Here's my second shot from the DxO One. Not my most original - I've shot similar shots before - but I am pleased with how this turned out: the RAW files give you quite a bit of leeway during post-production.

This is the first of what I'm sure will be a bunch of shots taken with a review copy of the new DxO One, the 20MP camera you can attach to an iPhone. I didn't have much of a chance to use it today - I forget to charge my phone last night, and it went flat about 10 minutes after I got to the seafront - but it all seems good so far. I'll post another shot tomorrow, but probably won't have time to test it more seriously until I get to Venice next week. Once there I'll give it a good work out.

When Tiggy (5) and Tabby (8) asked Rhowan to look after their "babies" I suspect they hoped she'd take the job a bit more seriously :-)

Another quiet image today.

A follow up to my previous image. Shot from a different angle, with Si Longworth wandering around in the background.

Here's another shot from my wander around Blackpool beach the other afternoon.

I could watch the sea for a very long time.

I still have a couple of (pseudo) 'little planets' to post but I thought I'd put this one up first. As you'll see if you take a look at the original I didn't quite nail it in one shot, but I'm happy with the final result.

It's been far too long since I've blogged anything so here's one of the first shots with the latest addition to Fujifilm's lens range, the XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR. I'll write a blog post about the lens at some point over the next week or so, but my first impression is that this is a stunningly good lens. More to follow.

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

If you've already taken a look at the original you'll know that I took a few liberties with this one, mostly in terms of blurring the clouds, but also in terms of tidying up the foreground and horizon.

I think I could probably sit and watch the sea for a very long time.

I've had the X100S for quite a few weeks now but today was the first chance I've had to really put it through its paces. I'm impressed so far :)

A fairly recent shot, taken on a cold and windy day on Fleetwood beach.

Taken a couple of weeks ago while strolling along Fleetwood beach.

I finally found the time to take a trip up to Fleetwood with the XT-1 and kit lens and came away with two shots that I'm pleased with. Of the two this is probably my favourite, but I'll post the other tomorrow and you can decide between them.

This is a follow-up to a shot I posted earlier this year, that I didn't post at the time as I didn't think it was sufficiently different. Having worked on it again though I now prefer it to the first one so thought I'd post it too.

As always, let me know what you think.

Another shot of one of my favourite piers.

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

I ran one of my favourite workshops over the weekend: Creating Dramatic Images. It's a two day event, designed to provide students with a good understanding of Photoshop, from both a technical and creative point of view. So it's not just about tools and techniques - the 'what and the how' of Photoshop - it's also about why: why you might want to change an image in a particular way, how to edit it to tell a more convincing story, and so on.

We start with a discussion about the nature of dramatic images, how post-production should be seen as an integral part of the photographic process (not just something you bolt on the end), and how to develop a workflow for post-production where technical competence is very firmly in service of creative and aesthetic intent, not an end in it's own right.

On Sunday we work through a whole range of tools and techniques (Curves, masks, toning, Lab Color mode, and so on), but on Saturday afternoon we head down to the seafront for a couple of hours shooting. One of the briefs I give the students is to shoot something bland: not because there's any intrinsic merit in shooting deliberately dull images, but because they're great to use to illustrate the power of Photoshop. So, as it was a dull afternoon, I got the students to shoot the (rather flat) sea and (rather dull) sky.

This shot was my version, and if you take a look at the original you'll see that it doesn't appear to have a great deal of merit (other than the fact that the composition's OK). Once processed though it tells a much more interesting story.