September 2008
July 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
This is where you want to be if you came for the Dave Frost Diaries From Canvey Island. Fishing, Triumph Spitfire Stuff, and Other Rants - It's all here
Thu Oct 02, 2008Lily - It's all about the light....
Another quiet week on both the photography, Canvey Island and Ranty front. Oddly, the world is turning that shit at the moment that I seem to have lost my ranty mojo. Haven't had a great deal of time to get snapping either, but did have a couple of rare hours of sunshine.Sharing this shot just to highlight the point that mid-day sun isn't the kindest of backdrops for photography. For every highlight there's an equal, if not bigger area of shadow. This particular shot of Lily enjoying the sun is borderline for blown out and distracting highlights.
Plenty I would have changed here, including the use of a reflector / flash etc..... Read the full Story All Entries in this Category Category: Mon Sep 22, 2008
No new photos available for this Monday's update....
That's not to say I haven't taken any - I have. I've just been too lazy to do any processing. So, here's the obligatory, not interesting, OK to have as a space filler in a small tryptych.........
Read the full Story
All Entries in this Category
Category: Photography
Thu Sep 18, 2008
A New Visitor
Spent the weekend demolishing the trees in the back garden which to be fair was long overdue. Sadly the pigeons have had to move out, but everything else is much brighter now. Early the other morning, whilst having my morning fag this fella popped in for a few worms disoriented by the extra daylight
Quite impressed that I managed to get this in focus as it was hand held, with the shutter speed just over half of the focal length......
Read the full Story All Entries in this Category Category: Mon Sep 08, 2008
The importance of F Numbers..........
These two images are similar, but not quite the same. If you study them both closely, you'll notice that in one, the Parrot's feathers are pin sharp just towards the top of it's wing, yet it's head and eye are slightly, ever so slightly out of focus. In the other photo, you'll notice that the parrot's eye is in focus, yet the feathers are less well defined because they're out of focus.Aside from the fact that the parrot moved - Perhaps I should have found a stuffed one instead, the problem could have been resolved by using a smaller aperture (larger F number) to increase the depth of field. This would have helped ensure that both the eye, and the feathers were in focus.
Eye in Focus
Feathers in Focus
Of course, that's all well and good, but a smaller aperture equals slower shutter speed. You'll notice from both of these shots that the Shutter speed was around the 1/500 mark @ f5.6 - If I'd upped the f stop to say f11 for a better Depth of Field the shutter speed would not have been fast enough to guarantee a steady hand held shot.
On reflection, the best solution would have been to up the F Stop and the ISO speed from 100 to 400, thus retaining a relatively fast shutter speed. Read the full Story All Entries in this Category Category: Photography Thu Sep 04, 2008
And another one from Cornwall
Unfortunately, can't remember the beach, but hey, it's a rock so who really cares.......
Read the full Story All Entries in this Category Category: Photography Wed Sep 03, 2008
Mine, no yours, no mine
Half buried in the soft Cornish Sand of Northcott Bay Beach is this once deadly, floating weapon. How long it's been here, nobody seems to know, but it fitted quite well for this shot.
Read the full Story
All Entries in this Category
Category: Photography
Meerkats......
Odd creatures, that for me at least are so alluring I could stand for hours watching them. Blagged these shot whilst on Holiday in Cornwall, although these were taken at the Dinosaur and Wildlife park at Coombe Martin in Devon
Read the full Story
All Entries in this Category
Category: Photography
Fri Jul 18, 2008
What a difference a couple of hours and some Enhancements make !!
I'm absolutely rubbish with Photoshop. Barely have a clue as to what it does, let alone how to do it. I've read books, watched DVD's, gone through countless tutorials that I've acquired with magazines, and not one single thing has been retained in my head. What is the difference between Sharpen and Unsharp mask????? Anyhow. Had a couple of hours to kill and decided to try and rescue the Lesson in Composition I posted earlier this week.....Got a long way to go, but it does show that with a lot of perseverance, a lot more skill than I have, and plenty of practice, you can rescue shots that previously wouldn't have made it to paper.
Original shot was posted previously, but recovered to look like this......
Complete with werewolf eyes......
This
Much more natural
Or this
Read the full Story All Entries in this Category [0] comments (408 views) | Category: Photography Thu Jul 17, 2008
Through the lens - Digital Photography 101 Assignment 2
Been messing around with manual white balance, and it has indeed been a revelation. Can see lots of creative reasons for switching from Auto, even though I do a tend to change the white balance when processing my RAW images..... The two shots that follow (whilst not technically brilliant (given that the rose head is slightly out of focus) were taken at around the same time with different white balance settings. Couldn't decide whether I preferred the warm tones or the somewhat harsh blue tint......
Additional exif info for above:-
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date and Time: 2008:07:17 10:27:43
Artist Name: Dave Frost
X-Resolution: 1200/1
Y-Resolution: 1200/1
Resolution Unit: 2
Date and Time: 2008:07:17 06:05:23
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
Date and Time (Original): 2008:07:17 06:05:23
Date and Time (Digitized): 2008:07:17 06:05:23
Shutter Speed: 500948/65536
Subject Distance: 0/1
Metering Mode: Partial
Color Space: Uncalibrated
Focal Plane Resolution Unit: Inches
White Balance: Manual
Compression: JPEG
By-Line (Author): Dave Frost
Image Width: 803 pixels
Image Height: 546 pixels
Additional EXIF info for this one:-
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date and Time: 2008:07:17 10:24:53
Artist Name: Dave Frost
X-Resolution: 1200/1
Y-Resolution: 1200/1
Resolution Unit: 2
Date and Time: 2008:07:17 06:05:42
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
Date and Time (Original): 2008:07:17 06:05:42
Date and Time (Digitized): 2008:07:17 06:05:42
Shutter Speed: 456510/65536
Subject Distance: 0/1
Metering Mode: Partial
Color Space: Uncalibrated
Focal Plane Resolution Unit: Inches
White Balance: Manual
Compression: JPEG
By-Line (Author): Dave Frost
Image Width: 803 pixels
Image Height: 546 pixels Read the full Story All Entries in this Category [1] comments (105 views) | Category: Photography Wed Jul 16, 2008
Still no Assignment photo's but a lesson of my own.
Whilst this at first glance is a reasonably acceptable photo, and I'm happy with the DOF and Focus on the eyes, it also serves as a valuable lesson in composition. It was a lovely Canvey evening, and the camera was out but I broke one of my own golden rules.
No idea what I'm talking about? - Have another look at the photo and bear in mind that I never once stopped to think about the composition of this shot, I just dropped to my knees and snapped off a few frames.......
If you're still wondering what I'm going on about, and you really haven't found anything wrong, I am of course very happy to have a photo you like, but a little worried that you never spotted the really distracting door handles growing out of Alfie's head. Add the door handles to the hash lighting and heavy shadows and you'll see what I mean.
If I could turn back the clock and take this again I would have moved Alfie so that there was either nothing behind him, or a uniform colour/shade behind him. I would also have perhaps popped a weak fill in flash to his right to lighten the shadows as well.
I might have also asked him to smile !!! - Fairly certain that this could (in theory) be rescued with some fancy photoshopping, but sadly I lack those skills. so I really do need to plan my shots a bit better. Read the full Story All Entries in this Category [0] comments (46 views) | Category: Photography
Click to join ThroughTheLens-DigitalPhotography101