Picture of the Day Dartmoor Weather

Today's picture of the day comes from Dartmoor National Park, I would have liked to said sunny National Park, but it was far from it today. The rain rarely let up all day, at some points it was rally hammering it down. Stopping two bridges near postbridge the river was nearly bursting it banks, I was looking for a way of showing how full the river was. There was a very short break in the rain, so I went up onto the stone bridge. Armed only with my Nikon D3 and a Nikon 28-300mm lens, I was really missing my camera bag and tripod. Firstly for my neutral density (ND)filters which would have heled me slow my shutter speed right down and get some silky smooth flowing water and secondy my tripod to put the camera on when using these really slow speeds. So instead I had to see want I could make the camera do on its own. First, I set the ISO all the way down to 100, next was setting the aperture to f22 this gave me a shutter speed 1/10th, which was just about enough to give the impression that the water was fast flowing. To help alleviate camera shake I gently place the camera on to the stone bride and aligned my shoot using the live view.

Once I had the image onto the computer and into photoshop I adjusted the levels and contrast and the applied a Topaz Detail filter to the image before turning it black and white. Finally I used the burn tool to just bring the edge down. Please let us know what you think of the image of the day

Picture Of The Day - The Frozen Fountain

This picture of the day come from The Frozen Fountain at The Chateau Impney Hotel just outside Droitwich. Whilst on route to a corporate job at the hotel itself I passed the fountain, I checked my watch I I had some time before I had to be there so stopped.

For this picture of the day I just wanted to show how using different lens and angles can produce different pictures at one location. 

After  getting a closer look I could see that there were lots of different elements to the fountain that I wanted to photograph.

So starting with my Nikon 14-24mm lens I took a series of pictures including the one above. The lens has a minimum focus distance of 28cm which enables you to get in real close to a subject. Shooting at the 14mm end of the lens on a full frame Nikon D3 can give a slightly distorted view, but can be used to make small spaces look vast.

After working my way around the subject once I switched over to my Nikon 24-70mm lens, which can still produce good wide shots, but also zoom in the close your background down too.

Use low angle to give a different point of view to the normal 5 foot 10 inch view.

Get low and shoot at the same level as the subject. (This is also something you should do with children and pets).

Looking at the picture above and comparing it to the the first picture in the post you can see how the use of different lens closes down your background.

After working my way around for the second time, I then switched over to my 70-200mm. With this lens lens I was able to step right back and throw the background out in the pictures.

Lastly I put on my 300mm to just get right in on some of the ice, I wish I had my macro with me but unfortunately not this time.

As I was leaving the job I passed back by the fountain and just stopped quickly to get a night shot of it.

Again please let us know what you think of the posts and the pictures.

Picture of the Day - Loch Lomond

Recently we were doing some feature work up in Scotland just outside Loch Lomond. When we took the opportunity to go to the Loch and take some images. We thought we would use this to show how shooting at different angles can improve your pictures.

Armed with a Hassleblad H4D and a 35-90mm lens, which takes some getting use to after using a Nikon for so long.

Below you so a picture of of a piece of rope leading in to the water. The shot is taken from the same angle that we see thing from everyday 5'10" (roughly), this doesn't make for a very interesting picture. Taken at ISO 100, f5.6 and 1/180th

Now we have changed the angle of view to a really low vantage point you can see that the picture looks more interesting. Taken at ISO 100, f8 1/60th on 50mm

Just for one last adjustment we have now zoomed into 90mm, still using the same exposure settings but the zooming has reduced the depth of field. The rope was still position as a leading line through the image. We then turned black and white, added some contrast and then added a light layer of Topaz Detail.

Please let us know what you think.

New look website

We have been re-working our website for the last few weeks you can now check it out at www.serenityeye.com

Picture of the Day - London Skyline

Recently I was very fortunate to board the HMS Ocean as she sailed up the River Thames, the Royal Navy carrier which is being used as a support platform to house personnel who are being used during the London 2012 Olympic Games. It was an impressive feat to see the largest carrier Britain has manoeuvre up the river, but it did in turn offer a very interesting view point. Not often do you get to see the city from about 5 storeys up and from the middle of the river.

Using this vantage point I moved to the side of the carrier switching my Nikon D3s over to Aperture Priority (Av) setting f8 as my aperture to give me maximum sharpness (maximum sharpness of a lens is generally 2 stops from its widest aperture). Using the bracketing function, I set the camera to take 5 shots 1 stop apart. As I did not have a tripod with me at the time, I switch the D3s over to shoot in Continues High (CH) which allows the camera to shoot up to 11 frames per second (fps). By using this it gives you very little movement between pictures (you require a camera that shoots above 5 fps). 

Once I had the images on to my computer I used Photomatix to combine the 5 shots in a high dynamic range (HDR) I used the adjusters with the program to give the image a grungy and slightly surreal look. Once I was happy I saved it out as a tiff file which I then opened in photoshop, here I then boosted the contrast and added a crop to make it a little longer and thinner. I also used Topaz Detail 2 just to make the image pop that little bit more.

It just goes to show that sometimes it can be about being in the right place at the right time..

Please lets us know what you think by leaving a comment.

Thanks for reading.

Picture of the Day _ Caylee Fairy Shoot

This shoot was a themed shoot for Caylee, we combined two of her favourite things. Them being fairies and bubbles. 

The scene is lit using 2 Bowens lights and 2 Nikon SB-900's. The bowens were lighting Caylee herself and the flash unit were to light the back ground.

The bowens light were fitted with 60cm square softboxes and placed on lighting stand about 3 feet of the ground bringing them nearer to Caylee's height. They were also set to f5.6 to give an even f8 at the center of the set.

The SB-900 were set to 1/16th power each to give us a rough 1/8th power across the background. Both flashes were placed on the floor facing up towards the white background, the left hand unit had a green gel fitted and the right hand unit a red gel.

With a bubble machine on a small stall of to the left hand side, Caylee was dressed in her favourite Tinkerbell outfit and she was then told to run around and pop the bubbles. Emz had the camera set to f8 at ISO 100 and used a shutterspeed ranging from 1/125th - 1/250th.

At some points during the shoot you can see when Caylee had moved towards the back of the set and as she is now getting some green light from the flash on her side and face. Which added a nice effect to the image.

The images also made a nice black and white conversion in post production.

If your interested in doing a studio, location or themed shoot with us then please go to our contact page.

Also please let us know what you think.

Picture of the Day - If Need Be Use Your Phone

Picture of the Day - If Need Be Use Your Phone

I know it has be a little while, so I have done this quick one just to show you that you don't need to havee your camera with you to take a good photo. I took this using my iphone while doing a wedding recce. It is on the route to the reception so we will be making a pit stop on route after the ceremony.

The picture was then run through the app snapspeed to just enhance the colours, contrast and to add the boarder.

  This one was taken on a trip to the park, I managed to catch the timing right of Caylee was her head out of the train window. Again it was adjusted through snapspeed, to crop out the train and add the boarder.

This last one was just an opportunity I couldn't miss when round at the sister-in-law's. Her dog can get a little over excited, so they just let her calm down in the conservatory. She was continually ticking her head through the cat flap. Using snapspeed I turned it black and white, added a bit of grain and a boarder.

So it just goes to show you can get some good shots on your phone.

Please lets us know what you think.