The Calm After The Storm

Today there was quite a lot of rain, not quite a storm but still a substantial amount. After the rain had passed and when I had a spare moment I decided to go out for walk. I didn’t have much time so I didn’t venture out too far.

The rain had settled and created some very interesting effects. To capture the droplets of rain on the grass I used an aperture of F5.6 this keeps the droplets sharp but also blurs the background to create a pleasing composition. I tried using the flash on this photo but I wasn’t getting the results I had hoped for; so instead I didn’t use the flash and the photos came out much better.

The only editing I did was to crop the photo down; I positioned the piece of grass into the top left corner of the frame. I think this improves the overall composition. I didn’t change anything else because I was pleased with the rest of the photo.

Bex is back from her holiday and has shown me the photos that she has taken, from the few that I have seen they all look fantastic and some may be on the blog very soon.

Mat

Choices

I must apologise for having seemingly left the blog behind for the past week, but it’s been incredibly hectic, so I’ve been struggling to fit everything in that I need to do. At this point I must also thank Mat for looking after the blog while I’ve been rushing around!

I went to a local food market today, in which an array of items were on sale. At one stall, flavoured coffee beans were being sold out of sacks, which could be put into jars of different sizes; the coffee was arranged into two rows, which made interesting lines. I decided to take this picture at a shallow angle to make the picture more appealing and to allow the contents of one bag only to be shown.

I used a large aperture which gave the picture a shallow depth of field, so only the first sack and a little of the second were in focus. Later, I increased the saturation in Photoshop to make the picture seem more vibrant and to show the different shades of reds and browns in the coffee beans.

I love taking pictures in market environments; it always gives a unique picture, as each stall holder sets up in their own way. I find that taking pictures across the stall makes it more informative, while making sure that the shot is still artistic. I manage to get a different effect every time.

Bex
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Plateful

Today, me, Bex and some other friends went to a coffee shop during our lunch break. One of our friends had just finished their meal and the plates were about to be collected up, I thought that it looked quite interesting and so I took a photo of it. It was a spur-of-the-moment photo so was a little rushed and the quality isn’t fantastic, but I like the overall effect of the subject; with the knife and fork on one side, and the leftover food on the other.

I adjusted the light levels in photoshop to try and brighten the picture and make the plate a bit whiter. Also I darkened the background, I did this to lose some detail on the table, and therefore make the plate the focus of the photo.

I like this photo, even if it is a bit of a ‘snapshot’. I like the effect and the abstract symmetry between the knife and fork on the left, and the food on the right. I enjoy taking spur-of-the-moment photos because they are always very different and can catch the world in a way that is not normally seen.

Bex is having problems with her internet and can’t upload any photos at the moment, so you're all stuck with me and my uploads for the time being (not sure if that’s such a good thing though). Hopefully she’ll get her internet back up and running soon so that she can upload more of her fantastic quality photos. Until then, it’s down to me to hold the fort.

I hope you enjoy my uploads and don’t get too bored of me!

Mat

Jive Bunny

Even Easter bunnies like to shake their tail feather sometimes! Apologies for the musical pun but I’ve just come back from an “Eggstra” special Easter broadcast.

I thought, being Easter Sunday, this picture would be rather relevant. In Thursday’s post I mentioned I had a musically saturated day with Bradley Stoke Radio’s outside broadcast team. I was lucky enough to be offered the role of photographer to which I readily agreed!

As I was walking back from getting myself a coffee to warm up from the freezing temperatures, I saw this seasonal mascot enjoying the music.

Now to get myself some chocolate… I hope you had a great, chocolate filled day!

Bex

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Coffee Under Glass

This is my first proper post on our blog, and while wandering around our local town today I noticed this coffee shop so I spun the camera on it’s side, focused just above the door, waited for a gap in the flow of people and took the snap. As I don’t have my own DSLR yet, I borrowed Bex’s Olympus to take the snap. Nothing special or amazing but I thought it would make a good picture. Maybe next time I’ll take something more creative?

Mat