Its Panto time

It has been quiet on here recently, but there is a good reason. The last few weeks I have been busy working with the local amateur theatre group, taking photographs of their latest pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, whilst also helping out with the video work. I don't own a HD camcorder so I got a friend to video it from the back to get the full run through, which is what they've had every other time they have had a DVD produced.

I am aiming to go one better and had another camcorder operating from the prompters box - a bit cosy for two but just manageable - to get close ups so that the video comes alive instead of looking flat and boring from a creative point of view!

So far the editing is going well, act 1 is pretty much done, act 2 is next.

To produce the video, I chose Sony Vegas Studio 10 over Adobe Premiere Elements due to poor reports on the latter. Vegas has been great, a little bit of a learning curve but I have video transitioning smoothly using just one audio source with no lip sync issues.

The photography presented its own issues. The stage lighting is bright but that is within relation to total darkness! I only managed to get a few shots at ISO 400 with the camera tripod mounted. The problem was freezing the movement. Trip the shutter at or below 1/60 and the lips and eyes look blurry as the actor moves on stage recanting their lines. So most shots were taken at 800 or 1600 with a 1 stop underexposure to boost the shutter speed. This of course introduced noise, which meant an extra step in post processing - noise reduction. Even using Neat Image, I was pushing the boundaries of the software as I was pushing the boundaries of what the EOS400D is capable of. Noise really shows from EOS400D images above ISO400, so Neat Image had it's work cut out and struggled in a few cases.

You can view the final set of images at photoboxgallery.com/spacetheatre

Mobile images at night

Shooting at night involves waiting around, so what better to do than take photos? I shot this picture with my LG mobile which sports a 5mp sensor rated to ISO800. The settings for this were f/2.8; 1/12 sec at ISO400. Neat Image has been used to reduce the noise but still, for a hand held shot on a mobile, at night, I think that's a good result.

The image shows my 400D on my Manfrotto tripod with a remote release attached with Petra Tou Romiou (Aphrodite's Rock, Cyprus) in the background. If you have ever been here there is a rock just off to the left of the track down to the beach. I positioned the camera at the end of that track where I could lie down and watch the night sky in between exposures.

The Night Sky

I have always had a fascination with the night sky and photographing it has become much easier thanks to the advent of digital photography.

Stumbling across the excellent Ben Canales' astro photography images with fantastic shots of the milky way rising up through the frame, I was inspired to go out, especially after find Stellarium. Stellarium a free open source application that maps the night sky for you, based on your location at any given time and date. It labels the constellations for you and gives you an idea where the milky way is.

Ben Canales has produced a video which he has posted on Vimeo in which he passes on his basic tips for photographing the night sky. Manual focus, fix white balance, focus on inifinty (or just next to it for Canon users - Canon's version of infinity is obviously different to Nikon's!). Watch his video for his full breakdown on how to get started.

The image above was taken using my trusty EOS 400D at 17mm on my EF 17-40mm f/4L; 30secs @ f/4.5; ISO 1600. Neat Image was used in the post processing to reduce the noise which it has made a very good job of - if you have seen how noisy the 400D is at ISO 1600 then you will know what I am talking about.

You never know what you will find in your pictures until you get them on to the big screen. I just missed out on a meteor flashing through the sky, but the last image of the night produced the weirdest artefact. Posted below is a 100% crop without any post processing. Can you tell what it is?

So we're now in the 12 Days of Christmas and either playing with our new toys or lining up next year's shopping list!

My trusty 400D well be celebrating it's 3rd birthday in 2011, but as it was a refurbished model from Canon's eBay outlet, it could actually be older. I have already taken it around the clock and half way round again, so depending on how Canon actually refurbish their cameras, I could soon be hitting the average life cycle of my DSLR. All I need to do is convince my other half of the need to buy a new DSLR. But which one?

The 7D has great appeal, but long term aspirations point to a 5D Mk II. In the meantime, the 60D could be the way to go.

As for lenses, this is where it gets tricky. I have the range 17-250mm covered mainly by two zooms, the excellent EF 17-40mm f/4L and the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS. The latter produces some excellent images, but the AF is prone to hunting even when using the centre AF point and for what I have needed these last couple of months, just a touch too slow. So am I looking for a faster zoom? No.

The latest events I have photographed have required low light photography, so while I could up the ISO, it is a step I am reluctant to take. Anything over ISO 400 on the 400D exhibits excessive grain in my opinion and results from the 55-250 are less than pleasing. The 70-200mm f/2.8 may be the obvious replacement with the faster aperture, but I feel I would be better served by the 100mm f/2.8L Macro USM, or indeed, the non-L version. Why? Looking at the exif info from the images I took at the theatre, I was able to analyse the settings I used, and more importantly, the focal lengths I used. To get the best composition, 100mm would allow me to get a full adult head to toe standing on stage from my unobstructed vantage point. The f/2.8 aperture would allow me to use a faster shutter speed to avoid camera shake and make sure the action on stage is frozen - at 100mm, the 55-250mm gives me f/5.0, almost two stops slower.

Also on my shopping list are a few accessories for the 580 EX II, the EF 24-105mm f/4L and a book on on-camera flash by Neil van Niekerk.

Have a great New Year and don't forget yo ucan follow me on Flickr

References:

Exif Tool - http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

Exif Pilot - http://www.fileheap.com/software-exif-pilot-download-16801.html

Christmas

The decorations are out and the tree is up, which means only one thing. Photo opportunities!

Rudolph and Frosty have been posing for me over the last few days and doing a great job of it too, taking my direction with professional aplomb. The images were taken while learning how to use my new flash, Canon's Speedlite 580EXII.

I have been reading Neil van Niekerk's Tangents blog. If you haven't read it and you want to learn all there is to know about how to bounce flash, then you must put it on your list. He backs it all up with example photographs and explains everything equally for Canon and Nikon users.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog, from Rudolph, Frosty and I, Merry Christmas!

It's Almost Christmas

It's been a while since I last posted, and my foray in to micro stock has produced some sales. I will be buidling up my collection over the next few months and making the most of the Cyprus weather.

Recently I have beed asked to photograph a few events, two theatre productions and 10km 'run & ramble.'

I am not afraid to admit that I was flying by the seat of my pants on the first theatre production, a Stars in Their Eyes style singing contest. With a seat set aside for me off stage right, I had a clear view. The only problem was the lighting. The acts weren't illuminated as much as I had hoped so had to rely on flash photography. My problem was I was using a borrowed Speedlite 580 EX II and had barely a chance to learn how to use it. The result was I ended up using high ISO which made the images poor.

Luckily, Adobe Photoshop was able to do all of the hard work for me and the resulting images were acceptable and the theatre was delighted. So much so they asked me back. Again I borrowed the flash but got it earlier and spent a good few hours learning how to use it. This learning experience, a kind of critical reflection, meant that I could use a lower ISO and faster speed by using the Manual mode on my camera. The stage lighting was much better and I was able to take a number of shots without the flash. The images from this production were a major improvement over the last set and a personal triumph for me.

Prior planning prevents poor performance, however when you rely on other people as part of your plans and they don't deliver, then what can you do. Asked to photograph a 10km charity race event, I was in touch with the orgainser who promised me a map of the route. Unfortunately, the map never materialised despite my e-mails and I only got to see the route the day of the event. The photos went well, no flash this time, but waiting for the last finisher in the hail wasn't my idea of fun. They liked the photos, incidentally, this was the first time they had a photographer cover the event and have asked me to cover their next race at the luxurious Aphrodite Hills Resort.

Planning for shoots is so important, I can't stress that enough. Spare batteries, fully charged, for the camera, new batteries in the flash with a spare set too and a backup flash card. Just need a second body now and I will be more confident that I am reducing my risks when covering such events.

Since my last post I have been accepted at Alamy, which is a great boost. No sales from them yet, however I need to add a lot more images before I expect to get a sale there.


Fotolia though has come up trumps. A picture of the Sanctuary of Apollon Hylatis in Cyprus (left) showing the Pafos Gate end of the archaeological site, sold today giving me my first ever microstock sale and first ever image sale (if you discount the wedding photography I did about 10 years ago!)

The thing is, you don't know where your image will get used. I might happen upon it by chance one day, but chances are I will never see how it got used. Would be nice to though wouldn't it?

Edit: Seems that this wasn't the first image I have sold. An image from my Dreamstime collection of Aphrodite's Rock at dusk sold just days earlier.

The Microstock Journey

With a growing collection of images gathering digital dust on my hard drive, I decided to look more seriously in to Micro Stock photography.

The image count on my digital has just gone round the clock, meaning I have snapped over 10,000 images since 2008. 10,000! Imagine the cost of processing 10,000 film images - that's 277 36exp rolls of Kodak's finest and assuming £4.50 per roll and 5.99 for developing, thats a grand total of £2905.73 compared to the cost of my kit, approx £1300 worth. Hmm, I think I can justify a Canon EOS 5D MkII now ;)

Anyhow, I digress. I must confess, I did look at stock about 18 months ago but didn't follow up the initial application on iStockPhoto. This time round though, I did a little more research and found microstockgroup.com, a community of photo contributors and buyers of microstock.

My research showed that while i is possible to make money from microstock, don't expect to get all of your images accepted first time every time, not every image sells and to get any kind of decent return, assuming you have saleable images, you need to have a substantial collection.

Undaunted by this, I ploughed on and joined Dreamstime. Why? Simple, they came top of my search results everytime, so I figured I wouldn't be doing myself a disservice - besides they are one of the top microstock agencies. I also submitted to Alamy.

Of the four initial images, only one passed, but as they were uploaded in batch, the batch failed, so no images on Alamy. See if you can tell which one did not get rejected...

#1...


#2

#3


#4


So which one? Well, if you guessed #1 then you're wrong, it was actually #2.

I have submitted a further four images, using their rejection reasons as a guide, and when they decide that they are good or bad, I will post them here for you to judge for yourself.

Undeterred, I submitted a larger batch to both Dreamstime and Fotolia which had about 50% success rate. Seeing what they refused and why has been an excellent guide as to what I should submit in the future. Although they both refused the same sunset, they both accepted another sunset called Cooling Iron which you can find on my flickr photostream http://flic.kr/p/7zJH8Q; at Dreamstime http://www.dreamstime.com/-rimage15242202-resi2491495 and Fotolia http://www.fotolia.com/id/24501239

Project 365

Resting
Originally uploaded by andym8y

So I have started a 365 project on Flickr. I'll update this on a regular, probably weekly basis.

Week 5

Colour. It's everywhere and photographing colour should be easy. Yeah right.

Up here in Northumberland, thereis an absolute abundance of one colour, green. So I had the green angle covered but that would have made for an uninspiring portfolio.

With week 4 being pretty poor, I wanted to get out and find colour, so I headed off to Hulne Park in Alnwick. This vast estate is owned by The Duke of Northumberland and there are various trails the public can use. The day was overcast, so any colour woud have to come from the plants and it took about 30 minutes of walking to find anything useful. Bluebells were growing by the side of a dirt track and without my tripod to steady the camera, I had to hand hold being careful not to let the shutter speed drop too low.

I will have to go back to Hulne Park when the sun is out, there are plenty of landscape shots to be had. However I did find a statue of a monk which proved to be a very patient subject ;) The results I got from the kit lens were really sharp this time, seems you just can't win, and some of those shots are contenders for my ECA.

The building on the left here is Brizlee Tower which was restored in 2005. This is on my to do on sunnier day list, the overcast sky didn't make for a good background hence the B&W conversion.

Back home I set up some still lifes using gumballs and borrowed the kids plant pots. These produced some great shots, I'll let you look at them on flickr, but I will leave you with an old magical favourite....

Week 4

The purpose of week 4 was to introduce us to controlling depth of field and therefore our assignment was to take pictures that demonstrated various levels of it.

I was pushed for time this week and although I got out one day, the results from the 400D kit lens were disppointing again, so I ended up with just two shots showing DoF on a group of three rocks. :(

So I turned my hand to photographing an old TLR camera I was given years ago and used this to show narrow depth of field.

Now I know it's a photography course and you really should use fresh photographs, but I resorted to my library to make up the other photos for the week.

Week 3 - Part Two

I attempted to get photos to complete this weeks assignment last night. My aim was to get low-light, high ISO photos from Alnwck but decided to go down the coast instead, and I must say I am pleased with the results following the disappoint from my Alnwick run when the pictures didn't appear as sharp as they could have done.

I parked up at the beach and found that the tide was out, leaving what sand and some rocks exposed. Above is my initial shot at ISO 1600 but as I was taking pictures I thought about twisting the zoom barrel. I tried going from 18-55, but the best results were from 55-18mm..

The beach where I was at was littered with worms, surely an image waiting to be had. They are protected by local bye-laws to stop fishermen using them as bait.

The sun had already set and the light was refleting of the damp sand, so I sat my tripod down and took a few quick pictures at different exposures to ensure I got one just right. No editing was required.

From there I moved on again and came across fields with rapeseed in. There was an open gate on one so I went in and noticed that one flower head was sticking out above the rest, so making sure I was on ISO 1600, I composed the shot using the rule of thirds and took a few pictures again using the histogram display on my camera to get the exposure right. This needed just a little editing in Elements to enhance the colours.

Week 3

The emphasis on week 3 was exposure and we were asked to take 2 photos for two of the following three categories...

• Creative motion blur in low or normal light conditions
• Low light, high speed (high ISO) still photography
• High contrast photography

I knew that there was a weir on the River Aln near Alnwick Castle, so I hoped that I'd be able to get the weir and the castle in the same photograph. I could have if I had a chainsaw to chop down a tree! The camera was mounted on a tripod and the initial exposure was taken from the green grass on the river bank. From the first shot, I looked at the histogram and noticed some clipping so I reduced the shutter speed by 1/3 stop until it went (On the Canon EOS 400D, ytou can view the histogram by pressing Display when viewing an image, any clipping shows as black then disappears).

Despite using a tripod, most of the images I took either lacked sharpness or suffered from camera shake, so next time I must remember to take my remote control. If the images lack sharpness after that, then I need a new lens!

Walking round the river bank, the view of Alnwick Castle demanded I take it's picture. The river was still creating an almost perfect reflection on the water.

Further on, there is a bridge that crosses the Aln which has an imposing statue of a Lion. this was tricky and I ended up using fill-in flash, however this meant the castle became silhoutted. Luckily, the sun emerged from the clouds and cast a golden glow on the lion and the castle.


Again, this shot doesn't meet the criteria for this week's assignment, had I changed the ISO to 800 or even 1600, then I could have used it.

I need to get out and take more pictures for this assignment and might revisit the Aln but this time with my remote control to reduce camera shake as much as possible

Week 2

In week 2 we were asked to take at least two pictures of somewhere, somebody or something that we really liked. Time was short and so ws inspiration, but at least I was not alone.

A short trip to Sunderland provided me with an opportunity to photograph Roker Pier, but it was mid-afternoon, sunny (unusually for Sunderland) and unfortunately very hazey which didn'tmake for good photography, at least I knew I could enhance the images in Elements once I got home.

This one only needed a little tweaking to enhance the redbricks of the pier and a slight boost to the sky. As for the composition, I saw a similar image elsewhere like this on Flickr and tried to recreate it. While I was on the beach, I took a general shot which got cropped (as per assignment 2 to crop one of the images). Without the father and his child heading to the sea, I doubt this picture would have worked as well.

It's all systems go!

So the course has started and the sound of clicking shutters can be heard across the land.

Having read through the course material, I made a start on the first activity, commenting on 5 interesting photos on Flickr. It's hard work! There are so many fantastic photos on there I ended up choosing a dozen, wrote about each and then whittled it down to 5. The pictures I chose and the comments that go with them are as follows...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/satorarepo/2444661503/
Sol de vila (Curved in temptation) by Sator Arepo
Wow. This picture was quite rightly sat on the Explore homepage. The colours grabbed my attention and the distorted perspective kept me there. The blue of the sky is fairly even which is what makes the picture stand out, the sun is cleverly hid behind a leaf preventing the picture being wshed out. In doing so, we can clearly see the veins in the leaves and this has allowed the detail to be retained in the branch.
My eyes have been around every corner of this image and I can't see how this could be improved.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/estradasbiz/2436953532/
olhar by Igor Alecsander
This is sharp, well focussed and brilliantly done. The skin tone has a pale brownish cast to give a hint of sepia while the retention of the colours in the eyes really make this shot vivid and stand out.
I am being picky here, but I'd clone out the loose hair above the left eye.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pianomom/2439150536/
When Ducks Attack by CrzysChick
A well captioned picture and good timing. The depth of field in this shot leaves the duck itself in focus while everything else is blurred. Strong greens boost the overall effect of the image.
this could be improved by cropping out about half of the foreground between the bottom of the frame and the duck, giving a panoramic effect, emphasising the direction of the other ducks. I'd also clone out the person in pink and straighten the horion.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesdale10/2436374868/
Nawaful, Iraq by James Gordon
A rundown, dirty, dilapadted shanty that hasn't been cared for, probably shot at too, yet despite this, the child peers through and manages a smile. This certainly tells a thousand words. Technically the photo is superb, the childs face is nicely in focus leaving the frame in the foreground out of focus.
I wouldn't change anything about this picture.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pairadocs/2447788308/
Birdhouse in Your Soul by pairadocs
This shot oozes quality. The textures of the wall and telegraph pole, the low angled perspective, the monotone effect and comedy too.
I'd lose the mess of cabling at the top and crop across the bottom corner of the sign, making a more dramatic picture with the telegraph pole running from corner to corner.

Acivity 1.7.1

In this activity, we were asked to take 3 photos of bottles showing light, colour and perspective. My initial attempts saw me placing a Martini bottle on a chair next to the window which wasn't really working at all, so as the sun was high in the sky, I headed outside to use the garden table as a makeshift studio and came up with 4 photos that I really liked.

The brief was to take no more than 20 minutes on this task, however I decided that taking a photo of one bottle on it's own with a noisy backdrop wasn't going to be up to much, so I took some bottles out of the glass recycling bin, washed them and filled one bottle, Absolut Vodka, with water to get the light bending through it. As you can probably guess, this took a lot longer than 20 minutes.

Had I been paying attention at the time, I'd have noticed that the horizontal line across the bottom of the bottle was actually at 45 degrees, so I used the Straighten (and Crop) tool in Elements to get the result you see here. No other editing was done to this picture.

Going for the perspective here, I tried shooting this from below but the enclosed yard didn't help. One way I had a garage, another the house! So I went for the top-down approach and focussed on the figure. It wasn't until after I took this shoot that I noticed the blue hues in the bottle, reflecting from the Absolut Vodka lettering I assume.

Colour. I used several green wine bottles in this task to add colour to a clear bottle. I like the end result, especially the label showing through the bottom of the bottle.

Now this is my favourite of all these and a contender for my ECA panel at the end of course. It has already received very positive comments on Flickr and OpenStudio....

I can't really see a way of improving this. B/W draws attention to the
reflections and adds interest and intrigue as to what the colours are. Sort of
picture you would see in an advertisement. (Spike on OpenStudio)

Andy this is absolutely superb great focus nothing distracting the image is strong clear and punchy, the lighting enhances the writing on the bottle and gives the picture a very moody feel (Shadysheepie on Flickr)

Using the Convert to Black & White function in Elements, I increased the red channel and increased the contrast. My first attempt turned the lettering white which meant the A blended into the highlight.

Where to crop?

During a visit to Birdoswald Roman Fort near Gilsland in Cumbria, I found this little lamb resting between some remains. This is the extent of the original picture and as you can see there is a lot of space around the lamb as well as the slightly distracting background.

The immediate idea to improve this shot was to crop out the distracting background whilst maintaining enough of the remains as possible to add to the interest of the shot. However, are the stones in the foreground now too distracting? Possibly. I posted the image below on Flickr and the main point of the comments it received were in regards to the crop.

So which is a better crop?

The last crop was suggested by louisahennessyvikinghorns and brings the lamb more into the frame.

Photography is certainly subjective, all three crops above have their merits and if I ran a poll, there'd probably be votes for each one. Of course there are other questions regarding this shot that I'll answer. The shot was taken at 55mm on my 18-55mm lens, so I couldn't have taken a tighter picture. Had I moved in closer, it would have probably got up and legged it and I'd have missed a shot, so I got the best picture I could and this left me with a quandry of how to crop.

The Weather

So my shiny new camera arrived, charged up the battery and the heavens opened :(

I had to wait another day before going out and about and I would like to say it was worth the wait, but the weather again ruined everything, well almost. It was cold and rain was threatining, but the sun managed to poke through the clouds, just! Bamburgh will have to be re-visited when the conditions are kinder.

The image above was taken on my 400D and the colour curve manipulated to bring out the detail in the clouds.

Can't see the sea for the penguins

I put up one of my favourite penguin pictures for critique on the T189 May discussion forum and a few pointers were thrown my way, all of which I had not noticed, least of all the wonky horizon.

This is the original picture and the suggestions were to tone down the brightness and straighten the horizon.

Using Photoshop Elements, I hope I achieved a decent result...

New Camera!

I have just ordered my new camera to replace my EOS 500n. By chance I found Canon Outlet on eBay, who sell refurbished kit - printers, scanners, lenses and cameras with a warranty. I managed to pick up an EOS 400D with the standard 18-55mm lens for £300 inc postage. As soon as I have received and figured it all out, I'll post an image or two here.

Welcome to my blog! Over the next few months I will be taking part in the Open University Digital photography: creating and sharing better images course (T189) and as I go, I will be posting some pictures on here along with some comments.


This picture was taken on the causeway heading to Holy Island at Lindisfarne last Friday. The weather was pretty miserable for sight seeing, but for dramatic photographs, it was spot on. The castle n the background is Bamburgh Castle.