Happy Christmas!

A very Happy Christmas to all those who view my blog, whether regularly or occasionally, via email, twitter, facebook or directly! Thanks for taking the trouble to look!

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/2 @ 35 mm, 1/125, ISO 800, No Flash

Mannequins

I've read reviews of the 50mm f/1.2 suggesting it isn't sharp wide open - I have to say this isn't my experience. The full size version of this shot is crystal clear and this is exactly what a 1.2 lens is perfect for - capturing shots in ambient light.

 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/400, ISO 400

The church gate

HDR with the amazing Canon EF 24mm f1.4L II USM wide open.

 

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/1.4 @ 24 mm, ISO 100

Rocks at Aphrodite's Birthplace

Three shot HDR.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/2.8 @ 35 mm, ISO 100

Low key Tanjia

A fractal converstion from a shoot I did over two years ago!

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, f/14 @ 85 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Gecko 2!

Flash off camera on cord camera right.

 

 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/7.1 @ 100 mm, 1/200, ISO 125, Flash

Froggy!

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/8 @ 100 mm, 1/250, ISO 100, Flash,

Fractal Monkey Stare

I'm clearly tired tonight.....a fractal conversion...

Canon EOS 5D, f/4 @ 300 mm, 1/500, ISO 200

Fisheye Platform Shot

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/4 @ 15 mm, 1/320, ISO 200

Smiling Theresa

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/5.6 @ 50 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Mike Stare

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/8 @ 100 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Kayleigh profile

Profile of Kayleigh shot with @Lencarta studio lights and modifiers.

 



Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/7.1 @ 100 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Ferret's eye view

 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/4 @ 100 mm, 1/200, ISO 125, Flash

Mike and Tattoo

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/8 @ 100 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Gecko

Camera handheld and manually focussed - always a challenge! The flash was off camera on a cord held by someone else!

 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/7.1 @ 100 mm, 1/200, ISO 125, Flash

Mike posing on a stool

This was from a group studio shoot I organised yesterday. Mike was lit with an @Lencarta gridded dish from camera left and a gridded strip box from camera right.

 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/11 @ 50 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Mum and Dad at sunset in Cyprus

I wanted to keep the sunset colours while properly exposing Mum & Dad. To do this I dialled in some negative exposure compensation and used on camera flash to expose my parents.

Canon EOS 7D, f/5 @ 50 mm, 1/1600, ISO 100, Flash

 

Smoking Candid

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/640, ISO 100, No Flash

Theresa headshot

Lit with a single @Lencarta 70cm silver beauty dish.

 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/9 @ 85 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

On the London Underground

Quick snap on the tube.

Canon EOS 7D, f/4 @ 8 mm, 1/100, ISO 2000, No Flash

Chugging in Northampton

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, f/1.6 @ 50 mm, 1/1000, ISO 400, No Flash

Fishing in the docklands

Canon EOS 7D, f/8 @ 8 mm, 3 exposures, ISO 100

DLR Candid

Canon EOS 7D, f/4 @ 12 mm, 1/800, ISO 400, No Flash

De-fishing the fish

This is an HDR image using three exposures in Photomatix. I de-fished it slightly to straighten the opposite bank. It was taken in Canary Wharf.

Canon EOS 7D, f/8 @ 12 mm, 1/1000, ISO 100

Canary Wharf Architecture

Normally I avoid symmetrical compositions, but this shot was just begging for one!

 

This is a building in Canary wharf which had a large amount of construction going on just in front of it. The only way to get a clean shot of it was to use an ultra wide angle fisheye lens - in this case the wonderful Canon 8-15mm f4L fisheye zoom racked all the way back to 8mm.

 

To cope with the contrast in the scene I shot three frames and different exposures and merged them in photomatix. I didn't have a tripod with me, so I set AEB and used the highest frame rate possible on my 7D.

 

Finally I applied a little NR in Lightroom and put a white vignette around the edge using maximum 'roundness' to fit the black left by the fisheye.

 

 

Canon EOS 7D, f/5.6 @ 8 mm, 1/320, ISO 400

The silver chimney



 

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/5 @ 12 mm, 1/160, ISO 200

Column against the sky

Flash to light the column, ambient underexposed to deepen the blue sky.

Canon EOS 7D, f/2.5 @ 50 mm, 1/8000, ISO 100, Flash

Fish eye train HDR

All the gimmicks on this shot - fish eye and HDR!

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/5 @ 10 mm, 1/500, ISO 200

Retinal Overload!

Nothing clever photographically, but I loved the vivid colours!

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/2 @ 50 mm, 1/200, ISO 200, No Flash

Yo Sushi!

Sometimes it pays to look at the ceiling when you're a photographer....

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/1.4 @ 50 mm, 1/250, ISO 100, No Flash

Cypriot Sunset

Firstly - many many thanks to all of you who visit this blog - I'm delighted that I've just gone over the 20,000 mark on hits!

So - this was the sun falling over a bay near Kourion. Lens is a Canon 70-300L IS which I briefly dabbled with. Nice enough, but not really my thing.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/125, ISO 400, No Flash

Autumn Leaves & Guest Photo - Fire Dancer

Took this on the fisheye I'm testing. The straight shot looked ok, but I wanted to take the gloss of the colours so I processed it as a single image tone map in Photomatix and then added a slight vignette in Lightroom.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/5.6 @ 15 mm, 1/160, ISO 200

 

 

 

This is a shot taken by my good friend Bob Latham. Please see his website here: http://www.boblatham-photography.net/

 

This was taken with the new 1DX and the fabulous Canon 200mm f/2 (I'm going a shade of green now!).

 

This shot shows the amazing low-light capabilities of the 1DX - ISO is 12800!

 

Composition - wise I love the diagonal line created through the frame by the performer's arms.

 

Thanks for letting me post the shot, Bob!

 

 

Hand Feeding the pigeons

In the park today - the intention was to feed some squirrels (you can see one disappearing in the background) but the pigeons were too good at getting there first!

This is a crop from a 15mm fisheye frame.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/4 @ 15 mm, 1/200, ISO 400, No Flash

A fish-eye's view from the pavement

Testing the Canon 8-15mm fisheye - I'm staggered at the angle of view and the image quality. The challenge is going to be composing interesting shots.

Canon EOS-1D Mark III, f/4 @ 8 mm, 1/25, ISO 800, No Flash

Colourful Canvas

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/1.2 @ 85 mm, 1/160, ISO 100, No Flash

Cross Processed Toiletries

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/2.8 @ 16 mm, 1/100, ISO 400

Pebbles at Aphrodite's Birthplace

Canon EOS 7D, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/500, ISO 100, Flash

Thinking

Single @Lencarta Octagonal Softbox above camera right + gridded reflector on black backdrop.



 

 

Cypriot Wine Maker

This gentleman is the husband of the lady in yesterday's post. He makes delicious sherry-like wine.

Canon EOS 7D, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/2000, ISO 100, Flash

Cypriot Lace Maker

This lovely lady makes lace and gives tours of the small museum in the small town of Omodos.

Taken wide open on the Canon 50mm f/1.2L - on a 7D body this is a great portrait lens.

Canon EOS 7D, f/1.2 @ 50 mm, 1/125, ISO 400, Flash

BTW - Apologies in advance but my server is down for maintenance Friday morning (9th Nov).

Logan sitting for the camera

Single @Lencarta folding Octa Softbox lights Logan. Colours adjusted in Lightroom and vignette added.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/4.5 @ 85 mm, 1/200, ISO 100

Troodos Mountains, Cyprus

An HDR from 3 images:

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

Mother Theresa and baby Logan

 

In this shot I used an 85mm lens at f/4.5 to keep Logan in focus but make sure the depth of field was narrow enough so that Theresa was slightly soft, helping to draw attention to the baby. Shutter 1/125 as a safe flash sync speed.

 

I really liked Logan's happy and intense blue eyes and their contact with the camera.

 

Simply lit with one large octabox above camera right.

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/4.5 @ 85 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Away taking photos!

Hi all - away taking photos for a week - hopefully have something worth posting on my return!

Phil

Natalie #3

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/14 @ 85 mm, 1/160, ISO 100

Natalie Smoking

Lit with @Lencarta lights - Silver brolley camera left, strip box camera right.

 

Converted to B&W in lightroom, pushed clarity, blacks, contrast, detail

 

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/5.6 @ 85 mm, 1/160, ISO 100,

Natalie in profile

@Lencarta EP600 with strip softbox behind and camera left, EP300 firing into silver brolley camera left in front of Natalie.

Canon 5DII, 85mm f/1.2 @ f/14, ISO 100, 1/160s

More fractal fun!

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/11 @ 50 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

Fractal Studio Portrait

Created using the Fractalius Plugin for Elements.

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/11 @ 50 mm, 1/125, ISO 100

 

Richard Smith in a Caterham @ Rockingham

Canon EOS 7D, f/8 @ 146 mm, 1/125, ISO 100, No Flash