Photos you have taken in the last month of which you are proud?

Chasing waterfalls on Mt Wellington on a rainy winters day.

Squirrel enjoying a lazy Sunday.

Hmmm, waterfalls….I haven’t done one for a while, but love the long exposure effect.

Meantime, quite proud of this handheld effort!
West nave of St. Giles' Cathedral by Kit Carruthers[/url], on Flickr

Kit that is quite spectacular. Apart from liking it very much I can also appreciate how difficult that shot must have been to get. The lines of symetry are nigh on perfect and make it look like a glassy reflection in a perfectly still lake. What lens are you using? There is almost no distortion so either you’ve done that in post or used a very good lens.

I haven’t shot any ‘street portraits’ for about a month now as i’ve been doing more formal portraits of people I know. I did a session yesterday afternoon with a friend and her daughter and this is the one I like the best from that series:

Mother & Daughter by Greg Turner[/url], on Flickr

But I did also pop into the local skate park as the sun was going down and got this one (around 7.30pm).

Hey Joe (slight reprise) by Greg Turner[/url], on Flickr

Thanks Greg! The lens is a 14mm f/2.8 Samyang. It’s got tons of distortion until you apply a profile in LR, and then I manually did some more corrections. The image, though, is largely unchaged from the original. I managed to nail it in the capture. Here’s the original with no processing other than applying the lens profile.

P.S. Got a 55/1.8 on the way 🙂

Taking biking shots in a group is always difficult as nobody can really be arsed, but managed to capture a couple of good ones last week.

I liked this one looking out at my trusty Gnarthingy after a morning’s shralping…

DSC01170 1 by John Clinch[/url], on Flickr

Captions please?

JK Rowling’s morning routine before the boy wizard book deal

Quite pleased with this, taken with a hand-held Lumix TZ72 the flowers are on a strip of grass alongside the footpath opposite where I work, on a large industrial estate. Quite large numbers flower most years, provided the contractor with the strimmer stays away…

Another, slightly wider view…

In context…

Bradley by Greg Turner[/url], on Flickr

More waterfalls

My art pallette up close… it works me. Much to the irratation of other artists.

I dont even use clean water anymore….;)…. what a rebel.

Untitled by Polarisandy[/url], on Flickr

Greg, last night I got into a heated discussion with a portrait tog who insisted I shot at f/4 or f/8 for sharp portraits. His argument being that I’d never get a sharp result through the head at f/1.4. I said that this wasn’t the style I wanted (like your photos, sharp eyes, immediate fall off) and he just couldn’t get his head around it! Nice discussion of your style on your Flickr page; I’ll never realise that level of insight into portraits or people 🙂

Not really anything special, just like it, Coire Lair Torridon last week, excellent weather all week
coirie laire by Doubledunter[/url], on Flickr

Greg, last night I got into a heated discussion with a portrait tog

Well I think you ended the ‘debate’ the moment you said this wasn’t the style you wanted. Really that’s all there is to it; we make the pictures WE want to make not what the rules tell us to make or what other people expect.

Ironically though, I have, mostly, defaulted to the principle that the ‘portrait tog’ espoused though perhaps not quite as severely as to stop down to f/8.

It does of course all depend on a number of variables (how shallow the depth of field ends up being). The longer the focal length and the closer you are to the subject, the less DoF there will be at a given aperture. And of course you can achieve the same sense of very shallow DoF by being relatively close to your subject and having a large distance between them and the background.

If you’re shooting at f/1.4 on an 85mm lens and you are about 1m away from the subject then you are going to struggle to get anything other than about 1cm of focus depth, which would mean the eyes and only the eyes in focus. That image of Bradley above is a good example but it also shows what is all too easy to have happen; the camera has actually focused on the rim of his glasses so actually the eyes are not even in focus. Fortunately that helps make that picture more interesting; it gives a sense of slight detachments between the subject and the viewer; it encourages them to try and refocus and connect, and when they do the subject still seems a little remote. While I will be honest and say that the idea of deliberately defocusing to achieve that effect was not what I had in mind at that moment; the result that I just described is. I’m learning that while you can have a very clear image of the final picture in mind when shooting, actually getting that is at least 50% luck (well it is in my case).

A lot of the other portraits I’ve shot I have stopped down to anywhere between f/2-2.8 up to f/5.6. But I rarely go to f/8 and I only tend to stop down beyond f/2.8 when either I’m trying to make an environmental portrait (which is much more fashionable in the art world these days – have a look at anything in the Taylor Wessing or National Portrait awards and portraits shot at f/8 or f/16 on MF film, in bedrooms or sparse living areas or even outside are everywhere) or where I have control over the background and I know that it is uniform and bland and I don’t need to knock it out to get the subject to stand out.

The images below were all shot at f/5.6 or f/8 but then they had a black screen behind the subject so I could do this and I specifically wanted to have the whole person in focus because that was the story I wanted to tell.

I love the fact that the debate exists and I love the fact that the debate causes you to explore your creativity and think more about what you’re trying to achieve and why. But I cannot abide it if the debate is based on what someone else thinks you should be doing. Good for you on resisting that with the ‘portrait tog’.

As for the debate on my Flickr feed and the thought that I put in, probably I think too much (I always have about almost everything anyway) and I’m probably trying a little too hard, but I am getting a lot out of doing that and it’s helping me personally in so many ways. For me at least, it is all about the person, both in front of the lens and behind the camera.

Lastly, Andy I so so love that shot. It’s quite a different one from you. Not something I haven’t seen you do before but not something you’ve really done recently and I honestly love it. I love the composition, the colour, lighting and the story it tells.

Mother & Daughter by Greg Turner[/url], on Flickr

Untitled by Polarisandy[/url], on Flickr

Very good Polarisandy, I love that top-down one. I’m going through a tough time with my colour dev, I have lost three rolls entirely (developer died) and the last two came out very blue mid-roll. Time to buy some Tri-X I think…

Greg, your latest portraits remind me in a way of Doug Dubois. Not sure how, as they don’t have backgrounds! I bought his book “My Last Day at Seventeen” and it’s lovely, check it out.

Can’t post from Google Photos anymore, so these are from my Insta and I’m not sure they’ll work either… just family snaps.

Greg, your latest portraits remind me in a way of Doug Dubois. Not sure how, as they don’t have backgrounds! I bought his book “My Last Day at Seventeen” and it’s lovely, check it out.

This is exciting for two reasons. First because I just discovered another photographer whose work I know I’m going to love exploring and second because on first inspection of his work, this is exactly the kind of story I’m trying to tell. Yes he uses more context in his composition than I am doing but the narative is very similar to what I’m aiming for.

Thankyou Bob you’ve honestly made my day!

Regarding your post above, the second image is great; love the documentary feel it has. The third image is just sublime. Honestly tugging at heart strings and I’ve got a full on lump in my throat looking at that one.

Got these snaps with my temperamental compact Ricoh CX2 which I grabbed second hand off here for cheap

DSC06655 by Graeme Matheson[/url], on Flickr

DSC06647 by Graeme Matheson[/url], on Flickr

DSC04552 by Graeme Matheson[/url], on Flickr

cheers Bob.
I send colour to peak imaging, just do b+w at home.
Can you b+w the ones that came out blue?

Untitled by Polarisandy[/url], on Flickr

Andy just in case you missed this earlier:

Lastly, Andy I so so love that shot. It’s quite a different one from you. Not something I haven’t seen you do before but not something you’ve really done recently and I honestly love it. I love the composition, the colour, lighting and the story it tells.

Refers to the image of the picnic.

There are quite a few things wrong with this photo, but the lighting wasn’t all that, and my little Lumix was struggling to really get focus lock on the people, but this one was a complete accident and I’m rather chuffed with it…

Tom Verlaine of Television, Anson Rooms, Bristol.

Sorry, nothing special photography wise, just my phone, but I just like it. He’s asleep with his favourite ball.

But I cannot abide it if the debate is based on what someone else thinks you should be doing.

Neither can I. I think he thought he was trying to be helpful, and when I pushed back I think he lost objectivity. Having now seen his bread and butter work, I can see where he’s coming from. But, IMO, his photos are **** dull 😉

Anyway, quite happy with this.

Carl by Kit Carruthers[/url], on Flickr

Cheers GT i did miss that.
Think i must have been in a bit of a look up look down mood.

There were lots of people at this spot and i prefer uncluttered images, only way to get this was to shoot vertically!

Untitled by Polarisandy[/url], on Flickr

All these Liverpool images were one morning nipping out and leaving the family in bed.
Weather was good, couldn’t sleep, haven’t shot any pics for a while and had a bag of expired eBay film to play with 😉

Archie

My niece is bloody ace:

bob_summers, love your photos 🙂

Proud of this one because I got myself out the of flat whilst feeling pretty sorry for myself, trekked into town, then promptly got absolutely soaked by biblical rain while trying to protect the gear under a tiny brolly. All good fun, and bagged the shot I was after (kinda).

St. Giles' Cathedral in the rain by Kit Carruthers[/url], on Flickr

I know I piss around with the contrast and colour enhancement, which puts the purists into a froth, but I like what I do, I like where I ride, I love my bike and I’m very lucky to be able to get out and ride and take in my surroundings..

Today, CXer on the SDW.

So good you posted it twice 😉

Untitled by Polarisandy[/url], on Flickr

Untitled by Polarisandy[/url], on Flickr

Stream Packet heading out of Liverpool

Marble Carving

The Marble Church, North Wales

Something a little different from me today.

I think I prefer this one on reflection

On the Beach by Greg Turner[/url], on Flickr