Exercise - Measuring exposure

In this first exercise I have produced 4 photos which are darker or lighter than average.

 This shot is nearly all dark except the light from the low evening sun bouncing off my guitar. I wanted to achieve an atmospheric abstract which I was pleased with. There is much more dark than light in the frame, I used spot metering to take the photo.

 This is a view of chimney and pylon taken from the sand dunes in Hayle Cornwall. I wanted to balance the chimney with the pylon and incorporate the technologies from different eras. As the horizon is low in the frame there is nearly all sky and I had to be careful with the exposure to keep some detail in the clouds which resulted in the foreground being underexposed. This photo is lighter than average.

 Helping a friend with an art project I used low level sun light to pick out the detail in this miniature ceramic tile. I wanted to get a crisp focus on this but had to use a wide aperture so the depth of field is quite shallow but this adds to the artistic look so I am happy. The frame is lighter than average as the is far more 'white' background.

In this final photo of a sunset over Gloucester there wasn't much light about except in the sky where you can see. The frame is much darker than average and as the light was coming from one particular place the foreground is heavily silhouetted which adds to the dusk atmosphere.

A sequence of shots for a work brief

Although this isn't part of my course I recently had to take a series of photo's for my work blog at Skyhook Studios where I am a recording engineer.

I am currently working on an Album project with Stroud based singer David Ireland, the album is called Cosmic Glue. You can find out more from my work blog at:

http://mikecooling.blogspot.co.uk

I was recording a drummer called 'Alan Tocknell' who makes beautiful and stunning sounding drum kits. To keep the 'techie nerds' happy and as an informative post I took a series of pictures to show how I set up the microphones to capture the sound of a drum kit. These photo's were taken quickly mid session in a dim studio so although they are not 'great' pics in themselves I think they communicate the information well. I think this is a very important area of photography.

Alan Tocknell -Drummer and Drum-maker

A Tee Drums Snare 

Tom from Tee Drums

Alan setting the pace

How to record a bass drum with 2 mic's
one inside the shell!

How to mic a snare drum with an SM57

Toms recorded with clip on AKG D40 mice

stereo mic's overhead 

A ride cymbal recorded with a Rode NT5 mic

A floor tom mic'ed with an AKG D40

Review of 'Capturing Light -The heart of photography" Michael Freeman

Having had my copy of Michael Freeman's new book for just over a week I have been glued to it's pages. The book is in the same format as previous works such as "The photographer's Eye' also with publishers ILEX.

It just happens that my particular section of the course is on Light so this book is of particular value to me. Michael Freeman's work has a very strong practical bias with lots of tips and ways of working to achieve the results which are shown with numerous examples. There are some amazing photographs within and they can be very inspiring. The great thing is that the methods used to get them are right alongside so a 'learning photographer' such as myself has a good 'starting block' to kick off from.

One of the really valuable sections to me personally was the inspiring pages on Gray Light (which is usually the case here in Gloucestershire) and getting awesome pictures when the 'Golden Hour' of low warm light with long shadows is unavailable.

The book on the whole is a fabulous resource for any Photographer and my only negative criticisms (if they are negative?) are my personal frustration with not having the time and resources to go to the stunning locations available to the author and the pressure finally applied to purchase an Apple iPhone so I can use the Helios app. mentioned in the pages on Timing/Elevation with regards to the suns position in the sky. There is probably an android app. equivalent though if I search.


Capturing Light -The Heart of Photography
Michael Freeman 2013 ILEX

New book just arrived :)

Hot of the press and just published....

"Capturing Light - The heart of photography"  Michael Freeman ILEX 2013

My copy just arrived from Amazon and it is so relevant to the particular part of the course I'm on and indeed the essence of photography completely. This will be my bedtime reading for the next few evenings and a review is to follow.

Now out into the rain for work..............

A photo I'm proud of....

This quick post is just to show a photo I've taken this week whilst working through the exercises on light..... It's one I am really pleased with;

My  1980's Tokai Stratocaster

I laid my guitar on the bed and the low sun in the sky just broke through the clouds to throw across some natural light. Using my Nikon D80 with it's Nikon DX 18-80mm lens on it's maximum aperture f5.6 I managed to get a narrow depth of field and capture sharp detail in the vertical centre of the frame ; the bridge, tone control and the leather texture of my old strap. The photo looks so monochrome but woody, detailed and yet abstract.... it's my favourite picture of 2014 so far.

Alan John Villiers - a photographer I admire

Alan Villiers

An Australian photographer and adventurer, lived from 1903-1982.  He was also an author and master Mariner and spent a tremendous amount of time at sea. Much of his photography is a journal of life on the rigged sailing ships on which he voyaged. As a Master Mariner he commanded ships including work for films like Moby Dick and Billy Budd.
I first came across his work visiting the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth (Cornwall) and found his photos captivating. The detail of the sailors everyday life, the realism and the pure power of the sea are all caught by his his work and considering the film cameras he would have used at the time, the results are just spectacular.
His work makes me feel like setting out on an awesome adventure, itching feet to go out and voyage to an undiscovered world..... and makes me think about the hardships of life onboard those stunning vessels from a different era.

These photo's are a journalistic record of daily life aboard these ships, the work rest and play. The sepia tones enhance the historic feel of a different era.

The next photo just captures the majestic sight and beauty of these craft.

These next two photos capture the stunning and immense power of the sea. I love the way the images feel 'burnt into the paper' and the slight smoothing effect of the slowish shutter speed on the spray and  breaking waves add to the sense of power.

The rigging and sails on these ships was not only intricate and complex but primitive in their nature and ecologically sound in capturing power from the wind.

New year, new reflections

It's now 2014 and I have until May to get 'Art of Photography' finished. I am midway through part 4 on Light. My time is ever in short supply with my work at Skyhook Studios in Stroud demanding a huge amount of focus, my 4 boys and life in general. I am loving my studies and think back to my late teens and early twenties when time wasn't an issue and I would have had the freedom to do nothing but study, before family and commitments came along.
In conjunction with doing the exercises on Light I am reading around the subject more and trying to spend time looking at the work and art of other photographers. These were recommendations by my tutor after my last assignment and I have taken this on board.

My current reading is

The Photographer's Eye - Michael Freeman 2007 ILEX
Light Science and Magic - Hunter, Biver and Fuqua 2007 Focal Press
The photograph as Contemporary art - Charlotte Cotton 2009 Thames and Hudson

and I'm looking at the work of;

Alan Villiers;

I saw an exhibition of Alan Villiers work at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth last year and felt inspired to find out more about his stunning photographs and the historical documentary that his work is.

Jay Maisel

I saw  prints of his photos 'boy and inner tube' and 'Trees in Fog' and found them both inspiring particularly in relation to the light topic I'm studying at the moment so decided to research his work a little further.

I'm also including my favourite recent photo of my son Chris aged 9 taken in the Forest of Dean. I love the colour contrasts of the orange rusty winter colours of the background he is set against with the blues of his clothing and the lovely happy expression. He reminds me of Robert Redford