Okay, I’ve already published photos from this location, but I thought I’d have another go because I really wanted to get the active lighthouse in full swing. And there are a few other images also from the session…
The lighthouse in full swing... ISO 800, 30 sec, F11, manual mode.
About 30 minutes earlier.
The active port of Blyth in the distance.
A group with their dogs on the beach. ISO 800, 1/15 sec, F6.3, -1/3 EV.
Getting really dark... ISO 800, 1/20 sec, F4.
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Over the last few weeks me and my shooting buddy Graham Law have been location scouting in and around Newtown, Powys, Wales. We’ve found quite a few locations but needed a suitable model to pose for us to really make most of them work. We’ll hopefully be able to try these out soon… This last weekend, Graham and I tried to find as many different shots as we could in the same location. A very successful shoot, even though Graham and I were acting as the models.
Natural light photograph. ISO 200, 1/80 sec, F4.
Same location as the above picture, just a few meters away.
The next few images were taken under a bridge on the River Severn.
I like the bit of light that hits the underneath of the bridge walk way.
Landscape shot from under the bridge looking back over the River Severn.
Portrait shot in Black & White. A mixture of ambient light and flash.
Natural light frame using a Lightroom preset from Matt Kloskowski.
A wider view of the bridge area we were shooting in. This frame was taken with a 3 flash setup.
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I’ve moved up to the Newcastle area in the North East of England and there’s a whole new set of photographic opportunities here. Today I wondered about the area nearby and took these images in Whitley Bay and Seaton Sluice.
A couple taking a walk on the beach together on Valentines Day. I went for a Black & White look to give a timeless feel to the image. I also wanted the lighthouse in the background to be prominent in the frame to give context of where this photo was taken.
The beach front at Whitley Bay.
A mother out with her child on the beach... went for a Black & White look for the same reasons as the first frame.
I like the leading lines of the wall in this frame. It was fortunate that the sky was quite dramatic!
I like the seaside buildings in the background.
This was taken at Seaton Sluice.
A few minutes later and a different position, I managed to get the rays of the sun in a better composition within the frame.
The beach at Seaton Sluice looking towards Blyth.
The beach was covered in dappled light from the sun peering through the clouds.
Houses overlooking the sea at Seaton Sluice.
Boats moored up...
A boat coming in... and I also like the person sitting on the rock in this composition.
The windmills at Blyth. There are 9 windmills plus 2 huge versions!
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I had the opportunity to meet Dai Robs, a good guitarist & singer and his acoustic solo work is an absolute pleasure to listen to. I decided to go for a low-key look for the images for something a little different. When I saw Dai performing, it just seemed the right thing to do, have him appear out of the darkness with his guitar. You can find out more about Dai Robs here (link).
Graham had the idea of the split lighting which I think works well. ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F11.
To get the low-key look in a pub environment, I used a fast shutter speed and small aperture to kill the ambient light. Then relied on flash to illuminate Dai Robs. ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F13.
Posted in Flash, General Ramblings | 2 Comments »
Last weekend I was invited by Joanne Poole to photograph her 18th Birthday Party. It was a whole lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed photographing the event. I ended up with around 200 photographs that documented the event. I took wide angle photos for “context”, telephoto shots of people enjoying themselves and “detail” shots of the tables etc…
The stars and Happy Birthday wishes spread out across the surface of the tables.
Joanne Poole. Happy Birthday! 😉
Joanne with her friend...
The birthday cake...
Joanne welcoming her friends to the party.
The guys enjoying the beer...
One of Joanne's friends.
I took many shots like this of people enjoying themselves.
Joanne with her boyfriend Kevin.
Everybody cheering for Joanne before she got her cake...
The girls...
Another one of the girls...
Joanne is a very successful Arm Wrestler in the UK and has won numerous competitions! Joanne is 13 x British Champion winner (Junior & Senior Together), 2x International Champion, 2x European Silver Medalist and World Bronze Medalist. Truly an amazing achievement by the age of 18. You can follow Joanne here (link).
I’ve photographed Joanne a few times before and below are a small collection of those images.
I took this back in early 2009. Key flash through an umbrella and the 2nd flash with gobo lighting the wall.
High key shot of Joanne .
Its easy to see why Joanne has won so many competitions! 😉
Joanne arm wrestling with her father, Richard Poole.
This was taken in the summer of 2008. That is definitely a competition face!
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A couple of days ago I took some portraits on my Niece. These were taken on a farm where there was a bus with Graffiti on it and an old shipping container.
I purposely positioned Chantel next to the arm and hand painted on the bus.
Using 2-point lighting with a 580EX II as the key and a 430EX II.
A single 580EX II as the key in this shot. I wish I had added my 430EX II speedlite on a low power rating to see the difference in the shots. I somehow think that seeing a little more detail on the right side of the frame would have been better.
A Black and White version...
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Last week I was in Blyth for a couple of days and took these images of Blyth Beach.
Overlooking the pier. ISO 400, 1/125 sec, F4.
A wider shot... ISO 800, 1/85 sec, F6.5.
ISO 800, 1/200 sec, F4.6.
Blyth Beach. ISO 800, 1/100 sec, F4.6.
A short pier... ISO 800, 1/15 sec, F4.
The Blyth outlook post. ISO 800, 1/15 sec, F4.
The Port of Blyth in the distance. ISO 800, 1/15 sec, F4.
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Between the Christmas and New Year period, my Nephew Bruce came to visit and my shooting buddy (Graham) and I decided to use his camera gear for the shoot. My gear was in my luggage which hadn’t arrived from being lost in Singapore Airport (which I now have).
We used Graham’s 580EX II speedlite on a stand in varying positons. Not sure who took what photos as we both shared the same gear. So the photos below have either been taken by myself or Graham Law.
Graham located a barn out of town that seemed to work well as a location.
This frame wasn't perfectly exposed in-camera, but seems to shape up okay in post-production.
Graham drove us to the lead mines at Clywedog dam. Graham had a second cheap flash unit (with in optical trigger) which was used to illuminate the wall on the left side.
I can assure you it was very cold and we didn't stay out long!
We added a CTB gel on the second flash.
Back at the barn, a quick portrait of Graham.
I like this shot of Bruce and I like the pose.
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My last days in the Philippines were very much in denial. Even when I was leaving on the boat it didn’t register that I was actually leaving the island. In many ways, it would be easy to make Boracay a home…
I left the island and got on the SEAir flight to Manila and then the next day, started my journey back to the UK. My first stop was Singapore. I always loved this airport, but this time round, it wasn’t as much fun as it had been on previous visits. I waited around the airport from 2:30pm till 11:30pm. So had quite a lot of time to wonder round. The next time I’m in this airport, I’m definitely going to bring swimming gear. They have a great outdoor swimming pool which costs about £7 to use.
Then it was time to travel from Singapore to Heathrow and then onto Manchester. Arriving at Heathrow was a complete shock! -6 degrees C!! Unfortunately I discovered that my luggage had got misplaced in Singapore. This was a little worrying as I had 16Kgs of camera gear in the bag. A week later, my bag arrived in Wales and was very relieved.
Within a few days of being back, the Great British seasonal winter bugs,viruses, etc… had a huge welcoming party for me! I was in bed all of New Years Eve and have been unwell since. Today (7th January) is the first day that I’ve started to feel close to normal.
Looking forward to 2010…
Phil and I with the day time staff at Rumba's on my last day...
Posted in General Ramblings | 3 Comments »
I decided to do the first part of the PADI diving course called Discover Scuba Diving (DSD). I went down to the Calypso Diving Centre and got Phil (whom I took photos of his child) to be my instructor. I did the pool exercises okay and then went off to do an open water dive. We went down 6 meters and it was awesome! I must admit that once I started thinking about all the water above me, I felt I needed to go up to the surface. Had a chat with Phil and we went down again. I can see why diving is so popular around the world.
Anyway, after the dive, I headed over to Samba to take photos of the new owners at sunset and a couple of pics of the bar.
I asked one of the waitresses to stand where the sunset was shining light and took this image.
Brady, one of the new owners of Samba. The bar name will most likely change...
Brady and Shawn. Dylan the 3rd owner wasn't around as he was on company business.
Taken just in front of Samba. ISO 800, 1/30 sec, F1.8.
Hmm... let's sit down and have a beer shall we...
I love that late evening blue sky...
Come on... let's have a beer! 😉
A wider shot of the previous photo.
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Photo Rebel 