I was out doing some landscaping in the garden (finally attempting to do something with our jungle of a backyard) when two Robins took an interest in what I was up to. They became increasingly bold and got closer so I grabbed the camera after I finished up for the day, sat down on the grass and took a few shots.

Friday rolled around and we hadn’t been to any bonfires or fireworks displays this year (or last year as it happens). We had through about travelling down to London to see the fireworks at the Lord Mayors Show but since they weren’t having any we decided to give it a miss, since that would be the key reason for going.

We decided on Donnington instead, which we haven’t been to before. I’ve also never photographer fireworks before so a quick look at the internet confirmed my basic assumptions for a starting point:

• Shoot Wide – photos can be cropped later but unless you know exactly where in the sky they will ‘bloom’ (?) then telephoto could be hit and miss.

• Use a tripod – it’s low light with exposures of 1-3 seconds average so handheld is out.

• Focus first and then change to manual to avoid focusing every time, change the focus if you change the zoom length (while shooting I forgot this twice for a few frames before I remembered).

• Use a cable release, shoot in manual using Bulb mode so that the shutter stays open while the button on the cable release is depressed. I tried to time it to press the shooter release as the firework exploded and then hold the shutter open for a few seconds to capture (each exposure varied) to capture the trails of light.

There wasn’t much in the foreground to shoot, no body of water near by to catch reflections in and I set up in a hurry so I shot above the horizon, occasionally capturing the crowd in the foreground at the bottom of the shot.

All the photos here were cropped, some more than others.

Wishing I had another display to go to to practice more ]]> http://www.chrismarshphotography.com/blog/2012/11/fireworks-at-donnington/feed/ 0 http://www.chrismarshphotography.com/blog/2012/10/monkey-forest/ http://www.chrismarshphotography.com/blog/2012/10/monkey-forest/#comments Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:59:15 +0000 Chris M http://www.chrismarshphotography.com/blog/?p=277 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Not a cat this time, but the furry faces of the Moroccan/Algerian Barbary Macaques of Monkey Forest in Trentham Gardens near Stoke.

Another photograph from the course I did in Blackpool. A reflection of the Blackpool tower shot from the beach near the pier, beach rubbish included.

Having missed the evening shoot on my photo course, I stopped at St Annes on the way back for the second day and spent ten minutes shooting the old pier. Not the most inspiring light, overcast and flat but useful for practising post processing. Here is the result.

Update

Refreshed the image as I noticed some Halo’s round the mirrors due to some lazy masking on my part in Photoshop. Can’t seem to get the mask for the front screen right though. I’m not going to push it further as I’m not sure the image merits it.

For those who may be interested, the original image is below.

Shot while on a photography course in Blackpool the weekend before last. I’ve got a few variations on this scene but this is the one I worked on during the 2nd day of the course.

Following a photography course last weekend which kicked the photography urge back in we made the most of a free weekend and drove up to the South West Peak District with friends.

The walk up and over the Roaches was enjoyable, though the sky was fairly overcast and glum while we were there. I lugged the tripod but only used it to take a few sets of bracketed shots of an abandoned farm building. Turns out these had the most potential so the below comes from a 3 shot bracketed exposure.

Minor tweaks in Lightroom before using a number of curves and a black and white adjustment with custom values. Back into Lightroom and added a minor vignette before exporting.

If you are taking photographs with your smartphones camera then I encourage you to read this book by Al Smith on ‘Making Stronger Photographs with your Camera Phone’.

Available through Craft and Vision for the great value price of $5.00, this 45 page PDF ebook will help you greatly improve your mobile photography.

While the book does use the iPhone for examples there’s a lot to take away from it for photography enthusiasts on other platforms such as RIM, Android and Windows.

It’s not just a book about great iPhone apps.

Dealing with shooting, processing and sharing your photos, eyePhone is written by an author who understands composition, the limitations of the medium, and how to get the most out of mobile photography.

While I don’t 100% agree with Chase Jarvis’s proposition ‘The Best Camera is the One That’s with You’, I really enjoy photography on my iPhone (and past Android phones).

A few months ago Mel booked herself on a falconry experience and paid for me to go along as an observer, camera in hand. Luckily the weather just about held out for us and I got a few pictures.

The owls were my personal favourites.