Manchester architecture with long exposure
Recently I start toying with ND filters what made me start thinking about my pictures in a completely differed angle. Dramatic clouds always look good in photography but this time I needed them to be moving fast; faster they move, more blur on the sky I would get therefore specific weather is one of the requirement for good long exposure shots.
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Today was the day with very favourable weather for kind of look I was after. Even though chance for rain was very high I went on little cycling photo trip. First picture was of Orbis building. Unfortunately they put this big ugly letters on the front that I very much dislike and perhaps black and white version of this image could probably do better job taking attention from it but I decide to go with colour anyway.
Next stop was majestic town hall building where I used similar setting in order to get that look. After this I rode to check if work around library was done what would enable me to photograph it with wide angle lens but although you can enter inside, area around it is still full of fences and road work not done yet. Despite little rain I went for one more stop at the Betham tower, highest structure in Manchester.
In all thouse pictures I've used zomei ND 10 stop ultra thin filterOverall, in spite of giving quite a bit of blue cast I like this piece of glass and in future I will try to exprore new ways of using it.
...Restoring an older work
I have dig out this photo from abyss of RAW folder and decided to give it another look. I made it in black and white and added sun rail effect just because I was little bit bored...
[blockquote quote_type="type1" author_name="" width="50%" float="left"]“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” ― Ansel Adams[/blockquote]
Long Exposure
After 2 weeks of photography hiatus I start to crave to get some work done, create at least one image that I'd be happy with.
I decide to photograph train station building witch I find interesting since it have nice curve and is known that human eyes likes curves and pasterns, we basically drown into them. Weather was nice today, fast moving clouds are big advantage with this kind of shots. However it took me long time to catch right moment with nice contrast within sky. I can't say I'm fully satisfied with results I got since I was unable to use my tokina super wide angle lens because I haven't got ND filter for it. I have used my 28-135 mm zoom lens that soon will have to be retired since its sharpness and overall image quality leaves a lot to be desired.
Also while I was shooting some annoying porter guy from train station came to me and asked me what I was doing, told me to stop. I had to explain him that I have right to photograph in public place like this but he stood there anyway staring at me from under his eyebrows. Strange... I've shaved yesterday so I shouldn't look like terrorist ;-) [note_block align="right"]I will make another version of this pictures with much wider angle once I get appropriate ND filter.[/note_block]
leaving party
There are many good excuses for going out. Among them are leaving party. I'm personally not sure how to treat them; should I be happy that one of my colleagues found new, hopefully better path in his live? Or perhaps be sad that I won't see him that often any more? Last thing I could do is to snap some photos to memorized that moment forever. This particular image is a classic party photo bomb that so often we can see on variety on antisocial websites.
concert time!
Last night I went to help record concert that my friend was part of making some amazing video mapping. Even though I was taking only videos I manage to capture his portrait despite very dark environment.
back into nature
Recent cumulation of minor problems made me put my hobby aside. I didn't hear shutter sound in my camera for at least 3 weeks... Finally I got outside with my gear and got few mediocre pictures...
Middle mouse click if you want to see picture in full size
Retouch
Recently I realized that if it comes to retouching portraits Lightroom on it's own isn't enough so I start working on my Photoshop skills more heavily. Making nice looking skin is probably most difficult part of my workflow. There is many methods for doing it and I have tried quite few of them but I couldn't find one that would entirely suffice my needs... Until I came across something called "frequency separation". I like results very much.
Model: Gosia
Iron throne
I always thought that would be cool to seat on iron throne although whoever do that die quickly alter. Photoshop made that happen!
