Woman with cup of tea (non-Brazilian)

I took this portrait of my wife Gina. I asked her to pose in feathers and sequins but she point blank refused, so here she is perhaps more typically drinking tea in the garden from her favourite cup - the chocolate digestive is out of shot.

f5.6, 1/250s, ISO 100 no flash, no tripod

My Focus photos so far

Well I thought it was about time I put my pictures up on here for all to see, sorry its a bit epic but here goes...


Brief 1

We were asked to bring in two photographs, the first to represent our aspirations so I chose this image that I found whilst searching for images online, I really like this image because not only its technical and compositional merit but I also admire the great character and humour the photographer has captured.




















My second photo was one that I shot when i did my national diploma in Photomedia at Leeds college of Art and Design. It was taken using Black and white film which I processed my self and made this print from, its definitely one of my favourite photographs that I had took during my time at college and its representative of the kind of photograph subject matter I like taking pictures of grimey industrial things.



Brief 2


The brief asked us to take a photograph that represented "My Leeds" so I decided to attempt a self portrait of me at work at home in my workshop, taking a self portrait was rather challenging to say the least not only for practical reasons but also compositionally and comments were made for how i could improve on the overall composition by removing some of the items in the background.



Week 2 Practical - Still Life (cabbage)

During our weekly class David brought in a cabbage for us to photograph here's what I got.



The difference a moment makes, Note the softer shadows and more evenly exposed cabbage in the first photo and the sharper shadows and brighter highlights in the second photo.



The cabbage in close up the light was shining through the window from the left which back lit the cabbage leaf creating an interesting translucent effect.

Brief 3

The third brief for me was a to re-attempt the previous self portrait with the recommended improvements.



I also decided to take some photographs of my dad blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.



This picture is cropped to loose some distracting things in the background and I think it it helps to emphasize the subject matter too.

Brief 4

For this brief we were supposed to choose an object that meant something to us and photograph it at three different times of the day, I think I stretched this brief a little bit.

Ok for some crazy reason I decided to go up on the roof towards sunset one evening (13/06/2011) and take pictures of the chimney and roof as the sun went down.



This picture was taken at 19:34 ISO set at 200 aperture F8 1/250 sec. I had to over expose this by +0.3 to get the chimney properley exposeed so it didn't under expose it (making it silhouette).



This one was taken at 19:44 ISO 200 aperture F10 at 1/400 sec. I had to under expose by -0.3 to avoid over exposing.



And finally this one was taken at 20:17 aperture F10 1/1600 sec. I had to compensate the exposure by -1.3 stops to avoid over exposing the sky.

Brief 5

And now for something a bit "jewishy" (yes I did make that word up).

I was fortunate enough to be able to go along with David to Both the Etz Chaim and the BHH Synagogues to take some photos and here's some of the pictures I took.




Possibly the only nice architectural feature in the entirety of the Etz chaim Shul.

A bit of photo stitching.



Genesis

1:3 And G-d said, Let there be light: and there was light.

1:4 And G-d saw the light, that it was good: so he got out his old box brownie (because he hadn't invented digital yet) and started taking photo's Then G-d divided the light from the darkness which meant he then had to invent the flash so he could take photographs at night.








This shot ha some photoshop work done on it but I will leave you guessing what I did for now, I might put a before and after shot up on another post.

Brief 5.1

As well as taking photos at the shuls I decided that I wanted to do something a bit more personal to me so I set up a still life with some of my own personal items that happened to be gifts given to me for my barmitzvah.

I took quite a few shots trying out various compositions but here is my favourite.



I set the items up out side to make use of the lovely sunny weather (between the rain showers). Photographing reflective objects can be a complete nightmare as I pretty much found out with this so some photo-shopping was done to remove an unpleasant reflection from the kiddish cup.

Tip of the day: When photographing reflective objects get a sheet of white paper and hold it up near to the object but out of frame this helps eliminate reflections, you may need a willing assistant to help you do this and moving the paper and the camera around until you find the best angle will help,

Ok so that's it for now but there are my Roundhay park pictures to come very soon ....

Brazilian Dancer - Corporate Event in Bath - Adam

Brazilian Dancer

1/100s, f5.1, ISO 400, 109mm

Photo of a Brazilian Dancer I took yesterday evening during a coporate party in Bath. Lots of colour!

Brazilian Dancer 2

1/100s, f5.1, ISO 400, 109mm

This shot is a little clearer than the first one but it wasn't my first choice as the background is a little too busy for my tastes but still a vibrant photo. If you prefer this one please let me know as I find your incite very useful (@David(s)) Oh and Darren you can't see the hole in her tights in this one ;o)

One for the ladies...

Capoeira Dancer

1/180, f4.1, ISO 400, 74mm

Couldn't resist a landscape shot from the garden at Hamswell Hall -Bath. This hall was built here for the spectacular views across the valley

1/420. f5.1, ISO 200, 109mm

All these shots are taken with my Fuji F50fd Compact camera

Is it a church with a mezuzah??

Bizarre place to have a mezuzah..........

Drinking Bear

Drinking Bear - will deffo re-shoot this as had camera shake but wanted to see concept of shot. It took a bit to set up - he now has his own glass!! It WAS rather late at the time.

f4 iso800 1/3sec

Barbecue Bear

Barbecue Bear - Maybe the lack of light has something to do with the time of day!!! Must get myself and Ted up and about in middle of day ! My priorities were to get Ted doing non-normal Ted things! I am thinking greetings cards!!

f 4.5 1/40 iso800

Gardening Bear

Gardening Bear - This is probably too dark, but as you tell me - you can always lighten. He is deliberately reying to create a beautiful garden Adam - those shots will come later....next year probably !!

f 4.5 iso800 1/15

FRUMMY BEAR

FRUMMY BEAR - took this in evening with room lighting. Was going to reshoot in daylight, but quite like the general brownness - almost sepia look of it

f4.5 iso800 1/15

Portrait - alternative to my dog.........

Taken at the Mansion the day before our group outing. Shot in colour but altered to b/w to try out the effect. Andrew really liked this shot - which was a big bonus........thought the glasses on his head added the bit of quirkiness we are both known for....

Big Ted having a break from gardening

Thought that my first attempt at uploading to the blog should be Big Ted - I am considering doing all my Big Ted series in Square format....what do you think?? Currently everything is as taken, until I restart using photoshop type software after a 10 year break!!

Roundhay Park upper lake landscape

My landscape from our field trip to Roundhay Park. This is a view through the trees to the upper lake taken at f11, ISO 100 at 1/60th second. I used flash to illuminate the vegetation in the foreground, just picking out the flowering and whispy long grass. In some ways the view is unremarkable but I like its tranquility, gentle tones and the reflection of the summer's day clear blue sky in the lake. The framing of the lake between the two young trees I hope adds interest to the scene and value to the photo. The original has only lightly been re-touched. I would have it as my desktop during the winter months to keep my spirits up during the short cold dark and depressing days of January and February.

Roundhay Park portrait of Hannah

My portrait of Hannah taken in Roundhay Park, near to the upper lake, on our Sunday field trip. The lighting and location, Hannah's pose, poise, and fixed gaze give the portrait a dreamlike quality. The original was taken at f6.3, ISO 400 at 1/60th second. I have given it a soft focus and otherwise manipulated the original in a way which I would like to think enhances the mood of the photo and does justice to the subject.

I have now added a copy of this photograph which is more faithful to the original and lacks the soft focus. Which is best? I still like the soft focus and richer tones of the 2nd of the two photos. Ultimately it is a matter of personal taste and perhaps, given that it is an image of Hannah, she should be the final arbiter.

Catch of the day

Photography is a bit like fishing. You don't really know what you are going to get that day.

I took 200 shots at Roundhay Park on Sunday. I really hope you enjoyed it and am very much looking forward to seeing your catch

On Location - Roundhay Park - Adam

First of all a BIG thank you to David (Cole) for choosing the hottest day of the year so far to go out on location. I think the weather should be done by photographers from now on as they seem to have a sixth sense.

I haven't been back long but I thought I would take a look at my pics and upload some today as I won't have a chance till next weekend.

Today the group was out in Roundhay Park (Leeds, UK) with a Brief to buddy up with another member of the group (selected by David) and shoot landscape and portrait shots within in the park for the next couple of hours.

The following takes place between 11:00am BST and 13:00 BST (Cue the '24' sound effect)

I took 137 pictures and all were taken with a polarized filter on the camera.

My lovely partner for today was Darren so I started off with a portrait shot of Darren whilst the rest of the Paparazzi where taking pictures of the local celebrity 'Teddy'

1/150s, F2.8, ISO 400, 24mm, Filter - Polorised

I have slightly cropped this photo but kept the same aspect ratio. If you zoom in on Darren's glasses the rest of the group including myself can be seen but you might need the original picture to do that.

Staying with portrait shots for the time being the next photo I would like to share was taken during a youths cricket game in the bowl.

Crowd Goes Wild

1/240s, F3.2, ISO 100, 36mm

The 3 gentlemen posed for me whilst watching the cricket match. I instructed them all to watch the game whilst I took this photo. It is a shame about the yellow tricycle but I like this shot as it seemed to portray each of the gentlemen's current mood. Oh and I had to make sure the Leeds United shield was visible.

Next I called out to the rest of the spectator if there were any lively actors in the stand and when for some shots with a little more emotion than the one above.

Nerves

1/250s, F3.6, ISO 100, 24mm

This was a photo of a Dad going for a nervous pose, I think he looks a little more like a magician conjuring a magic trick but hey still an interesting shot and random interaction with complete strangers

Mexican Wave Cricket Style

1/250s, F3.6, ISO 100, 24mm

By now I had injected some energy into the spectators who at first were half asleep in the sun, well they were watching cricket and there wasn't any beer around.

I asked the ladies on the front row to do a mexican wave and after a minute or 2 of peer pressure I got this attempt. 

I think with hind sight I would have liked to have shot this again at different angles including a head on shot.

The final shot of the spectators included taking photo of 3 individuals that seem to be attentively watching the match. Probably because they were keeping score.

Score

1/160s, F3.6, ISO100, 43mm

At this stage some on lookers were assuming I worked for a local paper or the club so I thought I had better take some shots of the actual match!

Below is a photo from a quick fire 8 frame shot. The sequence ends with the bowler jumping up and down as he bowls out the bats man.

Bowling

1/320s, F5.0, ISO160, 177mm

I wish I had my tripod setup for this shot as the photo isn't as sharp as it could have been but still pleased with the results. The white shirts are a little over saturated but nothing I couldn't fix.

With the Cricket Location behind us we went on down towards the lake. On the way I could resist taking another portrait shot of a couple enjoying a quiet picnic in the sun (well until I showed up)

Picnic

1/300s, F4.5, ISO100, 39mm

Nothing amazing about this photo but useful experience and helps me work out what I would do next time in a similar situation.

Next, Darren and I ran into a bit of trouble, Well what I mean is Darren got mugged at gun point by a 6 year old. I had nothing to do with it and it wasn't my idea, honest!

The Mugging

1/250s, F2.8, ISO400, 27mm

I liked the spontaneity of this shot. As the girl walked by I asked her to shoot Darren. The girl was so pleased to be asked and given permission to fire on a random stranger it wasn't difficult to set this up. Poor Darren was more shocked and expertly put his body between the water and his camera.

I have cropped out the girls face as I don't have the permission of a parent to take this shot.

Next I decided that a bottle of water was needed in this heat but unfortunately the kiosk wasn't yet open. I decided that the kiosk girl owed me something if I couldn't purchase water yet and she agree to pose for a portrait.

 Kiosk Girl

1/30s, F2.8, ISO200, 24mm

This is a tight portrait crop which removed a lot of clutter and vending machine in the background. I have a few ideas how I could improve this image and wouldn't mind having a play with her eyes and cleaning the back drop up some more.

Finally we made it to a spot in the park Darren had recommended.

I setup my tripod and started snapping using lots of combinations in manual mode and bracketing the shots. The landscape photo I would like to share is this one.

Tranquil Lake

1/320s, F4.5, ISO100, 34mm

The colour and light makes this shot my favourite. The sun kept coming in and out of clouds and eventually I had a nice shot with the light shining off the green fields in the distance. The calm water in the foreground contrasts with the water further out where it becomes choppier.

The large Cumulous clouds are also a pleasing 'cloud' shape and fairly striking against the blue sky.

After taking a number of landscape shots I returned to portraits.

This was a shot taken of a group of lads straight after a sprint finish to the edge of the lake.

Rowing for Fun

1/50s, f6.4, ISO200, 170mm

I shot this picture in colour and changed it to B&W. I have also removed a few people walking along the far bank. I have cropped this into a widescreen ratio 16:9 as the long rowing boat looked better in a widescreen cope than the standard 4:3 also as most TVs are 16:9 I tend to shoot a lot more in 16:9 these days.

The last few shots I would like to share are also portraits

Girl Power

1/250s, F6.4, ISO400, 170mm

I shot of two girls gently cooling down after a long race across the lake. I decided a close shot of the girls was a nicer image than trying to get the entire boat in and losing the detail of the girls' features

The next Ice-cream Girl

1/40s, F3.2, ISO400, 31mm

On our way back to the mansion I tried again to get a bottle of water. This time a very red headed kiosk girl happily sold me some water and two mint choc chip ice-creams mmm 

And finally 2 shots of a waitress called Frances working at the Mansion at a wedding. Frances relaxed after a minute or two of general conversation and started to pose for us

1/240s, F3.2, ISO100, 36mm

1/220s, F3.2, ISO100, 36mm

So they are my initial top 15 photos from the 137 I took today. I hope you like them and please post lots of comments. Like David has said. He has to shoot photos his clients enjoy and not just ones he likes so incite into other peoples likes and dislikes is really useful

Look forward to seeing everyone else's shots very soon!