Jonathan Gazeley

I was digging through some old photos and I came across this one that I took in July 2008. I think this cloud looks a lot like Great Britain!

As well as the stone cat, I also took these photos as candidates for the Photo Challenge theme of textures.

I don’t know if the super-macro zoom level spoils the rough texture of denim. Maybe they’re a bit too close up.

This feline statue is in my parents’ garden. I love its rough texture after years of weathering. It’s not the first time I’ve enjoyed a rough, stony statue either.

It would probably be suitable for this week’s Photo Challenge, on the theme of textures. It’s certainly on my list of candidates.

I’ve just got another roll of film back from the developers. This time I had it done at ASDA, where I was delighted to find that they don’t treat my films like junk.

Predictably, as it’s Autumn outside, the photos largely reflect this. Here are my favourites from the roll. Most were taken on Brandon Hill, Bristol.

For this next photo I used my macro lens, which has an extremely shallow depth of field. I think it’s an interesting effect.

For some time, I’ve been taking part in Stu’s Tuesday Challenge.

Recently, Stu has had great success with his East Midlands wedding photography business and so doesn’t have time for the Challenge any more.

So I’ve taken over the Challenge and rebranded it the Photo Challenge (so I’m not tied to a Tuesday). I hope the regular contributors on Stu’s blog will continue to take photos for the Challenges. It’s also an ideal opportunity for new photographers to try their hand at some of the challenges and get some feedback.

Why not give it a go?

It was an interesting challenge from Stu this week.

Set up your photo of any subject.
Now stop. Think. Make THREE improvements to your photo.
…and finally take it.

I was somewhat lacking in inspiration, but since I’ve recently become interested in how to light scenes properly, this is a perfect opportunity for some experimenting and improving with an off-camera flash. I had a go with portrait lighting a few weeks ago (also a Tuesday Challenge) so this time I’ll try something a little different.

Attempt 1

I set up this relatively uninteresting scene – a picture of my 35mm SLR on a box, in front of a kitchen cupboard. Sorry, it was the best I could think of. It will probably be quite challenging due to the reflective metal areas on the camera.

Nice camera, but a poor photo. It was lit using only the ambient light in the kitchen, and it’s too dark. Lots of the camera is in shade, and the top metal part is reflecting the light directly into the camera. This is a scene that could definitely benefit from some carefully directed light.

My digital camera was also in full auto mode, and due to the low light, the camera has bumped the ISO right up, causing some graininess.

Attempt 2

I popped up the built-in flash to cast some more light on the scene.

As built-in flashes always are, it was a disaster. The light is too hard, too cold and probably worst of all, the “nose” of my camera is casting a shadow.

On the plus side, there is now plenty of light. It’s just in the wrong place.

Attempt 3

I put a hotshoe flash on top of my camera. This is further away from the camera lens, so it shouldn’t cast a shadow, and the greater distance between the flash and the lens should mean more interesting shadows, and a less “flat” picture.

Well, this is the best so far. But the flash is still too close to the scene, and a large part of the image is overexposed. We need to move the flash somewhere else.

Attempt 4

Now I’ve got the flash on its own tripod, triggered wirelessly. This gives me the freedom to move it around and cast the shadows in any direction. I can also move it nearer or further from the scene. I’ve put a white carrier bag over the flash to diffuse its hard light a little.

The keen-eyed among you might also spot that the SLR is “looking up”. I’ve propped it up with the lid from a bottle of Coke to give it a more “sporty” stance.

Ah! That’s much better. No badly overexposed regions, no hard lighting and no odd shadows. There’s also detail in the shot – you can clearly see the Canon logo now that light isn’t reflecting directly off the camera body.

It’s still a pretty basic shot, but it’s all I’ve got time for this week

Oh, and if you wanted to see how I did it…

This weekend Hana and I met my new cousin Joshua. He’s tiny!

There are some enormous toadstools growing in my parents’ garden. This one was at least eight inches across!

These yellow roses were in a vase in my parents’ living room. The room wasn’t dark at all – the sun was streaming in the window but the roses were brighter than their background.

Well, maybe I bent the rules of Stu‘s challenge a little this week.

Backgrounds are important to a photograph. Why not find a good background first, then wait for something to happen in front of it.

My background is the boring night-time view from my balcony, but as it’s the 5^th of November, naturally there are fireworks going off all over the place.

I was originally watching a fairly distant bonfire party, and so the camera was aligned on its tripod and quite far zoomed in. Without warning, a much nearer firework shot up from a garden only two down opposite my balcony – and it was all I could do to hit the shutter.

This is the rather abstract result, and I quite like it. I love the detail of the “side sparks” shooting away from the main beam. Click for a bigger version and you can see better