Since I read about an improvised technique for lighting in Digital Photo (I think), I'd been meaning to give it a go.

Maybe I should take a step back?

Whilst I'd dearly love to kit out a studio, I've neither the money nor the space for one in the house. And since I'm unlikely to get much of either from photography, I'm always looking for new and unique ways to provide subjects, environments and ambience (look at that. What great word use. I could have just said lighting!)...

In the past, I've used T-Shirts and a dressing gown to provide black back drops. I've even used a baking tray at one point to try out some stuff. I've also made use of little desk lights before to give some side lighting.

It keeps you thinking if nothing else.

So, anyway...

A month or so ago I read an article in Digital Photo (I still think) about using a security light and a projector screen to create some nice back lighting. It drove me to B&Q (other hardware stores are available) and I bought a cheapo security light and a plug.

...And then I did nothing with them...

...And to be honest, I still haven't.

But today I decided to try some of the lighting techniques I'd read about and I resurrected my desk lamp and his buddy. I also got a sheet of A3 white paper and tacked it to the back of a chair to provide a background. My little studio looked like this:

 

(apologies for the blurred photos. I honestly didn't think I'd ever publish these...)

 

Now, not having the magazine at hand what followed was more guess work than planned. I initially started with both lights pointing at the paper and trying to shoot the entire branch but the effects of working freehand and the low power of the back lighting left me with an uneven background and frequently blurred shots. I remember the magazine mentioning this could be a problem.

So I zoomed in on one of the branches and tried again. This worked better and  I ended up using one desk light pointing up from the ground and the other held above the branch to get the shots I was happiest with.

The branches were still quite dark, but adjusting the camera to over-expose by two stops (Not a word Dermot, not a single word...) cured that problem. A bit of clipping, cropping and sharpening left me with this.

I'm normally quite pessimistic about photos I've listed, but I actually really like this. What do you think?

(0.5secs, f/8, 55mm, ISO-100, 02/03/2008)

So, tell me what you think?

 

Oh, almost forgot. This has been flipped. I thought the branch running left to right worked better.

For those of you not in the know, The NIPA 2008 exhibition starts on Monday night 3rd March. It runs until the 20th March.

You can find out more details here.

I'm planning on attending on Monday night, all being well. Maybe I'll see some of you there?

The Sean O'Casey Bridge, Dublin

(6secs, f/8, 31mm, ISO-100, 18/2/2008)

 

 

I was sitting here, working on this photograph whilst finally getting some progress with my Unbuntu backup server. I'd finally got the thing to see my main pc, I'd even reconfigured some things to make general computer fun more, well.... fun.

...and then...

The disk in the Ubuntu box eats itself.

Yup. The backup server I'm building to backup my photographs, my documents, my saved games! It's eaten itself. Not quite smoke and a three fire engine call out, but still pretty annoying.

Come to think of it. This photograph was the last one I took before I broke my tripod. Coincidence???

 

... yeah probably.

The Custom House in Dublin, constructed in 1781, situated on the banks on the Liffey. Probably one of the nicest buildings in Dublin. And it's even on the north side...

(2.5 secs, F/8, 18mm, ISO-100, 18/2/08)

I quite like this picture. Of the half dozen or so I tried of this building, I think this is about as close as I got to a decent shot. Fitting the building in was a challenge for the 18mm end of my lens and what's not shown here is the aggressive crop to remove the railings and footpath on my side of the river (I had to stand quite far back). As with all my shots recently, there has been some white balance adjustment.

One of the problems with this building is the non-uniform light along the front. Whilst it gives it some feature, it's a git to give a level exposure as a result. In any of the shots I took where the dark areas were properly exposed, the bright areas were totally blown. I know I could have taken two shots and pasted them together, but I decided against it for now*

The other shot of the building worth showing is this one...

(15 secs, F/11, 18mm, ISO-100, 18/2/08)

But, I reckon Dermot got a cleaner sharper version.

 

 

 

*Though it may appear in the future when I get some experience with that sort of activity in Photoshop/GIMP...

 

"...best"?

"...worst"?

"...last person to read this"?

"... biggest muppet on the planet for taking this photo"?

It was all going so well.
And then there was a clunk...

I'm beginning to think Dermot is a jinx on my camera equipment. When we went out at Christmas, we were no more than 30 minutes into our shoot when my memory card ate itself. This time, we got about an hour before my tripod self destructed.

In fairness, I think it had been coming for a while. I'd noticed the centre column wasn't quite as secure as it used to be and that the adjustment pin was either too tight or too loose, but never just right.

Anyway, it all went bang. I cried (a little).

And I've bought a new one.

Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod Legs Only - Black

It's very pretty. I'll do a full review when I get out and about with it.

Monday night saw me back on the mean streets of Dublin with the master of understatement (but over exposure) himself, Dermot Greene. After a decent bout of pastamongery, we hit the streets and worked over the lower banks of The Liffey.

I'll be posting shots from that wander over the next few days.

I thought I'd start with the most emotive of the pictures I took that night.

Just beside the financial district (the IFSC?) in Dublin there are a series of statues remembering the Potato famine of the mid 19th centaury.  I'd seen these statues many times while passing through Dublin and only ever considered them as slightly odd, maybe even a little eerie. I'd never really looked at them by night though.

What I found was probably the first piece of art that ever moved me emotionally. The gaunt, weather beaten look and the faces carved in expressions of desperation really do emphasise the horror of the times. I'm not going to try to describe the famine and its effects on Ireland, it's not that sort of blog. If you want to know more, read this. Suffice to say, if you ever end up in Dublin then take a look at this work and consider for a minute just what it must have been like.

I hope these shots convey something of the place.

   

     

(I haven't given the settings for these as individual shots, they're all around F/8 and between 8 and 10 seconds. In an effort to get the colouring, white balance was set to Tungsten - they really are this sort of colour in real life)

Dermot and I have an ongoing discussion about the merits and flaws of exposure in night shots. He stands, a bastion of light and brightness. I stand... well, I stand much closer to the dark. I genuinely think this might be one of those times when the shadows make the pictures. You can read Dermot's account of the statues here.

During a walk in Hillsborough Park today I took this...

 

(1/60sec, f/11, focal length - 31mm, ISO - 100, 17/02/08)

I quite like it. I still feel it's falling far short of 'artistic' photography, but the structure is getting better... maybe.

If I had to do it again, I'd try to get more 'umph' into the sky - maybe Photoshop or Gimp can help there, maybe I should have tried to get the same sky on a different exposure (but I was shooting freehand).

I did manage to clone out the two old biddies on the path (no prizes for finding where they used to stand).

The park itself is lovely. Those of you who expressed interest in another trip out with cameras, I'll be in touch. I reckon a morning spent in the park with lunch at The Plough might just be what the doctor ordered.

In January I posted 'Workflow Woes' the first of what will probably be some sort of semi regular mentions of the workflow I use for taking pictures and the problems it's given me.

Time for an update...

I said I wasn't going to delete any photos. Well, today I started. I just uploaded a set from last night and today and there were a few blurred and just generally crud (yes, I take pictures that are more crud than the ones I let you people see!). I deleted them. I expected to break out into a cold sweat, to find hives over my body, but nope. Nothing. Not even a twinge of guilt.

I expect I'll have a sleepless night.

On another note. My Ubuntu server now works. My KVM switch is installed. The machines can 'see' each other. Sadly I haven't had the time to solve the file sharing madness yet. I still dance the knife edge that is infrequent backups.

If you believe in deities, pray for me. I hope the sacrifice of photos appeases the god of backups and hard drive failure...

I was lucky enough to be invited to an evening at Ards Camera Club last night. This was my second outing to a local camera club (thanks again John for the invites). Once again, I was amazed at the friendly welcome from strangers as I invaded their club, drank their tea and ate their biscuits!

Last nights events (and the reason for my visit) was a talk by WIll McCrum, a photographer of over 50 years experience. John had digitised a lot of Will's work and the evening was spent looking through the pictures with Will sharing the stories relating tot hem.

As a new photographer, I was amazed by some of the pictures. The composition and lighting, the subjects showed everything from a more innocent 50's to landscapes of the last few years. Alongside that, Will's recounting of the photographs, ranging from anecdotes about getting arrested or explaining the need for nudes to his wife through to which camera and what settings were used, was both startling and wonderful to listen to.

Will's talent is an inspiration and if you get a chance to see this presentation, I'd recommend it!