Exercise - Rain

In this exercise the idea was to show, in one image, rain. This sounds simple - but it isn't. The photo also needs to be original, and a 'good' photograph. I have tried several goes at it and am not yet entirely satisfied.

Attempt 1.

Walking in the Rain. - ISO 100, f/5.6, 24mm efl, 1/60 sec

This was taken in Edinburgh at Holyrood Palace while we were waiting for a break in the torrential rain. RAW edited in Lightroom 3, mono conversion in Silver Efex Pro, and some minor work in PSE8 (mostly removing a TV aerial).

Attempt 2.

Raindrops - ISO 250, f/5.6, 90mm efl, 1/125 sec

This was an attempt to show the raindrops bouncing up from the pavement. It was less than successful, although the paving certainly looks wet!

Attempt 3.

After the Rain - ISO 80, f/2.7, 47mm efl, 1/500 sec

This was after a very heavy rainstorm and the clouds are still lowering overhead. I love the picture - but am not sure that it really shows rain, maybe storms, or light.

So far I am not happy that any of these really fulfill the brief, however, the other day I was sitting inside the office at work and the rain was pouring down the window and everything outside was given a rippled effect. I couldn't immediately get up and take a photo, but - maybe it could be replicated with a hose pipe. An experiment is required.

Experimentation with Flash

While I had the flower pot in place I experimented with using the 'on camera' flash both directly and bouncing it of a multi-surface reflector, that gave a variety of possibilities, white, black, silver and gold. I also tried this using the AWB and the camera 'flash' white balance.  None of the images have been altered in photoshop.

AWB - direct flash

AWB and direct flash, This gave a very similar effect to using a direct single undiffused bulb, although the shadow edges are slightly less harsh and are directly behind the plant. The colour is too blue

Flash WB - direct flash

Here the white balance was set to the camera's 'flash ' setting. The colour is much too yellow and seems slightly overexposed.

AWB - silver reflector

Here the flash is bounces off a sliver reflector placed to the right of the flowers. The shadows are considerable softer, and the overall image less blue.

AWB - white reflector

Here the colour is again slightly blue, but the shadows are nicely softened, and the leaves show very well.

AWB - black reflector

Using a black 'reflector' to bounce the light off interestingly gives much deeper shadows, and more detail in the pot, with less reflection from it, however the image is too cold

AWB - gold reflector

As would be expected the gold reflector gives a much warmer image, and overall a very pleasant effect. The plants leaves are probably slightly too yellow but the pot is not over-exposed with a blown highlight, and the table is the correct colour.

I did repeat all the variations with the camera's flash setting for white balance, but they were all unpleasantly yellow, and there was little difference visible using the various reflectors.

In this instance I prefer the picture taken using the silver reflector, but I think the gold one is equally pleasing, just a less accurate colour rendition. 

This is certainly worth exploring further, especially when taking pictures of people using flash either inside or as an adjunct outside.

Gateway to the Underworld

Gateway to the Underworld, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

This is some of the way I want to go. Monochrome feels right to me. This one is pushed to the limit, nothing subtle, in your face Goth style.Lots of detail and atmosphere.

Still Waters

flower_edited-1, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

this is another flower with the same underlying sand for a texture - its interesting how different a change of processing can make something look. This time simply blending multiple layers together.

Ghost Flower

untitled-1100657, originally uploaded by Scottish Zoe.

using 2 of todays texture shots (sand and boat paintwork) together with a flower altered via fractalius to give a ghost effect. I am actually rather pleased with it - although not sure why. It is possibly the contrast of the textures aginst the colours, hard v soft.