Experimental Photography....Please be kind!

[pross]

Yeah looks great Steve. Will you take it further or is it just a hobby for you? Those pics will look great mixed in with a video.

Did you learn some of the skills in your place of work with clients doing line ups and  photos with the hight board behind them ??
Now turn to the left now the right 

[shaggs147]

Did you learn some of the skills in your place of work with clients doing line ups and  photos with the hight board behind them ??
Now turn to the left now the right 

I thought he played pool for a living 

[Lonewolf]

This a shot I took near Glencoe of a Morgan during June 2013 when I was touring with Nigel.


Again It's all a question of personal taste as to which you might like, if any at all. 

[O.C.]

For me the last one (colour) is the best...dunno why, just looks better   

[pross]

This a shot I took near Glencoe of a Morgan during June 2013 when I was touring with Nigel.


Again It's all a question of personal taste as to which you might like, if any at all. 

The last one the other two look like you need to get the hood up sharpish 

[Ant]

I have to say your very good at photography Steve 

[Stephen.Stallebrass]

Are you shooting Raw and editing your images in Lightroom?

I like the composition of the first pictures: rule of thirds, depth of field and leading lines are all very nice... have you considered using an ND filter and maybe blur out the clouds with a longer shutter speed to give your sky some motion? But that's a nice dramatic sky you have, did you use a grad filter on camera or in post, they can really balance the exposure and make it go boom. I like the black and white the best, maybe dodge and burn a little and add a nice post crop vignette. I really like a 1:1 crop on B+W pics.

Buskers make interesting subjects don't they, I might get in a bit closer for the portrait, or even shoot at a more side on angle with a long and fast lens wide open (maybe 200mm if you have it but shoot at least f2.8) to get a shallow depth of field to isolate the subject and blow out the background - makes for great environment/street portraits. It's a bit flat shot at against the background and in the middle of the frame. I like that you've not shot it at 5'10", always better to get down low if you can.

I like the blue-green colouring of the car picture, it's interesting. It actually draws the eye down but it's very heavy handed - especially with so much going on in the frame, it's quite busy and overwhelming. Wheres the focal point? Pull out a bit, follow the basic rules of composition and give your subject some room to breathe. The sky is very dramatic and will compliment the subject. A polariser might have been sufficient to make the sky pop and take out the reflections in the car, shame you couldn't ask the camper van to move, LOL.

Nice, job well done. It takes courage to put your pictures out there. Fear kills creativity. And in that spirit I offer you few of my own recent images for critique (originally exported for Facebook).

Swan at the River Nene, Embankment Peterborough

75mm: 1/640 sec at f2.8, 200 ISO in manual mode with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on a Nikon D600

The Town Bridge, River Nene, Peterborough

28mm: 1/500 sec at f8.0, 100 ISO in manual mode with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on a Nikon D600

The Grain Barge Restaurant, Embankment Peterborough

28mm: 1/400 sec at f8.0, 200 ISO in manual mode with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on a Nikon D600

Peterborough Cathedral shot at blue hour

28mm: 0.4 sec at f8.0, 1600 ISO in manual mode with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on a Nikon D600

Slightly different exposure and processing... processed from JPEG not RAW and shot just before blue hour.

28mm: 0.8 sec at f11.0, 100 ISO in manual mode with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on a Nikon D600

[virginiajim]

I get high just looking at those pictures...must be a delayed reaction.

[Lonewolf]

Stephen, yes I am shooting in RAW and using Adobe Lightroom, I've steered away from RAW for years but only recently been persuaded into giving it another go and like many things in life, I'm now wondering how I ever managed without it! The only images in this thread of mine however which are shot in RAW are the busker and the BMW. The others are older photos which ive just tweaked and experimented with. I have considered using a ND filter and I have seen some very impressive shots with examples such as you have described. The detail in the skies have been created within Lightroom, no filters on the lenses.


I shot the busker with a 300mm lens, I'm not sure what focal length I actually used but I didn't want to be too intrusive whilst taking it. He knew I was photographing him but didn't seem concerned and I recompensed him for his cooperation. As you say buskers, can and very often do make interesting subjects. I purposely included the amount of background I did to not swamp the photo with the main subject/s. The dog is as important in the image as the busker himself, the two of them together in my opinion tell a story. The props in the photo, the dog toys, the dog bed, the guitar case and even the dog treats against the far wall are all part of the image.

As for the car photos, they were very quick snaps taken while we had a break from riding. They were never meant to be artistic, I was just trying to demonstrate the versitility of photography. I enjoy my photo taking and I enjoy sharing my images with others as its good to get feedback, whether that be positive or not.

I'm just about to get some kip as ive just come off nights but when I'm refreshed I'll have a proper look at yours.

[Stephen.Stallebrass]

...I am shooting in RAW... I shot the busker with a 300mm lens, I'm not sure what focal length

Good to hear, you can do so much more with a RAW file. If you imported with metadata you can click 'I' in Lightroom and see it all, I love Lightroom 5! One of the great things about a longer lens is that you can keep your distance and get them great candid shots, trouble is you look like paparazzi, LOL.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[shaggs147]

Its all a bit beyond me I'm afraid. The closest I've got to experimental photography was turning my camera phone on its side 
Keep the pics coming guys, some beautiful shots there, a real art form. Well done! 

[Lonewolf]

Stephen, I am also using Lightroom 5, although I believe I did a free upgrade after I bought the software to Version 5.7. Either way it is terrific software which I have never used prior to about a month or so ago.


Photographs are very personal creations which are normally taken to please the photographer alone however if others enjoy them too then that is obviously a bonus. I like the photos you have posted, in particular the swan and the RAW image of Peterborough Cathedral. The JPEG image of the Cathedral looks flat in comparison to the RAW version but as you hopefully agree it depends on what you were setting out to achieve when you took the image and therefore neither one is necessarily better than the other. Hope that makes sense.


I don't get all serious over my photos, I take them for pleasure, I am however quite critical occasionally of my own photos and I will happily bin them if I don't feel they make the grade, but I don't lose any sleep over it.


Thanks for posting your photos and perhaps it will encourage others to exhibit theirs.

[Stephen.Stallebrass]

I'm new to photography so this is all new to me too. I'm coming to the end of my LR free trial from the creative cloud... I might subscribe when it runs out as it's not that expensive with PhotoShop as a personal bundle, or I might find a 'copy' from another 'source'.

I completely agree, the JPEG image of the Cathedral does look flat and I'd add boring. I was playing around the other day in LR and thought I'd try something with a different exposure of the Cathedral shot but it didn't really work in comparison to the RAW version.

There's no worse critic of my images than myself but it's good to get a fresh pair of eyes to spot things I didn't see. I love the book feature in LR... that's going to be sweet when I have enough images worthy of printing.

[Charlie747]

Keep posting guys.........................That can not be P.Boro town bridge..............looks far to clean and beautiful 

[Stephen.Stallebrass]

Yep, all Peterborough believe it or not... looks better than reality LOL. I had to do some serious clean up in post to get rid of litter, fag butts, pebbles and unwanted people etc.