alan frost

Posts by alan frost

The Gate – processing a digital painting?

Although I have not had much time since I returned from walking the South Downs Way, I have at least made a start on editing and processing some of the catalogue.

Whenever I take a large number of shots, from the moment I press the shutter there are some which stick in my mind. Perhaps instinctively I know that these shots might have the right basic ingredients to make a potentially pleasing image.

One such shot was taken early in the morning as we left the village of Amberley and started the uphill climb to Amberley Mount. The sun had not long risen and there was still some early morning mist in the air. We came across a gate in amongst some trees and hedgerow. The light being cast on the scene was just glorious. I only took the one exposure and here is the result.

The Gate –
on the South Downs Way

I originally started processing the image in Photoshop CS5 a few days ago and made a number of fine adjustments on a daily basis until I felt completely happy with the result. More often than not I will process a photo in one sitting, but on this occasion I took more time and tried to remain patient. This was simply because each time I revisited the image, either later in the day or the following morning, I would look at the picture and see something new, which I thought could be fine tuned to enhance the overall appearance.

This staged approach is of course no different to an artist with a paintbrush in his hand. A painting will often take a number of sessions to finish and as the paint dries so the picture changes. I don’t think the method of processing a photograph should be any different. I accept that some images can be completed in no time at all, but there are others, and this is a good example, when more time and patience brings its reward. You do of course have to decide when to click ‘save’ for the last time and that decision is never an easy one. For now the ‘The Gate’ is finished and I can now enjoy ‘fine tuning’ the next image in this series on the South Downs Way.

There is not a great deal more to say, other than how fortunate I was to be in the right place at the right time to capture this shot. The shaft of light coming from the other side of the gate was a very beautiful sight, as it lit up the path and the foliage of the surrounding trees and hedgerow.

Walk completed – let the processing begin

On Monday my nephew and I successfully completed our challenge to walk the length of the South Downs Way – 100 miles from Winchester to Eastbourne. We had a wonderful time. We encountered wind and rain, beautiful sunshine and for two of the nine days, temperatures which must have been close to 30C. A bit too hot for walking but we had to keep going, and keep going we did.

In the process we managed to raise nearly £5,000 including Gift Aid for our chosen cause. The St Peter Project – a new church hall for Fishbourne.

The scenery along the trail was very special and there were plenty of opportunities to press the shutter on my Olympus OM EM5. I only took two lenses; the Panasonic f2.8 12 to 35mm zoom lens, together with it’s sister the f2.8 35 to 100mm. I wanted to travel light, so this combination would cover most situations.

Many of the photographs taken were more record shots than images which might stand out from the crowd. So now the fun begins to go through several hundred RAW files and begin the editing process. It will take a little time and I do want there to be some order to their inclusion on this blog, whether by type or in chronological order, I have yet to decide.

By way of a taster here is one shot which perhaps typifies the scenery and the beautiful weather we enjoyed for much of the time.

Distant Windmill

The above image was taken from West Hill to the north of Brighton before we descended into the village of Pyecombe. The windmill you can see is called ‘Jill’, and is one of a pair, the other being called ‘Jack’; they are a well known landmark on the South Downs. The clouds were just stunning and the afternoon sun fell on ‘Jill’ and lit up its sails, so it shone like a beacon against the distant hills in the background.

I am so looking forward to processing more images and when I have, I hope they will provide a useful source of material for a number of forthcoming entries on this blog.

A 100 mile walk along the South Downs Way

For the past few months I been exploring the South Downs countryside near our home for two principal reasons. Firstly for my photography and secondly because in a few days time I will be starting on a challenge to walk the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne; a total of 100 miles.

Boots made for walking

The walk is in memory of my sister who died from cancer at Easter at the age of 59 and I am raising funds for a community project to build a new church hall near to where we live – The St Peter Project. My companion and fellow walker will be my sister’s son Ian.

Ian and I

Donations have already exceeded all expectations and today have reached the landmark total of just over £4,000 including Gift Aid. I am truly grateful to everyone who has generously sponsored me and offered so much support. For more information please see my Virgin Giving Money page.

Although I am a keen walker I have never done anything like this before, so hopefully I will complete the challenge without too many blisters! It will be a wonderful opportunity for me to spend more time with Ian, and to visit and photograph parts of Sussex I have not been to previously. It should provide me with plenty of material for this blog and my website alanfrostphotography.co.uk.

Inevitably though this blog will go a little quiet for the next two or three weeks but it’s all for a good cause, and I am already looking forward to sharing with you many more images from this particular adventure.

Coming up – Goodwood Revival

In less than three weeks time one the best motor sport events in the world takes place at Goodwood in West Sussex. The Revival Meeting.

Ferrari 250GTO at Goodwood Revival in 2010

The car which is almost certainly destined for an appearance is the Ferrari 250 GTO as shown in the above shot. This car is owned by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, a true ‘petrol head’ and car enthusiast. If you are ever in doubt as to whether or not the GTO you are looking at belongs to him, then just take a look at the number plate……. ‘250GTO’ and you will know instantly.

I shall be attending this year’s event on two of the three days. I had wondered whether or not I would have sufficient images from past meetings together with the one coming up, to put together fifteen photographs for my ‘A’ panel submission to the Royal Photography Society. I will have to wait and see. If I thought I had sufficient numbers of the desired quality then I would definitely consider processing the images in a way which harks back to the black and white films which would have been used in the 1950’s and 60’s. So by way of an experiment I downloaded a 30 day trial version of DxO FilmPack 4. It differs from Silver Efex Pro2, which I have used for many black and white conversions, so I find it quite interesting to compare the results from both pieces of software.

One of the highly regarded black and white films of the post war era was made by Kodak and called Tri-X 400. I used the DxO FilmPack 4 preset for this film type as the starting point for processing the above photograph, which was taken on a Nikon D90 back in 2010. I like the grain and contrast this preset provides but I will try others as well.

I also need to experiment more with this software on a variety of different images before deciding whether or not to buy the full version. With days now running out I expect I will, if only to add this piece of software to my growing armoury of processing techniques.

What I can be sure of is that in a few weeks time there will be a number of entries relating to the Goodwood Revival Meeting. Quite simply if offers so many photographic opportunities, not just of the cars but also the characters, both drivers and spectators alike.

Three Crosses – the meaning behind the image.

It’s probably fair to say that the vast majority of my pictures are taken and processed to produce a final image which is pleasing to my eye, and hopefully to others as well, as opposed to trying to reveal some special meaning or storyline. It is not very often that when taking the shot itself that I am consciously aware of why I might be taking the picture and any feelings I may have which lie hidden within the image.

With this photograph of my local parish church, St Peter and St Mary, Fishbourne near Chichester in West Sussex, it was different. Perhaps I should explain.

Three Crosses – Fishbourne

Let me begin by saying that this shot was taken late in the afternoon on the 22nd August. In the morning of the very same day we had said ‘goodbye’ to my father in law at a Funeral Service at a nearby crematorium. He had peacefully passed away the previous week having suffered from cancer for five years. That afternoon I simply felt I wanted to be outside, alone with my camera, in a place which is close to my heart.

As I started to work my way around the churchyard looking for a good angle from which I could photograph the church itself, I became very aware of the tombstones in the churchyard and how the dappled light was shining through the trees and falling on the the stone crosses in the foreground. Initially only one cross formed part of the shot, but as I moved around a second cross entered the frame and this gave added depth to the image. It was then that I was reminded of my late sister who also died at Easter of cancer this year.

The final composition was beginning to take shape. I was very low to the ground and the tilting screen of the Olympus OMD EM5 was essential to making the image. With such a low point of view I could not have used the built in viewfinder without my body adopting some contorted and very uncomfortable position!

I had previously concentrated on the two main crosses on the left hand side but as my eye scanned the frame I saw a third cross on the far right hand side. Although much smaller is size it had to form part of the final image and should not be cropped or cut in half. Whilst arguably less significant than the two other crosses, this third cross also had an affect upon me. It reminded me of our dog, a merry cocker spaniel, who we lost this year, again to cancer, only a few days before my sister passed away.

And so the final image – ‘Three crosses’ was made. Each element an important part of the photograph but a representation of how life, through death, has changed for me and my family this year.