Yorkshire for tea

We travelled up to Yorkshire where you can travel from an inner city area to beautiful landscape in a matter of minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire

A panorama view just outside Keighley West Yorkshire. Taken at lunch time so the light was not that kind

I would like to improve my landscape photography, particularly around the most beautiful county in England, Northamptonshire and therefore considering purchasing some filters

http://www.leefilters.com/

And if you want to be inspired to travel and see some great views please check out the following website.

http://www.lik.com/

Frogs Rule

The below photo is the first nature photo of the year. Thankfully frogs have returned to the garden pond and we are awash with spawn. One of the happy couple who contributed to this is pictured below. I think it is, using the BBC amphibian identification guide, a common frog.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/22120791

Please see the link and if you disagree then please let me know. The newt population of the pond is also increasing but because they only come to the surface for air and then dive down again I will not be able to take a photo.

I only cropped the photo and did not enhance it in anyway. I left the plant with the reflection in the picture as it added context to the frog rather than being a distraction. Discuss.

Sunday 9 March - A cruel day for some

I enjoyed taking and playing with this photo. I used a flash to balance the light from the window and spent some time positioning the knife and olive oil.

I liked the bead of sweating running down the face.

But his sacrifice was for a good cause and enjoyed by all.

http://theshiksa.com/2012/10/03/all-about-butternut-squash-how-to-peel-seed-slice-and-prepare/

Saturday 8 March 2014

Using the outside light, a reflector and the darkness I was able to produce the portrait. It is a shame there are still shadows on the face. Using photoshop I blocked a protruding ear that was a distraction. 

The photo of the style was on my new regular run. It is a five mile cross country track including this style which had no fence either side of it.For those still interested in my running the most recent half marathon was 2 hrs 2 mins and 21 secs. I was disappointed that I did not break the 2 hour barrier. I will apply for another marathon and hopefully ensure it is flat. 

We have purchased the nutribullet to improve our diet, we bought it from Amazon and it has now become part of my daily diet and my first impressions is that it is good.

http://www.nutribullet.com/

This is not the greatest picture ever taken but what this has done has got me thinking about so much to do with photography. 

Trying to capture a pin sharp ant with shadow - the contrast of its surroundings, editing it with layers and contrast etc etc.

This photo also tells me summer is coming soon with ants frogspawn butterflies and bees it the garden.

Love it.

For the last couple of weeks I have been on holiday in Canada and then back to work on nights and with Jet lag it has been difficult to keep the photos coming on the blog.

So below are a few from the back log which again have not been edited. I will add descriptions soon but I know the demand to view will be great

Path leading to chapel bit boring needs a more dramatic sky and vulture flying over

 The abbey in Malmersbury at night, it would have been better if I had a tripod and it wasn't raining

Series of photos on our recent trip to Canada. Enjoy.

Not in Canada - back at work - not edited but I like the snake like hose leading to the fire engine

No Time to edit Part 2

9/10 February 2014



The attached photos were taken on a trip to a hospital to see a relative. I regard the experience as the first time I have faced persecution for taking a photo. As I took the pictures of the front entrance a young security guard came running up to say that this was private property and I could not take photographs. I apologised and said that I would never do it again.

I must in the future try and take more interesting photos of buildings using natural and artificial light sources

The apples were taken in a bed pan which makes a good fruit bowl.  Just wish there were more grapes and bananas to make it more interesting

Life is quite hectic so I have not done any editing apart from the basic crop and contrast. The apples was done on fully automatic in elements 10.

No time to Edit

6/ 7 February 2014

Photos from a day trip to Malmersbury. There has been no time to edit to make them more interesting


The keys to taking a good photo from an online course I did several months ago on lynda.com

1. Balance
2. Simplicity
3. Point of focus
4. Fore and back ground (I think)

I intended to take interesting photos but it was raining the light was poor and I had no tripod. I will use photoshop elements to see how I can improve what I have done. Watch this space.

The abbey at Malmsbury taken from a carpark with one hand holding the camera and the other holding an umbrella!!

360 Photo Valentine Card

5 February 2014

The intention was to take a photo that describes the stormy weather battering the UK (It won't last long) However I spent most of my day off playing with photoshop elements trying to create various birthday cards. And as Valentine's day is fast approaching I thought I would do a card for wifey and the below effort is it.

Please note the black border and the 2 inch 'mount' - I was impressed with the result. I just hope wifey will be, The photo was taken at Stoke Bruene Canal centre. http://www.stokebruerneboats.co.uk/

The image was on a post and was cropped to produce the below. The writing was obviously added using elements.

Photography used to be about the taking of the picture and for most of us the sending of the film to Bonusprint and hoping for a good result.

For those keen photographers, who I admired, they would develop their own photographs. Now the photoshop world is available for us all to edit, print and publish our photographs. And as I develop my photographic skills I will, in tandem, develop my photoshop skills. Unfortunately this does not come naturally to me so I am continuing to search Youtube for help. One excellent company is lynda.com but I did not use it enough to warrant the monthly subscription - but well worth a visit.

lynda.com

I will continue to use the monthly Digital Photo magazine for help and youtube to improve my editing. Any suggestions will be gratefully received

360 Photo Flowers

4 December 2014

One does get inspired looking at good photographs on the web and flowers do seem an easy object to capture. Particularly indoors where there is no wind to move them about and take them in and out of focus.

Again as with most things in life, it is easier said than done and here are my efforts. 

And talking about life, the below verse is somewhat relevant as the poor rose that reluctantly agreed to pose for the photos is now somewhat dishevelled. It is past its best and now en-route to the compost heap.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

The challenge for today is somehow capture the storms that are battering our green and pleasant land. Although I should have plenty of opportunity as the jet stream is settled in its current position and is quite content to bring depression after depression into the UK.

With regards to the above efforts, wifey was impressed however I am still disappointed that I can not get sharp focus and looking at the photos on the blog perhaps I used too much editing so they look unnatural.

360 Photo, Bon Appetit

3 February 2014

Photographing food is quite difficult as the point of focus is so important. 

I used an F11 stop to have a large depth of field and used a tripod with the subsequent slow shutter speed. But even now the food is not that in focus and is rather disappointing. But I must add that the vegetable curry was absolutely delicious. It is as good as it looks. 

I did like the black hob and reflection in the saucepan.

After taking the photo I checked the website for inspiration and instruction. I should have done this first. The BBC had a page on how to take photos on food and I thought the images of food on Charles Ward site were brilliant as is the rest of the photos.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21235195

http://charlesward.com/site/photographer/food/

360 Photo Birmingham

30/31 January 2 February 2014

I have been in Britain's second city for the last few days. I did take pics with the phone with the noble intention of uploading them via the phone and/or tablet whilst away. With a poor wifi in the hotel and not really knowing what I was doing this was not possible.

The first photo shows quality of the hotel we were staying at. The missing letters and no directional arrow depicts the cheapest hotel we could find. As my mum says, "You get what you pay for."
The other photographs were taken on a run  early Saturday morning

The statue is of Joseph Sturge. I had never heard of him either but thanks to the internet now you can.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Sturge

The photo for the 2 February is a selfie whilst running along when I returned from Birmingham. For those still interested in my running I did four miles at an average speed of 8.35 mins per mile. Quite pleased but I need to keep this pace for a further 9.1 miles.

And finally the below link is photography I aspire to do. Wonderful and very emotive photographs that tell stories and get people to linger and look. 

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/01/26/russian-mother-captures-atmospheric-photos--family-portraits-of-sons-on-farm 

360 Photo Windmills in my Mind

29th January 2014

The Windmill at Brill Oxfordshire

I assume this is the most photographed windmill in Oxfordshire, I doubt if there are many! This was taken at night in the wind and rain with a 30 second exposure. The lights in the distance I believe are Oxford.

The photo was taken in raw with an idea of using photoshop to improve. I did sharpen and desaturate of colour and that was about it. The light gray on the horizon and surrounding the windmill 'arms' was too difficult to darken so I left it as it is.

I really need some photoshop tuition as I struggle using Youtube tutorials.

I have found the adobe instructions online so hopefully this will assist.

http://download.photoshopelementsuser.com/subscriber/foundationvideos/03_Editor_Layers_Part1.mov

Photo 365 You learn a lot from badly taken pictures

28 January 2014

I had hoped going for a walk in the winter afternoon I would produce a good landscape picture featuring a bleak foreground and dramatic sky. Unfortunately I made assumptions that shooting in raw I could capture anything and make it look good on the computer.

This was not the case. The below photo of a tree and a field and a sky was taken underexposed. I played with various levels and produced a picture that I was disappointed with. It does not look good, it looks artificial and the tree which was very underexposed remains in the shadows.

The tree was meant to balance the rest of the picture and again I do not think it works

If I used layers properly then perhaps I would have done better. Learning layers in elements is a goal and if anyone knows of a website that can assist then please let me know.

I must try harder

360 Photo - Birthday Cards

27 January 2014

We have a large family with numerous nephews and nieces. The challenge for me this year is to produce a birthday card for each of them. And todays offering is three cards I quickly edited in elements so they could be printed and sent.

I had planned to take a photo of a large numbers of fallen apples. Similar to the linked image. However I took the camera minus a memory card, so today no photo.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-fallen-apples-image6519604

Disappointed I returned home to practice my editing skills using Photoshop Elements 10. Over the year this will be something I want to progress in. Editing does not come naturally to me so I need the practice. The yellow candle, taken at a birthday party yesterday, was sharpened with elements and the below cow was lightened to remove the shadows on the face. I am pleased with the results and look forward to having them printed

Any recommendations on  good programmes on youtube that help with editing with elements will be gratefully received.

Unfortunately the kayak card is grammatically incorrect so I will have to send the card to someone I do not like; that will be my brother.

365 Photo The Eyes Have It

26 January 2014

I took the camera, my Nikon 600 and realised how much I have to learn about this camera. Over the next few weeks I will commit myself to really getting to know the camera and its flash so I can feel comfortable and confident with it. Even today as I used flash and aperture priority it took several attempts to get an interesting photograph. 

I like the picture as in black and white I am drawn to the eyes and as we all knows the eyes are the window to the soul. And this poor soul is obviously concerned about the football score update she is receiving on her mobile.

Tomorrow is a day off so hopefully I will be able to spend some more time composing and editing. 

And if you want more photos of eyes to look at use the following link

http://www.photographyserved.com/Gallery/Your-beautiful-eyes/428809

365 Photos Huntington Disease

24 th January 2014

Today I went to visit my friend Mick who is in Hospital suffering with the awful genetic condition Huntington Disease. I have seen the gradual deterioration of him over the years and it is so difficult for him and his family.

I am running the Silverstone Half Marathon to raise funds for the Huntingdon Disease Association, so if you want to know more then check out their website

http://hda.org.uk/

It was difficult taking the picture - there was little light and I had to use the camera flash - hence the shadow.

I am determined to get to know my camera and be very comfortable with it. Time was short and I did use the preset portrait mode. All I did was to remove one blemish and lose the colour. Perhaps it would be improved with cropping. Any feedback would be appreciated.

365 Photos Laced Up and no where to go.

23 January 2014

Laced Up

A quick photo inspired by Practical Photography. It is very difficult to train laces, and I will try and do better next time. Because of coming home late there was no time to edit or amend the photo. I considered it a priority to have the photo published on the blog. 

I do need to practice with the lighting. I used a lamp and a flash from the camera. There is a lot to learn to get a good photo. 

365 Photos Continue 22 January 2014. Pegged Out to Dry

Wednesday 22 January 2013

It has been a busy day and rushing back to eat and watch some tele has left little time for practising the photography. So I did some still life in the kitchen again using the camera to try and obtain pin sharp still life images. The pegs were lying around and so I used them with a pea taken from the freezer to add some character to the picture. (What ever that means) 

I do need to improve my photo editing as I do not really know what I am doing. All I do is the contrast and light choices. A vine

I prefer the lower image as the underexposure adds a threatening atmosphere. The middle green peg looks intimidating. Not a peg you would want a fight with. I may try and do another still life image with other kitchen utensils tomorrow and see what I can produce.

365 Photos Continue

Tuesday 21January 2014

It has been a hard day. For those wanting to know how the running is going I am glad to say that I ran 7.45 miles on a hilly route and ran 9.14 mins per mile. I was very pleased and hopefully if the weather is kind I will break the 2 hour mark for the half marathon.

The response from my father, who I met after the run, was "I could walk faster than that." Oh well!

I have recently purchased skipping ropes and really enjoy the exercise. I am learning techniques from youtube and there are some very impressive routines which I aspire to complete.

I must be careful with my knee and rest the old body. 

The weather was frosty this morning and there was little wind so I went into the garden to take pics of a spider's cob web. Now spiders are not know for being that intelligent. (Do they have a brain?) You would not want one as a team member in a pub quiz but I am impressed how they build their webs. Praise God for Evolution. 

I used the live screen on my camera to try and focus on the droplets hanging on the gossamer thread but it was so difficult. A breeze not noticeable to the human skin still moved the web about so I could not get the pin sharp focus I desired.

I will have to practice to see what I can do. I used a tripod together with the camera timer to reduce camera shake but the pics are not as good as I wanted. 

For those who want to skip, or for our american friends, jump rope - check the following youtube clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyEXnFeiJAI