Light and dark

Light and dark, a photo by howarew on Flickr.

This was taken from the Humber Bridge on a Driffield Photographic Society trip to the Hessle foreshore. I can never usually take good photos in a group as I have to "put my photo head on" and go off on my own and be really antisocial to find or see an photo and then work on it to get the real photo out of the sight.
Here I walked back and forth taking photos whilst thinking about what I really wanted to take and where the best photo was and how the lead lines worked on the composition.
With others to talk to or take into consideration I never would have got this image.

Pajama Game

Pajama Game 1, a photo by howarew on Flickr.

Newer tried my hand at theatre photography until yesterday when I was invited to the dress rehearsal of the local Driffield Musical Theatre's production of The Pajama Game. Well it was worth a try so along I went, was given free rein to take what I want from wherever I fancied.
The advantage of theatre over a rock gig (which I have tried before) is the quantity and consistency of the light. Also unlike portraiture, the actors are in charge of the pose and expression and you only capture and record what is there. I thought burst shooting at 6 frames a second would capture "the moment" but in practice the poses are held for quite a long time and you can capture them quite easily. If you miss one there will be another along in a moment!!
I would encourage you to have a go, it is fun and you can easily obtain super pictures.

Dog walking

Dog walking , a photo by howarew on Flickr.

I thought that I had a produced the best possible from this shot. I partially cloned in ripples on the burnt out circle bottom left, removed all annoying rocks, seaweed etc, gradient colour burnt the edges and put it in a competition. The judge whom I respected gave it 19 saying that it would have got a 20 apart from the dark sand patch below and left of the walkers as this was much too dark and heavy and took the eye away. It has now been cloned out and the picture does look better.
Moral: sometimes you need someone else's eyes to see your picture to see it for the best!

finishing the derby

finishing the derby, a photo by howarew on Flickr.

Unfortunately I missed a good shot on the winner so the second placed had to do! I have subsequently removed the base of the monopod hanging down from the armpit by use of photoshop cloning.

Position position position

horse dale, a photo by howarew on Flickr.

The day I ttok this picture I spent about 20 minutes walking the top of Horse Dale until I was in just the right position for the green strip at the bottom of the dale to be continuous but slowly narrow as it wound its way into the distance. the stopper at the top of the picture prevents the eye from leaving the shot whilst I gradient colour burned the corners to hold the eye on the parts I wanted it to follow.