It's been a while since I shot anything I truly liked, but I'm pleased with this one.

Blackpool's North Pier, taken during the evening shoot of my Creating Dramatic Images workshop on Saturday.

I was down on Blackpool beach yesterday morning, getting filmed for a short opening video for the press conference I'll be involved in Dubai next month, for the launch of the Sony SLT-A99. The last fifteen seconds were of me setting up this shot. As I was being recorded I wasn't paying quite as much attention as I might normally, but I'm pleased with how this one turned out.

And again, I'm seriously impressed with the A99, it's a very capable camera.

This shot was taken during my Creating Dramatic Images workshop last weekend. We'd spent the morning working through a variety of topics but spent most of the afternoon photographing the seafront and North Pier. I'd been shooting the sea, but was glad I turned round in time to grab this shot.

If you're interested, my good mate Craig has posted an alternative version here:

http://www.id7.co.uk/iblog/?p=1473

captured camera lens focal length aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO flash image quality RAW converter image editor plugins (etc) cropped?

3.40pm on 17/9/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 70mm f/2.8 1/2000 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none no

This is a follow-up shot to the sky rolled down, taken about five minutes after that one. In this instance, I shot from very low to the ground to capture some of the reflected sky in the water on the beach. Of the two I think I prefer the previous one, but am really pleased with how this one turned out too. Let me know which is your favourite.

Oh, and as we the previous shot I mentioned, this one was also constructed from two originals: one exposed for the sky, and a lighter shot to bring out some of the detail in the foreground.

I'll also be adding this one to our collection of Mini-PSDs, probably at some point tomorrow. It's due to be uploaded on Monday, but as I'll be spending most of the day travelling back to the UK with the kids I think I'll post it a day early.

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10.19am on 10/2/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 35mm f/11.0 1/800 & 1/2000 manual n/a evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor

If you followed our games of Photoshop Tennis (which we're planning on resurrecting some time soon) you may remember this image: taken from Blackpool's North pier last October.

And talking of Blackpool ...

I'm heading back to the UK twice over the next few months, and have set aside some dates when I'll be able to provide some one-to-one training, either from our Blackpool office or possibly elsewhere in the UK, on either photography, post-production, or both. Some of the dates have already been booked, but the following are still available:

Thursday 10th February
Friday 11th February
Saturday 12th February (may already be booked)
Sunday 13th February (may already be booked)

Thursday 24th March
Friday 25th March

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10.52am on 14/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 25mm f/8.0 1/160 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 200 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minimal

This is the third and final shot of Blackpool's North Pier that I'll be posting: taken from the south side of the pier. I'm not sure which is my favourite of the three that I've posted, but I do like how this one turned out.

In related news ...

I've added the first image from this short series as our latest Mini-PSD.

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9.33am on 14/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/8.0 1/250 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation

Here's another shot of Blackpool's North Pier, taken a few minutes before my last entry, and in some ways I think I prefer this one. As always though, let me know what you think.

In other news ...

My latest Critique Slot Screencast is now live. These are a part of our online tutorials and are based on an image submitted by one of our members. The basic idea of each screencast is to work through the original image (critiquing the various changes that were made) and then reprocess the image from the original RAW file.

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9.04am on 14/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 70mm f/8.0 1/80 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none 16x9

Blackpool's North Pier is probably one of my favourite man-made structures, but since moving to Bulgaria I haven't had quite as many opportunities to photograph it. When I was last back in the UK though (in October) I did get three or four shots that I like, of which this is the first that I'll post. If you're interested, the rest of my shots of the North Pier are here:

.../galleries/north_pier.php

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9.11am on 14/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 27mm f/8.0 1/80 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none 2x1

The last few times I've been in Dubai as an instructor at one of the Gulf Photo Plus training events I've managed to grab quite a few shots, either during my shooting workshops, or while out and about with my fellow instructors. This time though (the FotoWeekend event) we've been really busy so I haven't got much to show you other than the two shots that I've already posted ... hence today's image, a shot of a pair of broken sunglasses on Blackpool beach.

That said, I'm heading down to Oman later today for a few day's shooting with Bobbi Lane. We don't have any fixed plans, but I suspect we'll spend time on the beach, down at the Souks, and might take a trip further out to grab a few landscapes. We're travelling for most of today, but I might have something to post by tomorrow evening.

First of all, thanks for all the comments on my last post. I know that HDR images aren't everyone's cup of tea so it was good to see that it was well received.

On the subject of HDR images, Craig posted an HDR portrait of me a couple of days ago. In terms of technique, I think it was pretty well done, but the content leaves a bit to be desired. Mind you, I really hate seeing photographs of myself – there's just something really odd about the whole experience :-)

On a different matter, and related to this image, I just posted our latest tutorial – Working with textures: part one. I'm particularly pleased with this one, not least because I used some of Mike Regnier's work to illustrate the tutorial in addition to a couple of my own. If you're not familiar with Mike's work then you really should pay his site a visit – he's a genius when it comes to working with textures.

Anyway, having said all that ...

This one combines one original image and two textures: a shot of the North Pier, another of a ripped canvas blind, and another of a water stain on a wall. It's not quite up to Mike's standard, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

As always, let me know what you think, even if it's only to tell me that you don't like it :)

It's been a while since I posted a keep out shot, as I don't often come across a new angle that I think's worth photographing. And this one's not exactly the best one of the series but I'm determined to post a bit more regularly, even if that does mean posting stuff that's not quite as vibrant as usual.

On another note: I got an email this morning from the team at JPG Magazine:

"We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but we just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009."

I wasn't a regular contributor (as you can see from my profile), but did have one photograph published in issue 10, and did enjoy browsing through the site - there were some really top class contributors.

Anyway, they're going to be shutting down their website on the 5th so I'd recommend you head over there and have a good look round before they do.

This one was taken six minutes before my previous entry, and while both share the same sky (this one was taken about 90° to the right of the previous one) I've gone for a much softer, colder look with this one.

Here's one last shot taken with the Tamron AF 11-18mm - a shot of Blackpool's North Pier, taken from about five inches above the decking.

Oh, and by the time this gets (automatically) posted I'll be in London. I'm going abroad for a week - I won't tell you where yet - so should have some new/different material to post.

Despite the fact that yesterday was the longest day of the year the weather has been quite atrocious, and when we took the kids down to the sea-front this afternoon it was all we could do to stop them blowing away. Harmony (who's now five) just about managed to stay on her feet, but if I hadn't had hold of Finley he would have been blown over on several occasions.

As for this shot: it's a view you've probably seen before on chromasia, and while I'm normally quite happy to suffer for my art, today was not one for hanging about taking photographs :-)

If I had anything else to post I wouldn't put this one up, but as I mentioned at some point last week, this is an extremely busy month and my time for taking photographs has decreased to virtually nothing. Next month will be a lot better – and I have a lot of new ideas I want to pursue – but right now I'm barely finding time to do the absolute essentials, let alone find time to take any photographs.

Anyway, despite the fact that I probably wouldn't normally post this one, I thought you might find it interesting for the same reason that I shot it; i.e. it was a test shot I took with my new Canon G9 to test the macro mode: and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised, both in terms of the sharpness of the foreground and the smoothness of the out-of-focus background.

Given that my previous image received a mixed, though mostly positive response I'd be interested to hear what you make of this one. Like the previous one, it's an HDR, constructed from a seven shot bracketed sequence using Photomatix Pro, but while the last one had almost CGI feel to it, this one is a lot less intense.

That said, if you didn't like the last one because it's an HDR, you're unlikely to like this one any better ;-)

Nonetheless, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as this is a technique that a) I still find fascinating, and b) will probably do quite a lot more of in the future.

My apologies for not posting recently but things have been hectic over the last few weeks; i.e. far too much work to do, and not enough time to blog - and it's going to be much like that for the rest of this month. And in the scale of things that's a lot better than having no work, but right now I'd settle for somewhere between the two extremes :-)

Anyway, I found some time to wander down to the North pier today and decided to shoot some HDRs. Most of them probably won't work out (for one reason or another) but I like this one, not least because it's a completely over-the-top use of this technique.

As always, your thoughts and comments will be gratefully received.

Oh, and I haven't posted the EXIF data but all the shots were taken at 16mm and I used a seven shot sequence with a 1 EV spacing between them.

This is an HDR of Blackpool's North Pier, constructed from a bracketed sequence of seven shots (1 EV spacing), tone mapped with Photomatix Pro. If you're interested, the fourth shot in the sequence (i.e. the metered exposure) is here:

.../archives/the_evening_gathers.php

I shot the sequence yesterday evening, just before meeting up with a film crew from the BBC programme Inside Out. They were shooting footage for a programme on piers in the North West of England and had googled Fleetwood Pier. After finding some of my shots of that pier they asked if they could interview me. Anyway, we spent about 40 minutes strolling up and down the beach, chatting about the local piers and trying to look as though we weren't half frozen to death. It was fun, despite the near Arctic conditions.

If you're interested, the programme airs at 7.30pm on the 2nd May, but it's a regional programme so you'll only be able to watch it live if you live in the North-West of England. I think it will be available on the Inside Out website shortly afterwards though.

On a totally different matter: I've been involved with helping out with the development of an OS X screensaver/desktop feed, that feeds images from chromasia and Daily Dose of Imagery to a folder on the client's computer. If you're interested in taking a look the script and instructions are here:

www.cneophytou.com

And finally: this entry should be automatically posted at 7pm tomorrow, round about the time I'll be clearing customs after a two-leg flight to somewhere considerably warmer than Blackpool. All being well I'll post something on Monday and let you know where I am.

I was going to write more this evening but both Tabby (11 months) and Finley (three in August) are sleeping really badly this evening – both are nodding off for around ten minutes then waking up again. Anyway, the upshot is that I've been trying to write this entry for almost two hours, and it's very slow progress.

So, the short version is that this is another shot of Central Pier, facing north; i.e. I'm further down the beach than yesterday.