Sunday 31 March 2013

Aberystwyth Coast

Probably best to view this one large. Used a 9-stop ND filter to allow a long exposure and blur the water a little despite it being a sunny day.
 
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/22 @ 24 mm, 10s, ISO 50, No Flash

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Revisiting and reprocessing.

Hi all

I fancied having another play with a couple of recent shots. I reprocessed St Basil's in HDR Efex Pro 2 and ГУМ mall in Silver Efex Pro 2.

Both these plugins are from Nik Software and they currently have an offer on their entire collection.

I tried to make St Basil's less artificial looking and  ГУМ mall look more vintage.

 

Sunday 24 March 2013

Candid at the ГУМ Fountain

ГУМ (or GUM) is a famous mall in Moscow that has entrances on Red Square.

I liked the lady's thoughtful look and grabbed the shot. Being close by with a wide angle lens helps to get a more natural look in candids - it doesn't spook the subjects.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.4 @ 24 mm, 1/500, ISO 400, Flash

Wednesday 20 March 2013

St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow - Inside and Out

2 HDR's and a low light shot today!

I was very impressed with St Basil's, but the light outside was flat and boring so I added some contrast and punch by taking 3 bracketed exposures and using Photomatix.

The last shot I used the 50mm f/1.2 wide open - partly because of the low light levels inside and partly because I wanted a very thin dof.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/3.5 @ 24 mm, ISO 100
 
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/2.8 @ 50 mm, ISO 100
 
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/20, ISO 400, No Flash
 

Tuesday 19 March 2013

View from the Ritz & Bunker 42

I'm in Moscow on business for a few days. I was privileged to stay at the Ritz Carlton for the first night - the roof-top bar afforded great views across Red Square

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.6 @ 24 mm, ISO 800
 
Today we had a number of presentations followed by food, traditional dancing and singing in Bunker 42 - this is a nuclear bunker 65m underground - equivalent of about 18 storeys down!
 
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/125, ISO 800, No Flash,
 

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Virgin Galactic SS2

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/1.4 @ 35 mm, ISO 100

Who's a pretty boy then?

My fisheye has gone to pastures new to make way for this beast - the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM

I reckoned that the 35mm would get more use. I have owned the Canon 35mm f/1.4 L in the past and this new lens appears to be far superior. It is very sharp wide open (as the shot below demonstrates) and renders out of focus areas beautifully.

In the shot below the focus point is on the eye. This is a fairly heavy crop. Viewing the original at 100% shows the eye to be silly-sharp! The Canon's 35mm f/1.4 is a great lens, but not ideal wide open unlike the Sigma. (Bob L - just order one!)

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/1.4 @ 35 mm, 1/200, ISO 400, Flash

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Bryan

Here's a picture of my colleague, Bryan, taken whilst on a business trip last week.
 
I wanted to capture lights in the background, but at a realistic brightness for the time of night. I dialled in some negative exposure compensation and used a wide aperture (which also helped to blur the background).
 
I liked the 'honest' nature of this portrait - no false smile or contrived expression.
 
 
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/160, ISO 200, Flash