26 wk challenge - sense of place

Well as always it has been a very hectic two weeks with one thing and another going on.  A flying trip to London on Friday for a work reunion then stopping off at Bristol on Sat to see Bernadette for lunch, then home and back to work yesterday.  So I haven't spent as much time on this challenge as I would have liked, plus the weather has been naff down here - no excuse I know but I am using it :)

So in the end I decided to use Amanda's weekend 'sense of place' the local farm shop where she works Sat's and Sun's.  I will be the first to say the photos are not great my excuse for that is a new camera and still getting use to the extra weight of it!!

 View from the car park.

 

 Selection of locally produced chutneys and jams.

 

Pumpkins at the ready.

 

 

Thanks for looking, the final challenge of the 26 wk challenge is 'alphabet'.  The idea is to look for things in the envioronment that form a letter, doesn't matter which letter.  Post them by or on the 28th October.  Have fun. :)

26 wk photo challenge - movement

The next theme in the 26 wk challenge is to photograph some movement, experiment with  using a mixture of slow and fast shutter speeds to freeze the movement or to blur it, you could even try panning, (focus on your moving subject and move the camera with it, to create a blurred background but your subject in focus).  Upload your images by the 22nd July.  Mine will be late as I shall be on holiday til the end of that week.  Have fun. :)

Here is one using a slow shutter speed on a rainy day, taken from inside the car,

Manual exposure, ss 0.3, f11, IS0 200, 90mm lens.

Half way through the 26wks challenge!!

Cannot believe we have hit the half way mark on this challenge - scary.

The next challenge is to "walk approx 1/2 mile from your door (front or back which ever!) then stop and have a really good look around you and then take ONLY five photos - not hundreds and then choose five - just take five.  The idea here is to make you really look at your environment, consider what you want to photograph, and how you are going to photograph it.  Think about composition, light and why you are taking the photo - what do you want to show to your viewer, what story are you trying to tell and why.  Then when you have done that post them all (5) by the 29th April.  Most importantly have fun and enjoy the process of looking and photographing.

In the meantime here are some of last week's POTD images.

April 11th

 Messing around in PS again, trying to make a poor photo half decent!! Not sure if it worked but hey ho, I quite like it.

April 12th

More flowers - not feeling very inspired of late so back to the flowers to get me going again.

April 14th

I love photos of Blossom and realised that I hadn't taken any, so during a walk from St Just to St Mawes on Sat I did just that - good old hawthorn blossom. Love the dof on this one.

And one last one, my monthly shot, the trees from a distance still look boring but close up they are starting to bud, so hopefully next month we will see more change.

This was taken early before 9am hence the amount of traffic - my supervisor did ask me the following day what on earth was I taking pictures of - that is her red car on her way to work!!  Just as well she knows I'm abit odd :D

Thanks for looking.

26wk Photo Challenge - Doors

I only have two doors to share this time around :(, theres are two in Mevagissey.  Both are on the main road through Meva which at the moment we can walk down but come the summer it is horrendous and I refuse point blank to drive down it - really only room for one car.  I love the stone work and style and of course the house name!

 This one Mick pointed out to me, just a shame someone had to alter it! That is an actual whale bone above the name. Once again this one is on the main road as you can tell with the double yellows outside the doorstep!

Can't say which I prefer as I am not happy with any of the photos Im taking at the moment - so more for documenary than being good.

B&W Challenge at last

Finally my monitor has decided to behave and I can see what I am looking at now, so here are my three b&w photos.  These three images were taken in monochrome setting but on the whole I failed this challenge miserably as I could not resist putting the camera back to neutral picture style and shooting in colour with all the sun we have had - no stamina some people!!

 AV mode, ss 1/125, f7.1, ISO 100, WB daylight, fl 28mm.

 AV mode, ss 1/100, f7.1, ISO 100, fl 18mm, WB daylight.

AV mode, ss1/125, f20, ISO 100, fl 178mm, WB daylight.

The first two were taken on a coastal part walk at Porthoustock, abandoned buildings from the quarry days.  The third was taken the same day at Coverack, a garden was full of these extremely large sculptures, most of them were metal and rusty and not really my cup of tea, but I did like this one, but not in my garden!!

B&W Challenge

Just posting to say I can't post :( well photos that is - my computer is playing up and all my photos have horrible neon green lines all over them so I shall have another go tomorrow.  In the meantime do pop over to Louise's blog and Yvonne's and have a look at their great b&w images.

The next challenge  theme is 'doors' - have fun.

26wk Photo Challenge - Shapes

The last theme was to photograph shapes, be it in nature or man made.  Here are my three offerings.

 Love the shapes created by the hyacinth coming into bud.

  (AV mode, 90mm, ss1/160, f4.5, ex comp -1, ISO 100)

Circles,

(AV mode, 90mm, ss 1/125, f4, ISO 200)

(AV mode, ss 1/250, f5, ISO 200)

As for my favourite I am torn between the wheelbarrow and the hyacinth.

The next challenge is to set your camera to black and white (most cameras will allow you to only take b&w images have a look in your manual)  and only take black and white images for the next fortnight.  So when composing you shot look for tones, contrast, shadows, textures etc.  All these will make a b&w image much more interesting.

26wk Photo Challenge - Random

The theme for the last two weeks was to photograph random things, things you would not normally photograph. Here are Yvonne's

So here are my examples of randomness. 

 First on taken at Heligan, no idea what the tree is but I just love the colour of the leaves.

 AV mode, ss 1/200, f5.6, ISO 500, WB cloudy, fl 80mm.

Sat in the car whilst at work in the evening waiting for time to pass so I could do my next call, found myself photographing the inside of the car with my compact. This is my gear stick and a grubby one at that!

AV mode, ss 1/60, f6/3, ISO 100, flash on (it was 8.45pm!!)

Alarm clock number 2 (yes I need two!)

AV mode, ss 1/100, f5.6, ISO 500, 90mm,

As to which is my favourite, I am torn between the first and the last, love the colours of the first but love the idea and composition of the last one.

The next theme on the list is shapes, so that can be shapes in anything, obvious shapes or shapes that nature has made that you really need to look for. Upload by the 18th March, but most of all have fun. 

26wk Photo Challenge - Zoom Burst

Zoom burst is a fun technique that takes alittle bit of practise and has interesting results (well I think so anyway), so that has been the theme for the last two weeks and here are my offerings, feel free to critique them constructively.  See Yvonne's, Louise's and Jo's images from this theme.

First three taken whilst at the Eden Project,

 AV Mode, ss0.4, f36, ex comp +1 1/3, ISO 100, SOOC

    AV mode, ss 0.3, f22, exp comp +1 1/3, ISo 100, slight crop and tweak with levels.

This one is my favourite, just love the colours and patterns created.

AV mode, ss 1/6, f22, exp comp +1 1/3, ISO 100, SOOC

Here is Yvonne taking her photos as well.  (note the black dot on the bottom left, that is alittle insect that somehow got inside my camera, we could see him walking around when looking through the view finder!!)  Didn't notice him on the photo until now)

AV mode, ss1/4, f5.6, ISO 200, SOOC

This is a 'Jam Jar Posy' that was given to me yesterday, will explain more in another post.

As of tomorrow the theme is 'water droplets'.  So that can be any kind of water droplets, from droplets on plants, splashing into water, reflections in water droplets I look forward to seeing the different takes on this theme.

26wk Photo Challenge - Zoom Burst

The theme for the next two weeks is to experiment with a technique called zoom burst, the effect you get can be seen below.

(AV mode, ss 5, f22, ISO 160.)

Ideally you do need a dslr and a zoom lens of some description, this one was taken with a 10-20mm.  The technique involves, keeping the camera still (tripod or table), using a long/slow shutter speed ie 2 secs or more, press the shutter then rotate the lens in and out and see what results you get.  You can vary the amount of zoom by how much you rotate the lens.  If you have a compact and can set the shutter speed, why not try using a slow shutter speed and whilst holding the camera turn yourself around slowly and see what effect you get, or up and down slowly to create an abstract image using intentional movement. Just remember though the longer the shutter speed the more light you will be letting in and if you use a ss of say 3secs +  in daylight you will probably end up with a white screen! So you may need to alter your exposure compensation dial or use a higher f stop (large numbers) which will let less light in than a lower one(low numbers) or reduce the shutter speed until you get a good exposure with the effect you want.  You can see examples on this flickr page .  Most importantly, experiment and have fun.  Upload by the 2nd Feb.  Any questions, post on here or email me :) 

26wk Photo Challenge - Weather

Well our theme for the last two weeks has been bad weather and to be honest prior to this theme the weather was awful, since it started it has been rather pleasnat, so we opted for images of the weather.  Here are my three offerings.

This was taken in the morning from the back garden, went out in the car shortly afterwards and I could see more than six foot in front of me, but it cleared very quickly to the sky in the third image.

 Manual mode, ss 1/50, f6.3, ISO 500, 50mm focal length.

Taken yesterday, looks beautiful but it was blowing a hooly.

 Manual mode, ss 1/50, f22, exp comp -1/3, ISO 100, focal length 18mm.

This was the sky approximately 2 hrs after the fog in the first image!

Manual mode, ss 1/80, f11, exp comp +2/3, ISO 100, focal length 120mm

You can see  Yvonne's, Joy's images as well.  Thanks for taking part. :)

26wk Photo Challenge - One Lens

The theme for the last two weeks on the 26 wk challenge was to use only one lens for all your photos, I chose my 10-20mm lens as I haven't used it much.  Well I have really really enjoyed using it and apart from a couple of sessions when I was doing some macro work when I used my 90mm, it is the only lens I have used. :)  I feel I really do know what it is capable of now.  I have already posted some images taken with it (ie my new header and here and here) but will show the eggs again just to show the lens off.

 AV mode, ss1/13, f3.5, ISO 200, focal length 17mm.

 AV mode, ss 1/13, f3.5, ISO 250, focal length 17mm.

The header photo settings were manual mode, ss 1/125, f16, ISO 200, focal 10mm.

Please pop over Eileen's, Yvonne's, Joy's, Louise's to the other images taken in this challenge.  For the next two weeks the challenge is to photograph the weather! Maybe something other than rain!!

26wk Photo Challenge - Christmas

For the last two weeks the theme for the challenge has been Christmas - here are my three. 

 Table part laid Christmas Eve for Christmas Day.

A-DEP mode, ss 2", f11, ex comp -1 1/3, ISO 400, focal length 28mm

 Lights at Mousehole,

ss 1/25, f4.7, ISO 800 (taken with a compact)

Zoom burst of our christmas tree,

AV mode, ss 5", f22, ISO 160, lens 10mm-20mm.

Yvonne's are here and Louise's are here (see we have had the same ideas!)

The theme for the next two weeks is to choose one lens and only use that for the whole two weeks.  Ideally pick one you don't normally use.  If you don't have different lens then choose a setting on your camera that you don't normally use and stick with that for the two weeks.  I am going to use my 10-20mm lens.  Bought it last year but it has spent most of the 12 months back with the shop and the manufacturer, so I haven't really had the chance to find out what it is like.  Upload three images by the 10th Jan for feedback, but most of all have fun.

26wk Photo Challenge - Self Portrait!!!

Everyone loves having their photo taken don't they??? No!  Prior to my phtotography crush I would avoid the camera at all costs but since I have become interested in photography I have found a slight willingness to be in front of the camera (still prefer to be behind it) but I am a big believer in not expecting anyone else to do something that I am not willing to do, or maybe it is an age thing, maybe it is because I'm more confident now than ever before, or is it because I have nearly reached the half way mark and decided it is time I started to look in the mirror and see just who this person I call me is and has become!!!  I do not class myself as photogenic and never will, but below is ME!!  All straight out of the camera, no cropping or tweaking, all using natural light as my light source.

The first - totally exposed, no war paint and not in the right frame of mind to be doing a self portrait. (does it show!!)

AV mode, ss 1/25, f4.5, ISO 200, focal length 31mm, WB auto

 Image two - when thinking about this theme I had lots of creative ideas - but when I tried to put some into practise they didn't quite work out, one I shall revisit and spend more time on.  Getting a reflection in the window.

 AV mode, ss 4 sec, f5.0, ISO 640, focal length 40mm, WB auto.

Thrid image - war paint on and more in the mood for this project! 

 AV mode, ss1/40, f5.0, ISO 500, focal length 40mm, WB - custom,

Four image - my favourite - just my eyes

 AV mode, ss 1/160, f5.0, ISO 500, focal length 55mm, WB custom.

So there you have it my first serious attempt at doing a self portrait.  Did I enjoy it? when focused yes, would I do it again? yes, did I learn anything from it (apart from how many double chins I have)? yes.  mainly using the light source and positioning myself to get the best without too many shadows, playing with the ISO for indoor use, too get a good shutter speed without too much noise and custom white balance is a great tool to use, very rapidly becoming my permanent white balance.  So easy to set and makes such a difference.

So fire away with your critique, suggestions for improvements etc etc.  Please visit the other girls (Yvonne, Louise, Joy, Eileen    who are taking part in this challenge as well and critique their images as well.  Thank you. x

Found this article the other day about self portrait - which I thought was good.  http://www.digital-photography-school.com/5-benefits-of-a-self-portrait-project

How strange...

...it felt for Sunday to come and go and for me not to be posting a photo of the week and emailing Louise!!  I know I could of posted something else, but the truth is I ran out of time yesterday, it was Bernadette's last day before she went back to uni, so it was spent with her :).  We are into the second half of the first week of the 26wk challenge, Yvonne has been very quick off the mark (she always makes me feel very lazy!!) and her three are posted here.  Please view and crtiique her photos, remember a positive comment followed by a constructive comment, ie a different way of taking the photo or something that you feel could improve the photo, followed by a positive.

The following image is one I took down by the river in Tresillian in Sept.

I too have been outside today and taking some pics for the first challenge of the 26wk challenge, shall post them later this week.