Gibbon Photograph from France

Gibbon in Black and White

As photographers we use light to paint the final image, yet sometimes we have too much light to capture the photograph we intend to present. Not often for my Cornwall Photography sessions, but still an issue.

I guess we get into a position where as a photographer you want the sharpest image, yet sometime you have to much light entering the lens. This happens when either:

• You want to use a small f number to throw out focus, or
• You want to slow time down to capture movement.

The latter was the issue here. Slowing time creates an important dimension in this photograph. It gives the image a sense of purpose with the movement captured by the hand of the Gibbon, showing the animal in some context, despite the scene being almost devoid of reference points.

The solutions are simple. One requires you to have a filter to hand reducing the amount of light being shown to the sensor, the other means using the cameras technology to reduce the effect of light on the picture, using ISO.

Filters effect the light seen by the camera. Some improve colour in differing areas of the spectrum, others prevent light in differing quantities entering the lens, allowing slower shutter speeds to be effective in bright light conditions.

Once you start tweaking ISO away from the basic setting of 200 – 800 you start to really trade off quality. You have to balance this trade with your abilities to enhance and tweak images in software, with your creative requirements. The beauty with ISO is you have it wherever your camera goes…. If you forget your filters!!

Black and White Big Cat Photo

I have been lucky enough to take some time out from my usual photography in Cornwall with a visit to the Royan area of France for a few weeks.

This was a fantastic family holiday, which has left me with over 300 keepers (the best of the best photographs) to edit and present to my family. Oh I wish I did not have a camera at times!!! Only joking there, It was great and to be able to record the holiday through the lens with some fantastic shots is worth while.

This big cat was merrily sleeping while I took this photo. The photograph is almost as shot. I converted it in camera to black and white, then a little careful dodging and burning to increase the feeling of depth in the image, a crop to A4 format and a little sharpening. That is all the editing I have done!

The good news is since I have been back I have book a few more portrait shoots and have been working hard at marketing my work in the local area. I have also updated the way I sell images from this site. I now use Photobox to print images and send them directly to you. Have a look here for more information about my photographs for sale.

This nature photograph was captured on the Exeter Canal about 12 months ago. Its a very traditional photo of a Swan standing its territory during the breeding season.

The camera used was a Nikon D40. Even this entry level camera has captured great fine detail in the swans plumage. The image was adjusted slightly to increase the contrast, showing more feather detail.

Nature photography is very challenging and it’s an aspect of digital photography I would like to explore more. I do need some larger lens as well as other equipment to help me out, but in time I will achive this gaol!

I have seen some great macro photography out there of pupating insects. I will hunt it down and share it with you.

If you are an armature nature photographer, please send in some images to share.

Swan on Helston boating lake

Swan on Boating lake

Helston boating lake can be found on the Porthleven road out of Helston. Ducks, Swans and Gulls enjoy the area, with children feeding them and playing in the park area . There is also a very popular skate park located here.

The Swans have been breeding on the lake for many years, often rearing 4- 5 cygnets a season. They do become very aggressive during the breeding season – attacking other water fowl. However, they are as we all know very graceful.

As the swans are used to being fed, they are happy to pose for a quick photograph. This head shot of a Swan was captured with the help of my children feeding them some corn. The Swan seemed to rise to the occasion and allow me to get this portrait photograph.

To buy this photograph follow this link: – Cornwall Photographs for sale

Following on from my macro adventure which I wrote about here images of insects I was inspired to photograph some grasses due to there textures and fine detail.

Meadow grass

Grass photographs

Having taken some time to study the form of different hedgerow grasses I was amazed how delicate and fine they are, full of texture and shape

The problem with capturing this image is the slightest breeze moved the subject and I wanted to use natural light, not studio lighting. I found that wrapping a coat around the stems allowed me to steady the grass enough to get a sharp image and have some control of the scene.

Using a Nikon 18 – 55mm lens on my D40 I was able to use a small aperture to focus only on one part of the seed heads, throwing the background out. I decided to take the images in jpeg fine rather than RAW to speed up processing time.

Post capture

I had taken 20 photographs and had 10 usable ones. A great session!

Grass

Very little adjustments needed to be made, which I was delighted with. I did play a brush over the seed heads to dodge and burn shadows and high lights, but used only 2% exposure on the brushes.

To buy this photograph follow this link: – Cornwall Photographs for sale