108. Nature

I took this shot in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. I couldn't believe how undisturbed by people this heron was - I wasn't using a zoom lens here; just my 50mm fixed. As a result, I had to get really close to get this shot - I was less than a meter away from him!

107. China

Delftware is a glazed pottery which originated in the Netherlands. Examples of this blue and white china - as well as replicas - were everywhere in Amsterdam. 

106. Night

This is one of Amsterdam's canals at night, as we were walking through the 'De Negen Straatjes' (9 streets) area. It was lovely round there - lots of nice cafes and boutiques. I didn't have a tripod with me, so I just had to hope for the best with this shot - it's not as crisp as it would be with a tripod, but not too bad. I love the coloured reflections of the lights on the water. 

105. Transportation

I have just returned from a short trip to Amsterdam where I happily snapped away as my Mum and I wandered around the streets, stopped for fresh mint tea and visited several of the museums. However, having just uploaded my photographs, I have realised that around 75% of them are of bikes - the favoured mode of transport for the Dutch. 

104. Love

At the Albert Cuyp market in Pijp, Amsterdam.

103. Chocolate

Taken at the Albert Cuyp market in Pijp, Amsterdam. 

102. Crooked

Not just the angle of this shot, but the house itself. This is Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire - a timber building which dates back to the 1600s and is literally tumbling down. When you look at it square on, whole aspects lean in different directions - luckily so far it has defied gravity!

101. Multiples

100. Contrast

Even though this isn't the 'done' thing with portrait photography, I really like the contrast of the light on one side of my mum's face here and the other half almost in shadow. It creates more drama in the shot. 

99. Vistas

My vista here was through a set of angled mirrors which made up a piece of wall art - hence the slightly surreal distortion of having the light fitting visible as an overlay of the table. It looks like a double-exposure, but it isn't. 

98. Retro

A couple of days ago I did a little portrait shoot for friend and composer Ryan Calmus. This is one of the shots - I've edited it to look 'cross-processed', with high contrast and reduced the warm tones. It creates a really retro feel. 

97. The Blues

What better to fit with this theme than Annah's gorgeous blue eyes? 

96. High Key

In contrast to yesterday's photograph, this one uses 'high key' lighting to create a bright, light effect. Again, if you want to find out more about how to achieve high key photography, have a browse round the net - there are lots of great tutorials. Try this one for guidance on shooting high key portraits - definitely a project in waiting, now that I have a set of studio lights. Very exciting!

95. Low-Key

Three months ago, when I started this little project, I wasn't even sure what 'low-key' photography was, let alone how to achieve it. There is some good guidance on the internet regarding how to go about lighting your shot, so you create this dark, high-contrast look. Try here to begin with. 

Yesterday, while shooting some products for a client, I took a few moments to adjust my lighting set-up, so I had a single bulb, rather than my softbox, at a distance from the object, to create some interesting shapes and shadows. This was the outcome. Now I'm just dying to try this look with portraits - I love the dramatic feel you can create. 

94. Big and Small

Number 73 and her 'mini-me'. I love how they're both eye-balling me. 

93. Futuristic

Another of @Bristol, Millennium Square. I had lots of fun taking distorted self-portraits in the mirror ball!

92. Addiction

I love that I can be almost anywhere and through this little device, hear from - and see - my beloved who is on the other side of the world; read my favourite blogs; take photos and edit them, before posting them for my friends to see. I'd be lost without it now. However, I am well aware that it is something of an addiction that at times needs to be curbed. It's nice sometimes to head out and leave the phone behind.  

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Hello all - another Sunday is here and with it, some snaps from a Scavenger Hunt. 

Head over to Ashley Sisk's Ramblings and Photos to see more of this week's hunts.

Enjoy!

1. Clouds

We've had pretty beautiful weather this past week so I didn't have much chance to capture 'clouds'. This is one from my archive - taken about a month ago. There's no filter on this shot - in fact, aside from a crop its entirely unedited. The light was really that beautiful colour. 

2. Sun flare

A chance capture as I was walking home from the allotment this afternoon. 

3. Seven

The lambs were born in the field across the road from our house last week. Here is number 7!

4. High-angle

I'm sure I take far too many pictures like this, but I just can't resist. I find flowers and their natural shapes and details so interesting. This one is taken from directly above, so a high-angle in relation to the flower.

5. Low-angle

More lambs - cos they're just so cute and they won't stay this tiny for long, so I'm getting lots of photos in!

I hope you've enjoyed looking at these as much as I enjoyed taking them. 

91. Extreme Close-Up

Today we are exactly a quarter of the way through the year. 

Which means I am a quarter of the way through this little project. 

Part of me thinks this year is going so, so fast - but part of me feels like I have taken an awful lot of photographs so far this year. That can only be a good thing! I'm off to the spa in Bath to celebrate.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

90. Fix-it Friday // Welcome

I haven't done one of these for a while - recently I've been leaving a lot of my photos exactly as they are. However, this one was a total transformation and the product of a lot of Photoshop meddling, so I thought I'd share my editing process.

Firstly, here's the original shot - a pretty boring capture of the sign outside our village church. 

I opened it up in Adobe Camera RAW and had a little tweak with the levels, reducing the exposure slightly and bringing up the contrast. 

Once I was happy with that, I opened it in Elements and gave it a quick level and crop. 

I then used some Pioneer Woman Actions (these are a great set, free to download and pretty much all I bother using) - I tried Heartland, which completely desaturates to give an aged, sketch-like quality to the shot. I toned it down to about 70% opacity and then added the Seventies action on top, again toned down to about 70% opacity. Finally, I merged the layers and added a black and white tint, at about 50% opacity. 

It's definitely an improvement on the original shot - let me know what you think.

Happy Friday everyone!

89. Fountains

More Millennium Square - a fascinating place.

88. Reflections

Millennium Square in Bristol, in the sun. Beautiful. 

87. Zany

This guy was loving having his picture snapped at the weekend, as he played away in the sun. He had a really vibrant, zany character. So cool. 

86. Debris

85. Patterns

I absolutely love Fritillaries - also known as Snakes' Head Lilies. I used to grow them in the garden of my childhood home. These were spotted in the grounds of Lacock Abbey yesterday morning - the seem very early! The weather is glorious here at the moment though, so they have decided to brave it. Their chequered patters are absolutely beautiful.