Ice Forms
A couple more shots, capitalising on the cold weather gripping the UK at the moment. These two icicles were shot using a +2 macro diopter on on my ZD 40-150. Converted to Black & White and given the cyantone tint that I’m loving at the moment. Post processing in Silkypix.
Icy debris
The whole Europe seems to be shivering with cold at the moment. Here in the UK, we just had a dusting of a few inches over the weekend. I was out with my daughter sledging and on the way back took a detour along the beach. While the weather was bleak, there were some interesting snow formations on the sand to shoot. Here are a couple from yesterday. Hopefully I will get a chance to shoot some more before it all melts away..
Quick and easy HDR
I found a great little piece of software a while back, called HDRtist. It comes as a free and simple faux HDR package or you can buy the “Pro” version for not a lot. While PS and other editing software has plug ins a plenty for this sort of thing, HDRtist just does what is wrtten on the tin. Quick, simple and very easy HDRs and HDR fakes from single images.
It will open Raw files directly, so no need to go round tripping through a conversion first. Here are a couple I did the other day, from the same beach session in my last post.
Low tide breakwaters
Had my first day of 2012 shooting yesterday. The tide was out, leaving some pools on the beach. Tried a few different spots, but this was my favourite of the bunch. Raws processed with Silkypix, which I keep going back to for Black and White conversion.
Posts of Christmas past No.4
Another old seasonal shot for my Christmas week posts (missed out yesterday)…
The story cabin, at L’Hameau de Pere Noel ( Santas Village ). The village is an old savoyard farm, complete with toy workshop, reindeer hospital and living quarters for Santa and the elves. The story room, is where Mrs Claus reads a story to all the kids, while they sit around on blankets. An amazing day out if you’re in the area of Annecy/Geneva before Christmas.
Posts of Christmas past No.3
Another old seasonal shot for my Christmas week posts…
A day filming 2 years ago, where I had a thousand mini avalanches around me, as the heavily snow laden trees gave up under the weight and heating from the sun.
Posts of Christmas past No.2
Another old seasonal shot for my Christmas week posts…
Taken with my ex E410. It looks colder than I actually remember it this day. Taken on the Plateau de Solaison and looking straight into the low winter sun.
Posts of Christmas past
I’ve been sorting through hard drives over the last few weeks, trying to order some of my work from the last year or so. With the amount of seasonal material that I’ve got, I thought it would be an idea to creating a daily rolling post of old photos, for Christmas week…
Taken after a fresh snow fall, the forest at Le Bete, above Mont Saxonnex.
December sunrise
I was out on the beach yesterday morning, shooting some stock footage and managed to get out in time for the sunrise. I also managed to get a few photos that I’m pleased with, though I did have problems with lens flares. Footage to come..
And a short edit from yesterday morning. Thanks for watching.
Avalanche documentary update
Last winter was a bit of a strange mix weather wise and a lot of Europe was affected by the snow that came in December ( I spent the weekend with my family at Geneva airport, trying to return to the UK ). But the 2011/12 winter season turned out to be far from a bumper season snow wise.
One affect of this, on me at least, was a sparse season of filming for my avalanche project. Little snow cover, meant fewer opportunities to film spring avalanches. As the winter turned into spring, the dry conditions continued and as there was a lack of melting snow, a lot of the normally high rivers and streams completely dried up. What this coming winter brings is far from sure, but I think it’s safe to say, prepare for the unexpected.
Anyway here is a small taster of last season, which should hopefully give some idea of what the project is all about. I’ve dedicated a page to this film here, which has a little more info on the subject.
Super Macro
I’m definitely a dabbler when it comes to macro photography, but dable I do anyway. While I’ve been in the process of updating my telecine set ups, I had such a dable with inverse macro adaptation of my OMs. Anyway, I dabled a bit further than I needed to, but got some cool results in the process.
All shot with an OM lens inverted and coupled to a ZD 40-150. This gives around a 2:1 magnification on a 4/3 sensor ( shooting on the GH1 ). With the lens fully stopped open, depth of field is about as narrow as you would ever want to get and trying to maintain focus handheld on an area the size of a pinhead, isn’t too easy.
For the purposes of telecine, this magnification is almost spot on, for the transfer of Super 8, using a GH1. Working distance proved to be a bit of a problem, but I may have worked a method to position the lenses, without hacking away at this particular projector. I’ll post some results, as soon as I’ve got something that I’m happy with.
Filtered Black & White
Out shooting street photography style yesterday, just experimenting with shooting Black & White in camera. Using a Cokin A system, red and soft spot filters on a 28mm OM lens. All handheld or braced on a wall.
All these shots were taken along Frinton and Walton beach, while the sun slowly burned off the fog. Video to come..
Update:
So I finally got around to looking through some of the footage and put a little clip together. I quite like the vignette done in camera, the effect is a bit overdone at the moment, but there’s something a bit more dreamy when filtering in camera…
