This one started out as a snap, shot from the hip as I walked past these two kids on the beach. As you can see from the original, my composition wasn't great:

.../archives/an_august_day.php

After rotating the image, producing two versions from the same file (one optimised for the sky, one for the foreground), and with the addition of a few Curves and a slight shift in colour balance, it looks much better.

As for the shot itself: when I was a kid I suspect that I'd have run into the sea and joined them but, as an adult, I can't think of anything less enjoyable than sitting half-clothed in the Irish Sea on an overcast day :-)

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that all the shots I've posted from my trip to Barcelona were taken with my 24-70 and 5D. This is because I was travelling light and didn't want to take a huge amount of kit with me. One other lens that I did take though was my Holga on a lens cap as it weighs next to nothing and doesn't really take up much room. I didn't use it much, but thought it might work well with this scene. Personally, I'm happy with how it turned out, but would be interested to hear what you think.

And I should probably add that other than a minor bit of colour and contrast tweaking this is pretty much a straight shot.

This is the second HDR image from Barcelona that I mentioned yesterday. This one was also processed with Photomatix Pro using the Details Enhancer method, but in this case it was created from a single initial exposure rather than a bracketed sequence of shots.

As I mentioned yesterday, I prefer this one, but would be interested to hear what you think.

Here's another 5D/Holga lens shot of Finley. Again, it's not one of my most stunning shots, but it does give you a good idea about the sort of shots that can be achieved with this lens.

We took the kids down to the seafront this afternoon, and despite the howling gale they had a good time running about on the beach and seafront. I was going to take my G9, as it's much easier to manage, especially when I'm chasing after Fin, but decided to take the 5D/Holga lens combo out for another spin. I didn't get anything particularly awe-inspiring, but do have two shots of Finley that I'll post, both of which will give you a good idea as to how this lens performs.

As you can see, the lens produces quite a soft image - not surprisingly considering it's made out of plastic - but what I do like is the bokeh, especially the varying degrees of distortion.

I took Rhowan and Harmony up to see what's left of the Riverdance ferry this morning. Since it got stranded at the end of January there have been several attempts to re-float it, all of which failed, so they're now dismantling it instead. I imagine that it's going to take quite some time.

As for this shot: it was taken from a similar position to this one, and it's an HDR image, constructed from a bracketed sequence of seven shots using Photomatix Pro.

I didn't get any other decent shots of the boat, but did get several of Rhowan and Harmony - well, two of Harmony and one of Rhowan - that I'll post over the next few days.

As always, let me know what you think.

Oh, and I haven't posted the EXIF data but the sequence was shot at f/8.0 at 200mm.

This is the first of two shots taken on the way back from my walk to the Wyre Light. As you can see, the light was a lot better by this point.

And as this is a bit of a departure from my usual style I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

For ages now Libby has been telling me that I should post more shots of the kids, but when we all go out together (me, Libby, and all six kids) the last thing I want to drag along with me is one of my DSLRs – not least because I spend half my time chasing after Finley. He does know the meaning of "come here", but it often has very little effect on his behaviour :-)

Anyway, while I was in Dubai I had a chance to play around with a Canon G9 and was very impressed. As those of you who have been around since I launched chromasia back in 2003 will know, a lot of the early shots I posted were taken with a G5. The G9 has more than doubled the pixel count since then, is a lot more robust (it has a metal body), and is quite a bit smaller. All in all it seems like a pretty good camera.

I haven't had too much time to really put it to the test, but I did take it down to the beach the other day and got a couple of shots I was happy with. This one, of Harmony, and one of Libby that I'll put up tomorrow. When I've had a chance to use it a bit more I'll let you know what I think of it in a bit more detail.

This one was taken from the same building as yesterday's, but from the 24th floor rather than the 34th, and the angle of view is about 90° to the right. Personally, I prefer yesterday's, but I thought I'd post this one too. I also have one, shot from a bit higher up the building, but I'm going to post that one on Monday.

When I first started adding images to a blog, back in the summer of 2003, I had no idea about photoblogs, but I soon started to come across them. One of the first I found, and still visit, is Daily Dose of Imagery, Sam Javanrouh's visual diary of Toronto (and occasional trips elsewhere). As best I can tell he's posted an image a day since he started posting on 4th July in 2003 – which is better than I've managed – and I now feel as though I know Toronto, at least partially, despite never having visited.

Anyway, my reason for mentioning Sam is that I often think I should do more to chronicle my own town – Blackpool is a wonderfully diverse environment – and I often choose to photograph the sea, odds things washed up on the beach, and any number of other topics other than the town itself.

So, with a nod to Sam, here's today's offering – the glitzy frontage of the Happy Dayz Arcade in Blackpool, against the backdrop of the seemingly derelict building it inhabits.

My apologies for not posting anything over the last couple of days but I've been finishing off the first part of a two part tutorial on HDR images. Anyway, I'm pleased to say that it's now finished, and if you're interested you can read more about it on either our main tutorials page or here:

../tutorials/online/hdr1_info.php

As for this one: don't be fooled by your first impression – it's not quite what it seems.

This is a considerably simpler shot than yesterday's, at least in terms of content, but I really like this one too.

This is the second of the two shots I mentioned yesterday, the one I prefer. What I didn't mention yesterday is that neither of these shots are masked; i.e. I used a single Curve to adjust the contrast across the image as a whole. Normally, to achieve a sky as dramatic as either of these, I would use separate Curves – one for the foreground and one for the sky. On this occasion though the foreground was very well lit and the sky – heavy with rain – was comparatively dark.

As always, I'd be interested to hear what you think.

This is a shot of the northern approach to Preston railway station, shot from a train and, as I'm sure you can tell, it owes as much to Photoshop as it does the original photograph. If you're interested, the image was altered by the addition of a V-shaped Curve; i.e. the highlights are reproduced normally, the mid-tones are converted to shadows and the shadows have become highlights. It's an odd effect, not entirely dissimilar to solarisation, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

As always, and especially since this is a bit of a departure from the stuff I normally post, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Mckun left a comment earlier today, as follows:

"No new photos yet,david,Haahaa.
Maybe your want to give us a surprise."

And I wish I could say yes, but the reason I haven't been posting is that a) I've really been struggling to get over this cold, and b) we've had a really busy week with clients, presentations, meetings, and so on. I'm also frantically trying to get the latest tutorial finished, but as my head feels as though it's full of cotton wool and I can barely string a simple sentence together, it's not going as well as I would have hoped. Wish me luck.

Anyway, on the basis that you'll probably all think I've dropped dead if I don't post something soon, I thought I'd put this one up. I probably won't post anything tomorrow, as finishing the tutorial is now my #1 priority, but I'll try and get something new up soon.

A couple of days ago I mentioned that Libby and Tabby were unwell and thought, at the time, that I'd managed to avoid catching it ... I was wrong. I woke up yesterday morning shivering, coughing and feeling as though I'd been run over by a large truck, ... and don't feel any better today.

Anyway, my reason for mentioning this is that I doubt I'll be posting much of anything over the next day or so, and just wanted to let you know. I do have a few shots in the archive, that if I was a bit more on the ball I might be able to turn into something worth looking at ... but I seriously doubt it.

Anyway, this shot was taken ages ago, but I didn't post it at the time as her horribly vacant stare annoyed me. Having looked in the mirror this morning though – just imagine her face with the addition of puffy, blood-shot eyes, a red nose and stubble – it seemed quite fitting.

As I mentioned yesterday, unless something especially exciting happens, or I come up with a new way to photograph this scene, this will be the last of the shots of the stranded ferry Riverdance.

As for this one: it's another attempt to capture the scale of the scene, but this time I wanted to focus on the salvage going on in and around the boat, rather than just the boat itself.

In terms of post-production, this one was relatively straightforward other than the fact that I altered the colour temperature when I processed the RAW file (as described in my first digital workflow tutorial); i.e. it's considerably warmer than the actual scene.

First of all, thanks for all the great comments on yesterday's shot. I really liked it, so it was good to hear that you did too. The downside is that it's all downhill from here, at least as far as the Riverdance is concerned, as I don't think I'm going to get a better shot than that one.

As today's: unless I can think of a new angle, or something dramatic happens, then this will probably be my penultimate shot of the Riverdance. As with yesterday's one of the things I was trying to do is capture/illustrate the scale of this boat – and I think it comes across reasonably well in this one.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the line of people in the distance, they are standing at the other side of the exclusion zone; i.e. around 800m away from where I'm standing.

I've also posted the original image, not because there's anything special about the post-production, but because I thought you might like to see the original scene:

.../archives/riverdance_6.php

I had planned to shoot some more shots of the stranded ferry Riverdance today, but I was out of town for most of the afternoon and by the time I got back the weather was terrible, so I've posted another shot of Fleetwood pier, taken at the same time as this one.

The weather report is good for tomorrow, and low tide is at around 4pm, so I'll try and get some shots from the north of the ferry in the afternoon sun: providing the coast guard aren't being too zealous about excluding people from the beach.

Here's a second shot of the stranded ferry Riverdance, taken about a minute after the coastguard had told us to "move at least another 300m away, please."

This is the first of a number of shots of the ferry Riverdance, which was blown ashore a couple of miles north of Blackpool last night. If you're interested, there's a BBC news report here.

So far, I've processed five shots that I like, but probably won't bore you with all of them ;-)

Oh, and this looks best with the black theme.

This is the second of the long exposures I mentioned yesterday, and of the three (maybe four) that I'm going to put up I think this is probably my favourite.

I went up to Fleetwood this afternoon, armed with my ND filters, as I wanted to try some reasonably long exposures at high tide. A lot of the shots I took didn't work out – mostly because it's difficult to judge how the waves will look with exposures of more than a second or two – but I got three, maybe four, that I'm happy with.

The other two are more dramatic than this one, but I like the softness of this one.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the structure, it's this thing again.

I'm not sure about this one. When I first processed it I really liked it. Then I didn't. Then I decided I did. Now I'm not sure.

This is the first of two shots of this evening's sunset. I don't think either of them really do it justice, but I'm pleased with how they turned out. Both are quite different, but I think I prefer this one, not least because it's less conventional than tomorrow's. My hunch, though I'm more than happy to be proved wrong, is that some of you may well feel that there's not quite enough going on in this one ;-)

This is a shot of Blackpool's Central Pier, taken from roughly half way towards the North Pier. It's a scene I've photographed many times before, but I don't imagine that I'll tire of it any time soon.

Oh, and this is an HDR, constructed from three bracketed exposures.

Some of you already know this – as you mentioned it in the comments on yesterday's entry – but for those of you who don't …

I'm really pleased to announce that chromasia was voted the Best European Photoblog and was a finalist in the Photoblog of the Year and Most Popular Photoblog categories in the 2007 Photoblog Awards. Thanks to all of you who voted for me in 2007, congratulations to all the other winners, and if you would like to vote for me again in 2008 (which I would very much appreciate), you can do so here:

    http://vote.photoblogawards.com/photoblog.php?title=chromasia

As for this shot: Rhowan and Harmony found some balloons at the side or the road as we walked to the beach. They spent the rest of the trip waving them around, chasing them, and racing them across the tidal pools on the beach.

And it's been a while since I posted an original, so if you're interested you can take a look at the rather flat original here:

.../iblog/archives/nobody_can_be_uncheered.php

This one was taken about about 15 yards to the right and a minute before yesterday's. Again, it's an HDR constructed with Photomatix Pro using three bracketed exposures.

Let me know what you think of it.

Oh, and if you're interested we have 150 signed and numbered calendars for sale. Full details are available on our store page:

    http://www.chromasia.com/store.php

Update: I probably won't be posting any new material until Saturday or Sunday as I've run out of time to shoot anything new or raid the archives. I'm photographing a friends wedding on Friday though, so may get something up on Saturday, but if not I'll try and get something posted over the weekend.

At some point in the not too distant past Fleetwood pier was probably a thriving tourist destination. These days it's looking a little the worse for wear, as this shot and tomorrow's will testify.

Apologies for not posting for a few days but there have been various things going on, all of which got in the way of taking photographs and posting here. Today though, I managed to get up to Fleetwood and decided to try a few experiments: specifically, shooting HDR images of moving water.

As most of you know, the normal way to shoot an HDR is to shoot several different exposures of the same scene. These are the subsequently combined into a single exposure.

Anyway, I thought that I'd try shooting multiple exposures of the waves breaking over various objects on the beach and am really pleased with how this one turned out.

I haven't posted the EXIF data but all three originals were shot at f/8.0, with shutter speeds ranging from 1/60 to 1/500, at 95mm.

As always, let me know what you think.