I have a folder on my hard drive called 'possibles'. Shot's that I like but can't decide whether to blog. Normally, an image will sit in this folder for no more than a month or two – I'll either blog it, or delete it. This one though has sat there for almost two years, and I keep opening the file, then closing it again, remaining undecided as to whether to post it here.

So, rather than go through the whole process for another few years I thought I'd post it today. It's a shot of Libby and Tabby (our next to youngest) being photographed by Milly who was 13 at the time.

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10.57am on 21/4/10 Panasonic Lumix GF-1 20mm f/1.7 ASPH f/2.5 1/80 aperture priority +1/3 intelligent multiple 100 no RAW ACR Photoshop CS5 none no

This shot of Harmony was taken in August during a trip to Dryanovo monastery, a few miles from our village. Like a lot of photographs I take of the kids, it's a grab shot – a fleeting moment rather than a carefully planned image – hence the rather distracting background in the original. I did try to tone it down a bit, but couldn't come up with anything that looked convincing so decided to get rid of it altogether. I'm fairly sure it's a plausible edit, but let me know if you disagree.

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2.34pm on 23/8/2011 Ricoh GR Digital III f/2.8 1/150 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 64 no RAW ACR no

One of the things I talked about during my recent Dramatic Post-Production workshop for Creative Live was the importance of previsualing an image as you take the shot: going beyond how it looks in the viewfinder by imagining how it could look after it's post-produced.

This shot started out in that vein but, as you will have noticed if you've already taken a look at the original, it didn't end there.

When I took the shot I was thinking about creating an image that captured something of the nature of long-haul flying: the long, tedious hours sat in one place, and the various things we do to entertain ourselves en route.

When I looked at the image later though I decided that it wasn't particularly interesting (I'm as bored with looking at Suduko as I am with playing it) so started thinking about what I could have done instead. After playing around with various alternatives I ended up with this image: a photograph of a photograph.

In this case both were taken with my Ricoh GRD III (and the added shot was taken during the same trip, 17 minutes before the main one), then the images were blended in Photoshop. The only thing that was a bit tricky was getting the reflection looking right - I almost forgot to flip it horizontally - but other than that the post-production was relatively straightforward.

As always, let me know what you think.

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8.06pm on 24/9/2011 Ricoh GR Digital III f/2.4 1/30 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW ACR yes and no

I have loads of shots of Rhowan that I like, and almost as many of Harmony, but I have very few of them together. As such I think that this one will prove to be a favourite of mine for quite some time to come. As always, let me know what you think.

In other news, we're offering a 25% discount on our Photoshop tutorials to celebrate the 4th of July. Happy Holidays :)

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

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8.41am on 20/6/10 Panasonic Lumix GF-1 20mm f/1.7 ASPH f/1.7 1/100 aperture priority +1/3 intelligent multiple 100 no RAW ACR Bokeh no

Here's a question for you: what sort of sign indicates an incline in your part of the world? In Europe (and the UK since 19-something-something), this is the form that it takes, and I've always thought that it was a rather odd way to do it. When I was younger, the UK signs were of the form 1 in 5 (now 20%), 1 in 10 (10%, as in this example), and so on. To me, 1 (foot down) in 6 (feet along) seems intuitive, whereas 17% is something that I need to work out.

Anyway, I digress, but there isn't a great deal more I can tell you about this one: it's a weathered road sign, at the top of a hill. I can show you the original though, which was adjusted using just two curves – one for colour, the other for contrast:

.../archives/ten_per_cent.php

On a related matter, in terms of post-production at least, we've added a new feature to our Photoshop tutorials: Mini-PSDs. One of the things our subscribers have said that they find most useful are the layered PSD files that we include with each image-based tutorial. As such we’re now releasing an additional low Mini-PSD every week from images that I've posted on the blog. If you're interested, we've added five so far:

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

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10.56am on 9/2/10 Ricoh GR Digital III f/2,3 1/1250 aperture priority 0.0 evaluative 64 no RAW ACR minor transformation (skew)

Yes, I know, two images in one month is a fairly dire achievement, but our Bulgarian winter experience has turned into more of an exercise in survival than I expected. It's still the adventure I hoped it would be, but we've also had quite a few things to deal with that weren't entirely expected. I've been updating my Facebook profile with the details, but the short version is that I sprained my back, the temperature has dropped as low as -23C, our pipes have frozen (twice), our van has broken down, and one of our electrical sockets caught fire this morning. In short then, most days have been taken up with dealing with the necessities of winter life.

It could have been a lot worse though: our village hasn't been cut-off following a heavy snowfall, the mains water hasn't frozen, our electricity supply has remained constant, we haven't run out of wood, and our roof hasn't collapsed under the weight of the snow - all of which have been known to happen in previous winters. Fingers crossed that a) the rest of the season goes reasonably smoothly, and b) I have a bit more time to document it :)

I have managed to take a few shots though, mostly with my Ricoh GRD III, and really like how this one turned out. It was taken on the way back from Yalovo and you can just see our village in the distance. If you take a look at the electricity pylon you'll see that it has two arms of the right-hand side, one on the left. It's almost impossible to make out at this resolution, but our village is immediately to the right of the lower arm on the left. It's not quite as remote as it looks :)

If you're interested, the original is linked below. As you'll see, the major change (other than the black and white conversion) involved balancing the tonal range of the foreground to the sky, i.e. the latter is now quite a bit darker (and the majority of the highlight detail has been recovered), while the foreground is much brighter.

.../archives/towards_ganchovets.php

In other news: if you'd be interested to know what we have planned for our Photoshop tutorials this year, take a look at the page I've linked below. As you'll see, we're introducing a variety of new content and media:

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

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4.28pm on 24/1/10 Ricoh GR Digital III f/3.5 1/750 aperture priority -1/3 evaluative 64 no RAW ACR no

This was taken at the end of last month and is a shot of Tabby of me in a hammock in a friend's garden. There are two things I like about this one: one, it's a fun shot, and two, her slightly false smile. She was enjoying swinging back and forth, but was also a little bit nervous about it too. And while the plaster on her forehead looks a bit incongruous, photographically speaking at least, I decided not to clone it out. She'd tripped over earlier that day, and slid along the pavement on her head, and insisted that we leave the plaster on her head.

In other news: it's just over two weeks since Libby headed back to the UK to have the baby (due 11th November), and about four and a half weeks until she gets back. She's doing fine, and the kids and I are surviving pretty well, but time is r e a l l y  b e g i n n i n g  t o  d r a g and I miss her :(

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6.26pm on 30/9/09 Ricoh GR Digital III f/3.5 1/45 aperture priority +1/3 (-2/3 FEC) evaluative 125 yes RAW ACR no

My apologies for the lack of updates but I spent most of last week week writing my latest tutorial – Portraits: part two – on the topic of how to postproduce high-key and low-key portraits. If you're interested, there's some further information here:

http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/p2_info.php

In terms of this image: it's a shot of a electricity/transformer box and was taken on a walk up through the old part of Veliko Tarnovo. If my Bulgarian language skills had improved enough I'd be able to tell you what it says, but all I've been able to work out is that the first bit of the yellow danger signs says 'don't touch' and the poster is advertising something that took place on the 22nd of August (I think).

If you're interested, the original, taken with my Ricoh GRD III is here:

.../archives/dont_touch.php

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10.14pm on 25/9/09 Ricoh GR Digital III f/4 1/800 aperture priority -1/3 evaluative 64 no RAW ACR minor transformation

My apologies for not posting much recently but I'm currently writing another book and, as usual, my time-management skills have let me down somewhat. In other words, the deadline is fast approaching and I'm spending virtually every minute either writing or sourcing images. The good news is that it will be finished on time (fingers crossed), but the bad news is that I'm unlikely to have any time to shoot any new material until around the 8th of next month.

In light of that I've posted this one, another shot of Rhowan taken at the same time as this one. I didn't post it at the time, as I wasn't happy with the composition, but after cropping it to 4x3 I think it looks quite a bit better.

On another matter – and feel free to skip this if a) you are already subscribed to our Photoshop tutorials, or b) have heard enough about them this summer – we've been running a summer promotion for the last couple of months: offering 15% off the first year's payment of an annual subscription or our lifetime membership package. In other words, if you have though about subscribing, now would be a great time to do so as this offer ends at midnight tomorrow; i.e. the 31st July. For more information about this offer, and our tutorials, please take a look at the following page:

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

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2.19pm on 2/6/09 Canon 1Ds Mark II EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM 200mm f/3.5 1/50 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 200 no RAW ACR 4x3

I've been trawling through old shots of our kids over the last week or so for a project I'm working on, and came across this one. I think I overlooked it at the time as the composition didn't work as-shot; i.e. at 3x2. This crop though, in my opinion at least, works quite well.

As for the lighting: I used my flash on an extension cord and bounced it off the floor.

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3.40pm on 26/11/06 Canon 20D EF 50mm f/1.4 USM f/2.8 1/50 manual n/a evaluative 100 580EX RAW C1 Pro no

This morning, I thought we might be back to square one. Libby had a pain in her chest and difficulty breathing: the same symptoms as last Saturday, the same ones that the hospital thought might be down to either pleurisy or a pulmonary embolism. So, we went back to the doctor's (our local GP) and came away with two more possible diagnoses:
Costochondritis or Tietze's Syndrome. Both are characterised by inflammation of the cartilage that connects the inner end of each rib with the breastbone or of the cartilage between the ribs, most probably caused by a virus. So, hopefully, she should gradually improve over the next five or six weeks (or thereabouts).

Anyway, after we'd been to the doctors and her chest pain had settled down we went up to our local park for lunch. I took my new Cyber-shot T9 with me (which I recently acquired for a project, that I'll explain in a week or so) and took a few shots of daisies, tree blossom, and so on, as we took an extremely gentle stroll. One of the really fun features of the camera is its 'magnifying glass' mode which enables you to close focus to around 1cm. And no, it's not a world shattering photograph, but it's good to finally have something to put up. Hopefully - touch wood - things will be back to normal fairly soon, but in the meanwhile I suspect that I'm not going to be able to manage daily updates, but I'll see what I can do.

On a related note: thanks for all your support this week - it really is appreciated. And Libby wanted to add the following:

Regular visitors know that I hardly ever comment here (anyone remember the last time?); but I asked Dave if I could just add a 'footnote' to his comments as I wanted to thank everyone for their kind wishes. Its wonderful to read them all, and see how far around the world they've travelled. Over 2,800 people have read the comments page, from numerous countries around the world - which is pretty amazing! Not many people get over 100 'get well' messages - but I'm sure they're working as I feel much better :-))

Thanks, Libby x

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1.11pm on 11/5/06 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T9 f/5.6 1/400 'magnifying glass' +0.0 pattern 80 6.3mm no JPEG/fine minor

Other than the fact that this was taken some time around the 15th of July with my G5 there isn't a great deal I can tell you about this shot as I no longer have the RAW file. As for why I'm putting it up: three reasons. First: this week's Photo Friday challenge is Family, and with four wonderful children and a beautiful wife you'd have thought that I'd have been able to come up with something. But, what with one thing and another, and despite shooting over a hundred shots earlier this evening, it just didn't happen. Second: I've recently been clearing out some old files and came across this one. I'd already deleted the RAW file (note to self: buy new hard drive!) so probably didn't intend to use it, but decided that I now quite like it. It's probably fairly obvious, but in case it isnt', this is a shot of the LCD screen for a video recorder (the one in this shot). Third: I've run out of stuff again. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something tomorrow as I find it much more relaxing when I manage to get a few shots ahead of myself.

I haven't entered any Photo Friday challenges in the last few weeks as I haven't had time to participate, but I couldn't resist this one – Furry – suggested by Heather. We got a couple of kittens at the weekend. Well, I say "we", what I really mean is that our daughters got a couple of kittens, and while I have to confess to not being the world's greatest animal lover I do think these two are cute.

What's interesting about this shot, for me at least, is that I took around 30 photographs and the composition was 'off' on all of them. A lot of them though worked much better at a 4x3 crop (the same as my G5) rather than a 3x2 (my 20D). I suspect that I need to rethink my compositions as it seems that I'm probably falling back on old habits; i.e. attempting to use my 20D in the same way I used the G5.

And I do realise that there are limitless ways to interpret 'Furry' that don't involve pet cats, I just couldn't come up with any today ;-)

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3.44pm on 28/9/04 Canon 20D EF 50mm f/1.8 II f1.8 1/125 aperture priority +0.0 evaluative 100 yes RAW auto yes (4x3)

After the requests from yesterday (and because I don't have anything else to put up) here's an almost crap shot ;-) And all I really want to say about this one is that I'm glad to have an excuse to post something I think is sub-standard.

Anyway, and much more importantly, I now have a 20D :-))))))

I managed to track one down in Manchester this afternoon after a few phone calls. The shop I spoke to yesterday, who told me they were getting a delivery this morning and I was welcome to have one, had none delivered, but insisted that they would be getting them tomorrow (which was becoming quite a familiar tale). So I rang round till I found one that wasn't an exorbitant price. I ended up spending a bit more than I wanted to, but not much, so I'm generally extremely happy. At the moment I only have a 50mm f1.8 lens but intend to get a wide-angle zoom relatively soon. As I'm intending to find some real (as in paid) work with this camera I'm trying to decide between the Canon 17-40L f4 and the Sigma 20-40 f2.8. The Canon is probably better quality, with the 1.6 crop of the 20D it will provide an effective focal range of 27.2–64mm (as opposed to 32–64mm for the Sigma), and it has USM (a silent motor). The Sigma, on the other hand, has one stop extra light, and is two-thirds the price (or thereabouts). Any thoughts gratefully received.

On which note I'm going to go and play with my new camera :-)))

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FujiFilm FinePix 40i 1.41pm on 20/9/04 f2.8 1/720 normal program +0.0 pattern 200 8.7mm no JPEG/fine auto no

The bad news is that there's no news on my G5 – whatsoever; I took loads of shots with my FujiFilm FinePix over the weekend – and they're all crap; and the company I ordered my 20D from did have a delivery – but instead of the 25 or so cameras they were expecting they only got three. So I'm not overly delighted. The good news, maybe, is that I found another company who have assured me that they're getting a consignment of 20D's tomorrow, and I can have one of them. Hmmm ... I'm not going to hold my breath though as I know that they're in short supply and all the shops I've spoken to have had deliveries of far fewer units than they expected. We'll see. Anyway, the upshot of the above is that I've been archive raiding again. I took this at the same time as this shot, but didn't post it at the time as I thought it was a little too similar to put up. I haven't put up the EXIF data as, rather foolishly, I deleted the RAW file a couple of days ago. Things are not quite going as planned at the moment ;-)

I did try to take a few shots with my FujiFilm FinePix today, but I haven't even looked at them as I strongly suspect they'll all be crap. So, instead, here's one from that I worked on a while ago but couldn't get 'right'. On my computer I have four main folders of images; 'new', which contains all the shots I've taken recently, 'mostly crap', which is where I move the new files too after realising that they're total rubbish (there are currently 1443 images in this folder waiting to be sorted and ultimately trashed), 'possibles', for shots that I think might work but can't get right (there are 34 images in this one), and another folder that contains all my originals, RAW files, and web graphics for chromasia. This one has sat in my 'possibles' folder since May, and the only reason I resurrected it today is that I didn't have anything to put up. I'm (most likely) going to skip posting this weekend, but I really didn't want to miss a weekday.

Oh, and if you normally view chromasia with either the 'light' or 'grey' theme, try this one with the 'dark' one.

camera capture date aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO focal length flash image quality white balance cropped?

Canon G5 12.48pm on 20/5/04 f4.5 1/250 aperture priority +0.0 evaluative 50 28.8mm no RAW auto no

Before last Friday, when I decided it was about time that I made some changes to how and what I shoot, I suspect that if I'd stumbled across this image I would have hated it. And I can't say that I'm totally convinced that it works now, but it's definitely different.

There are two things I particularly like about it though, one is referenced by the title, and the other is the grain/noise – which in this instance is the result of a fairly major crop to the original, a drastic increase in contrast, and then a doubling of image size prior to reducing it again for presentation here.

Anyway, as this is about as far away from my usual stuff as I've got in recent times I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

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FujiFilm FinePix 40i 11.37am on 16/9/04 f2.8 1/340 normal program +0.0 pattern 200 8.7mm no JPEG/fine auto yes

I wish the guy from the previous shot hadn't got off at an earlier station, as I suspect his presence would have made this shot a little more interesting. Nonetheless, despite the absence of a face, haunting or otherwise, I still quite like this one.

Incidentally: if anyone's interested I put up the original of yesterday's shot here:

.../archives/between_destinations.php

camera capture date aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO focal length flash image quality white balance cropped?

FujiFilm FinePix 40i 5.53pm on 14/9/04 f9.8 1/90 normal program +0.0 pattern 200 8.7mm no JPEG/fine auto no

It seems as though the fates are currently frowning on chromasia as now, in addition to a broken camera, I also have a dead router and am having to connect to the internet via a modem – which is a bit of a pain, to say the least. I've ordered another one, but it will take a few days to turn up :-/

Anyway, enough complaining ...

I had an email today, prior to taking this shot, from Rachel James, and she kindly agreed that I could use it to preface this image:

I've followed your website since it's incarnation and you are a good photographer. To see you say: "I strongly suspect that I'm not going to be able to come up with anything too good with it ..." troubles me.

I should think that no matter the tool - lo-fi analog or high-end digital SLR - that a photographer should be able to produce "good" photographs.

Maybe you'll have to work a little harder, tap deeper into your creativity, step out of your comfort zone. Maybe instead of ten fantastic, mind-blowing, super-saturated shots, you'll have only two.

Our cameras are tools, nothing more. And I know you know that.

Warm Regards,
:) Rachel

And I was going to reply that I agreed that lo-fi analog cameras were just as valuable an artistic tool as hi-fi digital ones, but that lo-fi digital cameras were another matter entirely; i.e. that the inherent noise and other digital artefacts and distortions rendered them less than ideal tools for constructing worthwhile images. And then I got home and looked at this shot, and I'm forced to change my mind. I'm not sure quite how good the original 2400x1800 image would print, but as far as web-based images go I don't think this is in any way noticeably inferior to the stuff I've been producing with my G5. That said, this image (and yesterday's) were both post-processed with Noise Ninja, and it's made a hell of a difference to the image quality. In the past I've complained about the noisiness of the G5's sensor, but it's nowhere near as bad as the one in the FujiFilm. Even images exposed under perfect lighting are incredibly noisy, so being able to 'fix' an image in this way makes a huge difference.

In this sense then I do think that lo-fi digital cameras are problematic, but clearly these problems can be overcome.

camera capture date aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO focal length flash image quality white balance cropped?

FujiFilm FinePix 40i 3.05pm on 14/9/04 f2.8 1/350 normal program +0.0 pattern 200 8.7mm no JPEG/fine auto no