’t matter what – just anything that took my fancy.

On this occasion I was taking a short cut across some fields. It was early spring and despite the sunshine the ground was a little too wet for cycling, let alone lying on, so I got pretty soaked getting this shot.

Spring Afternoon

Despite having the features I wanted, the shot didn’t capture my feelings at the time – the warmth of the first sunny day of the year, the freedom of being out doing what I wanted to do. It needed to be more fluffy and dreamlike and fortunately I knew exactly what I was going to do.

A friend on Flickr produces some fine textures for layering and I already had one in mind that would add the tone I was looking for to the picture.

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