PhotograClare » light

Shaft of Light

Clare Topping — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:16:33 +0000

This is an example of a photo that I saw had potential, but which I couldn’t quite realise on the camera. I had decided to go to Coventry to specifically take photos for an hour, mainly because I decided that it would probably be my last chance this year as very soon the whole world will be going retail crazy. It is a city I know quite well and have photographed a few times, this area behind the old cathedral(s) being one of my favourites. I have taken numerous pictures from the other side of the window, but whilst wandering around looking for something different to shoot I noticed how the sun was illuminating the water droplets. I also noticed that when viewed from another angle it appeared as though there was almost a replica of the opening on the wall – however, that didn’t work out at all.

I have taken to travelling lighter these days and so just had my 50mm lens with which I am obsessed (along with taking photos of steps) attached to the EOS 400D. The light levels were quite variable, so I was mainly using ISO200, which at f/8.0 gave me a shutter speed of 1/640secs which allowed the water droplets to be frozen. I converted it to black and white in Lightroom, and cropped a little off the top and a little off the bottom. Out of all the shots I took around that feature I think this one works the best, possibly because it also has the highest level of contrast with the area of shadow beneath the window.

In the spotlight.

Clare Topping — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:28:32 +0000

This is another on the way to work picture – it would not have worked at any other time. The light caught my eye as I was walking past and I had to go back for a second look.

It is only at the beginning and end of the day that it is possible to get such useful light, in the middle of the day it is just too bright.

The effect I was trying to capture was the light hitting the top flower, but it was made more difficult by the strength of the light. I wanted the smaller flower in as well, but if I moved round one way I got an awful background, move slightly the other way and the sun did not light up the flower.

In the end I settled for a little too much light, but cropped some of the top of the picture out. The compromise I made was that there is less of the bottom flower stalk in than I would have liked, making it feel a little unbalanced.

I have also applied some sharpening in light room as the Canon S90 can take quite soft pictures.

ISO 80, 6mm, 1/200secs at f/4.0.

Abstract

Clare Topping — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:54:38 +0000

I went out for a walk today to try and take some interesting pictures of flowers in the snow. I took some that were OK, but interesting would not really be a fitting description. Then I got home and thought I would have a look at the flowers in the back garden and see if there is anything that was worth shooting – after all, I had the camera already set up with a macro lens.

What immediately caught my eye was the dwarf pine that I recently bought, partly because I like the feel of the needles (they are very soft and tactile – unless you have a pine allergy), and partly because I thought it looked nice.

I took a few close ups, not sure where to focus, and was pleased with nearly all of them. For once they were better than I had expected when I looked through the viewfinder. The close up shows up the shades of green and yellow brought out by the Winter Sun.

For those interested my 100mm Macro lens was back at work, handheld, ISO 200, 1/125secs and f/6.3 to get the shutter speed and a softer depth of field.