Four old men in the shade.

Fuerteventura 2009
Black and white (7/75)
Four old men avoiding the midday sun and watching the world go by from a bench on the sea front. This makes me think of the Godfather, Sopranos and such. Four Dons discussing business in their sunglasses. Maybe a couple of heavies just outside the frame are making sure they wont be disturbed.

Not quite the Krays

Nottingham 2007

Black and white (6/75)

2 year old Oliver is in front, being watched over by is older brother Thomas. Obviously the classic David Bailey pose for the Krays is used to posed these two little chaps.

Blind museum historian

Dominican Republic 2007
Black and white print (5/75)
Shot at a coastal fort in the Domincan republic. I used natural light from behind this blind historian who explains the forts historical importance in defending against pirates and other sea bound threats.

Mother pushing swing

Notttingham 2007
Black and white print (4/75)
This lovely little girl was a joy in the studio and had lots of fun when I took her to my local park. Although you can't see her mouth, you can see the smile in her eyes and her mothers smile just beams knowing her daughter is having fun.

Usher Brothers

Nottingham 2006
Black and White print 3/75
Two brothers acting as Ushers at their fathers wedding. Shot outside the church as they perform their duties, the eldest seems quite happy to have his photo taken, while the youngest appears a little more unsure.

Models waiting their turn.

Nottingham 2010
Black and white print (2/75)
Models prepared and ready for a group shoot, waiting for a photographer to ask them to pose at the Bright Lights studio in Draycott, Derbyshire.

Father of the bride

Nottingham 2006
Black and white print (1/75)
A widower has a quiet moment with his daughter before she puts her wedding dress on.
Shot using natural light from the kitchen window over the sink. The father is sitting on the work surface.

This is the first in a series of black and white portraits inspired by an exhibition of work by Diane Arbus at the Nottingham Contemporary. The primary inspiration extends only as far as the print format of black and white. The forteen inch square presentation and the fact that the images are portraits. I hope to pick images that are not stricly formal portraiture but reflect a look or mood the subject might not think of as a posed "grin and bear it" image.

The 14 inch square images are available to buy and will be limited edition prints of 20 of each image. Handsigned, mounted and framed.

Cropping

The Art of Photography.
Cropping and extending.

Vertical and horizontal frames

The Art of Photography.
Project: Frame shapes and sizes.

Since the view finder of a camera is horizontal most images remain on this plain. The following exercise asks the photographer to capture 20 images in the vertical and compare it with the horizontal equivilant.
Here are a selection of subjects using both vertical and horizontal frames. Some subjects are tall and suit a vertical frame better than an horizontal one.

Nikon D700 ISO200 90mm 1/125sec f/13


Nikon D700 ISO200 80mm 1/125sec f/13

Here the vertical frame gives a balanced space above and below the subject whilst the horizontal gives the impression of wasted space either side of the subject.

Nikon D700 ISO1600 50mm 1/60sec f/1.8

Nikon D700 ISO1600 50mm 1/60sec f/1.8

Here the subject actually appear larger in the frame with the horizontal image even though both were shot using a fixed 50mm lens from the same standing position. This is because in the vertical image the roof and floor act as leading lines to the subject. Because the leading lines are more obvious in the vertical image the impression is that the subjects must be further away.

Nikon D50 ISO200 80mm 1/1000sec f/4.2

Nikon D50 ISO200 70mm 1/1600sec f/4.0

Positioning the horizon.

The Art of Photography.

Project: Dividing the Frame.

Nikon D50 ISO200 200mm 1/250sec f/5.6

Nikon D50 ISO200 35mm 1/1600sec f/4.5

Nikon D50 ISO200 70mm 1/2500sec f/4.0

Nikon D50 ISO200 28mm 1/40sec f/4.2

An assortment of images were the horizon moves up and down the frame giving prominance to either the sky or land.

Balance.

The Art of Photography.
Project: Dividing the Frame.

Focal lengths and different viewpoints

The Art of Photography.
Project: Focal Lengths.

Nikon D200 ISO1250 10mm 1/400sec f/10.

A trip to the canal side. This shot taken with a wide angle lens at 10mm showing the length of the canal tow path.

Nikon D200 ISO1250 200mm 1/160sec f/10
Taken from the same place as the first shot but with a 200mm lens picking out the tow path anchor ring and lining up the tow path edge from bottom left to top right of the frame.

Nikon D200 ISO1250 10mm 1/100sec f/10
Now the anchor ring is shot again using the 10mm lens. The edge of the tow path is lined up from bottom left to top right of the frame again but the image is very different.

Nikon D200 ISO800 70mm 1/80sec f/2.8

Nikon D700 ISO800 50mm 1/60sec f/1.8

Two shots with identical settings and subject matter, but two very different results.

Focal Lengths

The Art of Photography.
Project: Focal lengths.

Nikon D700 ISO200 70mm 1/80sec f/2.8


Nikon D700 ISO200 200mm 1/15sec f/2.8

Two images of a subterranean lake shot from one end of the lake to the other. The first is at 70mm taking in the whole cave including the reflection in the lake. The second taken at 200mm showing the seating area at the other end of the lake.

Nikon D200 ISO400 80mm 1/125sec f/16

Nikon D200 ISO400 200mm 1/125sec f/16

Taken on a foggy morning where it struck me that Paul Weller once sang "They were gonna build communities, it was going to be pie in the sky" and here it was. First shot taken of the view at 80mm. Telephoto shot of the block of flats taken at 200mm.

A sequence of composition

The Art of Photography.
Project: Looking through the viewfinder

Scenes shot whilst waiting for a ferry to Lanzarote, initially shooting general scenes of passengers and the bus driver cleaning his coach. Then spotted this customer talking to the rep silhouetted against the bright morning sun. Slowly getting closer until the shot below which worked even better with the customer gesticulating and the rep holding her trip passenger list against her leg.

Object in different positions in a frame

The Art of Photography.
Project: Looking through the viewfinder.

Original image.

Subject centred.

Subject placed bottom left, providing space for the subject to fly into.



Subject placed top/right of the crop, still as space to fly into but not as effective as the previous crop.

Fitting the frame to the subject

The Art of Photography.

Project: Looking through the viewfinder.

A Conventional Viewpoint.

A detailed closeup of the Suzuki badge and switch gear.

Subject shot fit the frame.

Panning with different shutter speeds

The Art of Photography
Project: Photographing movement

Nikon D200 ISO100 50mm 1/320 sec f/7.1

Nikon D200 ISO100 50mm 1/250sec f/2.8

Nikon D200 ISO100 50mm 1/320sec f/2.8

Nikon D200 ISO100 50mm 1/250sec f/2.8

Nikon D200 ISO200 50mm 1/125sec f/2.8

Various panning shots of motorcyclists. The various shutter speeds giving different feels to the end results, especially the last one which gives a feel of the subject even without any defined focus.

Shutter speeds

The Art of Photography.

Project: Photograping movement.

Two images of the waterfall at Newstead Abbey to show the effect of shutter speed on an image. Both shot with Nikon D50 ISO200 70mm

First image 1/320 sec f/4 which almost freezes the motion showing individual droplets of water.

Second image 1/4 sec which is slow enough to start turning the motion into a milky flow.

Nikon D50 ISO200 35mm 25sec f/4.8

Using a slow shutter speed and a torch bulb to write with light.

Nikon D50 ISO200 32mm 8sec f/11

A church lit by the road traffic, in this case a single decker bus.

Focus at different apertures

The Art of Photography.

Project: Focus

Nikon D700 50mm ISO200 1/25 sec f/1.8

This aperture gives a very shallow depth of view, only a few books in the middle are in focus.

Nikon D700 50mm ISO200 1/3sec f/5.6

This aperture produces a wider depth of view so that more books are in focus.

Nikon D700 50mm ISO200 15sec f/22

This narrow aperture brings everything into focus.