I'm just putting the finishing touches to my initial review of the Sony RX1, within which I stress the quality of the images this camera can produce – it's a truly awesome camera. It's not quite so great for this type of shot though.

Typically, when I'm shooting on the beach I shoot from as close to the ground as possible, especially when I'm shooting reflections. When the sand is dry, that's OK, but if it's wet it's not so much fun with the RX1. It's fine with my A99, which has a flip-out screen, but with the RX1 you either need to commit yourself to getting soaking wet, or guess. In this case I guessed.

And if you've taken a look at the original you'll see that I didn't quite get it right on this occasion :)

No trip to the beach would be complete without a beachcombing shot :)

I posted a shot on Facebook yesterday, of Craig Marshall photographing a discarded can on Blackpool seafront. Here's one of the shots I took of the same can.

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 is a companion shot to the one I posted a few days ago and, while it's a bit more contrived, I am pleased with how it turned out.

As always, let me know what you think.

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10.46am on 15/9/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 45mm f/11.0 1/200 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none no

When I first started taking shots like this one – items of discarded or washed-up stuff on the beaches near our home town in the UK – I shot them in a slightly different way. Specifically, I tended to shoot them with a relatively large aperture (f/4 or f/5.6) to throw the background out of focus. The problem with doing that though, especially when you're shooting this close to a foreground item, is that the depth of field becomes very shallow. This is great for the background, but not so great for capturing detail in the foreground item you're shooting.

Lately I've been using a slightly different approach: shooting with a smaller aperture to capture the detail in the foreground object, but then blurring the background to simulate a shallower depth of field using Bokeh (Alien Skin's lens simulation plugin). The benefit of this approach is twofold. First, the foreground element is sharper, both in terms of front-to-back and intrinsic detail (most lenses performs better at f/8 or f/11 than they do at f/4 and f/5.6). Second, it's relatively straightforward to add as much blur to the background as it needs. In the case of this image the processing was even easier as I used Gaussian Blur for the background rather than Bokeh – I just duplicated the layer, blurred it, then blended it with the lower layer using a mask.

The net result is that the final image looks like it was shot using a large aperture – the item is cleanly separated from the background – but there's a lot more foreground detail. In other words then it's a technique that allows you to get the shot you want rather than one that compromises foreground detail with respect to background blur (or vice versa).

If you're interested in taking a more detailed look at this image I've added it as our latest Mini-PSD, available as part of a subscription to our online photography and post-production tutorials.

On a different note ...

As I mentioned when I posted my last entry, I've switched to using Disqus for comments rather than Movable Type. Judging from your responses to my last image it all seems to be working well, but if you do spot any problems please let me know.

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10.55am 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 transformation

I'm now back in Bulgaria after a fantastic week in Seattle running my Dramatic Post-Production workshop for Creative Live. It was a bit stressful at first, but once I'd got over the fact that I was in a studio with six students, with another 6000 watching online, it was a lot of fun. I'm really glad to have had the opportunity to go and would definitely do it over again :)

If you missed it, you can download the videos for all three days here. The usual price for the download is $149.00, but if you're subscribed to our photography and post-production tutorials, or subscribe now, you can get a $50.00 discount (check out the members' page for details). We've had a lot of great feedback, both during the event and after, so it's definitely worth checking out.

In other news, I'm heading off to Istanbul next month with Bobbi Lane, to run our Faces and Places Photo Tour to Istanbul (8-12th November), after which we'll both be in Dubai for the Gulf Photo Plus Fotoweekend event (16-19th November). There are still a few places left on our Istanbul Photo Tour, but quite a few of the FotoWeekend workshops are already fully booked - so sign up now if you're thinking of coming along.

As for this shot: it was taken at Fleetwood during my recent trip to the UK, and as the post-processing was quite interesting I've used it as this week's Mini-PSD: take a look at Curves 5, used to darken down some of the brighter blurred grass in the foreground.

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9.39am on 19/9/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 34mm f/2.8 1/800 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 Bokeh minor rotation

This is one of two shots I'll be posting of this flip-flop that I found on Fleetwood beach a few weeks ago, and one of my personal favourites in recent months. I can't really explain why, but there's just something about this type of shot that I find really satisfying, in terms of both shooting and post-production.

This is now also a well travelled flip-flop as I have it with me in Seattle to use as a prop during the first shooting session of my Dramatic Post-Production workshop I'm presenting for Creative Live. If you haven't checked it out yet, it starts at 9am (PST) tomorrow, and runs through till around 4pm on Sunday. Tomorrow morning we're going to be working through/discussing a variety of topics but in the afternoon we're going to have a couple of hours to shoot, using a variety of props that the students will be brining along, some that have been provided by Creative Live, and my flip-flop from Fleetwood beach. I'm not sure what we're going to come up, but it should be fun :)

Anyway, take a look at the following link, and if you have some spare time over the weekend, sign up.

http://www.creativelive.com/courses/dramatic-images-practical-hdr-david-nightingale

On a related note: we're offering a 20% discount on the first year’s payment of an annual subscription to our photography and post-production tutorials for the duration of my Creative Live workshop. So if you've been thinking of signing up, now would be a great time to do it :)

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10.19am on 19/9/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM 23mm f/8.0 1/80 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor

This shot was taken during one of my one-to-one training sessions while I was back in the UK, but it's a shot I would have taken during any of my trips to Fleetwood beach - there's just something about part-buried/abandoned objects that really appeal to me.

In this case though I wasn't especially happy with the original capture: the light was flat, the sky had no detail and, despite its abandonment, the bike looked far too 'cheerful'. With the addition of a few Curves though, and a 'respray' (the bike's colour was inverted), I think it ended up looking a lot better.

As the processing was quite interesting, particularly in terms of changing the colour of the bike, I've posted this one as our latest Mini-PSD.

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2.10pm on 15/9/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 60mm f/11.0 1/125 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none no

This is a second shot of the wrecked boat I posted on Wednesday, and while it's not as abstract I do prefer it. Let me know which of the two you like best.

In other news ...

My sixth Creative Workflow tutorial is now live: a 50 minute walk-through/analysis of the Omani seascape I posted earlier this week. If you're not familiar with my Creative Workflow tutorials (part of our online Photoshop tutorials), take a look at the following link for further details:

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

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1.28am on 27/3/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 44mm f/11.0 1/320 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor rotation

First: thanks for all your likes, comments and tweets on my previous entry: the shot of the Dubai skyline taken from the Four Points Sheraton hotel on Sheik Zayed road. It's always great to post something that gets a really positive response :-)

As for this one: while I don't think that this one will generate quite so much interest I am pleased with it as it's been almost two years since I posted a shot of any of the wrecked or abandoned boats at Fleetwood. I also have a second, slightly less abstract/graphic shot that I'll post on Friday.

As always, let me know what you think.

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1.17pm on 27/3/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 44mm f/11.0 1/500 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none 2x1

I spent the weekend providing some one-to-one training for Mat, and while we did spend some time working through a variety of post-production techniques we concentrated on shooting: at Fleetwood on Saturday morning, St. Annes in the afternoon, and back to Fleetwood on Sunday morning.

One of the things that Mat wanted to concentrate on was seeing creatively, so we spent quite a lot of time thinking about each scene: shooting angle, depth of field, composition, and so on.

One of the subjects we focused on was a groyne on Fleetwood beach (like this one). As we were composing the shot I noticed a few distracting items in the frame: a small plastic bag, some overly bright pebbles, and this piece of wire - which I pulled out of the sand and threw to one side. After we'd shot the groyne though I realised that the wire was an interesting item in its own right, so moved it to a smooth piece of sand and took a variety of different shots.

I'm glad I did as it's probably going to turn out to be one of my favourite shots of the weekend :)

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10.40pm on 26/3/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 40mm f/11 1/100 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 Topaz Detail minor recomposition

Here's the second lost shoe that I mentioned yesterday: shot on Fleetwood beach when I was back in the UK last week. Of the two I think I prefer this one, but there isn't a great deal to choose between them.

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2.55pm on 12/2/11 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 66mm f/8.0 1/200 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor rotation

Here's a companion shot to my last entry. I'm not sure which of the two I like best, but did think this one was sufficiently different to post too.

On another matter: I'm currently trying to pick my best/favourite shots from 2010 – one from each month – so I can post a 'best of 2010' entry on the 31st, much as I did last year. I have some ideas about which shots I definitely want to include, but if there were any that I posted during the last twelve months that you think should definitely make the cut, please let me know. If you want to browse through my entries by month, the easiest way is to go to the main archives page, linked below, then select a specific month using the 'monthly archives' dropdown menu towards the top-right of the page.

http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/archive.php

In the meanwhile though, do let me know which of the two shopping trolley shots you prefer :)

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9.38am on 9/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/2.8 1/500 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none 1x1

Here's another shot that I took during one of my recent trips back to the UK: an abandoned shopping trolley, part-buried on the beach just north of Blackpool's North Pier. I also have another shot of the same trolley that I'll post either tomorrow or the day after.

In related news, as the processing for this shot was reasonably complex I thought it would make a good addition to our library of Mini-PSDs (PSD files that subscribers to our Photoshop tutorials can download each week). Oh, and if you're interested in subscribing, we're currently offering a 25% discount until the end of the year. Further details here:

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

As always, let me know what you think, and if you don't get the opportunity to drop by again in the next few days, have a great 2011 :)

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9.53am on 9/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/8.0 1/50 aperture priority +1/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 Topaz Detail minor transformation

I was going to post another portrait from Oman today but thought I'd continue with the beachcombing/beach theme for another day, and while this isn't as striking as the last shot I posted, in many ways I prefer it. I think that the thing I like most is about this sort of image is that the objects I find on the beach are often perfectly sculpted (for want of a better word) into their environment. In this case for example the cup is slightly buried, in a way that would be hopelessly difficult to replicate if I'd tried to stage the shot. It's not a major thing, but is one of the things that attracts me to this type of shot.

Anyway, let me know what you think – I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

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10.04am on 14/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 55mm f/16.0 1/30 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 Topaz Detail no

As I mentioned yesterday, Libby has been back in the UK this week, while I've been at home in BG looking after the kids, and while I can't say it's been easy, or that I've enjoyed every minute, it has been rewarding. Anyway, in light of her imminent return, I looked through all the shots I have that are blogable, in search of something symbolically relevant to post. Unfortunately though I don't have any flower shots, or anything even vaguely romantic, so settled for this one: two tracks converging and running together. Not the most obvious of heartfelt messages, but the best I could do :)

In other news, my Creating Dramatic Images workshop that I'll be running in Austin (TX) early next year (Feb. 5th and 6th) is now full. There are a few spaces left on my one day HDR Crash Course though (Feb. 4th). So, if you're interested in learning more about HDR photography, and can get to Austin on February 4th, drop Dave Wilson a line (who will be organising both workshops):

dave AT davewilsonphotography DOT com

And if you want a bit more info about what we're going to be covering, take a look at this page:

http://davewilsonphotography.com/workshops/

And if you still have any questions, drop me a line:

djn1 AT chromasia DOT com

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10.26am on 14/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 24mm f/5.6 1/160 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor transformation

As you'll know if you follow me on Facebook I've been home alone this week, looking after the kids, while Libby has been back in the UK. Normally when Libby travels she takes Tiggy (our one year old) with her, but this time she left her behind. We weren't entirely sure how it would go – this is the first time she's been away from Libby for more than a few hours – but we decided that a) Tiggy was old enough to stay, and b) Libby deserved a break, not least because she had loads of work to get through before heading home again this weekend.

Anyway, it's been fine, though tiring, and as Libby gets back on Saturday I'm sure we're going to survive. Today though has been hellish. Tiggy has been fine – she's pottered around, ate loads, and generally done her own thing. Fin (5) and Tabby (3) on the other hand have been terrible: they've cut each other's hair, broken things, fought like cats and dogs ... you get the idea.

Anyway, my reason for mentioning all that is because it influenced my choice of image today: something quiet, simple, non-contentious and calm – quite the opposite of my experiences today :)

And in case you're wondering, it's some netting, hanging from the underside of Blackpool's North Pier.

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9.48am on 14/10/10 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 70mm f/4.0 1/125 aperture priority +2/3 evaluative 100 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none 1x1

The last few times I've been in Dubai as an instructor at one of the Gulf Photo Plus training events I've managed to grab quite a few shots, either during my shooting workshops, or while out and about with my fellow instructors. This time though (the FotoWeekend event) we've been really busy so I haven't got much to show you other than the two shots that I've already posted ... hence today's image, a shot of a pair of broken sunglasses on Blackpool beach.

That said, I'm heading down to Oman later today for a few day's shooting with Bobbi Lane. We don't have any fixed plans, but I suspect we'll spend time on the beach, down at the Souks, and might take a trip further out to grab a few landscapes. We're travelling for most of today, but I might have something to post by tomorrow evening.

This is the last of my seascape shots from my recent trip back to the UK, and while it's not the most striking of the ones I've posted, I do like it. The good news is that I'll be back in the UK again next month (6th-16th), so should have some more seascapes to post then :)