Water..

Hey everyone!
Well Christmas is over for another year and now we can look forward to the turn of a new decade! I haven't taken any exciting new photos lately but have been playing around a lot with Photoshop over Christmas and slowly picking things up. I'm certainly loving the iMac and don't think I will be going back to a PC anytime soon.

I have been looking through various photos of water that I have and have decided I need to take more. I love the free flowing soft shapes you get from it but its not always the easiest thing to capture. I may have a try tomorrow and just take some photos of running water from the tap and see what happens. The only difficulty are the lightening shutter speeds I want to us and finding enough light. I can get the flash gun out and just hope for the best!

The photo I am posting today is Trevi fountain in Rome. This really is quite an amazing fountain. You can hear the water from quite some distance away but following the sounds to find it is easier said than done. Eventually the narrow streets get you there and quite a sight awaits! I took this photo quite late in the evening. I didn't have a flash unit with me or a tripod so it was hard to get the best results. I think I had the shutter speed right down at 1/20th Second and I don't have the most steady hand in the world. The photo is a bit blurry but doesn't look too bad! Enjoy!!

The Debate

Evening all! Just a quick post tonight...After the photo I posted last night I began to ask myself if I hadn't spoilt the photo a bit by injecting too much red back into it. So I've taken the same photo and made some very small changes....et Voila! Opinions please!

Thanks!

Chico

Playing in Photoshop

Good Evening All! In between feeding and changing nappies I thought I would spend the evening having a play around in PhotoShop as I have finally got it installed on the iMac. I am somewhat of a novice and am pretty clueless but again that's something that I aim to change over time. I have found some pretty good video tutorials on Youtube and for now these are acting as my bible. As long as I get to master just a few basic functions to start with then I should be on the right track!

Seeing as it is the festive season, I thought I would choose a subject with a festive colour. Hence the Cranberry! I have always wanted to edit a photo so that most of it is in black and white with a few small parts in colour. I have only just learnt how to do this and was surprised to learn that it wasn't rocket science....You just need the patience of a saint! Apparently there are a few methods of doing this in Photoshop but I have opted for the "Gradient Map" tool. As the saying goes....Practice Makes Perfect!

In the Studio!

I just thought I would continue as I mean to go on so another quick post on this cold Sunday afternoon! This is a photo I took of my wife out in the studio. It was actually a photo from the first set of photos that I shot using the studio lights so I don't think I did too bad a job. I must invest in a flash meter at some point soon as for now its all trial and error with the settings and takes me about 10 shots to get anything decent. The end result seems to be worth it however.

I just opted for a very simple setup to take this photo using just one of the two flash units. I just wanted to create some very gentle lighting and shadows so just used the modeling light as opposed to the full on flash.

I do need to get kitted out with a few props to make some interesting photos. At the top of my list is a black chaise longue. If anyone has any bright ideas please let me know!

Two Extremes

The Question has to be asked. What exactly makes for a beautiful Landscape?

This photo is one I took a few years ago whilst on Holiday in the South of France. This is the Viaduc De Milau.

For me, it is the contrast in the photo that gives it the "Wow" factor. Is that bridge actually pretty or is it just an amazing feat of modern engineering...Now I'm getting deep!

My First Blog!

Hey there Everyone!

A big welcome to my very first blog! I know that few people will actually get to read this one but hopefully that will change over time!

I guess I should introduce myself and let you all know what I aim to do here on my blog. For now I am going to go by alias "Chico". I have held this nickname for quite some years and is a name with quite a story. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am today...Yep, names sure can work wonders!

One of my passions / interests in life is photography. I'm not going to pretend that I know all there is to know about it or that I'm a professional but hopefully as time progresses so will my skills. Many photographers seem to have a style that they like to keep to, be it portrait, landscape, animals etc....I don't think I have a specific style or maybe I just haven't found what it is yet. For now I simply aim to go with the flow and take photos of the things that I see and like. This will be a wide variety of subjects. I will post photos with my blogs and give you all some background information as to why I took that specific shot.

Equipment

Camera Body:- Nikon D80
Lenses:- AF Nikkor 50mm F1.8 & Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-135mm F3.5 - 5.6
Flash Unit:- Nikon Speedlight SB900

I have also recently set up a mini studio and have 2 flash Heads with Soft boxes. For now these are the Elinchrom D-4s
I also have 2 blackrounds - One black and one white...these are the paper roll varieties.

For editing I have a few programs including iPhoto, Capture NX2 (Nikon's own software) and Photoshop CS3. This seems to be an art in itself and I am still working my way around it all.

Until next time, happy snapping!

Chico