Just a quick taster for the photos that are coming on later on this weekend.
Taken with the fantastic S95, resting on some stones. PS was used for a little re-noising and sharpening.
As I said – more tk….
As you know from my previous post we have been to a wedding at Allerton Castle. Here is what wikipedia has to say about the house: WIKIPEDIA
Everybody with kids will appreciate this post:
Apparently in the 18th century the then owner of the castle built a folly on a man made mound in his “garden”. That mound is the hill in the nursery rhyme of the Grand Old Duke of York!
Oh, The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down.
A friend recently got married in Allerton Castle in Yorkshire. A grand and spectacular venue for a very special day. A nightmare photography wise, at least indoor, as the main room is floor to ceiling clad in dark brown oak panelling. Looks wonderful, but where do you get the light from……
Interesting for me was to see the official photographer running around with the same canera I am using: D300. For all those who have kit envy for most professional photographers: his main lens was a kit lens: 18-70mm. And his results are stunning. So no need to re-mortgage the house just to get some decent results!
The photographer was Mike Browne and you can find some details here. Lovely chap, didn’t mind me constantly talking shop to him. Then again, the champagne went down a treat! Sorry Mike.
Here are some of my photos I took with my trusted S95. Who needs a DSLR when you have this little gem in your pocket! Mostly set to auto, it dealt with the conditions brilliantly. Most flash pictures were taken with second curtain sync as I love the effect that gives!
The other day I went to Chester Zoo with the family. We have annual passes and it is always fun to go with the girls! According to Wikipedia it is one of the UK’s largest zoos and houses a vast array of species. They seem to be sympathetically displayed in large (holding) areas they can roam around in. I often feel sorry for the lone lion (at the last visit he seemed to have been joined by two ladies – so will be a vastly different experience going forward I guess. Kind of still feel sorry for him now, but for different reasons!)
In any case the girls normally just want to see the monkeys and the giraffes!
Here I was trying out a new lens which turned out to be a fantastic piece of kit. Quick, sharp, sharp, wonderful bokeh. Oh, and did I mention it was sharp?
I took a load of shots but particularly liked the two below.
Oh, and don’t get this wrong – both photos show quite extensive vignetting. That is due to the artistic freedom I exercised in photoshop later…. 
No problem with the lens…..
Went out into the garden today where some pretty impressive mushrooms are sprouting on my impeccable lawn. The light situation was not easy so that in the end I used my flash and some white paper as reflectors.
Comments welcome as always!
As previously said, I had the priviledge to be part of Janet and Martin’s big day! The location was the Grosvenor Hotel in Pulford – a picturesque village just outside Chester, just down the road from the Duke of Wesminster’s Estate.
The staff at the hotel were meticulous once again. Nothing was left to chance – other than probably the bumbling photographer. Mihai and Maurice are running a very tight ship, but in a very relaxed manner. As one of the “staff” this time I was on their side, and it was great fun to have some good banter. They were always at hand to make my job easier, hopefully I was able to translate that into the pictures.
First a quick shot of the room:
Then a couple of shots of the groom with his best man:
Then I went to take a few shots of the girls. Unfortunately the room was tiny, hence the very tight framing.
If it weren’t for the light on the right, I would have cleaned the right side up a bit more, but otherwise I am quite happy with that one
Here one of the many shots of the ceremony:
Unfortunately the ceremony was at 4 o’clock with the sunset timed for 5.45 – so there was not a lot of time for pictures outside. The bride was delighted about that, as it was quite fresh outside!
The hotel has recently opened a Japanese Garden, which look great, but I struggled to find a decent angle at which to take the couple, so I stayed with the tried and tested landscaped area on the bottom of the car park. A pond with a bridge and a few pagodas make for a lovely setting. Due to the time of the year, the grass was very wet, so I was limited with the type of shots I could get, but nevertheless I think I got some decent ones.
With hindsight I still have to work on my composition as some shots can definitely be improved on that score.
On my recon trips I found some sample albums of established wedding photographers who often had a shot which featured the bride and/or groom with one large scale mirror. I was obviously ambitious enough to try and replicate that shot. Below are a few different versions:
So what have I learned: Well, I think you have to be quite a numpty to not get some workable shots. The taking of the pictures is not the difficult bit. The worst bit is to keep the best man on his toes to organise everybody for the group shots. There is a number of standard shots you need, and if you take 5 min to set each one of them up, then the photos will be longer than the actual wedding + wedding breakfast…. And do not forget to communicate with your “subjects” so that they look into the camera when you need them to!
Kit used: D300 with Sigma 17-35mm, Nikon 50mm, Nikon 24-85mm, SB-900 on stand with umbrella.
Last Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to share Martin and Janet’s Big Day. They had a lovely ceremony with wedding breakfast afterwards.
I am in the process of developing the pictures but I am quite pleased with the outcome so far.
Here is a little taster:
mtk
Here a few more impressions of the day. Enjoy:
I love this: The bonnet of a Lotus 49 (I think) with the red sticker for the Eiffelrennen, next to an original logo of the ADAC – the German Automobil Association. The Eiffelrennen was a yearly race around the public roads in the hills surrounding the Nurburgring. Later the race was transferred onto the Nurburgring itself. It ran until 2003.
This picture I called “Por…..” – as in part of a Porsche. Witty or what!!!?!?!?!
This is the bum of a Carrera GT – what a car. Great to see it used on the road rather than gathering dust in some museum!
Just playing with the forms here. The rear of a single seater
Another single seater, I think some kind of Chevron. Love the intricacies of the different geometries down there. Cross processed (probably the wrong term here) it a little bit, which maes the colours pop nicely, thank you very much!!
More tk!
The other day a friend and I went to Oulton Park, a race circuit not far from Chester. It was a mixed day – light wise – but the prospect of seeing historic Jaguar E-type racing and having a go (as a passenger) in a historic rally car was just too tempting.
It was fascinating to watch the E-types. If you have a look here or here, you get a feel for the costs involved. These are seriously pricey pieces of kit! I mean, a standard, non-race prepared car, which needs restoration will set you back GBP 20k plus!
So there we were, aiming out 300mm lenses at these beasts when the rain set in and they were all over the place. Typically I didn’t get a single one of those shots – I was too mesmerised seeing the drivers desperately holding on!
Anyway, I did manage a few decent photgraphs. Or so I believe and I hope you like them. My first real conscious attempt at panning and the results are OK I think. Let me know if you feel there is a winner in here….
Technical Note:
This is harder than it looks. You need to keep the shutter speed something like 1/200th in order to still have some wheel spin to see in the picture – otherwise it looks too static. At the same time, anything under 1/100th will blur the photo due to camera shake – it was hand-held. The you don’t want to ISO shooting up to retain enough detail (except D3 and D700 shooters!). Camera setting, as in all sports settings: Nikon S – Canon Tv – or shutter speed priority as with all sport, i.e. you set the time, camera sorts the aperture.
Here are some pictures of the rally course action. I loved the setting with the massive tree in the background!
This is the car I had a go in myself: A genuine Ford Escort from the Rally GB of 1971, works prepared! Still in it’s original condition, handling sweet as anything!
Here is one of the single seat racers
Here is a few pics of the E-Types:
Although I have to say that I prefer this version of the same picture:
More tk!
Well, it seems the spammers have finally discovered my site!!!
To all the spammers:
Thanks for coming by about 30 times today and leaving messages with grammar that a three year old would be embarrassed to use. I have deleted them all – and any future messages will go the same way!
To all the genuine people leaving comments – if they don’t appear within a few days, please try getting in contact again – in that case your message must have drowned in the spam! I have closed most of the posts for comments – send me a mail if you need to comment on any of the older posts…
