This honesty seed pod is looking a little worse for wear and I’m surprised it’s not split and scattered its seeds yet. Photographed in summer they are a lush green – backlighting still works now and creates an interesting glowing effect.
Taken with the K20D and 16-45mm zoom. A low autumn sunlight just out of view has helped introduce flare which I feel adds to the balance.
I bought an old cupboard to paint black & white and use as a camera equipment storage unit, as I have stuff all over the place. I’m currently preparing the surface for the paint job. Taken with Hipstamatic on the iphone.
Tonight I’m introducing my new model (well I’ve had her a while but she’s new to viewers of this blog)
I am using her to test flash set ups before using them in real life situations and for consistency when comparing kit. This will save time and allows me to experiment without making a model endure my faffing around.
Tonight I was preparing a test of Gary Fong’s recent collapsible Lightsphere, with amberdome (gives warm light)
I set it up on my favourite flashgun – the Vivitar 283. After I’d finished the test shots (incidentally this unit is super (possibly my favourite portable modifier to date!) I had a bit of fun positioning myself in frame at various distances. I decided to go for the no photos paparazzi style hand at the camera look.
My trip to Ikea on Sunday resulted in the purchase of one of their heavy duty stools which I assembled and decided to photograph a stage of the process using the iPHone and b&w Hipstamatic for my photo365 project.
Here is the tenth of 12 sets of pictures from my photo365 project. This one covers the month of October 2011
Click on the photo to see a larger version
See the individual pictures each day on my blog
I was in Ikea’s cafe eating meatballs…yum…and spotted a curtain backdrop and instantly saw my picture of the day. Thanks to Alex for standing up in a crowded cafe and humouring me, much to her embarrassment. All in the name of art darlings! 
I took it with the iphone with Hipstmatic set to black & white film mode…giving it a subtle sepia hue in Lightroom
I was taking photos of berries earlier this morning backlit against the morning sun using an old Pentax M series 80-200mm zoom on the K20D, and noticed the background tree shape, and decided to switch attention to the tree. Adjusting focus so it’s out but still recognisable is an interesting technique that’s worth trying for abstract views…quite dreamlike.
Stanage Edge this evening. I went to shoot the sunset and then star trails, the sunset was a bit lack lustre but the stars were out. I spent about an hour in the dark on the edge – it was, as seems usual up there, very windy. I heard sheep rustling around, bats (i think) flew over head, but nothing as scary as the other night in Clumber Park, so I was quite relaxed as I tripped the shutter after each 30 second exposure.
In one shot I’d set the tripod up from a low position and started taking shots. I then climbed up onto the rock that two of the tripod legs were resting on only to realise the tripod was leaning backwards and could have easily toppled over and crashed down 20 or so feet. The fun of in the dark photography!
The battery died and I didn’t have a spare with me, so the trail on this one is quite short. In the background to the right are the lights of Sheffield.
It’s a 28 exposure blend, with one frame illuminating the trig pojnt with the Joby GorillaTorch
It was quite a challenge getting down after I’d finished. What seemed like an easy way up disappeared after dark.
The Joby GorillaTorch came in handy again.
Trying out a new combination of an old Vivitar 3x converter I just acquired and Pentax 100mm macro to create a 300mm f/8 macro lens. It lets you get really close (from a distance) Here’s one of the shots of a needle and cotton thread, photographed against the bristles of a cleaning brush that came with a food blender.
An interesting evening started out at this post box on the road over to Thorpe Salvin. I’d been considering shooting this for a few weeks, and tonight the sky was right.
The only thing I hadn’t taken into consideration was cars. The post box is on a B road but I didn’t think it would be busy. I proceeded to shoot my series of 30sec intervals. I’d set up the Pentax K10D with the 12-24mm pointing upwards at the post box and made a first exposure with my Joby torch. On the second shot a car past and illuminated the post box, and field beyond. The torch wasn’t powerful enough to light the field so the car came in handy. It flooded the post box with light though.
So a bit of layer masking I could merge the car headlight illuminated field and the torch lit post box, the frames where blended using StarStaX.
I’d planned to shoot a one hour set but the timer I was using started playing up so I decided to quite early and go off to a new location.
I chose Clumber Park. Totally spooky out of the way location and in the evening in total darkness i could hear the sort of noises you hear in those horror films where a group of teenagers decided to camp out and all get slaughtered one by one. With my imagination running wild I decided it best if I didn’t stay around long, but I did get an interesting shot that I’ll post in the gallery.