Sunset Beach (Westy 52)

This weeks' image was taken at Praia d'El Rai beach, on Portugal's Silver Coast.

I didn't take an SLR away with me, so all of my holiday photos (including this one) were taken with the Canon G9.

It really is the ultimate 'compact' for me - It may not be the smallest around, but it really packs a punch.

The image here is actually an HDR (high dynamic range) image generated by taking three photos at different exposures and then combining them in photoshop.

I shot at 'flat' and +/- 2 stops to record the Highlights (sun), mids. and shadows.

The image is 'stitched' together using the tone mapping function in Photomatix.

I then re-imported the generated image back into Photoshop and layered the original three images over it - exposing the parts that I wanted to show through using layer masks.

Landscapes really aren't my thing, but I think this one works...

Now back to the beach!

Still Waiting (Westy 52)

This weeks' shot was taken with the G9 following Friday's Pet Shop Boys concert at the O2.

It is a 2 second exposure taken at the DLR station as Clare and I waited for our train home.

I had no tripod with me for support, so this is actually taken with the camera perched on Clare's shoulder as a make shift tripod.

I dialled the G9 down to 80 ISO to minimise grain and give me the exposure time I needed for the train to go past.

A mild 'bleach by-pass' filter was then applied in Tiffen DFX in Aperture, to add a little contrast.

Night at the Theatre (Westy 52)

This weeks' shot is a classic portrait of Caitlin.

She is so hard to capture at the moment, but was willing to have this taken as she was about to go out to the Theatre (thanks Grandma!).

The shot was taken using natural light (just inside the front door) with the hallway as the background.

Spot metering threw the hall into darkness.

This was my first play with the Nikon 35 1.8 (at f2.8 here) - It is just about the perfect length for a portrait lens, and looks really sharp for a lens of it's low price.

I converted to B&W in Silver Efex Pro via Aperture, and slightly sharpened her eyes.

She is growing up WAY too fast!

Two new additions...

The girls got their first iPods yesterday, ready for 'keeping them quiet' on the 'plane!

Thought I would tie this in with trialling my new Nikon 35 1.8 - Lovely sharp lens!

The depth of field is pretty narrow, but it does produce a lovely Bokeh for the price level.

Oh, by the way, we now have a total of 7 iPods in the house now!

Burning Bright (Westy 52)

This weeks image was taken at Bedford Kite Festival.

As I was out with the family I only had the G9 with me.

The shot was taken through a perspex screen with the G9 in RAW mode - I over exposed slighty to get some detail in the background.

The artist makes glass animals by hand - Really interesting to watch him at work.

The focusing is the key here I think - Exposure is always going to be a compromise... No camera would be able to handle the intense light, and get full detail in the background.

I decided to emphasis this instead, by burning the corners slightly to darken them down, bringing the focus to the torch and glass work.