What - no naked woman?

I took a trip up to the North Yorkshire Moors yesterday to look for different location shots. After a short walk (anyone that knows me would be surprised I even know what my legs are for) I found this place and realised its potential when mixed with an appropriate subject. ie. a scantily dressed beautiful female.

Unfortunately the model wasn't comfortable with the number of people there, especially with what she was going to wear!

However - after a return trip I have now added a very respectfully dressed model. Hmmm, maybe I should keep working on this one!

Taken at 1/80th and F8 I also added a polariser to saturate the sky and create the dramatic clouds.

Happiness is...

I captured this image of two friends a little while ago.

It was originally shot on black and white film and then digitally scanned. I added the new background in post processing because the original was simply too cluttered.

The new backdrop was deliberately different to emphasise the contrasting shots with the intention of creating a double take. Hopefully the colours should draw the eye first, before the real subject of the two girls 'sinks in'.

Please let me know if it worked.

Short person

This is another shot of my Godson from his Christening.
Hang on - yet another photo of a short person and a visit to a church. What the hell is happening to me?!

Anyway, this was taken while he was being cuddled by his grandma, and I couldnt resist this pose.

Happy Birthday to me...

This was my birthday present. Not the girl as such, but the fact that she had spent five hours getting ready to take me out!
I was only allowed five minutes to turn around from getting back to being out the door - including taking this photo!

Although it wasn't explicitly discussed, not taking this photo wasn't an option. At least not if I really wanted to reach another birthday!

This was taken at 1/60th and F4 while she stood in the doorway hissing at me that the taxi was waiting...

... as big as headlights

I wasn't a big fan of babies. I used to think too literally when people ask me to shoot them! However since having one of my own, they have become more human.

I couldn't resist this one. Her eyes caught my attention as soon as she arrived. Try as I might to leave the camera alone, I just couldn't!

Taken at 1/100th and F4, I simply got her mum to hold her near the open door while I stood outside and took some shots. (You can tell summers coming just by the reflections in my victims eyes...)

Her eyes were so bright that the grass outside was clearly visible in the reflections. (Click the image)

Friends

Shooting one child is hard, but shooting four of them is easy!

Individually they would have been a lot more self conscious, but when kids hunt in packs they are much more likely to relax and show their true emotions.

Shot from a safe distance through an open doorway with a plain white reflector on the floor. I took this at 1/125th and with plenty of depth of field (F8) to keep the front and back in focus.

They had been wreaking carnage on the other guests all afternoon. Why did God give all children the ability to turn innocent toys into deadly accurate projectiles?

Christening

This is my mother-in-law holding my Godchild at his Christening.

It was my only real opportunity to be creative in the church, and of course it happened just as everyone was leaving.
It was lit using just the light from the window on the right, and I purposely wanted to leave the high contrast result.

The camera had to be set to to its highest ISO rating to stand any chance of capturing this, but the noise is still very minimal. The image was captured at 1/100th and F7.

The second shot is of the proud mum and dad taken at the reception.

The reception room itself didn't readily lend itself to photography, with distracting pictures on every wall. So to capture this I got them to stand in the open doorway while I stood outside in the rain.

The background was still a little too distracting so after this shot I improvised with a black reflector. It looked technically better, but they didn't have the same insanely happy grins!

Primary colours

I really wanted to show the colour of her hair.

Although it looks like I have increased the saturation, in fact, I simply removed some of the colour from her face to create the contrast.

The green clothing compliments the red, and if you squint a lot she looks like the Hungarian flag! (She will pummel me for that comment!)

Taken with a 50mm lens at F4 and 1/250th. Just using the light from a window to the right and a reflector on the left.