Scirocco

Scirocco
Originally uploaded by MrBennStep

And here's another one, without all the digital trickery.

Scirocco_HDR_RearWheel2

Scirocco_HDR_RearWheel2
Originally uploaded by MrBennStep

On Friday my new car arrived, so on Saturday I took it up to the Cotswolds for some late afternoon sun set shots.

Another (final) version of the OOB Robin

I was asked to do a "how did you do that" speech at Maidenhead Camera Club (www.maidenhead.cc - check out the site, it's got one of my pics as the homepage image!) this week. And I wasn't overly chuffed with the V3 of the OOB Robin, so I redid it last night. I think this version is better:



In other news, last weekend we went to North Wales and I took some nice shots of Port Meirion and Snowdon. Will upload some here at some point...

Out of Bounds version 3

So after a bit more time and care, here's the improved version of the American Robin.



I learnt some new PS techniques doing this too... select/stroke/fill to draw squares, the perspective and transform tools.


I also showed my Mum this pic, and she was so impressed she has spent the whole afternoon doing various OOB stuff with her holiday photos. If she sends me any I'll post here!

Out of Bounds

Saw this: Out Of Bounds

and had a go myself:



Still WIP but not bad for 15 minutes of work (mainly using a trackpad rather than a tablet)!

Will tidy it up and repost once it the "paper" looks a bit better.

Judgement Day, by Mat

Judgement Day, by Mat
Originally uploaded by Mat Mackenzie

I was invited to join a group on Flickr of storm photos, and further down the list was this one, which I think is absolutely amazing!

Another New York Edit...

Here's another New York photo after it's been given some Photoshop love.



Bigger version on Flickr

Another taxi shot

Here's another NYC taxi shot, this one taken from out of our 31st floor hotel room window, then edited slightly in Photoshop.

Back from the USA

We got back from a ten day, 1160mile roadtrip round New England on Sunday. We have 960 photos! I'll upload the best ones here as I go through them and work out which ones are best and worth sharing...

But for now, here are two ace taxi shots:

Who needs focus?

Focus? Pah! That's for losers.

Am I the centre of the universe

My idea behind this picture was to think about what would it be like if a single person was the centre of the universe? The world as we know it is only rendered around that person, and as they walk through the world it appears around them. As they pass on, it slowly loses its colour and definition.

The photo was taken at Wembley, before an Elbow gig. The stadium was deserted so I took a few photos around the outside under the concrete walkways.

I'm about 70% happy with this image. I was aiming for some more levels of reality dissolving, with first the colour going, then the lines gradually fading. But I'm a bit stuck on how to do it, and sitting staring at photoshop for hours was starting to hurt my shoulders and neck :)

London

Yesterday I went on a trip to London city with some Maidenhead Camera Club peeps, and we took some photos of the city (Gherkin and Lloyds), Tower Bridge and sunsets over the Thames.

The pictures are currently being converted from RAW to JPG, will upload some once I've had the chance to look through them and sort them out.

Cloning 2

Here it is again, after a bit more work:

Cloning

There's been an exhibition at Norden Farm in Maidenhead of four photographers from Maidenhead Camera Club. I went today with Missus G, and attempted some clever cloning photos.

I've had the idea for this picture in my head for weeks, and today was the first opportunity to take the shots needed.

I'm not totally happy, but it's a good start. I might try some more when I go up to London next week in or around some tourist spots.

Year in pictures part 3

September

In September we went to Thassos, Greece for two weeks. Our hotel looked due West so there was some fantastic sunset potential.

October

Our second wedding anniversary meant a trip to Brighton. The weather was absolutely awful, but I managed to get two photos that I was quite pleased with.

November

At the end of November we had "Christmas" with some university friends. To build up an appetite we went for a walk to the pub across the fields as the sun was setting.

December

We spent Christmas with my parents in the Cotswolds. On Boxing Day we went into Broadway to see the Hunt. A lot of build up for not a lot of actual event...

Although the Morris Dancers were out enjoying themselves...

And of course, there has to be a bird shot, and as it is Christmas...

And that's that. Bring on 2009!

Year in pictures part 2

May

In May we went to Carter's Steam Fair in Holyport. I had high hopes for some semi-darkness long exposure type photos, but only one actually worked.



June

June was all about flowers. A trip to my parents' house in the Cotswolds resulted in some macro shots and some other flower studies.




July
In July I didn't take any photos. Amazing, I know, but there it is.

August
August included a trip to Cliveden House, and the following shot of the Tortoise Fountain (I know it's not a tortoise...)

And I recently had a go at monochroming it...