For reasons that I'll explain when I post my next entry, this image marks a transition: a state change, both in terms of what I'll be posting, and the ways in which I want to develop my photography for the foreseeable future. Watch this space :)

As for this one: it's a composite shot of five originals, none of which were sufficiently interesting to post on their own but, when combined, create something that's visually more interesting.

As always, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

While I have become somewhat disenchanted with over-the-top HDR images, it is a technique I'm continuing to explore, not least because it does enable you to produce images that are impossible (or very difficult) to create by any other means. If you take a look at the metered exposure, linked below, you will see what I mean, i.e. the foreground and the area to the right of the image are both very dark.

.../archives/emirates_towers.php

The final image, as you can see, is considerably more vibrant, and the tonal range is more balanced. In short then, in my opinion at least, it's a technique that's great for this type of scene.

Oh, and this is a shot of the Emirates Towers, shot from the DIFC in Dubai.

On a totally different matter: we're currently running a competition to win a lifetime membership to our Photoshop tutorials. If you'd like to take part the details are linked below:

    http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/competition.php

Meet Wendy.

We met Wendy and her husband in Bulgaria – they live in a village on the opposite side of the valley from us – but Wendy is currently back in the UK after being diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in 20 years. She's currently part way through a course of chemotherapy, which will be followed by another 12 months of treatment with Herceptin, so will be staying in the UK for the foreseeable future.

As you can see though, she's not letting it get her down :)

As you can see from the original image, linked below, this was one of those shots that seemed to have some potential – the bright sign, the unusual mannequins, and so on – but the straight shot just didn't work out. The light was flat, the colours were dull, and the reflections were overly distracting. With a bit of work though, including the selective desaturation (which isn't a technique I'm normally all that keen on), I ended up with something that more closely matched what I had in mind when I first spotted the scene.

The original is here:

.../archives/vivienne_westwood.php

On a totally different matter: I'm heading back to Bulgaria today, and will probably be just about to land at Sofia as this entry goes live. I'm not looking forward to the trip – not least because I'll have spent most of last night at Manchester airport waiting to check in – but am really looking forward to seeing Libby and the kids. I've been away for over two weeks now, which is just a bit too long.

And finally: I'll be spending some time next week shooting portraits of our youngest daughter, so watch out for those at some point from around Wednesday onwards.

It's not often that I'm a passenger in a car at night, but when I am I often sit there shooting out of the window, just playing around with the lights. 99 times out of a 100 I end up with pretty much what you'd expect – a blurry load of crap – but every once in a while I do get one that I like.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/light_trails.php

The post-production was mostly carried out in Camera Raw: I added some contrast and shifted the hue of some of the colours to broaden the colour palette.

On a different matter: if you didn't read my previous entry, I posted my initial thoughts on Topaz Detail, a plugin that does a great job of bringing out the detail in an image without introducing any obvious processing artefacts. If you haven't tried it I'd definitely suggest that you download the demo version and try it out.

I've got some more shots that I'm going to post from my trip to Dubai, but I thought I'd put this one up first: taken this morning on Fleetwood beach. If you've seen my beachcombing gallery you'll know that I have quite a few shots of lost and abandoned items that I've found on that beach, but I think that this one has to be one of my all time favourites (though I'd be hard pressed to tell you why).

In terms of the post-production ...

This one was relatively straightforward, other than that I merged two exposures: the metered exposure, and a second shot that was over-exposed by 1 2/3 EV (I used this to bring out the detail in the darker areas of the umbrella).

I also used Topaz Detail, a Photoshop plugin from Topaz Labs, to bring out the fine scale detail in both the umbrella and the sand. If you haven't tried this plugin, I'd highly recommend it, as it does an absolutely superb job of bringing out the detail in an image without introducing any obvious processing artefacts.

If you're interested, I've posted some before and after shots of a crop from the high res' image here:

http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/archives/Untitled_0095.php

I don't often recommend plugins, not least because I much prefer working out how to achieve a particular within Photoshop, but none of the Photoshop techniques that I know (USM with a large radius, High Pass Sharpening, and so on) come close to those you can achieve with Topaz Detail. If you're interested, this is a topic I covered in my latest tutorial. Anyway, download the demo version and try it for yourself.

It's now day three of Gulf Photo Plus 2010 and I'm about to start my landscape photography workshop. We're heading out to the desert this afternoon, and then back to the DIFC for an urban landscape shoot tomorrow morning. After that it's back to the lab for some post-production training. I'm really looking forward to it.

As for this shot: it was taken down at the Gate Village down at the DIFC and is an HDR, constructed from three exposures (-2 EV to + 2 EV) using Photomatix Pro.

If you're interested, the metered exposure for this sequence is here:

.../archives/gate_village_1.php

We went to a party at our village hall last night, to celebrate Trifon Zarezan, or the "Day of the Vine-Grower". Most of the village seemed to be there, and although our Bulgarian is still quite rudimentary, we did manage to have a few conversations with our fellow villagers.

Among the guests was this young lad and, while it's not one of the best portraits I've ever posted, I defy you to tell me that it didn't make you smile :)

Much as I love my Ricoh GRD III, its lack of a built-in viewfinder can be a bit of a pain at times, especially in bright light, and while I did get the GV-1 optical viewfinder when I bought the camera, I don't always remember to take it out with me. When I was trying to take this shot, for example, I really wished I had as it was almost impossible to see the image on the preview screen.

So, I guessed the angle I'd need and shot what I thought would be something quite close to the image you can see here. Sadly, as you can see from the image I've linked below, I didn't get it quite right:

.../archives/as_the_light_falls.php

Anyway, rather than trash the image I decided to transform it instead (Edit → Transform → Skew). I then toned it using a Curve and ended up with something that is probably a bit closer to the image I would have taken … if only I'd remembered to take my viewfinder out too ;)

One of the things we were really looking forward to when we moved to Bulgaria was a proper "snowy" winter. All we've had so far though is a few days of snow, and the long range forecast suggests that it's going to stay quite a way above freezing for at least the next week or so. The UK on the other hand, which hasn't seen any proper snow for years, is currently in the grip of an arctic winter – it's just not fair ;)

As for this shot, it's a monument at the top of our village, the first of many shots I'll be posting this year that document our new environment.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/untitled_0094.php

Here's my first shot for 2010, taken back in November when I was in Dubai – a shot of an old bicycle down at the Souk. In this instance the post-processing was reasonably straightforward other than that I combined two similar shots of the same subject to construct the final image: one for the main detail, and another to lighten and add texture to the background. If you're interested, both shots are here:

.../archives/ringing_in_the_new_year.php

And beyond that I don't have too much else to say today other than Happy New Year :)

This is the third of my 'let it snow' images – another portrait of Harmony – and it's probably my favourite of the set. It's also the last wintery portrait I'll be posting for a while as the weather seems to have got quite a bit warmer over the last few days; which is good news for our ever-dwindling wood pile, but less good for photography. In fact, for the moment at least, the Bulgarian winter is looking quite a lot like a UK one, i.e. wet, grey and dull. From what we've been told though, there should be some reasonably heavy snowfalls at some point in the New Year. I hope so, not least because we bought the kids a couple of sledges for Christmas.

And if you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/let_it_snow_3.php

On a different matter: if you have any money left over from Christmas, don't forget that we're currently offering a 15% discount on our Photoshop tutorials. Further details here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/

This is the first of three portraits I shot of Rhowan and Harmony while they played in the snow on Sunday. All three ended up as high-key portraits, and all were relatively straightforward to post-process (if you're interested in the details you might want to take a look at my Portraits: part two tutorial as it covers quite a few of the techniques I used for this image).

This one, and the third I'll post, are portraits of Harmony, while the next one is a shot of Rho, and while I'm undecided about which is the weakest of the three, the second portrait of Harmony is definitely my favourite.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/let_it_snow.php

This is the last in my 'winter lake' series and, while it's not my favourite of the set, I do like the fact that it takes a bit of figuring out, i.e. the reflection and the shore line aren't symmetrical.

We also had a bit more snow yesterday, and while I didn't get any more landscape shots, I did get a few portraits of Rhowan and Harmony that I'm happy with. I'll probably post one of Harmony next.

This is a companion shot to the first of my desert tracks images, and I initially decided against posting it as it's quite similar to that one (other than it's in portrait format and was black and white). However, as I've just finished the latest of my tutorials – Creative workflow #3 – which I based on the first of the desert tracks images, I thought I'd post this one too, not least because the tutorial works through both a colour and black and white version of desert tracks.

If you're interested, there's more info about our Creative workflow tutorials here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/cw_info.php

On a related matter, I'd be interested to hear if anyone prefers this image to the first one. I'm guessing not, but would be happy to hear otherwise.

Libby and Tegan got back to Bulgaria last Thursday and we're starting to settle into a new routine. Unfortunately it's a routine that hasn't included a great deal of photography quite just yet, but I did take some shots over the weekend. Of all the ones I took I think that this is probably one of my favourites, though I'd be hard-pressed to tell you why. Anyway, watch this space, and I'll post more images of our latest family member at some point soon.

This is probably the last of the shots I'll be posting from my recent trip to the desert near Dubai and while it doesn't portray the same sense of scale as my previous two 'desert tracks' images, I am pleased with it. Like desert tracks #2, this one was also processed almost entirely in Camera Raw (with just some minor cloning and sharpening in CS4).

On a totally different matter: as many of you know, Libby (my wife) has been away for almost the last eight weeks – she returned to the UK to give birth to our latest daughter – but she'll be home again tomorrow. We're driving to the airport in a little over 24 hours to pick her up, and I'll be taking some shots of Tegan (our newborn) over the next few days. It's been a long time since I photographed a newborn baby :)

I've had a great few days at the Gulf Photo Plus Fotoweekend, and did find a bit of time to take some shots during my landscape workshop out in the desert. I have another three that I'll be putting up, but think that this one may well be my favourite.

And I would write more, but have another class to give in an hour or so, so will tell you more about my trip when I post my next entry. In the meanwhile, let me know what you think of this one.

If you're interested, the original for this one is here:

.../archives/desert_tracks.php

Update: I've just posted my latest tutorial – Creative workflow #3 – which is based around this image. If you're not a subscriber to our tutorials you can find out more about our Creative workflow series here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/cw_info.php

As I was waiting for the guests to arrive at Venice town hall for the wedding I shot a couple of weekends ago I noticed some masks in a shop window. I took a variety of shots, from different angles, but wasn't convinced that any of them would work out as there was quite a bit of glare from the window, and I couldn't really get an angle I was happy with.

That said, I did try processing three of them, all of which are included on the following page:

.../archives/venezia_6.php

Unfortunately though, despite the fact that there are some interesting elements in each of the three shots, none of them ended up being worth posting, and I was about to ditch all three when I realised that they might work if I combined them.

In terms of the post-production: first, I combined the three images by stacking them and using Soft Light blend mode and masks to create an image composed of all three originals. I then duplicated and flipped the image, then used another mask to blend this newly created layer with the three images below it. I then warped and altered the colour balance of the left side of the image and increased the overall saturation using the Channel Mixer. I also added some local contrast using the Topaz Adjust plugin.

I don't have a tutorial that covers this sort of montaging technique, at least not specifically, but many of the techniques I used to blend the original images are covered in my Working with textures: part one tutorial.

The end result is an image, in my opinion at least, that's faithful to the spirit of the original scene, but not the reality. As always, let me know what you think.

Oh, and this one works much better with the black theme.

I do have three, possibly four more wedding shots that I'll post, but I thought I'd put this one up first. It's not quite a beachcoming shot, but it's of the same genre: a discarded item, easily overlooked.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/closer_to_home.php

The post-processing for this one was relatively straightforward. I cropped the image, added a minor amount of local contrast using Topaz Detail, then used a number of Curves to adjust both the tonal range and contrast (as described in my Tonal Range and the Curves tool tutorial), and the colour balance (as described in my Toning Colour Images tutorial). The net result, in my opinion at least, is that the final image is considerably more striking than the rather dull, flat original.

On a totally different matter: the kids and I are currently fending for ourselves out here in Bulgaria as Libby is back in the UK for the next six weeks (or thereabouts). As some of you already know, she's expecting our latest child on November 11th, so has headed back to the UK to give birth there. We did look into the possibility of the baby being born in BG but, for a whole variety of reasons, decided that the UK was probably a safer option for both Libby and the baby.

In the meanwhile, because three of our younger kids are now in nursery or school, the rest of us have stayed here. I suspect it's going to be a rather long six weeks, but at least we'll be able to keep in touch via Skype, Facebook, Twitter and so on. I'll keep you all updated and will post a shot of the baby as soon as the two of them get back :-)

I may be wrong, but I suspect that this one won't create quite such a polarised response as my last wedding shot ;-)

One of the things I enjoy most about wedding photography, which is probably the thing that would slowly drive me insane if I shot more than three or four a year, is that you rarely have time to think – it's just a question of doing your best to get the shot. The net result of operating at this speed though is that it's often difficult to get the perfect image. Take this one for example: while I'm pleased with the end result it would have been better if a) the focus had been about two inches further forward (the bride's face is a bit soft), and b) I'd used a slightly higher shutter speed (the motion blur of the bridesmaid's hair is a bit of a distraction). Other than that though, I am pleased with this one.

And if you're interested, the post-production techniques I used for this image are covered in my Portraits: part one tutorial.

This is the last of the images I'll be posting from my recent trip to the UK: another shot of this rig/structure, currently sitting in the middle of the beach at Thornton Cleveleys (a couple of the miles up the coast from Blackpool). I'm not sure what purpose it serves, but it's positioned where the Riverdance was stranded in February 2008. From what I can remember there was a sewerage outlet somewhere nearby, so it may be that the rig is being used to make repairs to that structure. Anyway, whatever it is, I don't imagine it will be there forever, so I'm glad I had the chance to photograph it when I was back.

In terms of the shot itself: the thing I like about this one is the very large depth of field, which probably wouldn't have been possible with my DSLR, at least not without upping the ISO to allow me to use a much smaller aperture. As with my previous shot though, I think a square crop would probably have produced a better composition, but I quite like the more open feel at 3x2.

[update: I've posted a square crop version here]

If you're interested, the original 4x3 version is here:

    .../archives/untitled_0090.php

As you can see, I concentrated on bringing out the details in the clouds, and increasing the brightness and contrast in the foreground pebbles - both of which were achieved by using a variety of masked Curves. If you're interested in learning more about the techniques I used with this image, the most relevant tutorials are linked below:

    Landscapes: creating dramatic skies
    Toning colour images

While this image (and the next one I'll post) are not quite as striking as my last one, I am pleased with them, not least because both do a good job of demonstrating the capabilities of the Ricoh GR Digital III – my new compact camera. In this instance, I was testing the macro mode, and while the Ricoh can focus a lot closer than this (i.e. 1cm from the end of the lens), I was pleased with how much detail it recorded in the old rusty ring.

If you're interested, the original cropped image is here:

.../archives/ring_and_rig.php

When I was back in the UK last week I didn't have a great deal of time to photograph anything other than the wedding in London, but did manage to get to the beach for half an hour before dashing off to catch my flight home. And while I wasn't specifically looking for another shot to add to my beachcoming category, I was pleased to come across this abandoned child's trainer.

I should also add that this is the first shot taken with my latest new camera, a Ricoh GR Digital III. I've been happy with my Canon G9, but Libby has largely commandeered it so I've been pondering getting a new compact for a while. Initially, I thought about getting the Canon G10, or maybe the Olympus EP-1, and then Canon released the G11. And for a while, I was almost convinced that the G11 would be the way to go, but decided to go with the Ricoh instead.

There are a variety of things I like about it (in no particular order):

First: it shoots RAW (as do most high-end compacts) but they're DNG's rather than a proprietary format. This means I can edit the files in any of my RAW editors without needing to wait for the next update to include this camera.

Second: although it has a fixed 6mm lens (28mm equivalent) it has an aperture of f/1.9. This is over a whole stop faster than most of the competition.

Third: it's very customisable, insofar as there are a variety of controls and buttons that can have different functions assigned to them.

Fourth: it's quite a bit smaller than the G10, which makes it much more pocketable.

Fifth: it has what Ricoh call 'snap focus'. One of the most annoying things about most digital compacts, even the best and most expensive ones, is that the shutter lag is much higher than with a DSLR. With 'snap focus' you can pre-set a focal distance (1m, 2.5m, 5m and infinity) and when you fully depress the shutter it will take the shot. Admittedly, you have to set the distance first, but given the large DoF you get with small sensor cameras this should prove to be quite useful.

Sixth: like most digital compacts the GRD III has an auto-ISO setting, but it also allows you to limit its range. For example, you can instruct it to only use ISO values up to 200, 400, or 800. In other words, you can set it to a value that will still produce a reasonably noise-free image while also giving you a bit more leeway in low light.

I haven't had a great deal of time to play around with it yet, but have been impressed so far and have to say that I much prefer it to my old G9. Given that it has a fixed 28mm (equiv.) lens it's not going to be as flexible as the G9, but on first impressions it does seem a lot more user-friendly and probably quite a bit more capable. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and if you'd like to take a look at the original, it's here:

.../archives/size_doesnt_matter.php

And finally, the post-processing for this one was relatively straightforward, i.e. I used a variety of masked Curves to adjust the contrast in different areas of the image, then another to tone it (as described in this tutorial).

I flew back to the UK on Saturday to shoot a wedding in Wimbledon with Tom Wicky. Fortunately the wedding didn't start until lunchtime on Sunday, so I had a bit of a chance to catch my breath in the morning, but from lunchtime onwards we shot through till about 9.30pm. Between us we have 3580 shots, and I'll probably share a few of them over the next few days. This one is definitely one of my favourites: a candid portrait of one of the best men and his son, taken during the reception.

On a more technical note: if you've followed my recent entries you'll know that my trusty 1Ds Mark II died recently, so I replaced it with a 5D Mark II. And I'm extremely glad that I did as I would have really struggled with some of the shots at the wedding. The ceremony took place in a rather nice church in Wimbledon, but the light was terrible. For example, even at f/2.8 and 1/60s (the slowest I dare go with my 70-200mm) I needed to use ISO 1600. If I'd been using the 1Ds Mark II the images would have looked awful – anything above ISO 800 is problematic with that sensor – but the 5D Mark II files look great. There is some noise, but it's negligible and easily fixed.

Having finished the wedding I drove up to Preston on Monday morning to do some one-to-one training with Danny Allison, which we finished off this morning, and now I'm busily copying files to my server in Blackpool before flying back to Bulgaria tomorrow afternoon. All in all it's been a busy, but very enjoyable few days :-)

Back in 2003, I posted a shot of Rhowan taken just before her second birthday. Today, I'm posting one that was taken during her 8th birthday celebrations, just after she got out of the pool at a friend's house. And while she's clearly changed during the last six years, she's still as photogenic as ever :-)

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/on_being_8.php

I was going to post my initial thoughts about my new 5D Mark II with this entry, but I still haven't had much of an opportunity to try it out so will leave my review for a later date. What I can say though is that I'm very impressed so far, especially with the major improvements to high ISO shooting. I've also been playing around with Live View shooting, and while this isn't something I imagine I'll use all that often, I can see that it's going to be useful. Anyway, I will post a much more in-depth review at some point soon.

As for this shot: it was taken while Rhowan was playing her DS, and was titled in response to one of her comments. She'd been playing for a while, and I didn't think she was paying any attention to the fact that I was photographing her. Suddenly though, without pausing her game, she said "do you want me to look up?". I said yes, she glanced up, and I got the shot. She then went back to her game. I don't know what she'll end up doing when she's older, but she's certainly well on the way to developing a lot of the skills she'd need if she wanted to go into modelling :-)

In terms of the post-production this one was relatively straightforward, i.e. I used the Channel Mixer to convert the image to black and white (as described in this tutorial). In this instance though I used two masked Channel Mixer adjustment layers. The first of these was biased towards the red channel, which I used to lighten her face, while the second was biased towards the blue channel. This one was used to lighten her eyes and darken the background. The image was then adjusted using a few masked curves.

If you're interested, the original is here:

.../archives/do_you_want_me_to_look_up.php

Those of you who have followed chromasia for some time may have got the impression that Rhowan is a fairly serious young girl. And while she can often look very serious, she's often a lot more playful than most of my shots would imply ;)

It's been ages since I posted a shot of either Camilla or Amirah (our eldest two at home), and even longer since I posted one of them together, but I managed to get some decent shots of them yesterday during a trip to see friends in Yalovo (a village not far from our house in Bulgaria).