Location Shoots

Gateway to the ocean: This shot was taken at the end of the trip, at this point I started to concentrate on the rocks texture, it provided a great opportunity to start playing with black and white conversion. The original images looks both flat and basic but after using RAW software to enhance the clarity and change the shows the image started to come to life. I like this image because the amount of tonal range  and the grad filter I used brings the image to life. At first I was not to keen on the reflection bouncing off the water but now I think it ads more depth and more drama.

HDR Wembury

Slow Shutter speed Wembury

Slow shutter speed Wembury

THE SHOOT

I loved this shoot as for the first hour we done beach clean which was rewarding as when the group pored all the rubbish collected on to the floor there was a large amount of trash that we had saved from effecting the environment, the sea is a big part of my life being a diver and being involved with many charities such as sea-shepard and the shark trust this was a productive day out. During the clean I came across some dead birds effected by the P.I.B issue, the bird feathers were coated in a oil like gunk that effected them being able to float and therefore caused them to drown, hundreds of birds have been washed up. On this shoot I was using a 105 macro lens for the beach clean to capture rubbish entangled with seaweed but I was mainly looking to capture some slow shutter speed seascapes with a 10-20mm wide angle lens and ND filters attached. The best images I got in my opinion where the shots that showed the contrast between the smooth foggy water and the hard texture of the rock. Creating the motion blur with the waves was created by holding the light back using 3 of the ND filters a shutter speed under 1/15th of a second and a deep depth of field like f.22-f.36.

National Marine Aquarium

DEATH BY POLLUTION : I took This image just out side the NMA on the rocks near the shore, I saw these 2 dead birds which were obviously killed by pollution, this shocked me to see this happening so close to my home and made me shudder at the lack
of prevention to this issue.This shoot was a hard one due to the lack of light in the aquarium and not being able to compensate by using a flash because of the risk of scaring if not killing the fish. in the end I managed to find the right ISO shutter speed and aperture to allow me to start capturing theses awesome creatures. For this shoot I was mainly using a 105mm macro lens on a Nikon D80 I found that the average shutter speed, Aperture and ISO to be used in this light was 1/60 - f.4 ISO 400-800

Jelly Fish: This shot was set up on a tripod with the 105mm Macro lens.

Clown Town: These guys were quite quick and took me a while to get one of the fish in focus.

Mermaid's Purse: The mermaids purse is a egg case from the shark family this one I believe is either a dogfish or a ray egg.

Glowing Clown Fish: This anemone was glowing and gave the Image a science fiction feel to it.

Grumpy Clown: This little guy had a brilliant character to him his face seemed to say it all.

Clown Fish Diving: the sharpness of the anemone in this image sets it off for me .

Little Orange Fella: this guy was a bit of a poser

THE SHOOT


For this shoot I shot simular images of different creatures, there amazing colours forms and patterns inspired me to go close in with a 105mm macro lens which allowed me to capture the little details and gave me a brilliant shallow depth of field. I found when I was in the aquarium that I prefered to shoot the smaller animals such as the clown fish and Jelly fish as they have brighter and more complex patterens.Because of the animals i was un able to use flash incase of scareing if not killing the fish, using a wide aperture and higher ISO was what allowed me to take these photo's in such a dark location as I could not sacrifise the shutter speed due to the subjects being fast and not liking to stay in the same position for very long. I found that the Aquariums colourfull animals were what made the images, the variety and vibrancy of the fish and the anenomes made the iamges stand out. Next time I go to this location I would be sure to take a circular poliriser to use for the ligher areas of the aquarium and may be even go to a 180mm Macro lens.




MILLBAY SHOOT

DANCE ACADEMY (MILLBAY)

This Image was taken during the Millbay shoot the Image was taken using a 10-20mm lens f.8 1/60 ISO 100. The photo was made with two layers one which went through the Photomatixs HDR process (the building) then the other was the sky which was created on camera RAW making the sky darker more contrasted and sharper to give it a more dramatic punchy look. I think this building is a brilliant place for images because it is very haunting, the trees growing from the windows and roof are a indication of natures power to reclaim mans mark on the earth along side the 1900s architecture and colour of the building brings the photo to life, the image almost portrays the building as being a ghost with a fading personality.

NEW ERA (MILLBAY)

The new builds in Millbay are very clinical and box shaped the image was also taken with a 10-20mm lens although this went through the same process as the Dance Academy image the photo gives a different feel to the view in my opinion this image shows modern aspects and shows the future bright and clean, new and a fresh start unlike the image above's (Unfortunate Beauty) colour which feels as if it is solemn, hostile ,lonely and haunting portraying the past and the end of an era. 

THE SHOOT

I shot quite a wide range of images on this shoot mainly building based as its an area of development and has the contrast between the old and new architecture.On this shoot I was motivated by the recent HDR lecture and work shop so while I was taking these images I had HDR in process and tried to capture shots that will work well in HDR processing. If I was to go on this shoot again I would consentrate on developing my tonal range analasis skills because I beleive that this location may show high potential in black and white. For this shoot I prodomintly used a 10-20mm lens which helped fit large amounts if not all of the buildings into the frame, I used quite a fast shutter speed because I did not have a tripod on this shoot and therefore compensated the fast shutter speed with a wide aperture though I did not have to compensate to much because it was a bright day. On this shoot I made the mistake of not using a tripod, I reckon if I had used a tripod I could have used the fast wind blowing the clouds to my advantage in a slow shutter speed shot which could have added drama to the capture also filters such as a grad kit could have helped with the shutter being opened long creating more motion blur. 

Dartmoor

TAKEN BY TIME: This image was taken at Foggintor Quarry in Dartmoor the ruins made brilliant subjects for black and white photography, I feel as if this photo portrays a massive sense of time and how this building must have been standing here beaten by the harsh windy weather but still surviving after hundreds of years to me makes the photo a sad but interesting one full of history and how this building has not yet given in to destruction, it stands proud just off to the West of the actual quarry. on the west facing wall it goes down into a open area which is the next image.

THE WEST WALL

 CRUMBLED SETTLEMENT

THE STONE ROW: This area has a mysterious feeling to it and I wanted to show that in the image, I'm not keen on this photo I reckon I could have taken a much better shot but at the time I was quite restricted as there was a group of about 12 people trying to get photos at the same time which made getting a shot with out them in it a bit difficult.
  
THE SHOOT


The shoot itself was quite a chilled one except at the start when I was setting up for a photo of the stone row I had a technical difficulty in the form of my tripod blowing over on to a rock cracking a grad filter and the attachment, this did suck out my moral for the day and effected the first part of the shoot hence the lack of stone row pics. After a while I put the unfortunate happening behind me and I prevailed. The images of the ruined building were my favourite as the back drop was dramatic along side the main subject which in my opinion was beautiful.