New Car

Working in the automotive industry has tainted my exitement regarding cars. I used to love them, aspire to drive them and really got a thrill from driving them. My new car (The 2010 Model Year Range Rover Sport) Has revitalised my passion for great cars. The old RRS wasn't a bad car, But the new one is just amazing. This is how it should be. Powerful, greater stance, LED lights, fresh interior, no key, cameras for parking, digital radio, Ipod..... The list goes on and on. This IS a great car. One I've looked forward to getting and am loving driving it.

This pic is meant to be an agressive representation of the beast. It was taken with a 12mm lens at a strange angle. Photo shop added some radial blur and using a mask layer I cleared the blur from the front edges. No I didn't get run over in the process!!!

Gone Walkabout

Two hours of walking around Leamington and an hour of playing on the computer. Bish Bash Bosh and here we go!!!

Upper Boddington

The countryside where I live went generally unnoticed until I started cycling. Getting out and about and you see some great places. Makes you wanna move to a village.

Todays image is another adventure with HDR photo processing, Warwickshire countryside and spare time = another digital episode with Nikon, Photoshop and Photomatix.

Warwick Town Centre Cycle Race

This sunday saw the return of the annual cycle race around warwick town centre. The elite's are lapping at around 30mph! With right angle turns and only railings for run off areas. The pace is frantic and I hope I managed to capture some of the atmosphere. I certainly enjoyed the Guinness!!!

Pics have some Photoshop tomfoolery and some slight adjustments, nothing devious just a little boosting and borders for effect!!! Comments welcome.

English Countryside

I've been pondering for a while whether to move to the country or not. The arguments are strong for pro and con. Pro: I love cycling through warwickshire, the vale of Stratford, the cotswolds. Whilst out I constantly see lovely villages miles from urban troubles of lager louts, graffiti, drunken louts and general degenerative behaviour. Con: Miles from population, coffee shops, general population and restaurants / convenient facilities. Todays pics were taken after looking at three country properties and were taken in a village called Farnborough near Banbury. The area is spectacular for scenery and it is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The question is AM I READY for this? I can't make up my mind. One thing I'm sure of is that I'll never tire of the beauty of the English countryside in the season of summer.

These pics were taken at various exposures and combined to add depth to the composition. Photoshop is great, but taking the pics and taking time out in these beautiful places is even better. Until I post again....

Spikey Posing

Two posts in two days! Photo overload!

The sun came out whilst I was in the back garden and Spikey (the worlds most spoilt cat) was posing as usual. The portraits were taken at 200mm zoom with a moderate aperture and the images are pretty much "As Shot". It's important to capture a clear focus zone in any portrait and as can be seen here it's often wise to make this point the eyes. More obscure or artistic images may choose other depths of focus, but generally to capture a representative portrait i'd advise to lock onto the eyes.

So these pics just needed a quick crop and the work was done.

Cheers,

Sam.

Leamington Spa

Following two Ironman events in 6 weeks I kind of lost track of my photography. Having taken some weeks of rest I ventured out into Leamington and decided that no matter the light conditions I would take some shots and just see what could be done. For no particular reason the theme turned out to visions that encompassed distance? Tunnel vision perhaps? Three frames of each image were taken at different apertures to affect the available light. The raw images were processed using a technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR). This technique merges the contrasts available between each image and creates quite a dramatic effect. I hope you like it and I'm glad to have got my camera out again. Let me know what you think.......

Sam.

Fun with Scarecrows

In a village on the edge of the cotswolds there is an annual event which fundamentally demonstrates the available spare time some people have! And what a result. The whole street was cloaked in various entrants to the scarecrow contest. Here is one of my favourites, a period race car and unfortunate driver!

Bordered, desaturated and contrast adjusted. Simple!

Bike Bling

I love exploring the Warwickshire countryside on my bike. This Sunday I couldn't resist taking a pic of my bike (well part of it anyway) as I was out and about. I hooked it over a hay bail and took this with my phone. A quick crop, some colour mods and bobs your uncle another post for the blog!

Warwickshires Countryside

It's been a while since the last post. I thought I'd lost the photo Mojo for a while. But it seems that I just had a postponement to complete some other things in my life.

This weekend I cycled for 5 hours around the warwickshire countryside. It never ceases to amaze me with it's beauty. I decided that I would come back and take some photo's of the views that I see regularly. Todays pic is taken just outside the village of Brailes and shows the track of one of the many marked public footpaths. The picture has a little brightness and contrast modifications, a tactical crop to send the footpath to the horizon. The colour was desaturated to enhance the tones and a border added. Simplicity, but beautiful.

Old English Gent

The roads have become over run with modern machines that do everything perfectly. We take for granted air conditioning, cd players, heated screens, 10 years of rust proofing. The list of requirements for modern cars is quiet staggering. This blog pic celebrates a legend from the past. When GT meant Grand Tourer and not VW Golf! The GT6 (Pictured) was a 70's great that had performance, style and a wonderful exhaust note. I thought the only setting for a pic with this car was outside an old english building in the middle of an old english village. The colour / black and white effect is supposed to bring a sense old with new. The low down and rotated composition give the car stance and presence, something hard to imagine when you stand next to it and it doesn't reach your waist!

The Open Road

What a feeling. Whizzing along the open roads on a summers evening. Cows, horses, sheep and the odd tractor for company. It can be very relaxing this working out!

Todays pic has had a bit of wind effect added to the background, and also the bike frame to help with the sense of motion. The picture angle manages to hide most of the subject whilst retaining the inatantly recognisable business parts of a cyclists engine!

Self Portrait 2

Two self portraits in as many weeks. What's going on? Am I getting vain? Brave? Or just plain stupid.

This weeks pic was taken with an incredibly clever piece of camera support equipment (as you can see both of my hands are on the wheel!) It was also taken with my phone! Thisx type of quality was unimaginable a few years ago.

Answers on a postcard as to how this picture was taken and what has been done to it. I've resisted the urge to vanity afflict the lines and blemishes so think harder than that for the digital tomfoolery. I hope you enjoy and as always I'd really like some feedback.

Capturing and processing has once again been fun. I think I just got my photo mojo back.

See you in a week.

Sam.

Self Portrait

Self portraits are always tough. They are a chance to show yourself to the masses in any way that you wish. As I don't consider myself to be photogenic it was a relief to solve the conundrum by just capturing my shadow. Hopefully tall and adventurous are the impressions taken from this one?

The picture was taken using my mobile phone. The levels have been changed in PS3, but aside from minor contrasts and colour enhancement the picture is "as shot". The picture was taken on a mountain behind the villa we hired for Ironman Lanzarote training camp. The views were amazing and I just took the oportunity of being in the right place at the right time of day.

Dom (2)

Just a quick post this week. I've been so busy getting ready for Ironman Training in Lanzarote with my teamates (http://www.teamsoutherns.com/) that I've not had a chance to pick the camera up and plan a proper new topic. This weeks pic was taken at Dominics house a few weeks ago and has been chopped and shopped today in CS3. The black white and colour thing can sometimes be really dramatic and cause the onlooker to wonder what it is that doesn't look right. In all honesty it's pretty easy to learn.

So with 500 bike miles and 12k of swim ahead of me for the next seven days I will say goodnight and will make time for more of an effort next time. Suggestions for the next topic or photo process on a postcard please (or just fill in the comments below and I'll pick them up).

Cheers.

Recycling

This weeks blog is different for two reasons.

1. As the more astute will notice this blog is going out on a Monday (Last night was spent investigating why my bathroom had flooded my neighbour downstairs!)

2. This weeks photography blog did not require me to get my camera out...... Read on.

Today's blog is an experimentation with scanners, photoshop and the recycling aspect is the attempt to resurect an old photo of my Dad when he did national service. The original picture is signed on the back by all the people in it. I wonder what they are all doing today? One thing I'm sure of is that they wouldn't expect to stumble accross it on the internet. The picture was given to me by my late Aunt a few years ago and I've always wondered if I could get it repaired..... And this is where the task began. I've played with photoshop before in most of my pictures, but never have I tried to mend an old picture.

Todays pic shows the before and after. You can see the creases across the left hand picture that obscures three seperate paths accross the people (Four legs, three chests and two faces to be precise) And for the more observant I'll include the shed and the barracks wall too. Needless to say this picture required lots of clone tool (where you copy other parts of the picture to reconstruct the original). If you look hard you may be able to spot who's pockets / tie / boots and even an eye and a smile have been transplanted. This pic took some time to complete, but it was a really interesting project. And I even get the benefit of having a rendered copy of the original without the creasing. So it just goes to show that photography skills and attaining results is not always about whet you point your camera at.........

Until next SUNDAY. Job Done.

Portrait along the lines and style of Venture

This weeks pic is of a very good friend of mine called Dominic Holingdale. He has stepped up to the plate and allowed me to have free reign of creating a portrait. This was my first attempt at capturing a persons personality whilst attempting to recreate some of the aspects of modern portraiture. The image was taken using no studio equipment at all, the setting was Dom's hallway (for a blank background). I had hoped to do a bit more adventurous pic with some hobby items along the lines of moto cross or motor racing. But I hope you'll agree that sometimes simple is just better. I'll be having a go at some adventure shots later in the year so keep tuned.

This portrait should be immediately inviting to anyone that know's Dom. I think it captures his natural calmness and modicum of vanity. The pic was taken with a 105mm Sigma macro lens at 2.8 aperture and 320th second speed with a camera mounted flash. There has been some photoshop action to whiten the eyes and also a sepia effect to give some deeper skin tone.

All in all about 15mins of productive work to change the image from "as taken" to the published picture. The original file size is A3 and so can be blown up extensively without distortion.

Thanks to Dom and thanks to all that view. Comments and suggestions for next weeks blog are welcome.

Cheers,

Sam.

Snow Halts Training!

If you live in England you will probably have seen snow this week. The white cold stuff has had a pretty acute effect upon the cycling training this week; However Sunday saw a brief respite in the deluge of ice and slush that has become the norm.

Whilst training for Lanzarote Ironman 2009 I have heard many stories of woe regarding winter miles (cycle training in England between december and March). This week I have begun to understand that winter miles SUCK! It is cold, often windy and as today's picture demonstrates pretty snowy!

Today's picture is of my trusty winter steed standing upright unaided in about six inches of snow. The picture was taken at the turn around point of today's bike ride using my mobile phone! (how has technology improved over the years).

I've worked the photo in photoshop CS3 to make the bike posterized and the background improved! The overall picture took about 45mins of playing around with and I'm pleased with the result. Let me know what you think A) about the actual picture and B) about people who cycle in the snow!!!!

Until next week when I hope to do a featured shot for a couple of friends! See you in seven.

Animal Magic

This weeks photo was always going to be a portrait. The subject was the only decision to make. Would it be a self portrait (very tough to make good I think). A work colleague came up as subject idea; however the colleague suggested that my cat should be recorded in the history archives of the blog.

I have recently moved back to my flat in Leamington Spa and I've brought with me a mini Tiger of a pet (google images for "Maine Coon"). He is a great companion and a real handful at times. "Spikey" (don't ask where the name is from) is going to be a very large cat. His father is a show champion called Angus and weighs in a 24lbs so far (he's only 2 years old and they grow for up to five!!!).

I think this picture shows that he seems to have settled in fairly well? The picture was taken using natural light, The focus is centred on his eyes and an f2.8 aperture was used to distort the background to further enhace his face and intensify the eyes.

There has been a little bit of bluring of the outside edges in photoshop and some lightening for brightness. During this project I investigated many framing options and have absolutely learnt that no matter how much time or effort it takes to work on a photo, it is always best to trust your instinct. I did a couple of heavily worked versions of this picture that I couldn't decide if I liked or not. At this point I have learnt to just hit delete and try again. And do you know what? Sometimes it's just better to keep it simple. I hope you like.

See you in a week.

Sam.

Sports Sports Sports

Sports have always been an integral part of my life. Whilst I can usually be found Swimming, Cycling or Running these days, I do still like to participate with any sport that's going. (Quokka soccer being the weirdest! but that's a story and pic for another time should I ever get back to Perth one day). The one sport that has been a part of my life since I was eight years old is Golf. It is the one sport that I actually can win at. I guess all of those long days in the school holidays doing nothing but hitting golf balls has left me with a relative competence that I am really pleased about.

There are a number of quite remarkable things about golf. For instance we all know what the ultimate goal of the game is, but how often do we ever question just how monumental the task is. In no particular order of importance here are a few facts and figures. The golf ball is 43mm in diameter, The hole is just 108mm in diameter (which means that you have the size of the ball and 3/4 the size of the ball on each side should you hit the hole in the middle). We now must consider that the ball has to be hit from anything up to 690 yards away for a par 5 (that's well over a third of a mile!) Finally you have to hit this tiny ball to a tiny hole a very long way away with a club that is approximately the length of your leg and weighs half a kilo give or take. Oh and there will be undulating ground, trees, water and sand traps in your way! Talk about hand eye co-ordination, strategy, tempo and control. I think I'm starting to understand the appeal to conquer.

And eventually to todays picture. Sport Sport Sport requires practice practice practice. People who PLAY golf will never really master it. People who PRACTICE at golf will reap the rewards. My advice has always been, and will always be to practice frequently and play occassionally. OH! and the sooner you start the better!

Today's pic is a junior at The Warwickshire golf club staying till the floodlights come on and the sun sets. It reminded me of my youth and was a pleasant trip down memory lane. The pic has been doctored in photoshop and that's why some of it looks blurred or painted. I like the contrast of clarity and art. I hope you enjoy.

Comments on this blog are welcomed and any suggestions for future picture projects are gratefully received.

See you in a week.

A mixed week of joy and woe

This week has been a really strange one in the sammy house hold. On one hand a new lease of life and on another a lot to think about. The importance of real friends was realised when a couple of my greatest friends came over to visit this week. It didn't matter that we simply went for a curry and a beer (it's probably been 5 years since the last time we did this simple act) The importance was the support, encouragement and general feelgood factor that only occurs when you know that you are completely comfortable with your surroundings, and are truley looking forward to the company that you will be sharing. Thanks to Tom and Charly for being there.

Well 2009 has started fairly poorly and as an eternal optimist I decided to get out of bed at 5.30am on Saturday morning and headed out to TAKE this weeks blog pic. I say take because I literally stole the moment. The day was glum, rainy and I was extremely tired. I hunted around the usual pictureque and well photographed areas of L'Spa and couldn't find any inspiration. I then started to head home when I refused to admit defeat and found this scene awaiting me. I hope you like it. I have since decided to test my photoshop skills and I'm going to compose a compendium of shots like this to create a complete L'Spa montage. Piece by piece to create a large image encompassing houses, businesses and the tourist areas. I'll post it up when it's complete.

Cheers,

Sam.

HDR Trial

Here are my first attempts at combining images to create "Art" from a photo. Like most things artistic in nature the results draw highly subjective conclusions from different people. HDR (High Dynamic Range) see here http://www.vanilladays.com/ are the marmite of the camera world. Love it or hate it they are here to stay. I'm still practicing, but I like what I see in some of the examples. More practice and I may just get one right!