Going Mono

Another trip down by the river, this time to Marsh Meadows in Henley.




She didn't jump as high as I thought she might so cropped a bit off the top in the B&W version. Greyscaled and then used the eyedroppers.




Greyscaled, used black eyedropper and slider for the light tones.




Greyscaled, black eyedropper and slider for light tones. (Prefer this one in colour)

Since doing CJ's courses if I convert to B&W I always use greyscale but haven't used the eyedroppers before. Will definately use again as it can make a much punchier image although I found it can blow out some of the detail.

A Couple of Trips Out.....

A quick picnic dodging the showers down by the river a few days ago. This was taken with the aperture module in mind although again I would have liked a shallower DOF for this shot. Taken fully manual although it was a bit of a fluke ;)



The rain held off this afternoon so off we went for a mooch around Windsor and Eton. There was even some lovely blue sky as well. All the following shots were taken with the reflection module in mind.

The water reflecting on the side of the boat caught my eye and gives a big clue as to where we were:)



This is Eden reflected in a porthole of one of the long boats moored at Eton. It was quite tricky getting this shot. The wind was really blowing and the boat was bobbing up and down and side to side! Not manual I'm afraid.



Eden again in a muddy puddle!



All of us reflected in a shiny bollard thingy.



Window shopping in Eton.






Maybe next time I'll go a bit more manual!

Aperture

As the weather has been pretty awful the last few day the trusty Monopoly set came out. The kids love it even 5 yr old Noah. They just love the thought of all that money!



I used the widest aperture on the lens but would have liked a shallower DOF. Didn't get chance to change lenses as the kids had just finished and refused to pose. Typical!

More Exposure...

One of our jobs during the holidays is helping look after the chickens at school. Noah's Reception class hatched 7 chicks earlier in the year and his teacher was allowed to keep them. However, there are now only 3 left as 3 turned out to be cockerels who annoyed the neighbours at 6am! so have gone to a good home and one, who has been a bit poorly, is being looked after by another parent.


Pleased with this one because of the strong contrast and fast moving subject.


A bit noisy as taken at ISO 1600 in dull conditions at around 8pm.

Exposure

The first module is Exposure and this first shot is of the kids End of Term Reports (and for DD1 her SATs results!)

ISO 100 f4.5 1/1250 Manual

In PP I lightened the shadows as the whites were very grey. The histogram had a column in the centre top to bottom and nothing to the right of it. Is that what you get for photographing white things?

This shot is of DD1 and the Dictionary she was presented with at her Year 6 Leavers Performance. (Didn't get one of the actual presentation - camcorder/camera fiasco! The only positive out of this was I was so mad I didn't get all emotional and embarass myself!)

ISO 100 F4 1/80 Manual

SOOC The histogram was all skewed to the left, I'm guessing because of the dark background but I am pleased with it because all the detail is clear.

Both these shots were taken in Manual. I always start in AV and then go Manual if I don't get the results I want. This is fine when I have a subject that won't move or is happy to pose but I haven't got up the courage yet to go fully manual. I guess I'm worried I'll miss the shot altogether if I don't get it right first time. Having said that I know what I've got to do... practise. practise and more practise!!

A Theme!

I think I have finally settled on a theme of School's Out. As this course coincides with the school holidays I will be able to document some of the activities we get up to in the holidays.

A New Blog

Welcome to my Photography Masterclass Blog 2009.

I'm very behind at the moment, we are already into Week 2 and I still haven't decided on my theme :o let alone taken any photos.

Better get a move on and get my a*** in gear!