H Robb Photography Blog

NEW WEBSITE AND BLOG

2012-01-04T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

This is my old photography blog. You can visit my current website, blog and Facebook page by following the links below:

www.hamishrobb.co.uk

www.facebook.com/HamishRobbPhotography

Thank you!

Turning Plates...

2011-06-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Shots for Glasgow band Turning Plates, soon to be seen on their EP.

Defense talks ongoing...

2011-06-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

Alex Salmond and team discussing the future of some of Scotland's airbases at St.Andrews house, Edinburgh.

First wedding of the season

2011-06-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

Jon and Anna were married at Greenside Parish Church in Edinburgh and had their reception at the nearby Royal Terrace hotel. A terrific wedding though the only downside was not getting to cover the ceremony from the church floor/gallery photos only in this case.

At least one thing goes wrong at every wedding and something quite unusual occurred when we headed to a private suite in the hotel to get some shots. Upon entering the suite we found the room was occupied by several men praying who had duly left their shoes at the door! I don't think that one will happen to me again. We made up for it with some nice intimate shots in the lift, great striplight in there. I had also been asked to cover all of the food preparations by Jon as he works as a chef, something I will probably do more often - though technically I'm supposed to get a break at that point!

Day out in Dunfermline - Shoot by the river

2011-04-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Marvels Music Video

2011-04-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

Helped out recently on a music video for Edinburgh band The Marvels. Finished product looks great and was quickly turned around by very talented director/producer Ryan Jon Amey (more details on his Vimeo page).

The Marvels - "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" from Ryan Jon Amey on Vimeo.

Save the Odeon Film 'n' Fireworks

2011-04-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

Free 'Film 'n' Fireworks' evening in St Patrick's Square, Edinburgh, next to the old Odeon cinema. The main feature was BAFTA Award Winning 'Local Hero', and the evening concluded with a big bang - fireworks on the Meadows. The aim of the night was to raise public awareness of the demolition threat.

Hearts v Hibs: Big Edinburgh Derby!

2011-04-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

Goodbye speedlites hello Elinchrom Ranger!

2011-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

I bit the bullet and bought myself an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra pack recently. As much as I love off-camera lighting with speedlites they often are not powerful enough limiting how much ambient light you can cut out. You can add some seriously cool modifiers to the Elinchrom heads too! Although the speedlites are a necessity for some photo jobs these studio style strobes are really good for creative lighting when you have a bit more time on your hands.

The battery pack is 400W and I opted for two heads though I will probably have to add another pack at some point because of the cables and the Asymmetric function of the pack - meaning power is split 66% to one head and 33% the other. The whole set-up is incredibly light considering how much power it gives out - 2 stops more than my Canon 580EX - and pretty easy to set-up. Added bonuses include changing power settings from the transmitter on camera and the modelling light which might come in handy for video stuff.

When they arrived in the post I headed out to give them a go and had to settle for photographing myself on a cold winter afternoon with a timer, very happy with the results though! A head up high camera right on me and B head low camera right lighting up foreground.

Racing legend Jackie Stewart

2011-03-10T02:14:00.000-08:00

Photographed former Formula One champion Jackie Stewart a few months back. He was in Edinburgh to give a speech for Dyslexia Scotland. It can be hard trying to get some half decent shots when you are in a small space with three other photographers and have five minutes with someone. It's something you get used to. Anyway, the Daily Mirror Group bought one of the pics so that was good. My press images are syndicated with universal news and sport and the scribe.

Jackie is Vice President of the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) and admitted that discovering he had dyslexia was like “being saved from drowning”. World champion three times, racing in 99 Grand Prix in all from 1965-1973, Stewart won a record-breaking 27 of them – a marker that stood for 14 years until Alain Prost passed it.

Blog revamp

2011-02-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

Bear with me while the blog undergoes a facelift, I'm very new to HTML!

Miserable weather today

2011-02-19T05:45:00.000-08:00

The picture below wasn't taken today but you get the point. Bad weather should not necessarily stop you going out and taking pictures. I was about 20m out from shore with my tripod legs sat in the water, my boots soaking wet and the spray from the waves constantly forming water drops on the front of the lens.

Hilarious wedding photo site

2011-02-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.derekpyephotography.com/

Click to learn what a Schindler is!

HUGE Cairngorms panorama

2011-02-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

It's amazing what you can do with photo software these days. This picture of the Cairngorm mountains taken last year is 15 (if I remember correctly!) individual pictures seamlessly stitched together in Photoshop CS5 with the touch of a button. Ansel Adams would have loved this technology, something he was always on top of. The hard part, yes there was a hard part, was trekking half way up a suitable hillside with a clear enough view of the mountains as the sun started to dip and then finding my way back down in near darkness. Taken with a 5D MK2 and 70-200mm lens (using the long lens meant I avoided any parallax too) the final RAW output (far too large for TIFF's) was something like 500MB! Just imagine how big you could print stuff like this! I'm heading up to this area again in March and hope to get some nice landscape stuff done.

Linking Blog to Flickr

2011-02-08T05:26:00.001-08:00

Just learned you can link your blog to your Flickr account. In fact, this post is written on a Flickr entry albeit without the template stuff you get on Blogger. Will be handy in future. Here's a picture from the student protests that took place in Edinburgh a few months ago, like the bridge background in this. The preview pic is low quality though using this method and when you click it takes you through to my Flickr account.

Homework promo shots

2011-02-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

I was asked recently by a friend of mine to do some promo shots of his band. Homework, who are fronted by Oliver Kass are earning recognition as one of Scotland's next top bands having already played at T in the Park. The band members are all excellent musicians in their own right and are beginning to forge their careers in the music industry having all studied at Napier University (or Edinburgh Napier as it's now called!). The photos are part of Oliver's efforts to promote the band on several fronts as they prepare to release their debut album. We were lucky enough to have access to Camera Obscura in Edinburgh for a few hours and had fun checking out all of the weird optical illusions, thanks to the folks there for allowing us access.

No photoshop involved: the first picture is taken in a room where one end slopes away and down a few feet to give a funny shrinking/gigantic effect. The second picture is taken on a walkway that has a revolving drum of lights around it kind of like being inside a washing machine, the first time you walk across that thing you feel sick! After a while you get used to it, but well worth a visit just for that.

Spot of mountain biking today

2011-02-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Went up Kemback Woods in Fife today to take some snaps of a few mountain bikers I know. I had two flashes with me wrapped in plastic in case it really started tipping down but the weather stayed fair. The majority of biking photos play on a few techniques, either the action is caught super sharp (best with short flash duration strobes) or you can give your background a bit of a blur with a slower shutter and perhaps some second-curtain sync.

Unfortunately, most of my photos from today came out a bit OOF and it's because I wasn't tracking the rider before I took a picture (low light conditions playing havoc too). I don't photograph much action or sports. That's now been put in the memory bank. Though I was quite happy with the last couple of pics I took considering this is new to me, just felt like I was starting to get into it. 1/40th, F4, ISO 160, 580ex camera right up high and 430ex camera left down low to give catchlight. Those eyes are sharp!

It's important not to flash riders head on or too strongly as well, for safety. I would say that in biking photos the most important things are getting good catchlights which can be difficult. Also trying to convey speed is important, though if you can freeze the action too this is good for capturing the rider in a pose when cornering or mid-jump for instance. Super wide-angle lenses are useful here too. Another thing I learned is that having a fast camera is not always too your advantage, at best you can fire off about 2/3 flashes in a row at quarter power. Though if it was any more I think the riders might be having a word with you!

First Minister Alex Salmond opens the Hydrogen Office in Methil, Fife

2011-01-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

The state-of-the-art demonstration and research facility, powered by sophisticated hydrogen fuel cell technology, forms part of Fife’s flagship Energy Park, and is expected to become one of Europe’s leading locations for innovation and development of renewable technology. The Hydrogen Office energy system includes a 750kW wind turbine, 30kw electrolyser, 10kW hydrogen fuel fell and a geothermal source heat pump. My press images are syndicated with universal news and sport and the scribe.

Methil is not a pretty place, this is probably as good as it gets.

Made it to 2nd page of The Scotsman, Daily Express, Metro and more...read on

2011-01-05T04:19:00.000-08:00

Myself and a photographer friend, Toby Williams, decided to take some pictures of the recent partial eclipse. The astrological event was barely visible in most parts of the UK because of thick cloud cover. However, we knew that if we were high enough up we had a better chance than most of seeing it - and hopefully getting some pics. So we climbed Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh that morning for the best view, leaving the house at about 7:30am with a load of gear. Our hard work paid off and we did get something in the end: a picture on the 2nd page of The Scotsman.

The caption reads "A lone photographer watches the eclipse" etc. That is actually me in the shot and I am not alone - but the way the paper have presented the picture makes it more unique than a straight forward picture of the eclipse. Of course we had planned the whole thing beforehand. We knew that stunning pictures of the eclipse taken by meteorological institutes would be submitted so we thought if we gave the picture some context if would have a better chance of being used - and earning some money. Of course it helps that Toby is a regular contributor to The Scotsman and that they had asked another photographer to cover the event but got nothing. Toby used his 400mm lens with a 2x converter standing about 60m behind me. You can view the picture full size below.

Toby had to take hundreds of pics to get it right. The main problem being the shift in exposure caused by the sun popping in and out of the clouds. Focusing was also an issue and the picture used is not sharp on me but is on the sun. You can tell from the picture above but not when viewing it in the paper. Below is another picture submitted that may have been more suitable in my opinion - this time sharp on me with the sun slightly out of focus.

Just had a look at today's Daily Express and they have used the pic too - and my name was mentioned - which is nice. Have now learned that pic got used in five papers including Guardian.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well 2010 has come to an end and it has been a year of ups and downs. Thanks to my family for supporting and believing in me. Hopefully 2011 will be a good year as far as my photography is concerned - some exciting stuff in the pipeline. As for the Hogmanay that passed, I watched the Edinburgh firework display from the Craggs. It was only right that we took some cameras up and got some shots as well as drink copious amounts of alcohol!

Goodbye snow...

2010-12-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Forgotten photos from 2010...

2010-12-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

Back when I had one flash and no gels or diffusers.

I appreciate all comments...good or bad!

Lunar eclipse obscured by clouds

2010-12-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

Last night's lunar eclipse was only partially visible from where I live. I had planned on capturing a time lapse of the event but once I realised that I wouldn't be able to get the whole thing I decided to just go to bed. Shame. Apparently they had good visibility down in parts of England, plenty of pics up on the newspaper sites. Here's what I did get. The pic on the right shows the eclipse entering it's first phase.

Is split toning a good idea for wedding photos?

2010-12-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

The image below has 'split toning' applied to it. Essentially the image is broken into highlights and shadows and then a colour chosen to represent each, in this case a subtle mix of orange and purple before being desaturated slightly. It gives the photo a nice look and feel which looks kind of 1970's to me! Maybe its just the curtains!

Anyway, this technique is very popular with American wedding photographers (as are another load of processing tricks). I struggled to find any wedding photographer in Scotland using a similar approach. Are they just lazy, behind with the times and prefer not work on their images, is it because we prefer far more traditional wedding photographs in this country or is it because the technique itself makes for unappealing photos?

What's in my camera bag?

2010-12-19T05:59:00.000-08:00

Canon 5D MK2

Canon 24-70 F2.8

Canon 580EX and two 430EX

external battery pack for flash

Pocket Wizard's

light diffusers and gels

flash stands and sync cable

Rode videomic

LCD viewfinder

filter wrenches (for pulling focus)

spare batteries

Canon 1D MK2

Canon 70-200 F2.8

remote timer

small Manfrotto tripod

ND4 filter

Cokin filter with two ND8's

duct tape

lens pen

small USB cable

spare CF cards

By no means an exhaustive list. Other essentials include pen and paper, business cards etc. I don't take the filming stuff (mic, viewfinder) everywhere and usually just pack what I think I will need. I have another holdall which takes my bigger tripod, light stand, softbox, reflector, video slider and large white sheets. Good footwear and the right clothing are also very important.