There are two shoots I am thinking of doing this month. One an outdoor shoot at dawn, and a second an indoor studio shoot with a cheesy Halloween theme.
So if your a local Lincolnshire Model and fancy either of these let me know.
iCloud
With the Launch of iOS5 we now also have iCloud.
Having syncing between my Mac Laptop, iPad and iPhone is very useful. The key features are the Photo Stream for Photographers. I tested this out this afternoon, where I took a photo with my iPhone, then checked the iPad and there was the photo I had just taken. Not only that but because I have Lion OS X (10.7.2) on the laptop and the latest version of iPhoto (Aperture also supported), when I got home and fired up iPhoto, there was the photographs I had taken on the phone. No syncing or any effort from myself.
I also tried updating a spreadsheet on the iPad then accessed iWork.com from my work Windows Laptop and was able to continue to work on it.
Only down side so far has been the time its taken to update to iCloud. As can be expected, Apple’s servers are under a lot of stress at the moment as the worlds iPhone 3GS and 4 users update, but with a bit of patience it gets there and it can only get better.
As Apple improve there integration between there devices and the web, there making it very difficult for a user to want to move away.
Post Processing – that extra oomph
Many people comment on the quality of my landscapes.
My Post Processing general is limited to either HDR or a bit of Negative Clarity from Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom.
Recently looking at some of the people shots taken by Frank Doorhof and some of the sports shots by Scott Kelby, I have been very impressed. There a certain dynamic feel to the shoots, that comes from the post processing.
It’s given me a number of ideas to try.
Heading towards Winter Light and Wind
We are now getting really into the autumnal feel of the season.
Riding into work today the low sun shining though the red leaves of the trees gave me a number of ideas for some photographs.
It was also quite a windy day so I hope the leaves will last long enough for me to get the shots that are currently in my head.
Always tricky riding a bike in high wind, even more for a motorcycling photographer. There is only so much I can squeeze into the tank bag and top box. That really limits what you can take, makes you think what is really necessary.
Lincoln Cathedral – World Photo Walk
Last Saturday was the World Photowalk, and today I have been finishing my editing, these are a couple of shots that came close but no cigar.
Have to admit, I do have a soft spot for the stone column which is illuminated in coloured light from the ancient stain glass windows.
If you have the chance to visit Lincoln Cathedral and please try as its one of the finest Gothic Cathedral’s in the world. Some of the more impressing and colourful stain glass is actually Victorian, as during the civil war, those damn Puritans shot out some of the more impressive windows. Far to ungodly and Catholic for them. Luckily the Victorians restored a number of them.
Q – Another Interchangeable Lens Compact
Pentax Q:
How many of you remember Pentax’s film 110 interchange lens camera system. Fun, but the quality was never there with 110 film.
Now we have the Pentax Q, a interchangeable lens compact with a small compact sensor. With a selection of nice prime lens including a fish eye, and some zooms this looks like one fun camera.
World Photo Walk – Lincolnshire Day
Saturday was the Lincoln World PhotoWalk.
We were also very lucky in that it was Lincolnshire Day. That was good news for Photographers. The Cathedral, Castle and a number of other great sites were all free to enter.
I’ll post a few pictures later in the week but until then here is a quick snap I took of an event that was going on in the Cathedral.
Photo of the Month – September
Nikon D200 SLR
Nikor 12-24mm F/4
24mm, 1/350 Sec at f/8, ISO100 (HDR Bracketed +-2)
Processed in Adobe Lightroom V3.5
On a Mac MacBook Pro, OS-X 10.7.1
Day 4 of my Photo Week
Well to make my challenge harder (if it was not hard enough already) I am visiting the same area again each day.
Yesterday I used a Macro Lens, today I used a wild angle. Again we were blessed with good weather. Lots of bracketing, shooting into the sun and generally challenging myself to come with fresh ideas.
Today things started to gel and I managed to get a number of good shots. I now feel I have my picture of the month, which I will post tomorrow.
Until then enjoy these few that I took over the last few days.
A Five Day Challenge – Picture of the Day
Well Monday was a bit of a bust, I will not bore you with the results but lets just say they were bad.
Today I went for a lunch time walk around the Brayford Pool in Lincoln. The sun was shining warm and pleasant, no stunning photographs but nothing to awful.
The wildlife is always an option, and I took a few snaps of the swans. Shooting from one direction I had to dial in +2/3 of a stop exposure compensation, from the other -2/3 of a stop. The sun reflecting on the water can be tricky.
The bicycle was a opportunistic shot that I spotted, and the rest were just details and features in the area. The wall and the flag being the most interesting.
I have kept a couple of shots to myself, I am going to try a few HDR and LAB colour techniques on them tonight and feel one of them may be the picture of the month. With the bright colours and blue sky I bracketed on a number of shots to use later for HDR.
I’ll try and get out in my lunch breaks for the rest of the week and see what I can come up with.
I do have some portrait sessions this week, but they are all for corporate clients so not eligible for Photo of the Month. Maybe I should change my own rules!