Tag: Black

More from the Classic Car Show…….

I have manage to edit some of my digital shots from the Classic Car show I visited the other week. There is a mix of cars and portraits, I noticed that this year I shot far more people shots than cars which showed me the way my photography is starting to go.

I really like shooting people be it portraits or just candidly in the street and since getting back into film that is what I want to do more than any other photography.

I still like the look I get when tone mapping Classic cars, this type of look is not appreciated by everyone but I like it….lol

Thanks for looking…..  click on an image to see it larger

2nd Roll of Tri-X at the Classic Car Show………

Well this shot was after the Classic Car Show but I put it first to show the difference between my 85mm and my 50mm.

I had a few frames left when I got home eager to process it and see what I captured I decided to try my Nikon 85mm 1.8 just as a comparison  so I dragged my son Ben kicking and screaming out the garden to take a few shots to finish the film.

I love using the 50mm on my FM2n but I must admit the look I get when shooting portraits with the 85mm is so much better.

The rest of the shots were from the car show except for the line of trees, I shot both digital and film on the day and even though the digital shots were good when it came to the people shots I preferred the film.

click on a photo to view larger………

My first roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 and home developing fun……..

Last week I decided as I was shooting more and more film I would have to have a go at developing my own negatives. This is something I have not done since school.

When studying for my ‘O’ level Art my teacher Mr Halley who was a keen photographer set up a darkroom and some of us who were interested in photography got to waste our Friday afternoons developing and printing our own stuff which is where I got gripped with the photography bug over 30 years ago.

With a mixture of memory/facebook friends and youtube I ventured into my makeshift darkroom /bathroom 🙂  and thought I had made a total mess of my film.

First it all unwound and dropped to the floor, then I managed to cut the leader at an angle so it would not wind on to the spool, eventually I emerged from the bathroom thinking the worst but I was so pleased after opening up the processing tank when I saw images instead of clear or black film.

It is such a thrill to process my own film it brings back so many memories, I love processing my digital shots too, but there is something about the look/feel and smell of Film.

These shots are far from perfect but as it is all my own work I love them…….

Thanks for looking…….comments are very welcome  🙂

Click on photo to view larger……….

Not the usual Shots……..

We have visited the Lightboat in Cardiff bay on many occasions and it has featured in many of my photographs in and around the bay so this time I decided to have a different outlook and just shoot details and abstracts instead of the normal everyday photos.

The lightship Helwick LV14 was built and commissioned by Trinity House in 1953. It was brought to Cardiff Bay in 1993 and restored to create a floating Christian Centre.

A link to the wesite is here  http://www.lightship2000.co.uk/ it’s well worth a visit if you are in the Bay, they do a very good pot of Tea and their Welshcakes are good too!

All the shots were taken with my D300s and Sigma 30mm f1.4

Click on images to see much larger……….

Mum & Dad………..

As it was my son Ben’s birthday at the beginning of the week we called down my Mum & Dad’s on the weekend for them to see him. My Mum has had an awful 6 months after falling down and having a hip replacement she the got Pneumonia and it was touch and go wether she would make it, but she is a fighter and luckily she is still here with us. I realised that I don’t have any photographs of my parents except  old snapshots so after a bit of kicking and screaming they relented and let me take a few portraits……..

As I am getting back into film I shot off a roll before taking a load with my D300s, These were then converted to B&W using Aperture. I am still waiting to get my films/prints back so I don’t know what they are like yet but I am pleased with what I shot Digitally and will print these out over the weekend. While we were there my Mum asked if I could restore and colorise an old wedding Photo she recently came across, I didn’t know quite how difficult it would be but I am very pleased with the final Photo………all comments welcomed……………

I Shoot People………….

I have no speciality when it comes to my photography, not being a Professional and having to earn my living at it so my photos are very varied.

The one thing that I have found over the last couple of years is that I enjoy shooting people more and more.

I have off camera flashes and studio lights but much prefer take photographs of people either candidly or much better after meeting them when I am out and about and taking an informal type of portrait.

Since getting back into film recently I am looking forward to shooting in this style on various types of film camera and waiting in anticipation for the results……..

Here is a little selection of shots, so of which I have posted on the web previously but some are new.

Comments as always very welcome…….

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………..