Darley Dale Charity Clay Shoot and the Nikon VR system

Hi All,

On Sunday 18th September 2011 I went along to help at the Darley Dale Clay Pigeon Shooting Club annual Charity Shoot. 

I went along to help with the scoring but whilst I was there I took the opportunity to take a few pictures and also to try out my new Nikon 55-300mm f4.5-5.6G AF-S VR ED DX Lens. This is the first lens I've purchased incorporating the Nikon Vibration Reduction system and I was eager to try it out. I persuaded my daughter to stand in the garden and pose for me. There was very little light around as it was early evening on a dull day. I set the camera to f5.3 at 1/80th and an ISO of 1600!!. Even with the high ISO it was difficult to hold the camera and lens still to get a good, sharp image. I switched on the VR system and re-took the picture with the same settings. You can see the results below. These images were taken a few seconds apart and VR system makes an unusable situation usable.

Looking at the two shots I realised that the VR system was something I should have been thinking about for a long time. 


Happy with the lens I decided that I would keep it on throughout the day during the clay shoot and just see how it would cope with the varying light and full zoom situations. I needn't have been worried. 


For this image I was stood quite a distance away from the subject and consequently the lens was at maximum zoom with the VR switched on and the camera handheld. As you can see the image is extremely sharp. I probably could have achieved this with a non-VR lens but it would have been much more difficult and would, more than likely, required a tripod.   

In the image below I wanted to convey the power of the shotgun as the trigger is pulled. This particular trap was set up down an embankment with me standing above the shooter. The camera was set at 7fps so that I stood some chance of capturing the shot as the gun went off. The VR was on again as the light was now dropping away. 

The VR system once again allowed me to use the lens at full zoom, keeping the image stabilised sufficiently to freeze the shot and keep the details on the sign clear and sharp.

Whilst walking around the grounds I noticed a small Dragonfly sitting on a piece of wood near one of the traps. Each time I approached the insect it flew away only to return a few moments later once I'd walked away. I hadn't got time to change the lens out so I had to do the best I could with the 55-300. I set the camera to 1/2000th with an aperture of f6.3 and an ISO of 640. The lens was at 300mm and the VR was on. Without the VR it would have been impossible to capture anything at the zoom. However as you can see below, it made a reasonable job under the circumstances. 

You can probably tell by now that I'm very impressed with the Nikon Vibration Reduction system and if you're an Nikon owner and considering a new lens then I can heartily recommend it. More details about the Vibration Reduction system can be found at this link and, as always, all of my images can be found by following the links from my Gallery Page.  

  

Portraits using a simple 2 light set up

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Hi All,
This particular blog entry was going to be about creating panoramas but as I’ve recently purchased a couple of studio lights and I’ve been dabbling with some portrait images I thought I’d show you my results so far. 

Portrait photography is an art form in itself and I’ve always wanted to try it but with studio lights rather than pop-up or off camera flash. I purchased two 160w flash heads, a gold umbrella, a soft box, some gels, barn doors and a diffuser. I appreciate that 160w flash heads aren't the most powerful in the world but bearing in mind that my ‘studio’ is actually my dining room, they’re powerful enough.

I looked around on the internet and found a few tutorials on simple two light set-up’s. I found a few that gave me some good ideas so now I needed a subject. Luckily having a 20 year old daughter means I’m never short of a model so having persuaded her to sit for me I set up the ‘studio’ in accordance with the various tutorials I’d seen. 

The set-up, shown below, comprised 1 flash head firing into a 32” gold umbrella set 45 degrees above the head of the subject and 45 degrees to her left-hand side. I set the slave head up slightly behind her and to her right. The intention was to allow the slave head to illuminate the white background. I attached some barn-doors set with a diffuser to the slave in order to spread the light. Having the barn-doors also allowed me to add some coloured gels for different effects. 

Simple Studio Set Up

I chose to use my Nikon 50mm f1.8 portrait lens which proved to be a good decision but finding the initial settings for the flash heads and the camera proved to be every bit as difficult as I’d imagined. Not having an external light meter meant a lot of trial and error and a lot or patience from my model. I tethered the camera to a laptop using NK Remote which gave me a 17” viewing screen rather than the monitor on the back of the D300s. This made it much easier asses the various adjustments made to the heads and the camera. After about 30 unusable shots I began to get the hang of the settings and I actually started to see some acceptable results appearing on the laptop. 

I finally settled on an exposure of 1/100th second at anywhere between f8 and f16. I used an ISO of 200 which I now realise was too high for this sort of work. The main head was set to half power into the umbrella and the slave was set to tree-quarter power through the diffuser into the background. 

I took 250 shots over a three hour period changing settings and set-up’s throughout. Of the 250 images I took about 75 were usable. This represents a success rate of about 30% which wasn't too bad for a first attempt.  From the 75 usable shots I selected 18 to work on in Photoshop Three of my favourite images from the session are below and the rest can be found in my gallery or on facebook. 

Macro Photography using Focus Stacking

Remember : Click the images to see a larger version


Hi all,


In this part of the blog I'm talking about Macro Photography using Focus Stacking. 

So what is Focus Stacking?

Focus Stacking is a technique whereby a series of images is taken of a particular subject. After each image is taken the focus point of the lens is altered very slightly, usually towards the rear of the subject, until a designated amount of shots have been taken. The images are then taken into a suitable software, aligned and then blended together to make one image which is in focus between the first image and the last image.

Why use Focus stacking ? 

Good question! In macro photography the lens is usually set at a very large aperture. Quite often the largest aperture that is available to the lens say f2.8. This allows the maximum amount of light into the lens and onto the sensor but in turn it reduces the Depth-of-Field to an absolute minimum. On some dedicated macro lenses the Depth-of-Field can be reduced down to a few millimetres which is fine if that's the intention of the shot. However if you're thinking of taking a macro shot of something longer than a few millimetres then the resulting image might be a little disappointing as the subject drops into blur after a few millimetres.  Focus Stacking can change all that giving a macro shot with a sharp focus along the entire length of the subject. 

There are several things you need for a good Focus Stack series,


1). A VERY stable set-up, so a good, sturdy tripod is an essential. 
2). A good light source that doesn't vary between each image in the stack series.
3). A camera with a macro lens.
4). A camera that can be set to manual exposure so the exposure doesn't vary between images.
5). Software that handles Focus stacking, (there a loads available)
6). This is a luxury !! A camera that can be controlled by a computer so that the computer can handle incrementing the lens between each shot.

For this demonstration I thought I'd use a subject that most folk would recognise, a USB memory stick. This simply means that the majority of people reading this blog will know just how big the USB stick is and therefore there's no real need to worry about explaining the scale.

The stick in question is a Sandisk Cruzer. I used my Nikon D300s set in manual mode with my Sigma 50mm macro lens set at it's maximum aperture of f2.8. It was sitting on a Manfrotto tripod and I used my LED Macro ring light for illumination. To control the camera I used NK Remote software. 

I took 14 images to make the final image. The 1st image (shown below) is the 1st image in the series and has the connection prongs of the USB stick fully in focus but pretty much everything else is a blur. 

1st image in a 14 image sequence

The 2nd image shown below is actually the 14th image in the series. As you can see in this image everything is a blur except the very last part of the USB stick. The 12 images in between each has a slightly different focus point. 

Last image in a 14 image sequence

Once the series was completed and loaded on to the computer I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 to process them. The first thing to do is to load each of the images in to it's own layer within the same document. To do this in Photoshop I opened Photoshop and then launched Mini-Bridge. From the fly-out menu in Mini-Bridge I highlighted the desired images in the sequence and then selected the command  Photoshop>Load files into Photoshop Layers.  

Images in alignment

This picture shows the 14 images loaded into Photoshop as separate layers. The next stage of the operation is to Align each layer so that all of the layers are in register with each other. This has to be done to ensure that there is no ghosting. To do this stage highlight all of the layers by clicking the top layer then holding shift and clicking the bottom layer. Now go to Edit and select Auto-Align Layers. From the available options choose Auto. Press OK and let Photoshop go to work. On my PC with this amount of layer it took about 1 minute but this will vary with image size and PC speed. 

Once the layers are aligned we need to blend them into one image. So with the layers still selected go to Edit then select Auto-Blend Layers. From the Projection screen select Auto and check the Stacked Images checkbox. Press OK and allow Photoshop to do its stuff. During the process Photoshop evaluates each of the layers and decides what's in focus and what's not. It then creates a series of layer masks to mask out the parts that are out of focus as shown below. 

Blended image with layer masks

Layers with masks

To give you a better idea of what the Layers Panel looks like once the masks are generated I've shown it here. It's worth noting at this point that my own PC took about 5 minutes to complete this part of the process. It can take a lot longer depending on how fast your PC is and of course how big the initial images are. It can look like Photoshop has stopped working but give it time. 

After this part of the process I suggest you save the layers with the masks into a Photoshop document (.PSD) file so that you can fetch it back at any time and make any alterations you feel are necessary. 

After I got to this stage I flattened the file to make it smaller. I added a levels adjustment layer to make the background a little whiter. I added a curves adjustment layer for contrast then finally added a 15pixel black stroke around the inside of the image to provide a simple border. The final image is shown below.  Don't be afraid of Focus Stacking. It sounds more complicated than it really is. There are plenty of tutorials on the internet that give very detailed explanations of the various steps just in case you find this blog a little too  wordy.  

Final Image
Sandisk Cruzer in Macro

Next time ....... some interesting panoramic's.....hopefully 

Restoring an old Photograph

Remember to click the images to see a larger view.

Some months ago a friend at work gave me a CD full of images. The images were of retirement / leaving presentations within the Rolls Royce Experimental Department in Derby stemming back some 50 years.

As I looked through the images one in particular caught my eye. It was a presentation from the mid-sixties and the image was taken in the Hand Turret bay of the Experimental Machine Shop (a hand turret is a lathe which has the auxiliary tools stored in a rotating device that looks like a gun turret). 

This was the bay in which I served part of my apprenticeship some 15 years later and the picture shows several people who would eventually become colleagues and friends and one person who would become my Foreman (That's the guy with the handbag - Ernie Dean).

Sadly the image (seen here) was badly discoloured and damaged before it was scanned which made it difficult to see and not really worth printing.

Original Image

Having seen a photo restoration tutorial by Janine Smith on www.tipsquirrel.com I decided to see if I could do anything with this image to make it better.

I can categorically state that my skills in the field of restoration pail against those of Janine however her tutorials and guidance gave me the inspiration to give this a go.

Janine Smith recommends starting the restoration process by using the HDR Toning feature in Photoshop CS5. I made an ‘educated’ guess that the original image was in greyscale so after opening the image in the HDR Toning screen I set about trying to recreate that greyscale look. I tried a few presets and settled on monochrome. Not being too familiar with this screen, I continued to move the various sliders until I had, what I thought, was a satisfactory result.  opened the image into Photoshop and I called the HDR layer DESATURATE. At this stage I added a couple of levels adjustment layers to raise the overall look of the image.

Pallet workflow

I took the view to 100% so that I could examine it t closely. The first thing that struck me was just how much dirt and dust was on the image so I decided that my next task should be to remove it.

I created a blank layer, selected the clone stamp tool and began cloning out the damage. I cloned onto a separate layer just so that I could track my progress and also rectify any cloning mistakes more easily.  I worked my way in stages from bottom to top and left to right. This process took about two hours but was well worth it.

Next task was to introduce another levels adjustment layer to correct the black and white points. I introduced a Brightness layer to lift the overall image.

Lastly I made a selection of the faces of the two main subjects, copied them to a new layer and then used the multiply blend mode just to bring out their features a little. Having done all this I finally added a VERY slight Gaussian Blur to smooth out the final look of the image.

The result of all this work is shown below against the original for comparison. All-in-all it took about 3 hours in a couple of sessions. I learned a lot and I found the whole process very satisfying.

Final Fixed Image

Original Image

My thanks go to Janine Smith providing the knowhow to get me started and www.tipsquirrel.com for providing a place to learn all these skills by putting them all on one amazing website.

Next time ...... Macro using focus stacking

Using a Polarising Filter

Remember to click the images for a larger view

A couple of months ago I decided to purchase a Circular Polarising filter. I’d been reading a lot about the Polariser but I’d never actually owned one myself.

Although there’s a lot to be said for the way in which the Polariser enriches the colours in an image it was the filter’s effect on reflected light that interested me.  I’d seen a few imaged in magazines where reflected light had been all but removed by correctly using a Polariser. Thie was especially useful when taking photographs containing water or glass. Being principally interested in Landscapes and structures the thought of being able to reduce reflected glare really appealed.

My problem was that, as with most people these days, cash is not exactly free flowing and some of these filters come with a pretty hefty price tag on them.  It was a ‘Catch 22’ situation.  I wanted to try a Polariser but didn’t want to spend the earth until I’d seen what they could do first hand.

I have several different lenses and they all have different filter threads so I decided to purchase a Polariser that would fit my Cokin P-series filter holder.  I’ve already got the adaptor rings for all my lenses so by buying a Cokin style filter I’d get a one-filter-fits-all solution.

Looking around I settled on the Kood P Series Circular Polariser Filter which I got from Crooked Imaging for £26. When the filter arrived I was pleased with the quality and decided to try it at the first opportunity.

I
 took the images below during a walk along the river Trent in Ingleby near Derby.  In this first image I could see the plants lurking below the water surface being moved by the flowing current. I decided to try to photograph them without the Polariser just to see if I could get any reasonable results. As you can see, the plants are just visible.

No Polarising Filter

This second image was taken with the Polariser fitted into the filter holder. As the filter is circular it’s easy to rotate it in order to get the best effect. It took a few minutes to get the filter into the right position to remove the surface reflections from the water but I feel it was time well spent as the plants beneath the surface are now clearly visible.

With Polarising Filter

I repeated the process above with these next two images. The first was taken without the filter fitted and once again the reflection of the light on the water is very prominent and, whilst quite striking, it wasn’t the result I was after.

No Polarising Filter

This second image was taken with the filter fitted and rotated to reduce the reflection to a minimum. In my opinion a much more pleasing and interesting result with the river bed clearly visible.

With Polarising Filter

As with all photography, beauty is 'in the eye-of-the-beholder’ and the effects of the filter might not be for everyone but for me the effects of the Polarising Filter are quite significant and I’m glad I’ve now got one to use. I’m not sure what adding another £100+ to the price tag would do for the images but for now that’s something I’m just going to have to wonder about !!

Next time….. my first attempts at photo restoration. 

Photographing a local gig

Remember to click the images to see them at full size

On Friday the 27th of May 2011 I had the opportunity to photograph three local bands at a venue called the Shakespeare Inn in Saddler Gate, Derby.

The event was called the was called Fontana Sound System Goes BOOM!.

Photographing bands is something I'd never done before and really didn't know what to expect. When my daughter Becki and I arrived at the venue we realised that the performances were going to take place outside at the rear of the pub. Not initially a problem as it was a lovely Spring evening, however, it was about 20:30 and the light was beginning to fade rapidly. It wasn't until the first band started to play that it dawned on me that there was no stage lighting, only the lights that illuminated the pub yard. Any thoughts of photographing without flash went out of the window immediately!!

I knew I was going to have to swap between my Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and my Sigma 70 - 300mm f4.5. I tried a few without flash but even with the f2.8 and a high ISO the results were pretty awful even on the monitor of the D300s. 

So I donned the SB-600 flash and set the camera to manual mode with a shutter speed set at  1/60th of a second I started to shoot the band. As I took the shots I varied the aperture setting and the ISO until I was happy with the results. I took 130 shots and got about 100 usable ones which I've posted on my photoshop.com Gallery and on my Carrington Imagery Facebook page.

Below are a few of my favorite shots. 

Ben Ryan (WhiteMoor) 

Tom Gourlay (Tom Gourlay and the House of Thieves)

Nathan Tunnicliffe (Remand to Vegas)

Gary "Barrington" Cole (WhiteMoor)

Next Time.... Using  a Polarising Filter. 

Macro using flash and coloured gels

remember : click each image to see it at full size


Hi All,


I've been doing some more macro photography but this time I wanted to do something a little different so I decided that I would use some background flash to illuminate my subject from the rear. I thought it might be interesting to use some coloured gels on the flash unit to give a different effect. 

I purchased THE STROBIST FILTER COLLECTION from Crooked Imaging. The kit comes complete with all the filters you could need. Each filter is cut to suit the face of the majority of flash units. In this case I'm using it with a Nikon SB-600 flash unit and I hold the filters in place using a small amount of masking tape. Adding the gels to the flash unit gives a new variety of potential images.


I used my standard macro set up as described in a previous post on this blog but I added a grey background card behind the subject and used my SB-600 with coloured gels to illuminate it. 


I took a budding branch from a tree in the garden and set it up on the table. Using my Sigma 50mm Macro lens I took this initial shot with a light blue gel over the flash gun and my LED macro light set at it's lowest setting.

Budding Twig with light blue gel

 This next shot is of the main bud taken with a purple gel on the flash gun and the LED macro light set low.

Macro shot of main bud with purple gel

For this next image I closed in on the main bud and used the light blue gel but with no front illumination from the LED macro light.

Light blue gel with no front light.

For this last shot I rotated the bud around in the holder so that I could shoot it from the top. I switched on the LED Macro light but left it set at it's lowest setting to bring out the yellow of the bud. I also added a green gel to the flash gun.

Green gel and low front illumination.

As you can see, adding some simple coloured gels to a flash gun can dramatically change the whole look if the shot. The gels cost under £10 for the set and are well worth getting.

Next time..... Shooting a band at a local venue