Property Photography - Neil Alexander

This last week I was asked to shoot a property for a local estate agent. With this hopefully being the beginning of a fruitful relationship, I was determined to do everything within my powers to make sure the job ran smoothly. I try and go the extra mile as a matter of course, but for this I was prepared to go further!
The job itself was straight forward enough and it was very useful to have the agent himself with me as he provided some very useful feedback there and then to better understand exactly what he wanted from the shoot.

Many layers with their layer masks went into making the resulting image

There was one particular shot though which was a challenge. The property is fronted by a 7 foot hedge, and this hedge is probably no more than 6 or 7 feet from the front of the building itself.
The main image of the front of the property needed to be in landscape format, give an overview of the property including the surrounding properties, the path leading up to the front door, and not have the enormous hedge obscuring the ground floor. After several test shots, it became quite apparent, that even with the use of step ladders to get above the hedge, it wasn’t going to be optically possible to get in one single frame.

I use a pair of Nikon D300 bodies, which are probably into 5 figures actuations and are far from new. But they do me just fine. Occasionally low light causes me a problem and they can get noisy but for 95% of what I do, they’re great. They do however have a cropped sensor. About a 1.5 crop I think. The widest glass I have is a Sigma 10-20, so at it’s widest I’m probably getting about 15mm. That in itself is fine. Plenty wide, believe me. Much wider and you’re going fish-eye and that’s a complete no-no for real estate photography. A full-frame body with the 10-20mm may just have squeezed it in, but I doubt it. So for this particular frame, due to the constraints of the enormous hedge, the only way I could have got the photograph in one frame would have been to use a fish-eye.

After a rather substantial amount of head-scratching, I was left with the conclusion that the only way I could make this shot work was with Photoshop and a spot of layering and masking. After fixing the converging verticals, the next step was to layer in several adjacent photographs and mask them in.
While not technically optically possible, the resultant image is still a very accurate reflection of the property itself, and one with which the client is very happy with. It took me a long time to get there, and left me a little stressed at times, but failure was not an option.

Incidentally, without a Wacom tablet, and only the use of a mouse, this masking process would have been a really arduous task. I’ve been using a large Wacom Intuos 4 tablet for some time now, and I have to say that it’s been an absolute revelation for my workflow. I’ve seen that Wacom have just recently released version 5 of the tablets, but not yet had a chance to have a play with one. The reviews have been outstanding and if the previous model is anything to go by, then it’s a tool that you really need to have in your workflow. Have a look here – Wacom Intuos5 Large Pen & Touch Tablet

Finally, some of you may have heard that I am exhibiting at the Greater Manchester Business Exhibition on the 29th May. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you all along.

- It’s INDEPENDENT (not affiliated with any others you may have seen before – it’s being run by 2 businessmen from Manchester)

- There will be over 60 EXHIBITORS that are non-conflicting (See flyer – no two offer the same service – http://pic.twitter.com/lgGwMSTW )

- There will be  4 FREE seminars to all visitors from market leaders on management skills, networking skills, marketing skills and social media.

- There will be a VISITOR LITERATURE table (you can bring your own flyers and market your company)

- Its FREE!

- There will be a REDUCED RATE HEAD SHOT for your online profiles on the day by yours truly.

The buzz that has already created about this event has meant that places are going fast! If you want to reserve a place, the go to:
http://gmbizexhibitionmay29-esearch.eventbrite.co.uk/?srnk=1&ebtv=C

It is also being run as  a linkedin event. Some of the exhibitors and visitors have left messages. Feel free to go and have a browse, leave a comment.
http://linkd.in/GHvTEP

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch and if I don’t see you before, see you on the 29th. Bring plenty of business cards!

Llyn Celyn at dawn

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to mid-Wales to hook up with some old friends for a long overdue reunion. I decided that I ought to chuck my tent in the back of the car and stay an extra night with a view to capturing some of wonders of the Welsh countryside. Snowdonia is a place I’ve not visited for some years so why not kill two birds with one stone?

Tent, pitched. Badly....

Arriving at the lovely little mountain town of Dolgellau, I checked into the small, quiet Tan-y-Fron camp site and pitched my canvas for the night.
Once I was confident that I had sufficiently resurrected my boy scout skills and my temporary shelter wasn’t going to collapse on me in the middle of the night, I drove down the banks of the River Mawddach to its mouth and the delightful little town of Barmouth, arguably one of the most beautiful locations in Wales.

The picturesque old town is well worth a visit with its steep steps and slate roofed cottages on the side of Garn Gorllwyn mountain. A breakwater separates the harbour in the estuary from a beach that must be at least 5 miles long, and is perfect for sunbathers and beach football with little or no chance of stumbling into each other.

I grabbed myself a delightful and not over facing portion of fish and chips at the Anchor restaurant whilst gazing out into the sun kissed bay and plotted my strategy for the hours ahead.

I then endured a rather fitful nights sleep (I discovered to my determinant, that sleeping on a yoga mat does not provide a sufficiently soft basis for a good nights sleep), surfaced around 4am, inadvertently woke my unfortunate neighbours and quickly dashed off before they could clamber out of their tents and lynch me.

I headed up towards Trawsfyndd and then over to Bala towards Llyn Celyn where I had calculated, should the weather co-operate I had a good chance of some workable dawn light. I wasn’t disappointed. Arriving shortly before civil twilight gave me the opportunity to capture the descending moon over the nearby Ffridd y Coed where I made the photograph with the farmer’s gate, and then headed down to the banks of the lake itself.

Moonlit gate

Beans - What else is there to eat when cooking on a gas stove?

Making a brew.

Having found my composition, set up a camera, tripod, filters, remote release etc, it was time to get the kettle on and then make myself some breakfast and wait. The calm and peacefulness of the spot was inspiring. Complete and utter silence save for the rather vocal geese who felt they needed to gate crash my breakfast. Aside from that, it was sheer bliss.

View over Llyn Celyn towards Bala

Cemaes Harbour, Anglesey at sunset - 1/60 sec f8 ISO200

This last weekend I was to be found swanning around Wales for a couple of social occasions, so as always I took an obligatory bag load of camera gear. I also managed to peg on an extra night purely to focus on some landscape work spending my first night under canvas in a very long time, but more on that in another post.

Cemaes Harbour, Anglesey at sunset - 30secs exp f16 ISO200

The two photographs above were made in a delightful little part of Anglesey called Cemaes where some lovely friends have a great little bolt-hole to escape from the madness of a very busy urban life. I can be as lazy as the next man, and as the house is literally only 100m from where I shot these photographs it really was as slothful a landscape photograph as I’ve ever shot. Still as the opportunity presented itself, I’d have been mad to miss it.

The photographs were only taken 9 minutes apart  - the top one was a fairly regular 1/60 sec exposure as the sun was about to set. I used a 0.9 Neutral Density Grad filter to darken down the sky by 3 stops. For the bottom one the sun had just gone down and I wanted to smooth out the waves in the sea and darken down the sky a bit to even up the light in the foreground. So as well as using the 0.9 Grad, I also popped on my Singh- Ray Variable Neutral Density Filter, dialed it in about half way, stopped down my aperture a couple of stops more and this gave me a 30 second exposure which softened the sea nicely.

I’ve blogged on the topic of shooting long exposure photographs several times, you can read more here. I’m still undecided as to which of the two I prefer to be honest. Compositionally they’re almost identical. I like the way the orange glow of the sun in the top frame is just peeping out from underneath the clouds, but the apparent stillness of the sea is also very appealing.

What do you think?

Incidentally, if you haven’t yet downloaded the May 2012 wallpaper, check it out here

Star Wars X-Wing starfighter

So how could I waste the afternoon in the most productive manner that would avoid me having to think about the football….

My eldest mentioned to me this morning that he wanted to break up his Lego X-Wing starfighter that he spent hours making, with a little help from his Dad so I thought I’d photograph it before he did. Then I had the idea to composite it with a photograph I’d made a couple of weeks ago of Altrincham town center.

The first step was to call up the photograph I wanted to use as the base background and study the lighting. It was fairly flat without a great deal of direction and contrast. Then I needed to try and replicate it.

Star Wars X-Wing starfighter - set up

Using a light stand I suspended the star fighter in the air with some black cotton (I figured black would have been easier to clone out, but in hindsight I really ought to have used white). From the above set up shot, you can just see a grided SB900 on top of the drawers next to the turntable – this was to be the sun, and to the left on the sofa is a diffused SB900 to provide some fill. Up on the iMac in the background I have the base layer so I can see what I need to achieve, and then shooting tethered into the laptop on the floor I got a full screen version to make a little easier.

This image above shows you the final image that I decided to use to drop onto the base layer, and then with a bunch of layers, some dodging and burning, a few layer masks and some motion blur, the image below is the final result. The base layer is a 30 second exposure I made using a B+W 10 stop ND filter because I wanted to remove as much traffic and many people from the image as possible. All just a little bit of fun.

Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter over Altrincham bus station by Neil Alexander

Right that’s it. I’m off to the pub. That’s all I’m capable of penning today and tomorrow morning inevitably I’ll be hungover, but fingers crossed it’ll be a happy hangover.

N

May 2012 Desktop Wallpaper

Crikey, that was April. Notable only really for it’s dampness and the announcement that we’re in a double-dip recession. So we can put all that to bed and look forward to a sunny May Day Bank holiday, the build up to the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and my birthday. Her Royal Highness and myself with be posting our birthday wishlists on Amazon later in the month….

Anyway, to business.  Does your desktop look like this?
or even worse… like this?

Then you need mine. It even comes complete with a calendar. Get ‘em while they’re hot:

May Desktop Wallpaper – 2560 x 1600

May Desktop Wallpaper – 1920 x 1200

May Desktop Wallpaper – 1280 x 1024

May Desktop Wallpaper – 1024 x 768

The simplest way to download is to right click on the appropriate size for you and select “open in new tab” or “open in new window”. You can then set it as your desktop background from there.

If there’s a specific size that you want, or it looks a little stretched on your monitor, let me know the dimensions you require in the comments below.

Amelia Interior Design

Just before I jetted of to Malta for Easter and the Good Friday parades in Zejtun, I was privileged to shoot some work for Diane over at Amelia Interior Design in Macclesfield. They provide stunningly designed interiors to home owners across the North West and it was a real pleasure to shoot for her. Not much else to say this week – very busy week ahead so I’ll leave it there.

Amelia Interior Design

Amelia Interior Design

Amelia Interior Design

Amelia Interior Design

If you’d like to see more of Amelia Interior Design’s work, swing by their website here www.ameliainteriordesign.co.uk or you can find them on Twitter – @AmeliaInteriors

A Roman centurion on his way to the parade

To start with, I’d been planning this for some time. I’d gathered from quite a bit of research that the Good Friday procession in Zejtun is one of the best of the Easter parades in Malta.

I’m not a particularly religious person myself, if at all, but the Maltese are steeped in their Roman Catholic traditions, and the background of the island reads like a Who’s Who of European history. From the Romans to the Moors, and the British empire to the blanket carpet bombing by the Germans in the second World War. The island has been through it all, and this is reflected in the culture. The Catholic church however plays a very dominant role. In each town or village you will find at least one church belonging to a particular saint, and the Maltese people spend half the year celebrating these saints, especially in the summer months when every weekend there is at least one festival or another taking place somewhere in one of the towns or villages. These generally involve the whole town, huge feasts and firework displays of the like you have never seen. One of the highlights of each town’s  calendar is the Good Friday procession, and Zejtun in particular is the place to be for this.

Characters from the Bible as part of the Good Friday parade in Zejtun, Malta

I arrived in the town a couple of hours before the parade was due to start with the intention of scoping out the route and working out where the best vantage points were going to be. I wanted to have a couple of options minimum in my pocket, and as the procession was scheduled to last for at least two hours I wanted a few different scenes or locations in which to shoot it. I milled around for a while walking the route, and shooting a little background. At the same time I got chatting to a few of the local policeman with a view to getting my face known and trying to get on their friendly side in the event that for whatever reason it should all go wrong and I either needed their help, or at least needed them not to hinder me whilst I was trying to work.

Silhouette of Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns as part of the Good Friday Easter parade Zejtun, Malta

About an hour before the procession was due to start, the crowds began to gather and I found a great spot directly opposite the main entrance to St. Catherine’s church from where the procession would walk towards me for about 10 yards and then turn and began it’s meander round the streets. I decided that this was going to be the spot from which I would begin my coverage and “marked” my spot. As 5 o’clock grew nearer, the square got more and more congested, but I still had an unobstructed view of the doorway. Then the tv crews arrived and a bunch of little old ladies barged their way in infront of me. I couldn’t really begrudge the women the space as they were really quite small and there was no way they were going to see from anywhere else. The tv crew were a different story altogether. They had erected a rather flimsy 12 foot high gantry about 10 feet to my left on a very busy corner forcing people to squeeze between it and a crash barrier in front of which people were already congregated.  This brought about a great deal of needless jostling and a torrent of abuse from the cameraman up top every time someone knocked into the gantry. But the rather overweight camera man who was up in front of the church doors continually thrusting his camera into every parade members’ face getting into every shot I tried to make was a right royal pain in the ass. I appreciate that he was only trying to do his job, but he made it extremely hard work for us still shooters.

The Figure represents one of the two Thieves who were crucified together with Christ

Once the parade began I had to work really hard continually composing and re-composing to avoid getting him in any of my shots. It was working but standing on the same spot for 2 hours solidly continually waving around a 70-200 2.8 got awfully wearing after a while. I then decided it was time to move out and find another scene or two. Easier said than done. I was trapped. The crowd was so dense that even if I’d needed to, I couldn’t have gotten out. I had to bide my time until there was a short lull in the proceedings, and make a break for it. Laden up with a Lowepro rucksack, tripod and two bodies didn’t exactly make for an easy squeeze through the crowd and I’m sure that I must have duffed at least two or three people on the head with my tripod by accident.

A particularly mean looking Roman Centurion

Eventually I got out. Once I’d managed to get the blood circulating in my legs again, I dashed off to the other side of town and shot some of the procession as it meandered through the quaint narrow streets.

The procession itself is quite a sombre slow moving affair consisting of many biblical characters. Roman soldiers feature heavily as do statues that represent the final hours of Jesus Christ before he was crucified. The detail that goes into the costumes is phenomenal especially the Roman Centurions. They really were incredible. As was the length of the procession. I’d estimate that there were probably around 500 people involved and it must have been over a mile long.

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ banner leaving St. Catherines church as part of the Good Friday parade Zejtun Malta complete with TV cameraman

I would have loved to have been able to stick around longer and capture some of the procession once the sun had gone down, but alas it was not to be. All in all a very worthwhile trip though and a must see if you’re ever over in Malta at Easter.

The weediest looking Roman centurion Ive ever seen

A Roman centurion sending a text message on his way to the parade with his sons

For more images from the Good Friday Easter procession in Zejtun, Malta visit the gallery here.

Herod - The Gospels say that Pontius Pilate sent Christ to Herod for him to judge. In the Zejtun Procession the figure of Herod escorted by a cohort of soldiers walks in front of the Statue of the Scourging at the Pillar

Last week I was in Malta again, and one of the things I was very keen to shoot was the Good Friday parade in Zejtun. However having lost a day to the bank holiday yesterday and I’ve been processing so many great images that I’m way behind schedule already this week. So today’s post is a bit of a teaser for a more detailed one next week.

Characters from the Bible as part of the Good Friday parade in Zejtun, Malta

The First statue in the procession, representing the Agony Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Getsemani. The statue is carried shoulder height by eight men.

The Beland Band and crowds outside St. Catherine's Parish Church, Zejtun, Malta

Sunset from Over Owler Tor, High Peaks using neutral density filters by Neil Alexander

Following on from last week’s post on UV filters, this week I’m going to delve into the other filters that I use.

I have a bag of filters that’s pretty much permanently attached to whichever camera bag I’m using at the time. In it I’ve a couple of different sized circular polarisers (though I don’t remember which particular brand I’m on at the moment as I seem to go through these things like they’re ten a penny), a Singh- Ray Variable Neutral Density Filter, a B+W 77mm #110 Solid Neutral Density Filter and assorted LEE Filters 4×6″ Graduated NDs.

Polarisers are extremely useful for cutting down on glare and reflections, and adding some saturation to skies or foliage. This site provides quite a good example of the effects of a polariser with an article title “Demonstration of what can be done using a polarizer“. You’ll see as you mouse on and off the image that the foreground grass shows more colour, the sea less reflection, and the sky has more definition. For any respecting photographer, a polariser is essential. The effects of a polariser, particularly the reflection reduction are extremely difficult to re-create after the fact in Photoshop. Not impossible, but painstakingly time consuming, and for the sake of a few seconds experimentation at the time, and the price of a case of a good red it’s a no-brainer.

I also use the two circular neutral density filters quite a lot, though obviously not together! I find the Singh-Ray variable ND filter very useful for adding just a little adjustable density to cut out enough ambient light just to slow my shutter a stop or two, though I do often find that it throws a rather bluey colourcast when dialed all the way in. This would be when I use the B+W 110. It’s great fun to use and artistically opens up a lot of options. The downside is that once it’s on, you can’t see diddley through the viewfinder so focus and composition have to be set up before screwing on the filter. Then it’s some calculated guess work to get a ball park shutter speed.

Khounagsi waterfall, Laos by Neil Alexander

Finally, graduated neutral density filters are exactly that. The graduation can be either hard or soft. I would use a hard one, if there was clear separation between the dark and light zones in my scene; an ocean horizon for example. Or I’d use a soft if there were elements from my foreground that extended into the lighter zone; buildings or trees spring to mind.

I’ve written a couple of posts previously on using neutral density filters so to save going over old ground, there’s “The key to long exposures“, “Silky water shots – it’s not that hard” and “Variable neutral density filters“.

You can also get reverse grads, gold and blue polarisers, infra-red filters…. the list is almost endless, but the only one of those that I’ve ever really had my eye on is a Gold ‘n’ Blue polariser simply because the effects it can create can be stunning.

Finally, in case you missed it, on Friday I posted April’s desktop wallpaper for you to download and use complete with a handy little calendar – Get them out here.

April Desktop Wallpaper by Neil Alexander

Another month has flown by and summer is approaching. Before you know it, it’ll be Christmas again… I’ll stop right there.

This month’s desktop wallpaper was a photograph I made one misty morning a couple of weeks ago around Dunham in Cheshire. I like the simplicity of this image, and the echo of the tree in the foreground with the one futher back in the frame almost under it’s wing. It’s almost like father and son.

I’ve done the same sizes as last month, but also added a 1024×768 for smaller screens.
Knock yourselves out:

April Desktop Wallpaper – 2560 x 1440

April Desktop Wallpaper -1920 x 1080

April Desktop Wallpaper -1280 x 800

April Desktop Wallpaper -1024 x 768

The simplest way to download is to right click on the appropriate size for you and select “open in new tab” or “open in new window”. You can then set it as your desktop background from there.

If there’s a specific size that you want, or it looks a little stretched on your monitor, let me know the dimensions you require in the comments below.