Food Lookout

I took this photo earlier this year on the trip that Bex and I went on to our local town. I remember this trip because of the very friendly squirrel I found. It obviously liked the attention of the camera, because while I was taking some photos of the squirrel it didn’t move very often. So I managed to get a good set of photos while I was there.

This is one of my favourites because I managed to capture the squirrel just before it ran off, so it was looking towards a scrap off food behind a wall so I couldn’t follow for more photos. I really like the pose I captured the squirrel in just before he ran it ran off.

To capture the image I had the camera in shutter priority so I had complete control of the necessary settings. I then set the shutter speed to 1/500^th of a second, this was fast enough so that any movement made by the squirrel would be frozen and any camera shake would be removed. I didn’t have my flash gun with me during the photography wander, but it wasn’t required because the sky was partially cloudy which caused the light to be diffused perfectly. I overexposed the photo by 1 and 1/3^rd of a stop to compensate for the brighter background.

To edit the photo I cropped the image down to focus the attention onto the squirrel. I also boosted the contrast to give the photo a little extra vividness. I was experimenting with the colour tone and the saturation; I tried increasing the colour tone while decreasing the saturation. Which increased the reds while decreasing all other colours, because the squirrel is predominantly grey this creates a stronger contrast and makes the squirrel stand out more from the background, particularly as the squirrel is standing on a small patch of green foliage which jumps out from the background.

I’m very impressed with how the image looks after I edited it; it looks very different from how it came out of the camera. I think the photo looks a lot better after I edited it, the composition looks a lot better and the lack of colour I think makes the squirrel stand out from the background a lot more than before.

Mat

Peering Flower

I took quite a lot of photos while out on our walk on Saturday. I know I was taking photos in a city but there were a lot of green areas. In one of these there was a small group of flowers. They made an interesting composition so I decided to take a photo of them.

For this photo I wanted a very small depth of field so I decided to use my telephoto lens. I set the aperture as wide as possible which gave the short depth of field that I was looking for. For this photo I didn’t use my flash gun because I tried some test shots and the photos didn’t look as good when compared with the photos taken without flash. I boosted the saturation and the contrast in camera to give the photo some extra ‘punch’.

I liked how the camera had captured the photo so I decided not to edit the photo. I didn’t want to spoil the effect that I had created.

I still have a few more photos that I can upload to show you. So for the next art on start on few days I shall be using the photos that I took on Saturday, I hope you enjoy them.

Mat

With a Twist

I love old books! This may seem rather out of the blue, but it’s not as uncalled for as you may initially think. Mat and I went into town today, and despite the constant lashings of rain, I took my camera. During the late afternoon, I walked towards a local market that runs all year round. It’s here that the book comment begins to make sense.

The market is unlike others, in which the stalls are actually furnished shops the size of a stall- one of these is a bookshop entitled “Beware of the Leopard”. I love it as it’s the type of shop that’s a muddle and prevents you seeing over the top of each isle; it’s completely floor-to-ceiling with different works. I found a small photography book from 1944; I loved it and have spent the entire evening pouring over it until my head was ready to explode with inspiration. On the way back from the market I walked through a courtyard, which led onto a small church. I took this photo in the courtyard during the brief deficiency of rain.

The photo had little colour in, and was rather uninspiring. I’ve always been told that if colour adds nothing to the photo, then it’s absence is probably a good thing- I ignored this. I increased the contrast in Photoshop to lose detail in the skyscraper behind and to increase the prominence of the clouds. I then sharpened the image to make the noise show up more, adding interest to the sky. While debating over the presence of colour, I accidentally over-saturated it. I decided I liked this so experimented further. I increased the hue to give the picture some warmer tones.

I’m really pleased with the effect of this image; ignore anyone who tells you the fore mentioned rule- they’re wrong. Rules- 0; Becky- 1.

Bex

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Mid-winter Wanders

I went for another walk today; this time towards a local harbour. As I was getting ready to go home I decided to try taking a photo that faced up towards the steps, but it was too busy. I tried to adapt my shot a little by purposely getting some people into the frame. I took the photo on an angle to add a little more interest rather than a straight and rather dull shot.

It was quite a bleak afternoon; clouds lined the whole sky so no detail could be seen. I decided to play up to the empty white background by making the rest of the image moodier. I desaturated the image, but not completely; this meant that you could still see a little blue colour in the clothes. I sharpened the image to emphasise all the imperfections of the worn-away staircase. I also increased the contrast to make the image seem more dramatic.

My camera doesn’t have a live view function, so it was a bit of a guess as to the end result. I like how you can’t see much of the people; it gives the image a little mystery. Overall, I’m pleased with my photo. Sometimes, making the best of a bad situation will give you a good end result.

Bex

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Boating

This photo was taken on the Christmas market that Bex and I visited last week. The Christmas market was situated just beside small quay where there was some canal boats moored to the side. I liked the composition that they had made.

To take this photo I put the camera into aperture priority and selected an aperture of F16, this ensured that everything from the foreground to the background was in sharp focus. The camera chose a shutter speed of 1/13^th of a second; I was using image stabilisation at the time so I could take the photo hand held. I didn’t use flash because the background was too far away from the camera so the foreground highlights would have overexposed.

To edit the image I increased the sharpness and cropped the photo down to concentrate the focus onto the two canal boats. Also I wanted to crop out some distractions on the right side of the frame. By increasing the sharpness the photo looks more detailed and has become more striking than before. I didn’t change the exposure because I was happy with how the camera had calculated the exposure.

The weather has been very bad recently so our trip out has been postponed until this weekend. Hopefully if the weather does clear we shall get a chance to take some more photos outdoors. If not I shall look through my computer because I have some other photos lined up that I can upload.

Mat

Autumnal Amble

I’m back… sort of. I was feeling a little brighter today so Mat and I went for a walk around the outskirts of town. Towards the beginning of the year, we found this place by accidentally getting on the wrong bus (don’t ask). It may have been cold and late whilst we were anxious to get home, but it was a nice place to wait for the correct bus.

I explained to my family that evening, and they told me how I could get back there. Since then we have visited the same place a few times and different points in the year. It’s amazing how as the year progresses, it changes completely; it seems almost as if you’re visiting somewhere new each time. I think my favourite season of the year to photograph is in autumn; it sounds a little cliché, but the colours of the leaves really do add so much interest!

It’s really odd to see when walking, as one road is completely green then as soon as you turn the corner you are faced with a sea of fire. The vast stretch of pavement is lined by trees each side with benches in between. Around this time of year you completely lose sight of the floor as it gives way to a carpet of colour.

In this photo I used a custom white balance (6000K) to make the colours warmer; I also increased the contrast and sharpness on the camera. I haven’t done any editing after this as I was pleased with the photo and didn’t want to make the colours appear artificial.

This is one of my favourite places to visit, as it doesn’t seem possible that you could ever tire of it. It’s difficult to get to, but really is worth it and I can’t wait until I can go again. There’s also a very nice café near by – coffee please!

Bex

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Stalls

This is another photo from my holiday, as I still have many to upload and so little time to take new pictures!! I took this photo on the first full day of our holiday when we went shopping.

As described in a previous post, the shopping centre opens out to reveal a long high street with small pathways spiralling off of it. I’ve visited the same place several times, so I’ve been down most of them. The trouble is that they ALL lead to another winding alley, which leads to another and another, and so on.

I walked a little further down the street before turning off this time, and I found two large archways in what seemed to look like a long forgotten part of town. I heard noises so walked in to see what was going on and was faced with the buzz of a traditional market place.

I took this picture using ISO 1600 so that I could get a fast enough shutter speed whilst still being able to use an aperture of F8 to get a deeper depth of field. I didn’t do any editing apart from noise removal, as I wanted to keep the photo as close to the original as possible.

It’s near impossible to find the same streets more than once, but I certainly hope that I’m able to find this one again- I love it!!! Retro sweets anyone?

Bex

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Trails

I’m back!!! Firstly I must apologise for abandoning the blog, and secondly I should thank Mat for keeping Daily Wanders running smoothly while I have been munching on throat sweets like they were smarties!

Today, I was feeling better and was in need of getting some fresh air. Mat and I have wanted to try taking photos of light trails ever since we first started the blog back in April, but it’s gone dark too late throughout the summer season.

This evening, we walked to a bridge over the motorway, not far from the town. We took Mat’s tripod, my E-500 and several layers to try and capture the action! For this particular shot, I used an exposure time of 20 seconds at ISO100 with an aperture of F18. I tried to take out as much light as possible to allow for a longer exposure time.

When using a slower shutter speed, I was presented with the problem of the white burning out, but needing this time for more vivid reds. To combat this, I tried to take the photo when there was a lot of traffic on one side, but not a lot coming towards us.

Later, I used the remove colour cast tool to correct the yellow tint to the picture; I also increased the contrast to make the colours stand out. I love how you can see a few stars in the sky and reflections on the wet road. I also like how it wasn’t completely dark when we took the pictures, so you can still see some light on the horizon.

Apart from all the thoughts of rain, illness and general melancholy brought about by the thought of winter, it can’t be all bad! At least I can do more shots like this without becoming deprived of sleep. At last- a cheery note to winter!!

Bex

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Going Places

One of my friends and I went for a walk with my camera last week. We’re both into photography, but we’re both a little crazy so there was just as much messing around as there was photography.

One of the places that we walked was around a local college. The building differs slightly in design as you walk around it, making it interesting to look at along side the grounds. Hannah walked out in front as she was looking at the college, so I decided to take a “natural” portrait shot.

I thought the picture looked quite urban and industrial, although the colours had gone slightly off due to selecting the wrong white balance. I tried to correct this, but while editing I decided to try black and white; I think it worked quite well.

The only time I use black and white is when colour doesn’t seem to add anything into the picture. I feel it’s become an expectation to see colour photos, as that is what we are used to. I enjoy breaking the trend!!

Bex

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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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Contradictory

You may recall that during my post on the 5^th August (“Indeed”), I uploaded a picture of a sign next to some graffiti. In this post, I mentioned that the pictures I took of the artwork itself were more like snapshots-which I thought they were… until I found this picture!

I saw this graffiti by chance as I was walking past the wall on my way to a local art gallery on the edge of the harbour. I noticed this out of the corner of my eye. Wondering what it was, I stopped to take a look. I walked over to the other side of the road to get a view of the artwork in full.

I had to use a wide-angle lens at a 45mm focal length. I used a small aperture to get a large depth of field so none of the scene was out of focus. Later in Photoshop, I increased the contrast while decreasing the brightness, and then increased the saturation.

If you hadn’t previously guessed, I’m firmly on the side of artwork when it comes to the “art or graffiti” argument. I love this; I think it’s amazing how every time you look you spot another detail that you missed before.

Bex

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Evening Traffic

I took this picture yesterday on a late night photography wander. I was just walking up to the main road and I liked how the street lights and the traffic could be seen from far away (but incredibly faintly).

I walked a little closer to them but decided that they looked better from afar. I tried to take a picture to see how it turned out but the camera wouldn’t focus. I changed modes to manual focus but when looking through the viewfinder I thought it looked quite interesting out of focus.

I love the effect that it created- I actually prefer the picture out of focus to being in focus. Sometimes, struggling to manually focus isn’t a bad thing!

Bex

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Ongoing Alley

I took this photo on our recent holiday on one of our wanders in the local town. I saw some bollards in a small side alley that Bex and I had ventured down to look for photos.

This time I had my own camera on me- I’ve recently taken on my Dad’s old Pentax ME Super 35mm film SLR camera. When I get the film processed I also order a copy of the photos on a CD, so I can upload my own pictures to the blog.

In this photo I used a telephoto lens (135mm) so that I could get a small depth of field and create an interesting effect. The effect being that the further down the line of bollards, the more out of focus they become. I really like it because it focuses the attention on the first few bollards and then it draws your eyes down the line towards the end.

Another good thing about being able to get my photos on CD is that I can edit them! This time the only editing I did was to crop the photo down a little. I left the exposure unchanged to show how good 35mm film SLRs are in comparison to modern digital cameras. I think that 35mm film SLRs still have a good case against modern cameras but I’ll leave it for you to decide: Film or Digital?

Mat

A leaf out of her book

I’m back everyone!!!!! My holiday was fantastic & I really enjoyed it. I hope you didn’t miss me too much (but I did miss you). Bex and I will go back to sharing uploads as normal now (not sure if that’s a good thing).

For today’s upload I thought I would use a photo that I took before leaving for my holiday. I took a page out of Bex’s photography manual and sat down on the floor. When I noticed a twig with some leaves that had fallen to the ground, I thought they were worth a photo. I didn’t use the flash and used a low ISO to keep the noise down and the detail high. After uploading the photo onto the computer I added grainy film effect, I really like what it’s given to the photo.

I’m very glad to be back home but I’m missing my holiday already. Did any of you manage to get away during the half term? If so I hope that you had a very enjoyable time.

Mat

Snow Problem

When Bex and I were walking through town in the lush sunshine on Saturday, we decided to cool down by having a snow cone between us. It was our first snow cone and was actually very nice (even if it did seem identical to a slush puppy...)! I thought I’d take a photo of it, I know it’s pretty much a snapshot, but I thought it was worthy to be today’s upload.

I love how the ice crystals glisten in the light reflected from the pop-up flash, and I really like the contrast between the blue ice and the red ice. By using a moderately large aperture I managed to take the background out of focus which centres the attention on the snow cone itself.

The snow cone tasted very nice and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to give it a try. Bex and I will have to get out on another photography wander soon, and take some more nature shots, (and maybe some macro photos!), but I still want to continue with the street photography. What should we upload next, nature or street?

Mat

Road to Nowhere

Today’s photo is from our recent trip into town. It was in the morning and was very quiet; the sun was lovely and bright and there was plenty of light around. Bex and I were walking to the main shopping centre when I saw this little alley. I thought it was rather quaint and worth taking a photo of. I really like how the alley seems to stretch on forever in the photo. Also, the colours came out very well, really showing the detail in the blockwork and on the shop fronts. There is a lot of contrast in the photo, with the bright red on the left and the lush green on the right; and the inside of the alley with the wall on the outside.

I’m thinking of what camera I should buy myself, so I don’t need borrow Bex’s all the time. But I’m stuck between two at the moment: the Pentax K-r and the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G2. Any advice or recommendations would be very helpful.

Mat

Swaying in the Breeze

This is another photo from when Bex and I went into town at the weekend. It was towards the end of the day when we were on our way back, so all the stalls were closing down and packing up and the wind had picked up a little. On one of the stalls there were some scarves hanging up, the wind was causing them sway so I thought it would make an interesting photo.

I really like how it came out and how you can tell that they were caught in a breeze. I put the photo through Photoshop to increase the contrast and lower the highlights, this really brings out the bright colours and how they contrast with each other.

I said that I would do a more arty photo and here it is, so what do you think? I look forward to our next trip into town, and soon we will hopefully do some long timed exposures.

Mat

Oddities

I joined Mat yesterday for a wander around our town centre, and we ended up at a local indoor market (as previously mentioned in “Pocketful of Sunshine” 9^th April). I love our indoor market, I don’t normally buy anything but I love how there are so many different stall holders- it really gives all the stands their own personality.

I took this picture at one of the stands that sells items for small children. I loved how the odd socks were all hung up in a line over the stand. I decided I wanted a shallow depth of field so only the first few socks were in focus so I used a large aperture. I also increased the red tones and increased the contrast on the camera before shooting.

I love getting lost and going on adventures- it makes things more interesting and means I find strange places like this.

Bex

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Summer Street

Today me and Bex went to our local town again for some summer shopping. While walking to one of the shops I thought I could try some street photography, and that's when I saw this shot.

I used the maximum aperture possible to give a shallow depth of field and a really long focal length (around 300mm). I used the long focal length because it 'bunches' everything together and gives a shallow depth of field, it gives the impression that the street is really busy and overcrowded with people (which it was anyway!).

I think that the photo has worked very well, it came out exactly as I wanted it to when I looked through the viewfinder.

Hopefully I'll get out again to do some more street photography; and maybe combine some arty creativity into it as well?

Mat

Distractions

I will readily admit that I am incredibly easily distracted and, like most people, when I need to do work everything becomes much more interesting- today was no exception.

Mat and I have had a lot going on recently, and I brought some work home with me to finish off during the course of this evening. The glorious sunshine we’ve had over the last few days hasn’t lasted and instead we have rather reluctantly welcomed back the rain.

I try to make the best of situations, and one characteristic of rain is that it can give some interesting shots. This afternoon I was in my room when it had just stopped raining, and there were raindrops on my window. This seemed a lot more interesting than work, so I grabbed my camera to try and get some interesting photos.

I took a few that I thought were successful, and this is one of my favourites. I used the macro setting on my camera with a smaller aperture to create a more shallow depth of field. This meant the raindrops on my window were in focus while the trees behind were blurred.

After my impromptu break I did continue my work, so I apologise for yet another late post!

Bex

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