OK, so I say finished. There are a few others I might come back to….

Another trip to Townhouse last night and yet again another great opportunity to photograph a professional model. Sandra was fantastic, able to take direction and generally make stuff up when I got flustered.

It was also the first time I got to use my new camera in a proper lighting session and I have to say I’m quite happy with the results. There are a few things I need to work out and be a little more comfortable with, but time and practice is what’s needed.

I’ve also started thinking it might be time to actually organise a studio night with the owner directly. The evenings are great, but I find I spend a lot of time copying other photographers poses and I’d like to get experience tweaking the lighting to suit the shot I want. Mind you, I’m still terrified I’ll run out of ways to pose or light the model 10 minutes in to a several hour session!

That said, it’s great to meet other photographers as well. I probably learn as much standing talking and seeing their work as I do talking to the model.

There is one unconsidered downside to these model nights and the new camera is the sheer amount of disk space an image now needs. I took 111 photographs last night and I need to start getting ruthless!

Like I said, I’ve 111 photographs to work though. Expect a few more photographs of Sandra. I might even have a lighting shot.

I wonder if I announce I’m not happy with this, can I go back and try again. Just for the practice you understand. Not for the pints these wonderful devices generate…

My first ever yellow rose – playing with water splashes, through to positioning in the frame and including one of my favourite rose pictures. I’ve used roses for selective colourisation, for isolation using flashguns and of course just because they were pretty.

So, what drove me to look at all the rose pictures I’d taken? Finishing this one….

Oh, and I’ve started playing with borders on images. I’m also debating putting my name on them!

Nothing much to say about this. Only tip is not to let a six year old help by dropping the sweets. Each time I took the picture there seemed to be a few less sweets in the shot….

At the time I struggled – my 400D wasn’t up to the task of low light photography. ISO 400 and above was just noise and blur and nonsense. I don’t think it’s right to use flash at something like this.

Well, last night I went back with my new 5Dmk2 body. I’m still getting the hang of it – I only realised in the middle of the gig I still didn’t know how to record video… I still had some noise issues to contend with, but since I was shooting at ISO4000 I’m not going to complain.

Thanks to Steve, Dave and the artists for letting me intrude and take photographs. Photography aside, it’s a lovely way to spend a Sunday night listening to some great, original, music.

In the meantime, I spent a little time on Saturday playing with some flashes and a more conventional white background.

Earlier in the year, after another round of painful set-up with improvised boxes and pieces of card and cloth, I decided to buy a simple background stand. I choose this PhotoSel stand since it was cheap and I had the Amazon vouchers. I’m not convinced of the quality of it – a few pieces are very tight when put together and hard to disassemble, but as a little home background set it does the job.

Working alongside a couple of flashguns, it’s possible to light most objects, although I still sturggle to get the background as bright as I’d want. Still it’s fun to learn.