This rather strange looking "lady" belongs to my brother in law. Him and an artist friend spent many a drunken evening decorating and drawing on her flawless skin. He has kept it ever since.
As she wasn't quite fully dressed and is a full length figure, I decided to allow her some modesty and only photograph her face. I quite like the stark red behind her, it seems to compliment her painted lips and is perhaps fitting for the subject.
It reminds me though, of a girl I know who once suggested that bondage photography was where the money was at, as one of her friends was pursuing it as a career choice.
I think I need to spend more time focusing (no pun intended) on portraits, especially the use of various lighting arrangements. Not specifically this type of subject, but generally. Volunteers please!
Sunday 30 September 2007
Thinking
About time I got a half decent shot of my Dad. Its difficult to get a good shot of him looking serious, he is always messing around and playing the joker.
This was taken on his allotment, which is his pride and joy. His wife, Paula, does most of the hard work as Dad is meant to take things steady since his operation.
In his words - he is the supervisor of the allotment. Either way, he was well pleased when the local town magazine (The Talk of the Town) did an article on him and his onions. He was so chuffed, he learnt how to use a web browser so he could have a look at the online article :-)
His consultant asked him last week how long since the heart surgery...5 years was Dad's reply...to which the consultant said...it must have been top notch work - your still with us! Very comforting!
He has had a few scares since the original operation, and been back in for more surgery - as he says, every new day is a gift!
This was taken on his allotment, which is his pride and joy. His wife, Paula, does most of the hard work as Dad is meant to take things steady since his operation.
In his words - he is the supervisor of the allotment. Either way, he was well pleased when the local town magazine (The Talk of the Town) did an article on him and his onions. He was so chuffed, he learnt how to use a web browser so he could have a look at the online article :-)
His consultant asked him last week how long since the heart surgery...5 years was Dad's reply...to which the consultant said...it must have been top notch work - your still with us! Very comforting!
He has had a few scares since the original operation, and been back in for more surgery - as he says, every new day is a gift!
Mist rolling in
The first proper trip out with my camera since pulling a muscle in my neck.
The sea was incredibly choppy and the dog kept looking down wanting to be in - she should have been born an otter.
The wind had that icy chill with it that bites into exposed flesh, blowing in from the sea, bringing with it a fine sea mist giving the landscape a layered appearance. Each time the sun broke through the sparse clouds, the land was dappled in a kind of golden light.
A day of contrasts, hopefully this image captured a glimpse of that.
The sea was incredibly choppy and the dog kept looking down wanting to be in - she should have been born an otter.
The wind had that icy chill with it that bites into exposed flesh, blowing in from the sea, bringing with it a fine sea mist giving the landscape a layered appearance. Each time the sun broke through the sparse clouds, the land was dappled in a kind of golden light.
A day of contrasts, hopefully this image captured a glimpse of that.
Saturday 22 September 2007
Shooting prohibited
An experiment in HDR and tone mapping effects. It is a time of learning here, of trying different post processing techniques and mostly fumbling around through different graphics manipulation packages and a multitude of settings.
I had seen this on the Gare Road a few times and the light was never quite right. Today was a little better, but I knew that exposing for the sky and grass was going to leave the sign badly underexposed. I tried various level and curve adjustments in GIMP but still didnt achieve the effect I was after.
This led me down the HDR and tone mapping path, something I have been curious about for a while but never actually played with. I'm kind of happy with the result, though I would prefer it without the light halo around the sign.
Should anyone really want to produce a similar result (though I cannot imagine they would!) these are the steps I took on my Ubuntu install of Linux....
1) Loaded the original image into Ufraw - saved as three different TIFF files with different exposure levels - i.e. underexposed, normal and overexposed
2) Created a new HDR in qtpfsgui and accepted the defaults.
3) Then tone mapped the file using the pre v1.84 Fattal algorithm, Alpha 0.1, Beta 0.8, Colour satursation of 1, and no noise reduction.
4) Loaded into GIMP and adjusted levels.
I am still learning this stuff, but it is a fair example of how HDR and tone mapping work.
I had seen this on the Gare Road a few times and the light was never quite right. Today was a little better, but I knew that exposing for the sky and grass was going to leave the sign badly underexposed. I tried various level and curve adjustments in GIMP but still didnt achieve the effect I was after.
This led me down the HDR and tone mapping path, something I have been curious about for a while but never actually played with. I'm kind of happy with the result, though I would prefer it without the light halo around the sign.
Should anyone really want to produce a similar result (though I cannot imagine they would!) these are the steps I took on my Ubuntu install of Linux....
1) Loaded the original image into Ufraw - saved as three different TIFF files with different exposure levels - i.e. underexposed, normal and overexposed
2) Created a new HDR in qtpfsgui and accepted the defaults.
3) Then tone mapped the file using the pre v1.84 Fattal algorithm, Alpha 0.1, Beta 0.8, Colour satursation of 1, and no noise reduction.
4) Loaded into GIMP and adjusted levels.
I am still learning this stuff, but it is a fair example of how HDR and tone mapping work.
Wednesday 19 September 2007
Summer's end....probably
Two days left of the season. It seemed quite mild as I left work, the sun had dropped dropped below the horizon, yet it was dry and between the clouds patches of clear sky persisted with that dark, almost night, shade of blue. I was hopeful!
By the time I got home, the drizzle had begun, only interrupted by brief lashings of rain. That seemed about right for this summer of floods.
Out walking the dog, the ideal image for tonight seemed to be one that captured the rain, but the drizzle had returned. I tried using flash, in an attempt to capture the fine misty spray, but it wasnt to be.
By the time I got home, the drizzle had begun, only interrupted by brief lashings of rain. That seemed about right for this summer of floods.
Out walking the dog, the ideal image for tonight seemed to be one that captured the rain, but the drizzle had returned. I tried using flash, in an attempt to capture the fine misty spray, but it wasnt to be.
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Sunday was not a good day for photography, or so it seemed. The wind was whipping up a storm and the sand streamed across the beach in loose clouds hugging the ground. Not the best place for my camera and when I noticed the lone fisherman and his dog, I thought to myself, he must be mad out in this. Until I realised that I was probably just as mad being out at the same time in the same place, pursuing my own hobby. Hmmm, its a strange old world.
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