High point

I've really got the photography bug at the moment, so I ventured out again today - this time to the Tyndale Monument, in North Nibley, Gloucestershire.

The monument was erected in honour of William Tyndale, who translated the New Testament. He is thought to have been born at North Nibley.

It was wonderful being out in the countryside with spectacular views down to the Bristol Channel. Photographically, the expedition was perhaps not so good. I was disappointed with the results of my efforts because the wide angle lens I used distorted the tower much more than I would have liked.

The image above has been adjusted in Photoshop to get rid of the distortion, but when it comes to college projects I'd rather return for a re-shoot than use a heavily manipulated photo.

Showtime

My project involving the steam railway museum is well advanced, but when I was compiling a book of photos I had taken there, I realised that I still needed three or four more shots. So I paid a brief extra visit today.

One thing I have learned during this exercise is that there is always something to learn! And on this occasion, despite going there loaded down with flash equipment and light stands, I realised that experimentation with very long shutter speeds could produce equally good results.

So I took some close-ups of steam engine boiler rivets with the shutter open for as long as 20 seconds and I employed a similar approach for abstract photos of engine wheels and drive shafts.

The picture above was also taken without flash, and with a long shutter speed. It is the inside of a Punch and Judy-type show and I wanted the characters to be largely silhouetted, but the sharpest part of the shot.

...and in black and white

Broadway Tower, Worcestershire

I thought it might be interesting to post yesterday's two images in black and white, so after some quick adjustments in Photoshop, these are the results.

As much as I like monochrome, I'm still not sure they are better than the colour versions, although it is a close-run thing.

I think the deep blues certainly add drama to the Broadway Tower image. But maybe the monochrome sky is better in the Burnham lighthouse shot. Perhaps the latter picture could benefit from a little more contrast - after all, mono work is all about getting the tone and contrast right.

I'd be interested to hear what people think.

Burnham lighthouse

Busy!

Broadway Tower, Worcestershire

To borrow a well-worn phrase, I have projects coming out of my ears at the moment. But I also have some time on my hands, so I have been trying to take full advantage.

Yesterday, I went to Birmingham to introduce myself to a religious community I intend to feature in a project, and to take one or two preliminary shots. I will be returning for a more intensive photoshoot in the near future.

On my way back from Birmingham, I visited Broadway Tower, in Worcestershire, to capture a photo for another project. The result is at the top of this entry.

The busy day inspired me to get out with my camera again today, but I had mixed results. I wanted to get a strong picture of Glastonbury Tor, in Somerset - hopefully with flood waters in the foreground. I have seen this kind of shot in the past and it can look very atmospheric.

Do it your-selfie

I'm not exactly into so-called selfies, but my course required me to take one and then work in Photoshop to produce versions that looked like different Hipstamatic filters/lenses.

So here's one that emulates the Salvador 84 lens, with its surreal look in the style of the eponymous artist.

Actually, while I might not be a fan of selfies, the exercise itself was extremely valuable. I ended up using layer styles, layer blends, opacity, colour balance, colour mode, layer masks, vector masks and so on and so forth.

I was also pretty chuffed to discover that a 100 round brush with bristles is perfect for erasing the border to produce a distressed effect. Useful stuff.

Rock photography great

I was interested to hear Kevin Cummins on BBC 6 Music this morning.

Mancunian Kevin is one of Britain's greatest rock music photographers, famous for pictures of Joy Division, New Order, Oasis, Mick Jagger, David Bowie and hundreds of other stars. Actually, let me just amend that statement - Kevin is one of Britain's greatest photographers.

He was on the Mary Anne Hobbs show. The interview is on iPlayer at the time of writing, but will disappear in a short time, so I thought I'd put a transcript on here for anyone interested. Incidentally, you can view pictures mentioned here on Kevin's website.

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This month it's 35 years since I took the pictures of Joy Division on the bridge in Hulme and when I was taking them I didn't even think the NME would use those pictures because I was thinking more journalistically and I took those thinking in two weeks' time when we use them in the paper the snow will have gone and so nobody will use them - it will date the pictures. 

Portrait tip

I came across this useful video giving advice on which lenses to use for portrait photography.

I know it sounds pretty pathetic, but I've never been too sure about which focal length is best for portraiture, save from knowing that wide angle lenses are best avoided because of the way they stretch the face and distort features like the nose.

The video, by Photoventure,com, says a longer lens is better because of the way it flattens the image for a more flattering look. I have seen elsewhere that lenses from 85mm through to 135mm are preferable - very long lenses might produce too extreme a look.

I was also interested to hear that digital cameras with the smaller sensors (ie. not full-frame) are at an advantage over full-frame sensors because they don't introduce the same amount of wide-angle distortion simply because they are cropping out part of the image.