Here are a few shots from the festival, I seem to be in a B&W mood at the moment. I hope you enjoy them.
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| Standing in the Rain |
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| Mine all Mine |
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| A snack on the steps |
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| Monsoon Season |
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| Prisoner of Love |
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| Run from the Rain |
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| Life Stories |
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Summer on The Southbank
This summer London's Southbank centre has held a summer festival to commemorate 60 years since The Festival of Britain. I managed to get down there a couple of times, the atmosphere on a hot summers day was fantastic and the picture opportunities nuerous.
Here are a few shots from the festival, I seem to be in a B&W mood at the moment. I hope you enjoy them.
Here are a few shots from the festival, I seem to be in a B&W mood at the moment. I hope you enjoy them.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Cathy Taylor is photographer of the month for September
Our photographer for September is Dorset based Cathy Taylor, covering a range of subjects her website is well worth a visit.
by Cathy Taylor
Previous Photographers of the Month
Monday, 1 August 2011
Dennis Bromage is photographer of the month for August
Dennis Bromage is a Teeside based photographer that produces some breath taking images. His website features many great images but I just couldn't resist these cute Polar Bears.
Curiosity
by Dennis Bromage
Previous Photographers of the Month
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Vision and Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - a book review
I have just finished reading Vision and Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
by David DuChemin and found it to be a generally excellent book.
The book is not a full blown guide to Lightroom, you won't find any thing about the library module, printing or slideshow. Tthis is a book dedicated to getting the best out of your pictures using the development module. The book begins with some text which basically boils down to "develop a view of the world you want to communicate" and then it is straight into an overview of the development module.
The overview is then followed by the real meat of the book, where David takes 20 images and explores how to develop them in Lightroom. Each image starts with a zeroed raw file of one of David's shots,which you can download from the web so you can try the instructions out yourself. Once you have the raw file it then shows each of the steps David goes through to achieve his desired result. The style is always to talk about what it is he is try to achieve in visual terms and how to achieve it rather than to get obsessed with the options. It gives you a pretty good idea of what a slider does and why he decided to move a particular slider at that particular time.
What I really liked is the way he takes a raw file, which is already pretty good, and just tries to get the best out of it. There is no manipulation just for the sake of it or rescuing a poor image here, just the digital equivalent of developing a shot in the darkroom. As the lessons progress, he gives the Develop module a pretty good workout and took me in to areas like HSL & split toning where I had never really seen much point in going to before.
The only downside I could find with the book was that the lessons can get slightly repetitive as most pictures need the same beginning adjustments. But if you work along with each picture or try them out on your own images this is needed (and helpful) to make sense of the process.
Overall this is an excellent book and recommended for all those Lightroom users who want to get the best out of their images.
by David DuChemin and found it to be a generally excellent book.The book is not a full blown guide to Lightroom, you won't find any thing about the library module, printing or slideshow. Tthis is a book dedicated to getting the best out of your pictures using the development module. The book begins with some text which basically boils down to "develop a view of the world you want to communicate" and then it is straight into an overview of the development module.
The overview is then followed by the real meat of the book, where David takes 20 images and explores how to develop them in Lightroom. Each image starts with a zeroed raw file of one of David's shots,which you can download from the web so you can try the instructions out yourself. Once you have the raw file it then shows each of the steps David goes through to achieve his desired result. The style is always to talk about what it is he is try to achieve in visual terms and how to achieve it rather than to get obsessed with the options. It gives you a pretty good idea of what a slider does and why he decided to move a particular slider at that particular time.
What I really liked is the way he takes a raw file, which is already pretty good, and just tries to get the best out of it. There is no manipulation just for the sake of it or rescuing a poor image here, just the digital equivalent of developing a shot in the darkroom. As the lessons progress, he gives the Develop module a pretty good workout and took me in to areas like HSL & split toning where I had never really seen much point in going to before.
The only downside I could find with the book was that the lessons can get slightly repetitive as most pictures need the same beginning adjustments. But if you work along with each picture or try them out on your own images this is needed (and helpful) to make sense of the process.
Overall this is an excellent book and recommended for all those Lightroom users who want to get the best out of their images.
Friday, 1 July 2011
Phil Payne is photographer of the month for July
I have just been enjoying Phil Paynes portfolio of people photographs. His website is well worth a look
Story Book
by Phil Payne
Previous Photographers of the Month
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Bye bye my little boy
I have just got back from a week in The Lake District, so normally I would be posting a few of the many shots I took from the shores of Derwent Water. Unfortunately this post is tinged with a huge amount of sadness instead.
We had a good week, my wife, my little black cocker-spaniel "Boysie" and myself. Boysie came to us as a rescue dog 8 years and 4 months ago, he was reckoned to be about 5 and a half when we got him which makes him about 14 or 98 in dog years! Days were spent walking the beautiful landscape and evenings were spent photographing it. For an old boy he was doing spectacularly well, walking 5 miles a day over fell and dale yet still he was keen to go out with me of an evening. He was always excited going out and just as excited to come home again.
On Friday we were on the last walk of the week in Borrowdale when suddenly Boysie screamed and held his back leg up. It soon became obvious that he couldn't walk on it, so we carried him the half mile to the car and took him to the vets.
The vet x-rayed him and said he had broken his femur (which would normally be the result of a car crash not slipping when walking). The vets gave him some pain killers and we agreed to take him to our vets on the following day as we were due to go home. We went back to our holiday cottage and as he kept waking up distressed I decided to spend the night sleeping next to him so that he wouldn't be alone and scared. All through the night whenever he seemed distressed I stroked him and he settled down again. In the morning my wife came down stairs to find us both fast asleep next to each other.
We undertook the long drive home to Essex on Saturday morning & then straight to our vets. The news from our vets was not so good, It turns out that he was riddled with bone cancer. We had no choice but to put him to sleep. We have now lost 2 dogs in 7 months - I am just devastated.
This is Boysie on the beach Thursday at St.Bees in driving rain. For me this picture sums up his spirit, whatever was happening he always wanted to be part of it and to be by your side.
Miss you so much little fella
We had a good week, my wife, my little black cocker-spaniel "Boysie" and myself. Boysie came to us as a rescue dog 8 years and 4 months ago, he was reckoned to be about 5 and a half when we got him which makes him about 14 or 98 in dog years! Days were spent walking the beautiful landscape and evenings were spent photographing it. For an old boy he was doing spectacularly well, walking 5 miles a day over fell and dale yet still he was keen to go out with me of an evening. He was always excited going out and just as excited to come home again.
On Friday we were on the last walk of the week in Borrowdale when suddenly Boysie screamed and held his back leg up. It soon became obvious that he couldn't walk on it, so we carried him the half mile to the car and took him to the vets.
The vet x-rayed him and said he had broken his femur (which would normally be the result of a car crash not slipping when walking). The vets gave him some pain killers and we agreed to take him to our vets on the following day as we were due to go home. We went back to our holiday cottage and as he kept waking up distressed I decided to spend the night sleeping next to him so that he wouldn't be alone and scared. All through the night whenever he seemed distressed I stroked him and he settled down again. In the morning my wife came down stairs to find us both fast asleep next to each other.
We undertook the long drive home to Essex on Saturday morning & then straight to our vets. The news from our vets was not so good, It turns out that he was riddled with bone cancer. We had no choice but to put him to sleep. We have now lost 2 dogs in 7 months - I am just devastated.
This is Boysie on the beach Thursday at St.Bees in driving rain. For me this picture sums up his spirit, whatever was happening he always wanted to be part of it and to be by your side.
Miss you so much little fella
Saturday, 18 June 2011
The Magic of Steam
There is nothing more likely to bring out the small child from the grown man than a steam train. I took am not immune from the romance of steam. Here are some shots from The North Yorkshire Moors railway that I just couldn't resist.
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| Tea Time |
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| of Gloucester |
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| Freight Train |
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| Driver takes a break |
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| Old Friends |
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| Motive Power |
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