This is a shot through the viewfinder of my good friend Khaled Termanini's Mamiya. It was taken down at the Dubai creek, and while it's not quite the shot I was aiming for I did think it was worth posting. That said, when I'm over there again in March I think I'll borrow his camera and try it again.

In other news ...

I'm running another Creating Dramatic Images workshop in Blackpool in August (11th and 12th). Take a look at the link if you think you might be interested in coming along. If not, click the link anyway and take a look at some of the shots we produced during the last workshop (the gallery's about half way down the page). There's some great images.

http://www.chromasia.com/training/events/blackpool_cdi_8_12.php

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11.30am on 14/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 43mm f/4.0 1/320 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none none

Of all the flags I've photographed, and I confess that isn't a huge amount, I think the Turkish flag is probably the one I like best. There's just something about its simplicity that really appeals to me.

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10.55pm on 9/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 130mm f/4.0 1/400 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 200 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none no

Here's my first iPhone shot of the weekend, taken at much the same time as this shot, in one of the tunnels on the way to Sofia airport.

As you can see, the original was quite noisy, but as there wasn't any specific details I wanted to retain I ran it through Topaz Denoise using its maximum amount of noise reduction. The end result, as I hope you'll agree, is quite a bit better.

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4.31pm on 6/11/11 iPhone 4 ProCamera f/2.8 1/15 1000 no Photoshop CS5 Topaz Denoise 3x2

On the basis that I would really like a quiet and tranquil day today, here's a shot to set the mood, taken on Fleetwood beach last September.

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9.58amm on 15/9/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/11.0 1/125 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor rotation

This is a shot of the western edge of the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, shot a couple of hours before the one I posted yesterday, and while it's definitely an image that would work better as a print (you'd be able to see more detail of the people and their expressions) I did think it was worth posting.

Let me know what you think.

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4.36pm on 8/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 85mm f/8.0 1/40 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 400 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none no

Admittedly, this isn't the most attractive of signs, but I did like the way it was lit. I found it at the western end of the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, close to where I took the shot of the floating fish and chip shop :)

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6.37pm on 8/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 73mm f/2.8 1/25 aperture priority -1/3 evaluative 400 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none no

I found this chair in the Old Bazaar on the last day of our recent Faces and Places Photo Tour to Istanbul.

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11.25am on 12/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 46mm f/3.5 1/80 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 400 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor

This was taken from the roof of the Executive Tower B in the Business Bay area of Dubai when I was shooting with Catalin Marin back in November. It's not as striking as the other two shots I posted from this location (see here and here), but I am pleased with it, not least because it's a different take on a familiar location.

Let me know if you think it works.

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5.15pm on 14/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 16mm f/8.0 1/60 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 Topaz Detail minor rotation

This is a shot of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, taken during our recent Faces and Places Photo Tour. It was dedicated in 360, became a cathedral in 562, a mosque in 1453 and then a museum in 1931. As you can see, it's a fabulous building.

As for the image: it was constructed from a three shot hand-held sequence (take a look at the original to see all three exposures) then merged in Photoshop. I did try producing an HDR image (using Photomatix Pro) but couldn't produce anything I was especially happy with so reverted to manually blending the three exposures then applying a rather large range of selective adjustments to different areas of the image. It's still not ideal – I could have done with at least one more image to capture the very brightest highlights – but I am reasonably pleased with how it turned out.

Let me know what you think.

On a different matter: today's your last chance to get a 20% discount on our online photography and post-production tutorials, so grab yourself a bargain while you can :)

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12.55pm on 9/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 16mm f/5.6 1/8, 1/13, & 1/25 manual n/a evaluative 200 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 Topaz Detail minor transformation

New Year's resolution #1: blog more frequently than I did in 2011 :)

On which note, here's the first of what I'm sure will be plenty of iPhone shots this year, taken early on the 30th of December on my drive back from Sofia airport.

As always, let me know what you think.

On a totally different matter: I've reverted to using a popup window for comments - there were just too many problems with the slide-out jQuery method - so please let me know if you have any problems with this version.

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7.10am on 30/12/11 iPhone 4 Pro HDR f/2.8 1/1250 80 no Photoshop CS5 none 3x2

This is a shot of the Shipka Memorial which was built in the 1930s to commemorate the Bulgarians who died during the Shipka Pass battle in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

If you've taken a look at the 'original' you'll see that I used two images for the final version: an HDR, and the darkest exposure from a three shot hand-held sequence. The processing was reasonably straightforward, but a bit time consuming insofar as I blended the sky from the darkest shot from the original exposure sequence. I also switched to Lab Color mode to mute the colours in the final version. I did think about producing a more photorealistic version, but after watching The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe with the kids this Christmas I decided that a more Narniaesque version was appropriate. As always though, let me know what you think, especially if you think a more natural result would have worked better.

Finally, if you're a friend of mine of Facebook you can take a look at Libby's album from the trip. She got some great shots of the kids in the snow.

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2.26pm on 28/12/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/8.0 1/320, 1/160, 1/80 manual n/a evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor

This is a companion shot to this one, and one of my favourite shots of the year, not because of its immediate impact, but because it was an image that changed quite a bit during its post-production, particularly in terms of what I was trying to achieve. I'm going to be using this for a Creative Workflow tutorial in the New Year, so won't say too much about it now, but the short version is that I ended up mixing two black and white conversions: one to increase the foreground contrast, and another to increase the sense of depth from the foreground to the horizon.

I'll write/record more about it in the New Year but, in the meanwhile, let me know if you prefer this one or the alternative colour version I posted back in October.

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10.09am on 19/9/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 16mm f/5.6 1/160 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor

This was taken during the third day of our recent Faces and Places Photo Tour to Istanbul during a boat tour up the Bosphorus. I took quite a few shots during the trip, but this ended up being my favourite.

I've also added this shot as this week's Mini-PSD.

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5.57pm on 10/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 16mm f/8.0 1/100 aperture priority -1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor

This was taken from the roof of the U-bora Towers building in the Business Bay area of Dubai, and while it's not the prettiest of the skylines you can find in Dubai, I did think it was worth sharing. As always, I'd be interested to hear what you think.

On a totally different matter, I'm really pleased to be able to say that we now have enough people signed up to run our Venice Carnival Photo Tour (14-19th February, 2012), so we're good to go. It's been quite a while since I visited Venice – I shot a wedding there in 2009 – so I'm really looking forward to getting back and having the time to shoot the city and Carnival. It's going to be a great trip :)

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1.21pm on 15/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 16mm f/11.0 1/250 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation

This is a shot of the Süleymaniye Mosque, taken just before sunset on the first evening or our Faces and Places photo tour to Istanbul. As you'll see, if you take a look at the original, the post-production was quite light: I just removed an errant seagull, transformed the content to straighten the minarettes, and used a curve to add a minor boost to both the contrast and saturation.

On a related matter: we need one more person for our Venice Carnival Photo Tour (14-19th Feb, 2012), so if you know of anyone who might be interested please forward them the link. Thanks.

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5.32pm on 8/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 200mm f/8.0 1/400 aperture priority -1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation

I was browsing through Catalin Marin's blog and came across this shot, taken while we were both waiting for the sun to set so we could shoot the Burj Khalifa at night (see this image). I then realised that I'd also taken a very similar shot but hadn't selected it for any subsequent work. Anyway, having seen how well Catalin's worked out I thought I'd give it a try, and am glad I did. I'm pleased with this one.

As always, let me know what you think.

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5.23pm on 14/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 200mm f/8.0 1/50 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation

This was taken in the Old Bazaar in Istanbul and even though I spent quite a few minutes shooting this scene it was only when I post-produced it that I spotted all the reflections. It' easy to miss one of them :)

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11.56am on 12/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 70mm f/2.8 1/80 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 400 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor

While this isn't as immediately striking as some of the shots I've been posting recently it's one that I really enjoyed working on, mostly because I knew that it had the potential to look a whole lot better than the original. Overall the post-production wasn't especially complicated – eight masked curves for contrast, another for tone, and a channel mixer adjustment to partially desaturate the image – but the key to this one was the curve I used to adjust the back of the chair: a very steep S-curve, that brightened all but the very darkest shadows. This balances the light between the seat and back of the chair, but also gives the impression that the chair was lit by a harder light source than the rest of the scene.

As always, let me know what you think.

If you're a subscriber to our tutorials you can download the image as I've added it as our latest Mini-PSD.

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11.21am on 11/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/2.8 1/50 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation

This was taken on the first evening of our recent Faces and Places Photo Tour of Istanbul, organised by GPP, that I ran with Bobbi Lane, and is a shot of the floating fish restaurant at the far end of the Galata Bridge. As you can see from the queue it was clearly a popular spot to grab a fish sandwich :)

I haven't written much about the photo tour as a whole, at least not yet, but I can say that it was a fantastic trip: it's always a pleasure to co-teach with Bobbi and the students were all talented, enthusiastic and, more importantly, great company. GPP will be running another Faces and Places tour in March (location to be announced), but in the meanwhile Bobbi and I are running a Photo Tour of the Venice Carnival in February (14th-19th). There are still some places available on this trip but the cut-off date for booking is December 15th. If you think you might be interested, take a look at the following page:

http://www.chromasia.com/training/events/venice_2_12.php

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6.25pm on 8/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 70mm f/4.5 1/8 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 400 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none no

This shot was taken during a photo walk around Istanbul, as part of our recent Faces and Places Photo Tour to this fabulous city. I can't remember the exact area of the city we were in, but it was largely residential with a few small shops, winding streets, and a host of interesting things to photograph, including these two children – noses pressed up to the glass, watching the world go by their window.

As an aside, this image captures the flavour of Istanbul in a way that isn't apparent from the image itself. To explain ...

We'd been walking through the streets of this area, photographing the people we met, the buildings, the skyline, and pretty much everything that caught our attention. When I spotted these two children I automatically started shooting, as did several other people in our group.

After a couple of minutes an adult appeared behind the small girl, and from what followed I assume it was her mother. As soon as she appeared I realised what we were doing – taking photographs of small children in the privacy of their home. Had I been in the UK there would probably have been one of two outcomes: either an angry exchange with the parent regarding my invasion of their privacy or, worse, a discussion with the local police regarding the inappropriateness and illegality of my behaviour.

In this case though, rather than snatching the small girl away, she lifted her higher, waved, and smiled at us all as we photographed her children. In the scale of things it was a small event, but it neatly summarises my experience of Istanbul: one of the largest cities in the world, but also one of the most open and friendly that I've visited. I wish more of the world was the same.

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1.28pm on 11/11/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 68mm f/3.5 1/60 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 400 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation