The Emerald City

The Emerald City, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

This is a little Jetty along Hoves seafront which is just past Brighton.
Took this today just before the sun got too high for a long exposure shot.
I used ISO 100 and an aperture of f/32 with my B+W ND110 ten stop filter to get an exposure of 81 seconds.
I normally convert my LE to mono but Ieft this one as it works better in colour, especially with the plain sky.
Due to the sun burning out the left hand side of the picture slightly I had to darken it to balance everything out.

A Little Structure In Life

A Little Structure In Life, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

Had a little drive to Brighton this evening for a little fresh air and to take the odd picture.
Luckily enough I had my tripod and camera bag with me as the colours where fantastic behind Brightons West Pier.
Got there as the sun set so had to walk very briskly to the pier to catch the last couple of minutes of these wonderful colours and rattled off a few shots.
I know this shot has been done 10 gazillion times but you've got to have it at least once in your collection.
Taken with my Nikkor 16-85, manfrotto tripod and cable release.

The Kiosk

The Kiosk, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

This is a well photographed kiosk in Eastbourne and I can't help taking pictures every time I'm near it lol.
This is a long exposure of 81 seconds thanks to my B+W ND110 filter and a small aperture of f/22.
Due to the small aperture the picture was covered with dust spots which took ages to clear up so will have to clean the sensor soon, maybe a bit of sand paper will help clean it :)
Converted to mono then dodged and burned to my taste and finished off with an 's' curve and some unsharp mask.
All achievable with my manfrotto tripod and my new hanhel cable release, all praise the cable release :)

The Three Mushketeers

The Three Mushketeers, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

Yes another shot from West Park Nature reserve, are you bored yet lol.
Just wanted to show some of the different varieties I found there and in such a small area.
There was also fly agaric but I couldn't get a good angle on those ones as they where surrounded by prickly weeds and in awkward positions.
Liked the look of these three sitting together.
Once again tripod, cable release and macro lens plus a silver reflector to throw light back towards the stems.

In The Deep Dark Woods

In The Deep Dark Woods, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

Another mushroom from my walk at West Park Nature Reserve.
My manfrotto tripod was almost at ground level for this shot but I think a beanbag would have come in handy and got a little lower.
At f/16 the background is still nice and blurry, any wider and I would have lost more detail on the mushroom.
Once again I used a silver reflector to bounce light back underneath and lift the shadows on the stem.
Fired via cable release and captured with my sigma 105 macro lens.
I cropped to a square format to compose nice and tight on the mushroom and get rid of unwanted space and distractions.

In An Upside Down World

In An Upside Down World, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

Went to West Park Nature Reserve in Uckfield today to get a little fresh air and with camera in hand.
Found about 5-6 varieties of mushrooms which was exciting for pictures.
Don't know what mushroom this is but it made a lovely picture especially with mr slug visiting underneath.
Could have been a little better with a little more dof but we live and learn.
Took this with my camera on my tripod and cable release attached and mirror lock up.
This was pretty low to the floor so used live view to compose and focus which I don't use much but it came in pretty handy.
I used a silver reflector to throw some light back into the shadows.
My bag fell over on this walk and instictively I went to grab it but pulled over my camera and tripod as I was still holding my cable release, caught the camera but pulled the wire out of the cable release button, now I have to buy a new one.
I can't live without my cable release ;)
Post processing:
I dropped the highlights to bring out the detail then added an 's' curve for contrast, boosted saturation for the greens and finished off with some unsharp mask.

Hungry Caterpillar

Hungry Caterpillar, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

Found this little fella in the garden today sitting very still for me to give focus stacking a try, and wow focus stacking has bought out amazing detail that I couldn't get with a straight macro shot.
I set up my camera on my tripod with cable release and sigma 105mm macro lens attached.
I focused manually on the closest point of the caterpillar then took a shot then refocused further in slightly and took another picture then kept repeating this process untill I reached the furthest focus point on the caterpillar.
This was about 7 shots in total.
I uploaded the pictures then quickly googled focus stacking and the first item was a youtube video of around 4 mins explaining the process.
After watching the video the stacking process took me a round 2 mins as it is really easy to do, especially with my new upgraded computer.
I then done my usual 's' curve and unsharp mask and added a little saturation which really made the caterpillar pop especially with the sharpness.
I was trying single shots going up to f/29 which where still not very good or sharp but with the focus stacking I dropped the aperture down to f/13 which gave a nice fast shutter speed to eliminate any vibrations or movement.
I highly recommend trying this technique as the results are superb, just make sure its a static object.

HouseWork

HouseWork, a photo by simon.anderson on Flickr.

I always wondered how women get so much stuff done in a short space of time and still watch daytime tv and read the paper, but this our little secret so don't tell anyone ;)