Battle of Chippenham

Some candid character shots from the weekend re-enactment of the battle of Chippenham.

The fog of war casting silhouettes of canon, pike and musket.

A Royalist cavalry rider at the gallop and a Parliamentarian flinches as his musket fires.

Ale and water for a defeated Parliamentarian cavalryman and his mount after a long, hot battle.

Oliver Cromwell

ISO1600, 23mm, 1/800s, f/8, selective levels/curves, noise reduction

The Oliver Cromwell steaming past a Somerset village at a fair gallop, not bad for a 60 year old that's for sure. Cropped "widescreen", I'm happy with the result, the weather had been glorious Sun until five minutes before she arrived and then it clouded over, causing a few ISO and exposure compensation setting changes, but I think the high ISO and muted/cloudy light has definitely brought out that slightly surreal, painted quality.

Butterfly of the day..

ISO100, 105mm, 1/200s, f/3.5, -2/3ev, colour balance (green reduction)

Since lunch-breaks have just turned into a procession of macro efforts, I've re-named today's post accordingly. Still nice to get good shots, even if they aren't as varied as I'd like. I guess at least today's is a new species for this blog - as far as I can remember.

Hopefully get something a little varied later in the week as I have a visit to Bristol tomorrow and another local steam locomotive Thursday (weather permitting), then some more wedding photos to do at the weekend again!

More macro

ISO100, 105mm, 1/200s, f/5.6, -2/3ev

One Day Wildlife Clearance

A bit of a wildlife clear out today, with a selection of rejects from the last couple of weeks, including a Graveyard squirrel, heart-shaped leaf ladybird, a bug with a view, the blue wings of a butterfly and the stripey eyes of a damselfly.

Swanage

ISO800, 260mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, -2/3ev, noise reduction, colour balance, levels

A family of swans sail past during a recent Kingfisher stakeout.

I happened to be nice and low for this shot, so shot them on their level and captured a nice moment with some eye contact, both parents looking inward and even some vocal participation in progress. Background isn't the best, but pleased with the composition and main subject.

Chippenham Folk Festival 2011

ISO200, 365mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, -1ev

A trio of black and white portraits from last weekends folk festival. Wasn't down there for long due to other duties and commitments, but pleased with the odd snap I did manage to grab.

ISO100, 360mm, 1/640s, f/5.6, -1 1/3ev

Who said a portrait has to have a face in it. Plenty of character on show without. Bright but hazey weather acting as the big, diffuse soft-box in the sky.

ISO125, 370mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, -2/3ev

Morris dancing and drinking beer, Britain in a snapshot.

ISO100, 115mm, 1/500s, f/4.5, -1ev

.. and a splash of colour to finish on, with another micro-encapsulation of the event.

Project KFC

ISO1600, 400mm, 1/500s, f/5.6

curves, levels, cropped, cloning, noise reduction

Project KFC is back on track again this year, same river, just a few miles further upstream.

Managed to get this shot this morning (hence the postponement of the folk festival shots promised).

Not exactly straight-from-camera, with not insignificant amounts of noise reduction, sharpening, cropping and cloning out the odd messy branch, but heading in the right direction. Certainly a decent starting point anyway and not bad considering it was just on the way to work, rather than properly set up.

Grave stalker

Not usually too long until a graveyard photo pops up on here, this time from a cemetery in Bath and a weathered statue of a woman at rest. There's often lots of angels and cherubs around, but always nice to find such a photogenic one.

Stay tuned for a few Folk Festival photos tomorrow..

Bittern

Bittern steam locomotive, running as the Dominion of New Zealand

Emerging from Box Tunnel

American Chrome

ISO100, 16mm, 1/60s, f/8, -2/3ev

cloning, levels, curves, de-saturate, colour balance, noise reduction

'68 Mustang

ISO400, 105mm, 1/200s, f/8, -2/3ev

cropped, colour balance, over-sharpening, de-saturated, blurred lightening layer

Friday - the light at the end of the tunnel..

A fridge magnet, a crystal and the Sun combine to make for a colourful end to the week.

Reed Bunting on reeds

ISO100, 400mm, 1/1000s, f/5.6, -2/3ev

A male Reed Bunting sings in the morning sunlight

Vicki & Bill

A variety of photos from our latest wedding shoot including: waiting for the bride to arrive, candid shots, studio lit shots, a really cool cake and a Las Vegas honeymoon themed Photoshop image.

The studio lights worked well, I got some nice shots in a limited time and was really popular. Set up was just kept really simple - the main softbox was high, front, right, just to the side of the camera and a second softbox low on the left, pointed down and reflected off the stage that we were working on. Worked really well, even on the large groups that queued up for a shot. Was a really enjoyable day, no thanks to being locked out minutes before the ceremony! Best wishes to Vicki and Bill.

Gypsy Horses

ISO100, 130mm, 1/250s, f/7.1, -2/3ev (pattern metering as usual)

Gypsy horses in the Wiltshire landscape

Steam & Green

ISO1600, 20mm, 1/500s, f/10, -1/3ev, selective curves

Two old steam locomotives charge through the Wiltshire countryside on their way to London.

Background

ISO500, 105mm, 1/160s, f/8, -2/3ev

Two more lunch break macro shots. Above, balancing on the end of some grass with a really nice background. Not sure what this bug is, but it's one I've not seen before.

ISO800, 105mm, 1/1600s, f/6.3, levels

Yet another dandelion, this time shot from below, using a background tree to create a dark halo around the backlit dandelion.

The recent rainfall should put a stop to my lying on the ground for a while, so hopefully I can find something else to photograph instead. Nearly finished processing all the photos from the last wedding now, then hopefully I'll have a bit more time outside lunch-breaks and work to concentrate on something a bit different for a change. Been a long time now since a sunrise or a Kingfisher attempt!

Dandelion Supernova

Becoming a bit of a mini project photographing Dandelions at lunch-break recently, this time with a large dose of Photoshop. Converted to black and white using channel mixer, keeping the green channel low to darken the green background. Curves to elevate the brightness of the main subject, then a hefty dose of levels to drown out the remaining background to near black.

Makes a change from posting up macro bugs anyway.

(of which there are plenty more to follow soon)

If you go down to the woods today..

Four photos taken yesterday lunch break, with my trusty macro lens taking the strain again..

ISO800, 105mm, 1/4000s, f/4.5, -1ev, cropped, noise reduction

ISO100, 105mm, 1/640s, f/3.2, -2/3ev, cropped

ISO400, 105mm, 1/500s, f/4.5, cropped, noise reduction

ISO1600, 400mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, -2/3ev, noise reduction, levels, colour balance

Roman Mosaic Heart

Common Blue

Images of a male common blue butterfly taken yesterday lunch break.

Windows 2011

Some of the best stained glass work I've seen in a while and to my co-named saint to boot. Stunning colour, tones and detail without even taking the age of it into account. They don't make them like that any more!

Always up for some stained glass dragon slaying action. Not up there with my favourite St Georges, but well worthy of a slot on the blog.

Bank Holiday 4

ISO100, 105mm, 1/640s, f/5.6, -1 2/3ev, cropped, levels, desaturated background

A male Orange Tip butterfly on bluebells.

A personal favourite of mine, this butterfly, with glorious colour and details, especially in contrast to the cool blues of the Spanish bluebell. Not as close as I would have liked, but with the Sun shining down full strength he was far too active and I was pleased to have grabbed this effort.

Taken using my usual evaluative metering, but with those highly reflective white wings I dialled down -1 & 2/3 ev exposure compensation to avoid burning out the details. However, I then burned the highlights back out a little in photoshop anyway as it looked a lot more natural than the original exposure curve.

Hope everyone had a great bank holiday! Roll on the next one..

Bank Holiday 3

ISO800, 105mm, 1/3200s, f/3.2, -1ev, cropped, levels, noise reduction, colour balance (reduce green reflection)

The alien world of the damselfly, with eyes like Jupiter.

Taken at ISO800 because I was using a larger aperture setting prior to this shot, but the 1/3200s helped freeze the leaf that was swaying in the breeze anyway.

Bank Holiday 2

ISO125, 105mm, 1/200s, f/5.6, -2/3ev, cropped, colour balance (reduce green reflection)

A woodland butterfly ponders life amongst the undergrowth. Backlit by the Sun to highlight the transparent wings and rim-light the feathered edges.