places | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘places’ category

Changing light – an exercise

One of the ‘mini’ tasks we were set during the ‘People and Places’ course at West Dean College was to photograph the same scene at different times of the day to see how the light changed and how this would affect the final image. It’s a common thing to be asked to do but as I had never done it before I was keen to see the results and to try and learn something from them. I chose to photograph the River Lavant which runs through West Dean Gardens.

The first shot was taken at 4.40 pm. Keep in mind all these photos were taken at the beginning of August, so the sun was still quite high even at this time of day. Whist this a pleasant shot of the scene the quality of the light is very even and quite poor.

The second shot was taken on the same day but about two and a half hours later at 6.14pm, so the sun was now much lower. For me this image is a great improvement on the first but it’s still not what I might call a ‘keeper’.

The next morning I returned to the same position. The sky was generally overcast but there were breaks in the clouds. I just hoped the sun would break through. The third shot in this series was taken at 8.52am. It’s flat and there is no question in my mind that it’s the poorest of all the images. Here it is.

Two minutes later at 8.54am and the final shot was captured. The break in the cloud cover had materialised and the early morning sun did its magic on the scene. David Noton, a first class UK based landscape photographer often refers to ‘waiting for the light’….in fact he wrote a book with this line as its title. How very true this saying is to the world of photography. For me this is the best of the four but you may have different ideas, in which case do post a comment.

It was very definitely a worthwhile exercise and I would recommend it to any photographer. Time of day and the ever changing light are essential ingredients for a good image, particularly a landscape.
I could not complete this entry without an image in black and white. So I converted the last shot in Silver Efex Pro2. Is this the best of the bunch I ask?

‘People and Places’ course at West Dean – the last entry

Back in the Summer I attended an excellent photography course at West Dean College in Sussex – People and Places with Jacqui Hurst. It now seems like a long time ago, so I ought to wrap it up with one last and very overdue entry. The two previous posts realting to this course can be found by clicking on these links – Glorious Goodwood and Littlehampton Seafront.

I have mentioned it before but at the beginning of the course all the participants were asked what they wanted to get out of the week. My reply was quite simply to see in ‘black and white’ and to produce a selection of images all in monochrome. I was certainly true to my word as the images below and on the two previous posts will testify.

Since the course I have almost exclusively shot black and white. My starting point is to shoot in RAW and then convert to Black and White. I did go through a short period when I set the camera to shoot RAW and a B&W jpeg, but this just filled up space on my hard drive. There were more photos to sort and delete, which I am not that good at doing in the first place.

If the shot is poorly composed, not a good subject or the lighting is poor…..I could go on; then whether or not it’s in colour or black and white is not going to make that much difference. In my view I should still be htting the delete key and only processing something which is really worth the time and effort of looking at a computer screen.

I did not take my DSLR on the course, so all the photographs were taken using the Olympus OMD EM5 and a variety of prime lenses. Although I had only purchased the camera a week or two before the course, by the end of the week I was reasonably familiar with its functions and menu systems. Some reviews have said the menu system is quite complicated and not that intuitive. I cant agree, with a little time the camera settings can readily be changed to whatever suits your style.

The trombone clown
Olympus OMD EM5 12-50mm @ 26mm f5.2 1/160 ISO 1600

The gardener and the wheelbarrow
Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f10 1/400 ISO 200

In conversation? Jacqui Hurst, our tutor and a glass etching
Olympus OMD 45mm f4 1/200 ISO 200

Eyelashes
Olympus OMD EM5 145mm f2 1/1250 ISO 320

In profile
Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f4 1/160 ISO 200

Looking out
Olympus OMD EM5 20mm f2.2 1/50 ISO 200

Delicate hands
Olympus OMD EM5 45mm f2.2 1/320 ISO 800

Glasshouse winding mechanism
Olympus OMD EM5 20mm f4.5 1/3200 ISO 200

Inside the potting shed
Olympus OMD EM5 12mm f3.2 1/15 ISO 400

Early morning walk by Chichester Harbour

Having really enjoyed the results of my visit to East Head last Friday, the next morning my wife and I walked our dog from Dell Quay to Birdham Pool along the footpath which adjoins Chichester Harbour.

When we arrived we immediately enjoyed the early morning light coupled with similar cloud formations to the previous day. The temptation was just too great – the little Olympus E-PL3 with its standard kit lens, had to come out of my jacket pocket and be fired up. A few quick shots later and the pick of the bunch is shown below. It works well in colour but the black and white conversion is my preferred choice.

By the time we had finished our walk and returned to the car, the clouds had lifted to be replaced by clear blue skies and the opportunity to photo the quiet stillness of the early morning had gone. “Win the morning and win the day” as my uncle used to say.

Chichester Harbour at Dell Quay
Olympus E-PL3 14-42mm kit lens @ 27mm f5.6 1/400 ISO200

As we neared the end of our walk I spotted a Red Admiral butterfly basking in the autumn sunshine on a oak leaf. Its not my usual style or indeed subject. Firstly its a nature shot and secondly its in colour and not black and white! Nevertheless it was a shot worth taking in my view and I have to say I am pleased with the quality of the image produced by the 14 – 42mm kit lens on the Olympus E-PL3.
Red Admiral butterfly

Gun Wharf Quay and Spinnaker Tower

Last Friday was a significant day for me. Earlier in the year I had agreed with my business partners that as from the 1st October I would reduce the numbers of days I work each week, from five to four days, electing to take Friday as my day off. The 5th October was therefore the first Friday I didn’t go into work, which left me free to do something completely different to what I would normally do on that day of the week. I decided to head on down to Portsmouth and Gun Wharf Quay in particular, to take a few shots of Spinnaker Tower and its immediate surroundings. It was good fun, I didn’t go inside any of the shops although I was questioned by a security officer who must have assumed I worked for a terrorist organisation! I can’t blame him for questioning me, he was only doing his job. In fact once we got talking he was quite interested and liked some of the shots I had taken.

Here are selection of the images, all taken with the Olympus EM5 and as is usually the case with my workflow, imported into Lightroom and converted into Black and White with Silver Efex Pro2.

Spinnaker Tower – an unusual but symmetrical approach to this very tall structure
12mm f10 1/500 ISO200

Spinnaker Tower looking across the harbour – a much more traditional approach
12mm f13 1/320 ISO200

A statue near the entrance to the Historic Dockyard with the tower in the background
45mm f3.5 1/4000 ISO200

A Ship’s Head again with the tower in the background
45mm f4 1/4000 ISO200

The rigging of the ‘Old Warrior’ ship – part of the Historic Dockyard
45mm f4.5 1/3200

A view across Portsmouth Harbour
45 f6.3 1/500 ISO200

The ‘Ship Leopard’ pub now closed down
45mm f4 1/1000 ISO200

The pedestrian walkway leading to Gun Wharf Quay and its shops
12mm f13 1/8 ISO200

A Busker in Gun Wharf, fiddling for a drink perhaps?
78mm f5 1/1000 ISO 200

An old dockyard crane in front of No. 1 Apartment Block
67mm f6.3 1/800 ISO200

Another unusual angle looking up at Spinnaker Tower
12mm f10 1/500 ISO200

HAPPY FRIDAYS!

‘People and Places’ – Littlehampton Seafront

This is the second post which relates to Jacqui Hurst’s ‘People and Places’ course I attended at West Dean College earlier this summer. In complete contrast to our visit to Glorious Goodwood we spent a day at Littlehampton; a typical and relatively small seaside resort on the south coast.

Whilst a colourful location I stuck to the brief I had imposed on myself at the begining of the course, i.e. choosing monochrome for all of my images. I tried to concentrate on textures, tones and good composition whilst trying to capture the ‘feeling and atmosphere’ of the seafront. Fortunately the weather was dry and bright so there were a fair number of people around. At times though it was overcast, but this helped from a photographic point of view as I did not have extremes of contrast to worry about.

Some of the group felt uncomfortable photographing people. I very enjoyed the experience and the Olympus EM5 certainly allowed me to be a little more discreet. Had I been using a substantial DSLR with a large zoom lens and I am sure I would have felt very different as I went looking for suitable subjects.

Once again the kit lens stayed in the bag and I switched between three primes lenses. 12mm, 20mm and 45mm which equate to 24mm, 40mm and 90mm if using a full frame 35mm sensor.

All the photographs were taken in RAW with an Olympus OMD EM5, imported into Lightroom and converted into black and white using Silver Efex Pro2. I have to say that Silver Efex Pro is a joy to use when converting images to monchrome. The contrast and structure adjustments can really bring the image to life, increasing tonal range and texture. I am still very much learning about black and white but for me there is a certain something about the results which pleases me.

Unusual bench seating along the promenade
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/160 f11 ISO 200