Picture of the month | February 2011

February was actual quite a productive month for photography, and choosing my picture of the month was actually quite a hard decision. However I have opted for a shot from towards the end of the month mainly because of the symbolic meaning of the image - This image was captured on my last photography session before the impending birth of our second child and I think that this image captures the spirit of an arrival of a new life perfectly.

I shot this image using my Digital X-Pan. Oh, if only that was the case! I really do wish that Hasselblad would release a digital version of what was my all-time favourite film camera.  OK, medium format quality in a small, 35mm size camera is now easily achieved with cameras like the Canon 5D Mark 2 but I do miss the ease of creating a panoramic with the X-Pan.  Multiple frame stitching works but can be time consuming in the field. Or so I thought until my recent purchase of a 24mm Tilt & Shift Lens.

This shot was captured just before sunrise and was created using the shift function on my new Tilt & Shift lens. Basically I took 3 exposures. The first with the lens shifted to the left, then the center and finally the right. All 3 shots were then merged in PhotoShop and slightly cropped to an X-Pan style preset I have set up in Lightroom.  It takes a couple of seconds to adjust the shift on the lens to the new position - Far quicker and simpler than the traditional method of taking panoramic images and also results in far less problems with parallax error that can occur with using a normal tripod head as opposed to a specialist panoramic head designed to eliminate parallax errors.

Of course all that really matters is the final image, and I must say that my 'Digital X-Pan' set-up really does deliver the goods and this shot just looks great as a 28" x 10" print!

I was definitely be exploring the virtues of using my new X-Pan in the coming months, after the birth of my own little Angel of course!

Picture of the month | January 2011

I'm pleased to say that the recent changes to the website have not been purely cosmetic, and that in addition to the new online store; I also plan to start incorporating a number of new regular features. This post is the first of these. At the start of every month, I will be looking back at my favourite image captured in the previous month - As well as recalling the story behind the photo.

Whilst January was not the most productive month for new images, I did manage to get out and about a few times and produce a selection of images that I felt help to satisfy my creative cravings. This shot, which I have affectionately titled ‘Black Light’ was 1 of only 2 monochrome images captured this month and actually began life as a colour shot.

The day had begun with a trip to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne but unfortunately the BBC weather forecast had proved to be incorrect (yet again), and my 5.30 AM start had resulted in a couple of hours standing around by the castle hoping that there might be a minor weather miracle. There wasn’t. However in the distance I could see a small patch of blue so I decided to head inland to the Cheviot Hills near Wooler.

So began the ‘chasing of light’ game! As I reached Wooler the conditions were improving but that elusive patch of light was still a way away. A quick check of the map later, I decided to head over the border to Kirk Yetholm in the Borders. Here conditions were better but still I had not found the treasure!

So I continued through the village and headed towards my, as yet unknown, destination. Imagine my elevation when I finally found myself in a desolate Border Valley under a blanket of blue sky and white clouds!

A quick climb of a hill later, and I found myself standing on the ancient Dere Street Roman Road looking across the border ridge towards the English Border at Carter Bar. After passing a couple of hours taking a few shots looking back towards Northumberland and the Cheviot Hills, I noticed an interesting break of light above a misty patch of the uplands. By now the wind had picked up and I knew that using my 70-200mm lens to isolate details in the landscape would be a tricky proposition. I quickly composed my shot and fitted my 3-stop hard and 2-stop soft filter to the lens. Next it was just a case of firing the shot when there was a lull in the breeze. Out of about 30 shots there were only 2 that were sharp enough to keep.

Whilst the colour shot was pleasing, I felt that the colour distracted from the mood of the location. Ironically after a day spent trying to find a splash of colour, I found myself capturing one of my favourite black and white images to date!