Brice Digital Photography

Perspective Photography

This long corridor one point perspective photo was taken in the stunning grounds of St John’s College, Cambridge. I made use of the strong diagonal shadow at the top of the arches to draw the eye in from the right towards the distant door in the lower left hand side of the shot. The high contrast helped to accentuate the 3D effect obtained. A small aperture of f22 was used to maximise the depth of field along with an ISO of 400 to avoid camera shake at this small aperture setting, given that I didn’t have a tripod or image stabiliser. To improve the composition I could have perhaps made better use of the rule of thirds which would have resulted in the distant door being positioned slightly further down from the top and marginally to the right.

Perspective can add dimension and also a sense of motion. Whilst on a touristic walk around the city of Budapest I remember seeing a tram stop briefly along side me. By adjusting the zoom and the angle I managed to get all the lines from the building and tram converging in the bottom left hand corner of the photograph. The full set of Budapest photos can be found on my Pbase site.

Paris at night

Paris at night is an awesome sight to behold. Night photos of Paris are rarely dull, except the typical ones you see of the Eiffel Tower. This “headlights in the city of lights” night shot was taken on a bridge overlooking the River Seine and the 14th Century Conciergerie – the oldest prison in France.  With the camera set in manual mode I used a long exposure time of 30 seconds to achieve the streak effect on the headlights.  I clearly had to use a tripod for this and also a remote shutter control to guarantee any sharpness. I played around with small aperture settings to maximise the depth of field and ensure all the background detail was in focus, and finally ended up with the smallest aperture of f22.  For a scene with such a high level of contrast it was very difficult to maintain balance i.e. achieve a decent exposure of the river and buildings while avoiding over-exposure of the car headlights. I took several exposure readings with varying levels of traffic then used the exposure lock facility on the camera. After many attempts I ended up with this result. The beauty of digital photography is that you can try many things and avoid being disappointed with a great opportunity. Later I learned that I could have taken two shots using two exposure settings – one using a suitable exposure for the river and the other for the headlights, then merge them together on Photoshop, had I known how to do it.  This technique is explained in an excellent article on exposure lock at:
http://www.all-things-photography.com/exposure-lock.html


For more night photos of Paris, please visit my Paris By Night gallery at http://www.pbase.com/brice/paris_by_night

This black and white portrait shot taken by the very talented Marcus Beard is a good example of the effectiveness of black and white photography when it comes to taking candid photos of people.  With the latest digital SLR cameras, the photographer has the advantage of being able to shoot in the monochrome setting and visualise a scene in black and white using the LCD screen prior to taking the shot.  This provides a different view of the world, with highlights and shadows becoming more obvious.  In this example, the skin tone blends nicely into the background and is an even grey, the greyness suiting the subject matter i.e. an old woman. The eye is drawn to the detail brought out in the wrinkles on the woman’s face, perhaps even more so without the distraction that could be created by a colourful background.  Shooting the photo in black and white also gives it more of a timeless feel.


A recommended book on black and white photography for any level:

Zoom bursts are simple to achieve and very effective in SLR photography in turning what could be a dull subject into something much more interesting. I shot this lit statue using a tripod with no flash, an ISO setting of 400 and a small aperture (f22) to provide a 15 second exposure. I could equally have selected the shutter speed and allowed the aperture size to be dictated by the camera – the objective being to achieve a long exposure time as opposed to greater depth of field. To achieve the sharpest image possible I used a remote shutter control although I could have probably achieved a decent result without it. To achieve the zoom burst I allowed 10 seconds exposure at full zoom and then carefully zoomed out over the remaining 5 seconds. Although the subject is not particularly exciting, it was infinitely less so without the burst effect!

More tips on zoom bursts can be found at:

http://hubpages.com/hub/zoom-burst

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Creative-zoom-bursts-4775

http://www.illustratedphotography.com/blogs/feloescoto/zoom-burst-and-gimp


Technorati Profile

Interested in getting a real flavour of Japan before travelling around the other side of the world? Then check out these amazing, inspirational shots from my photographer friend Marcus Beard…

www.mbphotography.net/Galleries/Pages/Japan

Taking Photos On Cloudy Days

Cloudy days aren’t as bad as they may seem when it comes to taking photos, although the subject matter tends to be less obvious. The following HubPages article provides tips on how to make the best of cloudy weather when it comes to taking photos.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Photography-On-Cloudy-Days

Here, I was messing around with a 10x macro screw on lens adaptor. If you can’t justify purchase of a macro lens these close up lens adaptors are a cheap option to achieve a similar effect.  I could have used a tripod to obtain a sharper image and allow a greater depth of field, which would have perhaps even needed a low powered flash. Instead I had to use the widest aperture possible, in this case an f3.5 and wait for the slightest of breezes to disappear.

Brighton East Pier in Black and White

This photo was taken with black and white film on New Year’s Day in Brighton 2003 with my old Canon 300N, then scanned and cropped in Photoshop to reduce unnecessary beach and sky.  I also increased the contrast very slightly to give it more impact.  Black and white here seemed to suit the scene perfectly and helped to bring out the silhouettes of people on the sea front. 


I’m currently reading through this book on digital black and white photography which I can recommend to anyone. As usual in most photography books, there is an emphasis on software editing using Photoshop, although you don’t need Photoshop to be able to learn a lot on the subject. Don’t get put off by the title either, beginners will also find this useful.

Neon Zoom Burst

Neon signs are great for experimenting with the zoom burst effect. This shot was taken outside a Paris Jazz Club with a Canon Digital Rebel (300D) with an 18-55mm lens.  I used a small tripod with a remote shutter and selected an exposure time of around 6 seconds.  Starting with the zoom fully inwards I composed the shot to include the whole frame, which, in reality was quite a boring subject. On releasing the shutter I steadily zoomed outwards on the shot to get an even burst effect. For more technical info on how to achieve a zoom burst effect, see http://hubpages.com/hub/zoom-burst.

Shooting the fairytail cathedral of Puebla, Mexico at night with all its colours, is unmissable for anyone remotely interested in photography.  A tripod plus remote shutter release was needed for the sharpness with a black sky although perhaps with a subject lit this brightly a supported camera with a high ISO would have been sufficient. The benefit of using the tripod is that I was able to set the ISO at 100 to maximise colour saturation and reduce noise levels.