As part of another themed photography shoot, Elsa and I headed to the oldest cinema in the UK, the Electric Cinema, for a Film Noir inspired session.

Joel provided us with the male gangster we required and delivered his part superbly. You could tell he was enjoying himself immensely, and who wouldn’t if they were being paid to dress up and act out this part along with fake cigarettes and guns? We had the entire cinema to ourselves and I am have no doubts the environment only helped Joel believe he really was in the 1940s. The lighting was pretty poor with only fixtures on the walls providing nothing more than ambience, and really tested out our skills at using directional light to our advantage. I was shooting exclusively with the 50mm f/1.4, stopping it up to f/2.2 and f/2.8 to sharpen things up, with the 7D hovering between ISO 2500 and ISO 3200.

Post-processing of this shot began with the colour raw and moderate noise reduction. Some dodging was needed in places with burning in others, and some minor cloning in the background to remove any distracting elements. The black and white conversion required two passes; one to correctly deal with the red channel and the other to deal with everything else. Some more selective dodging and burning around the face, hat and gun were needed again and hey presto, we’re done. All that was needed to finish up was some sharpening and vignetting.

I was on the fence about adding digital smoke and making the cigarette look lit. The smoke clearly looks cartoony, but I don’t work for Industrial Light and Magic and I think it gives a fantastical feele and adds a bit of romanticism to the scene.

I’m happy with how it has turned out, with the black and white version having my preference despite the punchier colour version.

Light trails courtesy of the Queensway tunnels, Birmingham

Long shutter photograhy is not normally something I dabble in, since it requires a tripod and I normally avoid tripod use unless absolutely necessary. I’d driven past a bridge overlooking the Queensway tunnel in Birmingham and thought it would make for a great vantage position for a spot of car light trail photography.

Sadly, I got there a little bit too early and there still too much ambient light around. I’d also neglected to take a jacket with me so I was getting progressively colder and colder until the night sky was just about right. My next problem was a general lack of traffic tonight, being a Saturday, so I took several with each concentrating on a different part of the frame to maximise the traffic flow.

Post-processing simply involved stacking the different exposures together and using the eraser brush to wipe away parts of the frame I didn’t want. For the first time in bloody ages, I have not used a soft light filter because there was no need!

I think it’s come out quite well, with the only in camera method of capturing a similar scene would be to wait until Winter on a weekday at rush hour and use bulb mode and remote.

We chose to visit the Northern town of Riva sul Garda on our first day of sightseeing and with ultra wide angle lens armed, I tackled some shots of the local architecture.

Post-processing was a simple affair, with only some minor exposure boosting of the shadows, spot healing, and my trusty soft light filter needed.

I love the distortion and the feeling that you’re in a land far from home that I think I’ve captured here.

Sailboats on Lake Garda, Italy

Whilst on our first ferry trip to the town of Riva sul Garda, I managed to snap this photo whilst indoors and looking through glass!

I have had to cheat slightly because the middle boat was moved ever so slightly from the right so that it was more in the centre for a more even composition. I think I’ve pushed the water about as far as it will go before additional noise kicks in.

I may revisit this one and apply some noise reduction to the water if I have time.

The port at Malcesine, Lake Garda, Italy

Lis and I recently returned from a week long break away with her family in the gorgeous Lake Garda region of Italy, an absolute mecca for landscape and travel photographers.

Not wanting to risk being without a particular part of my kit bag, I decided to take it all with me each day. All 7kg of it. In 30+ degree heat.

Out of the stuff I’ve worked on so far, this is hands down my favourite shot and I think had I have only been able to take this photo on the trip, I’d have been satisfied. Near enough for the entire trip, I either had my 70-200mm lens or 10-22mm lens attached to take advantage of the beautiful architecture on display. Whilst waiting for our ferry in the Maclesine town port, the colours and boats docked caught my eye and screamed out to me as a working shot.

Post-processing was fairly simple, though involved loads of mundane cloning and spot healing. The water in the Summer was littered with leaves and fall foliage from nearby trees, marring the otherwise photogenic water. My usual soft light filter rears its head again as well as some luminance boosting of the blue colour channel. A high pass filter to sharpen it all up was the final touch.

More to come in the next few weeks once I’m able to make a real dent in processing the RAWs.

An extreme crop of a model at Focus On Imaging 2011

I’m not a big fan of cropping photos if I can avoid it, preferring to crop in camera with the viewfinder in the first place if at all possible. Sometimes though, cropping can be an incredibly useful tool and can completely transform an image into something else.

Whilst I was flicking through this month’s issue of Advanced Photographer (great magazine, pick up a copy now!), there was a feature on the science of compositions and why some age old examples stand the test of time and why some compositions simply can’t work. I like to think composition is one of my strong points, hence why I rarely feel I need to crop, though I’m always on the look out for more advice on successful compositions.

Compositions and limbs is one such area I’ve been reading into over the last few months, with the general rule that cropping above a joint works and below makes people look like amputee victims. According to conducted research, the mind struggles with crops below joints and the it simply expects to see the rest of the joint.

Another crop that I’ve particularly taken a shine to is just above the eyes, where the top of the head is missing. Conventional logic would have you include all the head and many a non-photographer has always commented that I’ve cut the top of the head off. Yet, many intimate face only portraits adopt this approach with great success. I can’t explain why the crop works, but I guess it has something to do with the eyes being present, leaving the mind at ease.

Enjoy!

EDIT – I went back to the original and cropped slightly differently, though I had to create a few extra pixels for the top. The original had some dangly bits from a hat she was wearing, some which casted shadows and and one which was just above the eyebrow in question. I decided to apply a slight soft light filter on top of the finished image, partially to help mask some difficult cloning brush marks on the forehead, but also to intensify the contrast.

Lis striking a pose, Cannon Hill Park

Another older shot for you all that I’be only just finished editing.

I shot this with the fantastic Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8, proving to be an extremely versatile lens.

I won’t say what I’ve done with post-processing for fear of Lis and her wrath!

EDIT – My new Mac has thrown the colour calibration out of whack on all of my screens, especially on the iPhone where the above shot looks bleached and washed out. I’m borrowing a screen calibration tool so should find consistency again…

Nissan Skyline GTR R34 at Japfest, Castle Combe

I’ve not had much of a chance to shoot anything lately so you’ll have to make do with a rare static subject from Japfest.

I love Nissan Skylines almost as much as I love Mazda Rx-7s. There’s something incredibly striking with the design that looks superb from all angles, and don’t even get me started on those instantly recognisable and iconic tail lights.

This R34 was waiting in the pit area before heading out on the track, so I grabbed a quick snap before it took off.

Processing was fairly standard for this shot, though I selectively stripped the colour from the reflections in the Skyline’s paintwork for a more limited colour pallete.

I’d like to think this shot works as a more abstract piece of car photography though I’ll leave that to you, the viewer to decide.

A Mazda Rx-7 and Nissan Skyline R34 drifting around Castle Combe

I love cars. I love Japanese cars. Japfest is heaven for me, watching high powered and highly desirable machines on display and showing their stuff on the track.

This shot was taken during the final drift battle of the day, with the winning team above being the only team to still be moving by the end of the round.

Post-processing followed my usual workflow involving my trusty soft light filter, though this time set to 100% for the more intense colours and tones.

One of the two female boxers at the boxing club, Dudley

I’ve been a little lax with the updates, so I do apologise, though I’m looking to keep them coming regularly now that I’ve managed to work down the huge backlog.

Continuing from where we left off, Elsa and I attended an evening of boxing at a club in Dudley. As part of the evening’s line-up, two female members of the club were to put on a few rounds for everybody to see.

I’m incredibly happy with how this shot came out and is certainly one of the sharpest of the bunch.

Post-processing involved a largely similar route to the last example, though with slightly more noise reduction. I’m on the fence about whether I prefer this cleaner look or not – what’s the verdict out there?

More stuff to come tomorrow!