I love abstract images and photos, particularly those that allow the viewer to see different images and shapes every time they are viewed. For me they also have to contain lots of detail and layers giving an illusion of depth.
One subject that makes great abstract art is ice, especially if there is a dominant color or tone through it. Given the right color and the right light the ice can be made to look metallic or like liquid metal or mercury.
Removing all color and only using black and white also produces excellent images that enhance the liquid metal effect even more. It's also possible to produce images that almost have an 'H.R. Geiger' quality to them.
Ultimately these type of images are best viewed at large sizes so that the detail can really be appreciated. Framing A2 size images and hanging them in a living room or lounge will really add impact to a place and also provides an interesting talking point!
Wednesday 27 May 2009
Monday 18 May 2009
Greencastle and Narrow water castle
Northern Ireland like Scotland, has its fair share of castles and ancient monuments, two of which are around an hour's drive from my home and are both around seven miles apart. Like most ancient monuments and castles these are extremely photogenic due to their good condition and outstanding surrounding northern Irish countryside.
About five miles outside of Rostrevor (a place known for its folk music and fiddler's green festival) lies Greencastle royal castle which, I decided to visit first. built in the 13th century the castle is basically large rectangular keep with three vaulted chambers at the ground floor level. Access is free however it is only open two months of the year namely July and August, so if you want to get up close you will need to climb the fence and sneak in like I did!
Did I mention the weather? Saturday was one of those days forecast as 'changeable' which can produce some amazing skies for photography. Wind and torrents rain lashed down all the way there except for the odd two or three minutes of blue sky and amazing cloud formations. I was hoping to catch one of these pauses in the weather when I got to my chosen location. Just as I arrived at Greencastle the rain stopped for about ten minutes giving me just enough time to jump the fence, run up to the castle, fire off a few shots then dash back to the car again! amazing luck! Just as I got back to the car the weather closed in again with a torrential downpour.
About seven miles west of here just outside Warrenpoint, where the Newry river meets Carlingford lough, lies Narrow Water castle keep. This is a tower house building which was built originally by Hugh deLacy, Earl of Ulster in 1568.
The castle is in extremely good condition and is situated in a really beautiful spot, infact this whole area is outstanding with the Mourne mountains only a short distance from here.
Access for photography and general viewing is excellent, given that it is right beside the main A2 road. Access to the inside however is again restricted to July and August.
As before I was amazingly lucky with the weather as it briefly cleared as I got there for around another ten minutes, allowing me to get a few shots in the bag before the rain finally returned!
More images can be viewed in the Kingdom of Mourne and Irish countryside gallery and the Monochrome landscape gallery.
Bye for now.
About five miles outside of Rostrevor (a place known for its folk music and fiddler's green festival) lies Greencastle royal castle which, I decided to visit first. built in the 13th century the castle is basically large rectangular keep with three vaulted chambers at the ground floor level. Access is free however it is only open two months of the year namely July and August, so if you want to get up close you will need to climb the fence and sneak in like I did!
Did I mention the weather? Saturday was one of those days forecast as 'changeable' which can produce some amazing skies for photography. Wind and torrents rain lashed down all the way there except for the odd two or three minutes of blue sky and amazing cloud formations. I was hoping to catch one of these pauses in the weather when I got to my chosen location. Just as I arrived at Greencastle the rain stopped for about ten minutes giving me just enough time to jump the fence, run up to the castle, fire off a few shots then dash back to the car again! amazing luck! Just as I got back to the car the weather closed in again with a torrential downpour.
About seven miles west of here just outside Warrenpoint, where the Newry river meets Carlingford lough, lies Narrow Water castle keep. This is a tower house building which was built originally by Hugh deLacy, Earl of Ulster in 1568.
The castle is in extremely good condition and is situated in a really beautiful spot, infact this whole area is outstanding with the Mourne mountains only a short distance from here.
Access for photography and general viewing is excellent, given that it is right beside the main A2 road. Access to the inside however is again restricted to July and August.
As before I was amazingly lucky with the weather as it briefly cleared as I got there for around another ten minutes, allowing me to get a few shots in the bag before the rain finally returned!
More images can be viewed in the Kingdom of Mourne and Irish countryside gallery and the Monochrome landscape gallery.
Bye for now.
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Water droplets part II
Last time I talked about shooting natural water droplets on rainy days when the weather is not to your liking for landscape photography, and with this weekend being another wet and windy one I decided to take the topic indoors and do some experimentation with man made ones!
I know some people think this subject is somewhat cliched but I love it! Each image is unique in its own way and there are countless variations that can be tried for some amazing effects.
Rather than go for the usual clear water into a clear pool I wanted to try and get a CG or computer rendered effect with bright bold colors, so for the shoot I used natural blue and red food dye.
Capturing the water droplets is not as hard as you may think. I know that some posts on this say that you need to be prepared to take a couple of hundred shots but I found this not to be the case if you setup carefully. The most important things are using an external flash ( I use the Canon Speedlite 430), preferably off camera to control the direction of light, a reflector of some kind to stop under exposure and a macro or telephoto lens to allow you to fill the frame but stay a safe distance from water splashes.
After some experimentation I found the following setup works very well:
External flash - set this to manual mode and set the output to 1/32 or lower. This doesn't affect the amount of light from the flash but rather the flash duration and allows you to freeze the drops in motion.
Reflector - Use a reflector or white card placed opposite the flash. I found that not doing this resulted in vastly under exposed images.
Camera - set this to manual mode and a shutter speed of 180. this isn't too important as with these kind of shots the flash duration is now your effective shutter speed. For focusing, place a ruler where the drops will fall. Frame and focus on this.
Once everything is setup it is just a matter of releasing water drops and firing off shots at different times, before and after hitting the water.
Once you have your shots why not try black and white conversions like the shot above. More images are available in the Macro images gallery on the website.
If you want to see some really amazing liquid sculptures and get some inspiration check out Martin Waugh's site at http://www.liquidsculpture.com/.
Have fun!
I know some people think this subject is somewhat cliched but I love it! Each image is unique in its own way and there are countless variations that can be tried for some amazing effects.
Rather than go for the usual clear water into a clear pool I wanted to try and get a CG or computer rendered effect with bright bold colors, so for the shoot I used natural blue and red food dye.
Capturing the water droplets is not as hard as you may think. I know that some posts on this say that you need to be prepared to take a couple of hundred shots but I found this not to be the case if you setup carefully. The most important things are using an external flash ( I use the Canon Speedlite 430), preferably off camera to control the direction of light, a reflector of some kind to stop under exposure and a macro or telephoto lens to allow you to fill the frame but stay a safe distance from water splashes.
After some experimentation I found the following setup works very well:
External flash - set this to manual mode and set the output to 1/32 or lower. This doesn't affect the amount of light from the flash but rather the flash duration and allows you to freeze the drops in motion.
Reflector - Use a reflector or white card placed opposite the flash. I found that not doing this resulted in vastly under exposed images.
Camera - set this to manual mode and a shutter speed of 180. this isn't too important as with these kind of shots the flash duration is now your effective shutter speed. For focusing, place a ruler where the drops will fall. Frame and focus on this.
Once everything is setup it is just a matter of releasing water drops and firing off shots at different times, before and after hitting the water.
Once you have your shots why not try black and white conversions like the shot above. More images are available in the Macro images gallery on the website.
If you want to see some really amazing liquid sculptures and get some inspiration check out Martin Waugh's site at http://www.liquidsculpture.com/.
Have fun!
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