An hour to kill....

I met up with Sprotty and Martin for a spot of Pizza last night, they do them 1/2 price at BRB in Leeds so you can pig out for very little...

Having had a long weekend I thought it wise not to go on the booze, so drove in with the camera kit in the boot of the car, I thought I'd grab a few more HDR's of the city centre before the hours go back and I'm completely screwed for any light in the sky after work.

6PM is a busy time, but right now the sky has just that hint of colour even without a good sunset. I got this shot of the market just by waiting a few moments at a crossing - all the people disappeared and traffic sropped, I got a shot at 2 seconds, 8 and 0.5, and moved on - they are HDR by the way.

I've put the full colour version and the sepia "victorian" shot up, it's something that works quite well in this area of town as it's all victorian - leeds was pretty darn small before her reign anyway.

I think I'll be doing it again, just cause instead of walking to the bus, watching telly or just killing time at home (or cleaning the house, god forbid) I managed to get several shots of iconic buildings that I'm going to present to the city council and hope they go for them.

Not sure whether to do the colourful ones or sepia... or just both :-)

Just go out and DO it!

When the lottery started back in 1997 or thereabouts, people kept saying "you've got to be in it to win it". It was a tad annoying but true, though at odds of over 14,000,000 : 1 I wasn't that fussed and to this day have still never bought a ticket.... I let my mum do that :-)

It's a bit like photography in a way - these last few days have had some supberg sunrises and sunsets, the light's perfect and the trees are getting that autumnal colouring that looks fantastic on any shot.

But I've been dilly dallying, thinking that the light's poor and there won't be a sunset. Then as I'm watching telly in my south east facing living room with my evening meal on my tray, I see a blindingly red sky with herring bone clouds to die for.

Bugger!
Big Bale - Just 10 miles away....

Well tonight I wasn't being beaten and had a quick snack and drove to somewhere close, pontefract race course, and had a go. The light wasn't ideal, the sun was poking through a letter box hole in the clouds for a while and it caught the edge of Xscape nicely painting it a deep orange colour, but there was no light on the trees, foreground or anywhere of interest to be honest.

But it was a still night, the lake was calm and mirror like, there were swans abound, the power stations were producing an amazing cloud, a huge steam triangle in the sky and the sky gradually went through several pastle shades till it was dark.

Keepers - I got a good 15 that I'd hang on my wall. No where near as dramatic as ones I got in the summer, but different - the sun position was behind different trees too.

Eggborough Power station from the A19
- just 20 minutes away

I guess the moral does apply - had I just sat and watched the weakest link, I'd be 15 decent shots down.


But I think it goes deeper than this - if you're not in there taking shots, you can loose inspiration and drive to go out and be creative. You end up with your camera gathering dust for months at a time because you've got out of the habit of getting up and going out. You end up waiting for meets or for someone to organise something to spur you on.

Pontefract Racecourse
15 minutes away - no effort to get to, would
you be bothered if you knew you could
get a shot like this?

I've chatted to mates who have this lull and cure it by buying some new kit. I've done this too - buy a new toy and yes, you go out and use it for a few shoots and it's magical. But once it's become an establised part of your kit bag, the p-zaz has gone and you're back where you started.

I'd say the best course of action if you're in such a lull or if you've found yourself, like I have this last fortnight, thinking the light's not really good enough and making excuses not to go out, just get your kit bag in the car and drive to a location fairly local and just DO it!

You may come back with your first front page of a photography magazine, or you may come back with a bunch of grey, flat shots, but it'll have made you think photographically and hopefully seeded a few ideas for next time.

Wheat Field near Eggborough
You don't need a famous,
well trodden location to
inspire you, you never know
what you'll get!

A new pair of legs maybe?

I tend to take photos of stuff that doens't move much, so I pretty much always use a tripod and have always recommended to people that they get one and a decent head.

Recently I got a new pair of legs, the old ones needed a good over haul and the parts alone were pretty pricey so I decided on an upgrade.

I decided to go for the Manfrotto 055 Xpro legs, these were hot off the press with a swanky new centre column arrangement that allows you to take the column from vertical to horizontal in one swift move.

Now this may seem a little OTT for most people's use - how often have you needed to go horizontal? Be honest? ever?

Well for me, I need to get really low with my shots - part of my style is to have a sweeping forground that leads you into the shot. I often have the camera around 6 inches off the floor to catch reflections in the puddles or to get the composition I'm after.

When the column's vertical, the lowest you can get is around 18 inches, so I now just flip the thing sideways and the legs go flat to the floor.

Would I recommend it over the cheaper 055 PRO?

Yes - but only if you do low shots or Macro.

For macro you could benefit by the horizontal movement getting you in closer to the subject I guess.

But if you're a straight down the line "shoot from standing up" kind of photographer, just get the normal one.

Photography - the best way to explore your area?

Ever since I got my Ixus back in 2003, I've been keenly looing for nice things to photograph - itr started off as things, the bus stop in the morning was popular as were the berries on the shrubs that surrounded it. I'd often take shots of the bus as we moved and then of the grave yard as I walked back home after a night in Leeds (I live next to Morley cemetary).

Not long after that I got the 300D on new years eve 2003/4, I instantly went in search of somewhere to use it - Dewsbury!

M62 near Dewsbury, Jan 2006

I'd never been and stopped there, gone round it before, but never had a reason to actually park up and go take a look. I took some shots, had no idea what I was doing, but it was a start.

The point of this post isn't how I developed as a photographer, but what I've seen in that journey. I'm no war photographer and have never really shot junkies jacking up, but I've discovered more of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and Northumberland than most people who live there.

Places like the north york moors, pickering, scarborough, staithes and whitby are not on the usual route map of a single 30-something clubber from Leeds! But I've been to them many times. I know virtually every road off the M62 within 30 miles of my house and can often predict what will look good on a night these days. Certain light suits the power stations on the M62, big fluffy clouds will be nice at pontefract racecourse.

Before photography, I know leeds city centre and had been to the centre of most biggish towns only when I needed to.

Now I know them inside out through walking and drivinv in search of something unique, an image that no one else has got, something people pass un-noticed if you like.

So don't think photography is all about walking with your tripod to a well worn spot (looking for the place the last photographer stood), but drive somewhere you've not seen before, think about the scene you're looking at and see if you can create something. In the process you'll get a mental map of your region, you'll know where to go when the weather's a certain way and most of all - you get to explore your local area and become an expert.

Leeds is starting to pay off

Quite a nice email arrived on wednesday, there's a party from Leeds going to China next week and they need 4 shots for presents - guess what... they are 4 of my shots.



I've ordered them from Photobox as I've no time to get to ProAm, stag do this weekend.

I'm a little worried about the postal strike... so went for the courier postage. I've been saying all week that I wasnt' bothered about postal strikes and never use the service any more... ah well.

I'm not so sure where to go for frames - I've been getting the big ones done professionally, but these little ones will fir ready made ones - there's 2 10*8, an A4 and a square 8*8.

Had another shoot at the town hall last night - with Dav this time, it was amusing as he's suffering from Cropped Sensor-itis, as in we both had 17mm lenses but he was having to walk miles away to get the hall in the frame. He's working on getting his wife to let him have a 5D - I took some prints up there afterwards and I hope it's helped his cause!

I've been doing my HDR's using JPG's as it's infinitelty quicker - the colour temp hasn't always been fantastic, but when it went dark last night I decided to go "Tungsten" on the white balance - really pleased with the sky colour. A fantastic cobalt blue. This is my fave so far.


I'm after making Leeds look cool and modern, so these tones seem to give it that edge, even though alol the buildings in this shot are over 100 years old.

A few tips on how to improve your photography

Someone asked me for a few tips on how to improve their photography so I jotted a few notes down. In a way, I think the only true way to improve is to shoot things you like anyway and devote time to thinking about photography when you're not actually out taking shots - it's building an awareness in a way.

Here's what I said...

1. For practice, find something inanimate and accessible, I like architecture and landscape cause they're always there. You can shoot at those all day, they don't get bored
   
2. Be ready to go out at any time - have your kit ready (ish) and some batteries on charge. The less effort it takes to go out, the more likely you are to go out.
3. Find a location close to home where you can exeriment safely - where nice people walk dogs, not where junkies do their deals.
4. Shoot things that genuinely interest you - and interested you before you got into photography. These will hold your interest for longer, and by going to them, you'll be killing 2 birds with 1 stone too.
5. Gradually learn the technical side of camera control - how shutter, aperture and ISO work together etc. and what effect they have on a shot. e.g. work out why you'd use ISO1600 over ISO100. Don't get too bogged down at first though, it's important but getting tied up in calculations can put you off and you'll loose interest.
   
6. get the right kit for your chosen subject - architecture/landscape is best with a tripod, portraiture it's not needed, but a flash is useful. Just get what you NEED though - not blow the mortgage
7. when walking constantly look at your surroundings and mentally frame shots - look for compositional elements and think what lens or other kit you'd use to capture the scene.
8. do not assume upgrading kit is the key to better shots - only upgrade when you truly feel you need to (e.g. get a 5D if you're doing huge prints or low light work, get a 1D if you're out in the rain a lot etc.).

Just a few ideas I had anyway

Too many shots.... where do you start?

I've got literally hundreds of shots of Barcelona and Leeds of which many have potential - some are just snaps and many more than those are utter dross!

The thing is that I've become incredibly picky with such shoots, out of the 6 gig of Barca shots, I think I've looked through them once, converted a few RAW files, created lots of preview HDR shots and then just become incredibly unimpressed with them all. I'm not sure whether it's some kind of self filtering, similar-shot-overload or just a rise in my photographic "bar"?

I really like these sort of documentary shots, it's our waiter in Placa Reial, taken on my birthday a few weeks ago - shows a warm summer night, a bit of bustle in the back ground and some subtle lights.

I think using online photo upload sites (as I do) becomes a double edged sword in the end, sure I learned a huge amount from using them, mainly Ephotozine, but now I seem to find myself looking to create shots that will "do well" on such sites. Shots like the one of our waiter would just die on there, maybe it's not even a "stock shot", who knows?

I took this one of Nou Camp Stadium to show how big the large stand is compared to the 3 green keepers at the bottom - tells a story, human interest and pretty colourful. Would people on a photo-upload site go for it? I doubt it.

The truth is that any commission or sales I've had tend not to be the super-dooper WOW HDR shots, nor the dark broody seascape, but the light airy landscape. Ok, the city council have bought an evening shot off me, 15 second exposure which does make Leeds look an extemely cool place. But in general, what goes well on photopoints or usefilm doesn't always sell.

This shot of the lowry just used lucky light and some ND grads to stop the sky burning - pretty simple. Photography Monthly bought it to advertise their recent "Urban Colour" competition.

I think the main problem with these sites is that we're trying to impress fellow enthusiasts by using new techniques and techologies, rather than using the tried and tested rules of composition.

Don't get me wrong, technology used in the right place is definitely the right way to go - I love HDR for architecture - but you can't beat getting that great image to pop up on your camera's screen rather than to have to crop and process to within an inch of its life!

So I think I'm going to force myself to look through the Barca shots again and produce a library of bright, sunny, jolly and happy daytime stock shots now :-)

The Leeds Project - 4th October

As I mentioned in a previous ramble, I've been asked to get some shots of Leeds with a contrast, so I thought that the light/box area was ideal as it's next to the cathedral.

So I got this shot when out with Dave last night.

I was after a really contemporary look, so used a 17mm lens wide open to get the most modern car there in as foreground - the mini may now be german, but it looks quite cool.

It's a shot of 3 exposures, each 2 stops apart. Then combined in PHOTOMATIX to make a HDR file, then tone mapped and I did a little medding in Photoshop to get the mono look.

Since I've discovered batch processing of HDR's in photomatix, I've started to do more and more of it as it takes a lot of the donkey work out of the task.

Last night I did around 100 HDR shots, that's 300 exposures. If I did those by hand, I'd still be here next friday - but the batch went off and created the 100 HDR files and 100 "average" jpg files (for preview purposes - I bin then if they're rubbish).

Also, I've started doing just 3 shots using Auto Exposure Bracketing on my 5D - that means you don't have to dial in any settings between shots, just click your cable release 3 times and move on.

All this makes what was a painful novelty into a realistic and speedy way of getting a good result.

I also went to Brimham Rocks yesterday - using grad filters there is a no-no cause you get black topped rocks. HDR there is perfect and I'd recommend you try if if yo're ever up there.

Global photo sales!

A few weeks ago, Leeds city council bought one of my shots to give as a good will present to the president of Iceland - which was rather cool.

It was a shot I took in jan 2006 when out with Mike Cook and Steve Bowden in Leeds. I got it whilst the light was good, obviously Steve was stuck in traffic at the time and missed the shot altogether!

Anyway, they've just bought another one for the Bulgarian ambassador today - so looks like I may have a decent customer there.

Given me an insentive to get some original and exciting shots of Leeds - been out with Dave Hirst from Halifax honing my HDR techniques and they do seem to like the more friendly versions of the shots. Not so keen on the ones that look like the middle of a WW2 blitz though.

The one I've sold them was a plane shot, just a polariser - no ND grads even! It's appeared in Itchy Leeds magazine and also in the online lonely planet guide to Leeds :-)

Gorilla Pod Tripod

As an alternative to the usual manfrotto 055 legs, I needed something light and found the Gorillpod on www.7dayshop.com, so thought I'd share my thoughts on it with you.

I used it on a recent trip to Barcelona with a 5D and 24-105, quite heavy kit, so I went for the largest available at around £30.

I also used an angle finder as they are often low to the ground and a cable release to avoid knocking the thing over!

I bought a little Hama head for convenience and weight, the combination was fine when the camera was in landscape orientation, but when in portrait, the head and pod just slowly moved downwards - a lighter camera would be fine ov course.

It was useful in churches where you can get it to hang onto pews and the like.

All in all , it's nowhere near as good as a real tripod, nowhere near, but ideal for travel shots when it's a bit dark or for HDR.

I can't see myself using it when I've got my manfrotto available, put it that way :-)

But on a day trip when travelling light, if I've got the camera, I'll have the gorilla too!

Barcelona with a camera

3 trips to Barcelona in the bag, none of which were photographic trips it has to be said, but I had cameras.

The first one was with an IXUS, the second when I had my 300D with the 24-85USM and the one I've just returned from with the trusty 5D and 24-105 (with the 50mm f1.8 in the bag).

It has an awful lot of scope for photography - the old town has loads of little corridor like streets which over hang like the shambles. Exposing for these is tricky as they are dark yet have bright ends or skies, so something's got to give! I usually get a burned patch as you're really after the street than the bright bit to be exposed.

I'd say La Seu is a must - get a little tripod or gorilla pod, you can take photos inside. It's rammed with people, bloody annoying.

Around La Seu is pretty, there's a few things like the gothic bell towers and the squares that really work

Near by the ramblas is full of people shots - the clowns do want money, do learn to be quick, get a fast focussing lens. I didn't really bother with these much as they've been done to death to be honest.

Placa de Catylunya is better at night as is the Passeig De Gracia - they've got fountains and when lit up are most impressive - during the day they're often just turned off! There's Casa Batillo and La Pedrera up there and they are just bizzare creations, especially the latter. Just amazing what you can do with stone and an imagination.

The most impressive thing you'll see if the Sagrada Familia of course, Gaudi's masterpiece
. Done this 3 times now and it is progressing reasonably quickly though there's still 20 years to go. The stain glass is in place and casts fantastic colours inside the temple. Climb up the towers - rest and take a shot regularaly! The views are amazing.

Park Guelle is a stunner but suffers from people being drapes over all the things you want to photograph, get off the beaten track up top and there's lots of plants, lead lines and interesting stone work. If you want the lizard, then you're in for a wait

There's other places, so many in fact, but if you just did the Gaudii stuff, you'd fill a long weekend (assuming you eat and drink at some point!).

Go to the beach, nou camp, montjuic, monserrat, girona, mnac - all have great views and all very different from each other.

but most of all - enjoy the tapas and sangria!

Resurrecting "wishy washy" HDR shots

Lately I've been capturing a lot of shots with a mind to use HDR and tone mapping to get the sky and foreground looking balanced without having the problem of filters making trees and chimneys dark.

Here's a shot of Leeds town hall - it's an "average" HDR, a lot to work with, but ultimately, it needs more UMPH!



I use photomatix to do the mapping, it's fairly hit and miss really, and getting that "real" feel is very tricky to get right. The main thing to bear in mind is that light smoothing is your friend. All those cartoon like shots you see will have lightsmoothing at around 0 or lower. I usually have it a about 1 or even a super-smooth 2.

The thing is that after you've done that, things become a little wishy washy, edges don'e seem to strong etc.

Don't panic, you can rescue it in Photoshop.

I tend to duplicate the washy layer, then run a filter on it (or somne adjustment layers even) to get an uber-contrasty shot. Usually mono or sepia too. Then I merge all layers to 2 layers - the original background and all the new stuff on a second layer.

The intricate bit is to now play with the blending modes between the layers, then fade the second layer in/out to get teh feel you're after.

So from the shot I started with I played around with transformd and skew to get the verticals more impressive and got the result to the right.

It's not dodge/burh, but layer blending you shuld try - d+b leaves edges and nasty thing like that, it can be obvious.

Use the Gradient tool on layer masks to subley change things.

The blog starts here

Never easy to think of anything to say in a first blog entry, so I shall just say hello, complain about how cold England is compared to Barcelona (where I was yesterday) and then head off to get some prints done for Leeds city council.

I'm sure they will get more interestiug than this at some point

Ade