timdobbsphotography

Snow comes to the Valley…………

The weather forecast was for snow to arrive here in South Wales around 10am on Saturday and they were not wrong, it snowed until late afternoon when sadly it turned to rain but as it was still extremely cold overnight most of the remaining snow has turned to ice.

Because it was snowing while we went out for a walk I didn’t really want to take my DSLR so used my trusty Olympus E-PL1 and as it is always in my pocket my iPhone4 using Hipstamatic.

The iPhone shots used the combination of the James M lens with Ina’s 1969 film.

While the Olympus was set to Pinhole mode and the emulsion frame effect was added in Photoshop.

iPhone……

Comments greatly accepted…………..

A Black & White Day……..

There is something about Black & White photographs that draw the viewer into the shot, I don’t really know what it is but I find that if I look at my own pictures in both Black & White and colour most often than not the B&W version seems to have more about it.

Maybe its because I am not distracted by so many colourful elements that it gives me more time to really look at the composition and lighting and my mind and eyes are not competing with each other so find what the photograph is all about.

Here is a selection of fairly ordinary shots from a few of my local walks that seemed to have much more about them in B&W if I had not gone back and looked through my Aperture library for this exercise they may have never seen the light of day here on my blog.

Comments are very welcome………..

You have to love Film………..

I took my 1st roll of film to Boots today for their 1hour service just to see the test results from my new Nikon FM2n.

I shot various subjects just to get used to using a fully manual camera on Kodak Ultramax 400 film. The portraits were shot using the Nikkor 85mm f1.8 and the others with the Nikkor 50mm f1.8.

I wasn’t very impressed with printing or the scans from Boots but I was very pleased with the focus and exposure considering I am used to Aperture priority and Autofocus.

I can’t wait to get some Fuji Professional PRO 400H and some Kodak Professional Portra 400 and shoot loads more stuff but get it processed by a decent lab.

The camera is a real pleasure to use and I am so pleased with the results, there is such a difference between using Film to shooting Digital it slows me down and makes me think about the photograph instead of just snapping away and picking the best in post production.

Feedback on the photographs greatly received……..

Am I Becoming a Camera Whore…….?

This weekend I have added another camera to my collection and have come to the conclusion that I am becoming a camera whore……. lol

The Nikon FM2n that I got my hands on is a dream camera, when I was in school I looked at the Nikons and longed to own one but never managed to get one.

I have a few film cameras now and do use them but not as much as I should but this FM2n is definitely going to change that.

I have just put my first roll of film through her and it was such a good feeling ( manual only was very liberating) and really slowed my photography down to a snails pace.

I cannot see myself shooting any sports with this camera even though it goes to 1/4000 sec but having to manage the aperture and shutter speed is not as easy as the Aperture priority I have been used to for the las 30 years or so.

Here are some shots of my lovely cameras messed about with in Photoshop 🙂

A Break in the Weather…….

At last on the day before I am due to go back to work there seems to be a break in the incessant rain we have been having here in the South Wales Valleys.

I decided to just set out with the Olympus E-PL1 just in case I got caught in a downpour.

All of the shots here are using the ‘Art’ filter… Pinhole, as I shoot Raw all the time selecting the Art Filter writes a Jpeg with the selected effect and an untouched Raw file incase the effect was not successful.

I really like what the Pinhole filter does to the images even though you do lose some of the detail and sharpness.

click on an image to view………

Boxing Day…………….

A quiet Boxing Day here in the South Wales valleys, the weather is Grey and very wet so no trips out with the camera.

Still have the Nikon 50mm on the camera so I decided to annoy the family with some candid abstract shots around the house using the D7000 and the SB700 flash.

Not the most exciting of shots but it sums up the relaxing day at home……lol

Grunging up everyday objects……..

I have been using my iPhone and various photo apps mainly ‘instagram’ a lot lately and really enjoy the unpredictability of the results I am getting but I prefer to have a bit of control over my photography.

So as a bit of a challenge I have been grunging up some of my shots with loads of layers and textures, vignettes etc and feel just as good being in control of the end results and obviously the quality and resolution is far better to be able to print.

Usually I am a sucker for sharp, precise photographs but the iphone/instagram feel is a real passion at the moment so I hope you enjoy and any feedback will be greatly recieved

Thanks for looking 🙂

Morning walk with Instagram……

Went for a nice bracing walk yesterday before going to shoot the Rugby game and intead of dragging my Dslr around I just took my iPhone4 and used Instagram to snap some random photos for a change.