Eastern Region ASA Swimming Championship

 

Eastern Region ASA Masters Swimming Championship

 

John Bulpitt, Peter Milsom and myself, obtained passes to photograph at this years Eastern Region ASA Masters Swimming Championships, which was held at Newmarket Leisure Centre on the 4th October. Having photographed at the event a couple of years ago, I knew that there would be some good action, and although the 5D Mark III only has six frames per second, it is excellent for shots taken at high ISO. Even still, the light level was not great, so a lot of the shots were taken at ISO speeds of between 2500 and 5000. Obviously, with any indoor sport or competitive event, flash was out of the question.

 

We were allowed to photograph `pool side` so could move our positions without any problems. providing that we did not get in the way of the referees or competitors. Most of the shots were taken with the Canon 70-200 F2.8,-all shot wide open, to get the highest shutter speed under the lighting conditions. Some shots were taken with the Canon 50m 1.8 lens, and the wide angle shots, with the Canon 17-40 F4 lens.

 

Below are some of the shots from the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This gentleman is Donald McFarlane, and was the oldest person swimming that day. He is 85 years old and could do eight lengths of the pool ! I would struggle to do half a length !

 

 

 

 

 

These two shots were taken with the 17mm end of the Canon 17-40 lens, standing over the edge of the pool.  

 

 

Watching to see the touch the end of the pool before the turn.

 

Although it is really the action shots that we went for, this one is a slightly more candid image. I felt it has a slightly more `photojournalistic` feel to it. 

 

The flowing four images are using `pan and blur` with a slow shutter speed to try and get some movement into the shots. Taken with the Canon 70-200 lens, and using shutter priority, I used a shutter speed of 25th of a second.  A great way to fill up the memory card, -unfortunately, the success rate is low, but these ones did not come out too bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 85 year old Donald McFarlane again 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Black Country Museum Again !

 

Black Country Museum Again !

 

On Sunday, I went to Smethwick Photographic Society for the Permajet lecturer`s day. Eleven lecturer`s covering a wide range of subject material. A very enjoyable day, and some great photography on show. I decided to stay in the area overnight, and the following morning paid a visit to the Black County Museum in Dudley, -one of my favourite locations for portrait photography.
 

  Because the BBC had a film crew on site, (recording for a forthcoming reality series), part of the museum was closed. They had started filming at 5.00am, and were filming through most of the day, so access was restricted in certain areas until after lunchtime.  

 

It was quite noticeable the difference between the people who normally work at the museum, and the `extras` that the BBC were using for the filming. The normal staff who work at the museum wear the correctly styled `outfits` for the period and location. The outfits they wear are quite clean compared to the `extras` ,whose clothes looked as if they had not been washed for a couple of months. It certainly made quite a stark comparison !

 

I did manage to get one or two quite reasonable shot though. All images taken with a Canon 5D Mark III, and 17mm lens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an HDR shot. Maybe a bit over the top, and not to everyone taste, but for this sort of dereliction shot, I think it works O.K.

 

This shows two variations of the portrait, -one as a mono conversion, and the other in colour. I think I prefer the mono version, but others may prefer the colour. I have included the `original raw image` to show the post processing. 

 

 

 

Below is the Original `raw image`, -as shot, no alterations. The `noise` was reduced in Lightroom, and it was sharpened with the `clarity` slider before being opened up into Photoshop CS5. Firstly, the image was cropped slightly. Then I took out the reflection in the painting on the wall, and the painting sticking out of the top of the lady`s head. Also the lamp shade in the top of the picture was removed. The bright pink cloth on the edge of the table has been de-saturated, and the loaf and breadboard, which were also on the table have been cloned out. The lady had a very `blood shot eye`, which has been repaired, and the image has also had some contrast added with a Topaz filter .(Topaz Detail) The edges of the background has been heavily `burnt in` to concentrate the centre of interest onto the subject. The mono version was converted using Silver FX software.



Clouded Yellow Butterflies

 

Clouded Yellow Butterflies

 

A few shots from today of Clouded Yellow Butterflies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Blue Room

 

The Blue Room

 

I have had my results from the RPS International Image for Screen Exhibition. I had three images accepted, and was quite please that the `Blue Room` was awarded a RPS Bronze Medal.

I have put the shot up on a previous blog entry, but I thought I would show the finished image and the original raw file image, with no processing as a comparison.  

It was taken at the Tate Modern earlier on in the year and initially I did not think it would be any good, but after it had had a bit of work with photoshop, it seemed to `come to life`. 

 

Final Image

 

Original Raw File, with no alterations.

As you can see, quite a bit of work with the clone tool was needed to take out the ugly structure through the doorway, and also remove the plaque and green fire exit sign. The doorway needed a figure in it so I took one from another picture and defocused her so that she looked natural. It was important that she was `walking into the picture` to balance up the stewards hands and legs which were facing from left to right.  It was also made to have a more `high key` feel, and then given a light blue tone.  



Adam Gemilli

 

Adam Gemilli

 

Seeing that he won the Gold Medal in the 200mm at the European Athletics last night, I thought I would put up a couple of shots of Adam Gemilli. Unfortunately not taken last night, but earlier on in the season when competing at the Bedford International Stadium.

 

 

On this shot both his feet are off the ground.

 



Magpies

 

Magpies

 

I visited the hide for a few hours on Tuesday afternoon. Because it was windy, very few birds about, although there did seem to be loads of Magpies. I had never seen so many there. I counted 11 down in front of the hide at one time. They were using the `pond` quite regularly.

 

Magpie Dispute

 

Bathing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portrait shot on top of the Silver Birch