Branched

I didn’t have a chance to take any photos this weekend unfortunately. That was Bex’s job this weekend! So I used a photo that I had taken last weekend, when we were walking around the centre of town.

For this photo I had the camera in aperture priority and as I was close to the subject I used a relatively large aperture (F8) to ensure that everything I wanted was in focus. I left the camera to choose the shutter speed and the ISO speed, which it chose to be 1/80^th of a second and ISO 125. I had the white balance set into auto because I was using RAW format so I could adjust the white balance afterwards if it required changing.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and the sharpness slightly. I also increased the amount of green while lowering the colour balance. I did this to make the photo look more punchy and give the photo some vibrancy.

Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go for a photography wander at some point this week. But if not I still have lots of photos that I can upload, and Bex took some fantastic photos yesterday which I’m sure she would love to upload for you.

Mat

Dedicated Follower Of Fasion

As promised, for the next day or two, Daily Wanders is to turn into the hub for all that is on trend this season! Today, I did the photography for a day of fashion shows being held at the local shopping centre. The shows were approximately an hour long, with a mixture of children and adults, but the children definitely stole the show!

At the end of each show, the models were invited onto the stage individually, before a finale. One of the favourite models of the day was a young girl called Faye. She was one of the last to walk down the runway, so I managed to get a photo that I was really happy with. I used a flashgun at the event, as I wanted to highlight each model, and not have to worry about a possible lack of light. I used a guide number of 16, coupled with an aperture of F11, as I wanted a dark background to focus attention on Faye. It didn’t work as well as I wanted it to, because I couldn’t go under 1/160th, and didn’t want the depth of field to be any deeper.

I was a little disappointed with the original image, so decided to try to edit it. I decreased the highlights, decreased the brightness and increased the contrast. Finally, I sharpened the image. Having been a little disappointed with the original image, I was pleased with the difference editing it had made. Today was hugely enjoyable, if a little stressful due to technical issues! Keep checking Daily Wanders over the next few days for all the latest trends!

Bex
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Shadowed

Foremost, I must apologise for hardly appearing on Daily Wanders so far this month; I have been incredibly busy with deadlines to meet, so the blog has very much been left for Mat to run. I should be able to post more regularly after this past week of madness. Now, more importantly, today’s post.

I called this image shadow for 3 reasons. Initially, for the black background; created by under-exposing when using flash to lose the detail purposely. Secondly, the shadow of the first flower is cast onto the second. Finally, a slightly more abstract reason; the flower behind shadows the foremost, and the way it is placed makes it look like a colour shadow, or a reflection of the front most flower.

I took this photo when out for lunch after a photography wander with Mat; the café had flowers on each table, so we spent most of our time ignoring each other! I’m really pleased with this image because it has a lot of different perspectives that you could see, but also because it was a rare “lucky shot”. I didn’t need to edit this picture, as I liked the original. I love being able to use the original image, because it shows that you are improving as a photographer. I’m photographing a fashion show tomorrow, so if you like photography, and like to be on trend, Daily Wanders is the place to be!!

Bex

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Scampering Squirrel

I know I very recently uploaded a photo of a squirrel but I had taken a lot of photos of the squirrel and this is one of the photos that I really liked. I was trying to take a photo of the squirrel as it was scampering along.

To capture the photo I used the camera in shutter priority and selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second. I also selected an ISO of ISO800, as this would enable the use of this shutter speed. The camera chose an aperture of F5.6 as I was overexposing by 1/3 of a stop. I didn’t use the flash as I didn’t want the squirrel to be scared away.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the image was exposed and with how the colours had been replicated. I was happy with how I had composed the photo so I didn’t crop the photo. Overall I was happy with the effect I had created when taking the photo.

Unfortunately Bex has been very busy recently with a lot of important deadlines coming up soon. She apologises and tells me that she is missing the blog, but she will be back blogging very soon. I still have a few more photos that I can upload from last weekend, but hopefully I will get a chance to go out for a photography wander at some point over the weekend.

Mat

Urban Road

Following on from yesterdays post, I thought I should upload another urban landscape. I thought I should upload this one as it is a bit different. The effect I was trying to create was a high contrasting scene, between the bright sky and the dark buildings in the foreground.

To create this high contrast I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F20 selected; I then underexposed the photo by one stop. By underexposing this makes the sky clearly visible but puts the buildings in the foreground into a dark shadow. I like this effect as I makes the building look like they are being looked over by the bright sky. I used the preset white balance for daylight as I thought this would give the most accurate balance of colours.

In the editing stage, I increased the contrast and the shadows, to bring back some details that had been lost. I then changed the amount of blue and red in the photo; I did this to make the blue of the sky very vibrant and to stand out clearly from the rest of the photo. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the photo.

I’m very pleased with how the urban photos that I have been taking have come out. I like urban photography as the possibilities are almost endless, around every corner lays a different photograph to be taken. Being able to spot and capture these photos is the most challenging and fun part of urban photography and will defiantly keep me going back into the city.

Mat

Cityscape

This photo I had taken on the trip Bex and I took into town over the weekend. We were waiting at the bus-stop, our bus was running slightly late, which meant I had some spare time. I saw that behind the bus-stop was a great city view down the river and into the distance. I framed the photo to have the river in the centre with the buildings on either side completing the composition.

I had the camera in aperture priority so as I wanted a deep depth of field I selected a small aperture of F11. There was plenty of light so I didn’t have to worry about the shutter speed; because there was a lot of light I locked the ISO at ISO 100, to keep the quality as high as possible. The camera selected a shutter speed of 1/125^th of a second to complete the exposure. I increased the saturation in camera to make the colours look punchier.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo came out of the camera. The exposure was calculated accurately and didn’t require any adjustments. I was also happy with how the colours had been replicated, I’m glad I increased the saturation in camera as it really makes the orange colours on the buildings look very vibrant.

I enjoy taking photos of the inside of cities, it is a bit of a struggle to capture a photo without any vehicles or any people in; but I always enjoy a challenge! I very much forward to the next time.

Mat

Daffodil

This photo was taken on the trip into town that Bex and I went on recently. I saw that some daffodils were growing in the shelter of a wall. I thought by making the depth of field very short I could isolate the daffodil and create an interesting composition.

To ensure the depth of field was small enough I used an aperture of F8, this kept the the depth of field large enough for the entire flower to be sharp, but small enough for the background to become blurred out of focus. I left the camera to select the shutter speed and the ISO, which it chose 1/200^th and ISO 250 respectively.

To edit the photo I lowered the brightness down and increased the shadows, I did this to keep the lighting even across the photo. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with how I had framed the photo and the colours had been replicated perfectly.

I’m glad we managed to get out for a photography trip; I’ve now got lots more photos to upload to the blog. Although, I still might go out on another photography trip because I have some ideas that I want to try out in our local nature reserve.

Mat