TGIGreeny's Photography Blog

We've Moved

2009-04-07T23:06:00.001+01:00

Yup, I said I had my own domain. Well now I'm using it. Please point your browser, and your bookmarks over to...

photoblog.tgigreeny.com

...this site will no longer be maintained, all the posts that were here are now there, along with lots and lots of lovely new ones. The new design is prettier, the pictures bigger and everything's a lot easier to follow. So get over there right now!

A Domain Of My Own

2009-03-28T03:58:00.001Z

Thanks to the lovely folks at Dreamhost, I’m now the proud owner of my very first domain name. And a .com at that. No .co.uk malarkey for me. TGIGreeny.com

Dreamhost were doing a March sale, offering a year of hosting (including a domain registration) for just $9.99. That’s around £6. Bargain.

I’m working on the site right now. It’ll be a sort of portal to all my blogging, photography and design projects. Of course this blog will move over there. I’m just trying to work out whether or not to keep it in Blogger, or whether I should shunt it into a custom blogging solution hosted on my own server. We’ll have to see. Anyway, I’ll doubtless give the design a lick of paint, and finally sort the annoying bug that means you can’t see the date posts were made. Oh and I want to ad some Digg buttons too.

New Photoshop, New Lease of Life

2009-03-28T03:54:00.001Z

Whilst fiddling around with Photoshop CS4 (I had previously been using CS3) I noticed that Camera Raw (the plugin that converts RAW files), had been significantly updated (5.2 now, I was previously running 3.5). The results seem a lot better, with more control over sharpening, and saturation – two of my biggest issues. To test this I’ve been tweaking some of my favourite evening Seattle skyline shots, and will post some comparisons soon.

In many ways I’m delighted that CS4 is so much better. Similarly I’m dismayed that I might have to revisit so many of my old photos to get them looking their best. Oh well.

Fern and Philip

2009-03-14T00:05:00.003Z

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Comic Relief is on the telly as I write, being presented by Fern Britton. Which reminds me. The other day I was out on London's South Bank in the snow, taking some shots of a slush-covered London. There out on the riverbank were 'This Morning' presenters Fern Britton and Philip Scofield. Phil was dressed in his technicolour dreamcoat from his 'Joseph' days and they appeared to be interviewing Gareth Gates, presumably as part of a live OB on 'This Morning'.

Well, I had my camera, so it seemed rude not to fire off a few shots. Here they are:

Kew Gardens

2009-03-13T23:58:00.003Z

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

I recently took a quick (two hour) trip to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew with my girlfriend. It's just down the road from me, but I'd never been before. It's fairly pricey to get in (£13 per person), and we didn't arrive till about 2.30, so it was late in the day. I must go back when the weather is stunning, as there are some beautiful spots. Despite the cloudy skies and failing light, I managed to grab a few good frames. My favourites are below, including some tonemapped images, as part of my recent drive to play around more with HDR:

Pacific Northwest

2009-03-06T08:06:00.004Z

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Finally all my Pacific Northwest photos are edited, and uploaded to Flickr. I've put them in a collection because there are so many of them (around 950), and split that up into sets detailing each individual place I went to. Click on the link above to view the collection, and in the next few posts I'll talk about each of the places I went to, and add some of my favourite photos. Here are some that I particularly liked from the trip overall though:

Sorry It's Been a While....

2009-03-06T08:05:00.001Z

Sorry folks. I've been away for a while, and very busy with a new job. Finally got some time off though, and I want to update you on all the things that I've been up to. So here goes...

I'm Back

2008-10-14T15:33:00.003+01:00

Yes, I have returned after a truly wonderful holiday in the Pacific Northwest. I'm slowly sifting my way through about five thousand RAW files and two hours of video! I've started to upload the shots as I edit them, in vaguely chronological order. Check out my Flickr photostream (link above) for the latest. I'll not post favourite here yet, because there are just too many and I want to get them all up, labeled and tagged first, which might take some time.

What I'll probably do is write an entry for each different place I visited and add my favourite photos here, once I get round to working out where each one was taken! That's always a problem when you cover 2 thousand miles in a fortnight, but I did at least shoot lots of signs and information boards to give me some idea of where I was and what I was looking at.

During my trip my camera performed mostly wonderfully. I did get dust on the sensor at one point, but fortunately I was in Seattle at the time so a helpful man at a camera shop gave it a clean for me and all was well. Late on in the trip the rubber eyepiece cup from the viewfinder went missing (I think it fell off during a hike), but it didn't stop me being able to take photos. In fact, I only noticed it was gone the next day, so it wasn't really a big problem. I'll order a new one from Jessops (£14 including delivery, what a rip off!).

Now I'm just thinking about where to go next. I'm considering Chicago if I can get a quick week this autumn. Next February I'm off to the mountains again to go snowboarding with my mates. Then for the big summer trip I'll probably hit northern California and do Yosemite, sometime in September I'm thinking.

I can hardly wait ;)

Quick Update from the Slopes of Mt. Rainer

2008-09-20T19:07:00.002+01:00

So I'm currently trekking around the Pacific Northwest, camera gear in tow, on what is proving so far to have been one of the best holiday's I've ever had. I've just managed to stop in at a little lodge just outside Mt. Rainer National Park for a few minutes to use their wireless internet connection. Today (Saturday) is the first day where the weather has been anything other than perfect. It is in fact, pissing it down!

I'm hoping that as I drive back up the mountain to my wonderful rustic hotel, I might pass above the cloud level to get some decent shots of the mountain. I'm not too fussed though as I got some great shots yesterday, and a day of just chilling out and editing some photos wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

I'm off to Mt. St. Helens tomorrow, so we'll see what the weather is like then.

I'll post some photos as soon as I have a chance.

Pacific Northwest

2008-09-06T23:54:00.001+01:00

Right. There's just under a week to go before my big holiday, which will mainly revolve around taking photos, so I thought I'd tell you a little more about it.

I fly off to Seattle, and spend a few days in what I'm told is a very photogenic city, it the weather is right. I'm keen to get some shots of the famous skyline at night, so I've already picked out a few spots in the north of the city for that.

After some time in the city, I head for the North Cascades, a remote mountain national park near the Canadian border. From there it's off to Mount Ranier, a picturesque, and giant volcano famous for its glaciers and meadows of fresh flowers, and stunning reflective crater lakes.

From there to Mount Saint Helens, a different and altogether more bleak volcano that famously blew its top 28 years ago.

Then to Olympic National Park in western Washington State. This is a nice mix of mountains, forests and wilderness shorelines. I hope to grab some shots of some animals here too, possibly even bears.

Then it's back to Seattle for a few more days, including a trip to the magnificent Safeco field for a night time baseball game where I'll try and grab some stadium panoramas for my group on Flickr.

Should be fun, and I hope you enjoy looking at the shots I get.

More from Barn Elms

2008-09-06T23:50:00.001+01:00

Finally popped some more of the shots I took at Barn Elms last month up on Flickr. The link to the set is the same as below. Here's some of my favourites:

Of Ducks and Geese

2008-08-30T18:21:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

As you know, I fired off a lot of frames this week on various trips around London. Sadly I'm working this weekend, so don't have much editing time. I'll get through the bulk on Monday when I'm off, but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview now (see the Barn Elms set on Flickr, new shots at the bottom, starting with "Elegant Swimmer"), with a few shots taken at the Barn Elms Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre in South West London, near where I live:

Hadrian Exhibition, British Museum

2008-08-28T19:13:00.000+01:00

Again, went with my mum today to the exhibition about the Roman emporer Hadrian at the British Museum. Despite there being no clearly visible sign, some snotty American museum employee was very adamant that I couldn't take photos, spinning some line about copyright. I'd managed to get quite a few off before then, because the lighting was interesting on the busts and sculptures.

I hate it when museums don't let people take photos (without flash I might add, which I appreciate is antisocial). Its just so they can ruip you off with their own books and postcards. Anyway, to save you the trouble, your £12 entrance fee gets you into a mildly interesting exhibition of sculpture, busts, reliefs and a bit of pottery. The exhibits are interesting, as is Hadrian's life, but there are too many people in at once (despite the staggered times you can enter with each ticket), and all the descriptions are very small, and very low down, making it a frustrating experience, particularly when foreign tourists keep pushing in front.

I'll post the shots soon, when I've had a chance to edit and post-process.

Barn Elms Again

2008-08-27T17:28:00.000+01:00

My mum is staying at the minute and really wanted to go to Barn Elms wetland reserve, despite some very overcast weather. I went along with the camera and shot a few hundred frames. Results will be up soon.

Just Labelling

2008-08-17T20:55:00.003+01:00

I've not been doing much shooting or editing lately, because I'm very busy at work. I've spent some downtime titling, tagging and labelling on Flickr. I need to tidy up those Arizona shots I uploaded recently. They don't look great on monitors other than mine, over-saturated and over-brightened. Too much Photoshop syndrome!

In other news I've just booked a forthnight in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Olympic National Park etc) next month, so expect literally thousands of new shots fairly soon. When I next get some downtime I'll upload some new shots, and if the weather is decent get out and shoot some new ones.

London Aquarium Shots Up

2008-08-12T23:16:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

My shots from my trip to the London Aquarium are now up. Many, as expected, were too blurred to use. Fortunately, about ten percent were pretty good, though most required a bit of noise reduction and some sharpening. All in all, I was pretty pleased. Shooting handheld in very low light is never easy, but I even managed to get some usable frames at ISO 200, thanks mainly to using my 50mm prime at F1.7. Click the link above for the full set on Flickr. Favourites below:

Neon Jellyfish

2008-08-12T00:06:00.004+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

I've uploaded the London Aquarium shots now, and am just tagging and titling them. I'll post the best here, as usual, but I first wanted to mention the jellyfish. As I said earlier, they were in a tank surrounded by ever-changing coloured lights, which produced some interesting shots.

They were a bugger to shoot. Always moving in a very dark tank, and so delicate and fragile that any motion blur really messed up the shot. I tried using a monopod, but it made little difference. I had better luck under some colours of lights than others; interesting proof positive of the different colour sensitivity of camera sensors.

I've put the jellyfish pictures into a set of their own, on Flickr (see link at top), and here are a few to be going on with:

Westminster Pier Photos

2008-08-11T20:47:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

When I went to the London Aquarium the other day, my friend was somewhat late showing up to meet me. I was stuck hanging around Westminster tube station and Westminster Pier. So, as I had my camera with me, all ready for the fishies, I decided to kill the time by seeing what I could take without moving more than about ten yards from one fixed spot just outside the tube station.

The results are up. I particularly like the shot of the family and the busker in the tunnel. I tried to take a few candids of tourists, but I still lack courage when it comes to shooting other people without their explicit permission so I rarely get good shots off. Anyway, take a look at some of my favourites and feel free to let me know what you think:

A Blip on the Radar

2008-08-11T20:30:00.006+01:00

Okay. Forget, YouTube, check out blip.tv. It's much easier to use, there are far fewer restrictions, better options for sharing, and best of all it allows for much higher quality video - and in true widescreen. In fact, the quality is so good I've had to halve the dimensions of each vid to fit the embedded player on the blog! From now on I'll upload all my movies here as a first port of call, potentially adding them to YouTube as well.

I've put all the Farnborough vids up. Here they are:

Avro Vulcan

Eurofighter Typhoon

Supermarine Spitfire

The Red Arrows

F/A-18 Hornet

F-16 Fighting Falcon

The Blades Aerobatic Team

Aerostars Aerobatic Team

A Day at the Aquarium

2008-08-10T18:17:00.002+01:00

As the weather was miserable today (cold, wet and very windy), I decided to head off to the London Aquarium with my friend Nats to shoot some fish. It's not a bad day out, actually. Only a tenner or so if you book online. The fish are pretty spectacular, and the building itself (County Hall) is very nice, as is the location, right on the Thames.

The aquarium itself is showing its age. Many of the labels are discoloured and some are missing, and the decor leaves something to be desired. Still, the fish are very exciting, if you like that sort of thing. Highlights of the day for me were the sharks, the reef fish and the jellyfish. I've always had something of a mortal dread of the floating little translucent bags (it's the only animal I'm scared of), but in a glass tank lit by ever changing fibre optics, they don't look half bad. They can be a bugger to photograph though, which can be said of all fish in dimly lit aquariums.

I shot exclusively with my 50mm prime, because at F1.7 it's just about fast enough to cope with a dimly lit tank without flash (which is banned). Also the narrow depth of field should lead to some interesting bokeh in shots, even though the lens has no macro feature (closest focusing is about one metre).

I shot about 700 frames so, as usual, it will take me a few days to process them. I shoot RAW remember!

Check back soon and I'll post the processed shots on Flickr, with updates and a small selection here.

More Arizona and Utah Revisted: Arches and Capitol Reef

2008-08-10T03:25:00.004+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Next two national parks are up. Arches National Park and Capitol Reef National Park, both of which are in Utah.

I had to do a lot of work to sort the skies out on the Arches pictures. Stupid old me had overbrightened the shots years ago, and burned out all the skies, then lost the originals. I Photoshopped skies in from the one or two Arches photos that weren't overbrightened. I know it's cheating but it was merely in an attempt to compensate for my own stupidity! Favourites below:

More Arizona and Utah Revisted Shots Up

2008-08-09T23:21:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Next batch. These are, sadly the last of the shots that I can recreate from the original JPEGs. Somewhere along the way my other originals have gone walkies, so the next batch will have to be touched up from already touched up shots, which is rather irritating as it means they'll be somewhat overprocessed. Anyway, I'll have a crack. The latest batch to go up is mainly Bryce and Zion Canyons (both in Utah). Here are some favourites:

Arizona and Utah: Revisited

2008-08-09T15:08:00.004+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Because the weather here has been rubbish, I've spent the weekend going over some old pictures and trying to touch them up a little. I visited Arizona and Utah back in 2004, and on that trip bought my first ever digital camera. A Pentax Optio S4i. The photos I took on that trip were pretty ropey in terms of quality. Far too many were over, or underexposed, the White Balance was all wrong and many were badly composed. I never really uploaded them properly to Flickr; I just put a few up early on before I had a pro account. Now, though, it's time to do something about it.

I've been going over the shots are photoshopping them as best as possible. Some have turned out great, others are borderline adequate. I'm about halfway through and have posted the first batch up to Flickr. You can check them out on the link above, and below are a few choice cuts:

Tweaking An Old Favourite

2008-08-08T16:18:00.002+01:00

I've decided to sutbly tweak a shot from my recent Bempton collection that recieved a lot of attention from people on FlickR. I didn't do much, just went back to the Raw and did a very slight re-crop and white balance correction, and then ran Noise Ninja over it and re-uploaded.

Take a look here:

Finally - Air Race Shots Are All Up

2008-08-08T14:45:00.006+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Yes, at last they're done. The final set of sixteen shots was processed and uploaded today. You can view the full set of Red Bull Air Race London 2008 images on Flickr at the link above. There's 290 in all!

Here are a couple of decent shots from the final group:

A Very Special Air Race Shot

2008-08-07T12:44:00.005+01:00

Just uploaded this to Flickr. I rather like it. It's a stitched panorama of shots taken as a plane passed in front of the Millennium Dome at the Red Bull Air Race in London. I like the way the plane appears in every shot - and the way the smoke trail lines up on the left.

Anyway, little version below, click on it for the big Flickr version (best viewed large). Comments welcome, as always.

Motor Show Photos Uploaded

2008-08-06T13:58:00.010+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

There's 167 shots in all. These were taken with my housemate's little Canon Ixus as all my cameras were out of action on the day. There was a lot of ISO noise as I chose to shoot without flash, and some of the interiors suffered a tiny bit from shake, but they're better than my previous motor show efforts. Mostly these are there to record each of the new cars on show rather than for any attempt at photographic excellence, and also I have to admit because my car shots get the most views on Flickr, as a result of Google Images linking to them.

I also snapped a few multi-shot panoramas which Photoshop managed to put together fairly well.

Anyway, take a peek on the link above, and in the meantime here's a couple of my favourites from the set.

By the way, the shots are titled, and partially-tagged, but I've not added descriptions yet.

Another Day - More Air Show Shots Up

2008-08-05T23:44:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

The latest batch, just a few this time. Again slightly better quality because of the improving tlight throughout the day. Here are some favourites:

Yet More Air Race Shots Up

2008-08-05T18:38:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

No, we're still not nearly done yet!

Here's a few more shots from the lastest load I've sent up. These include some under better lighting conditions (although the ISO still had to be a little high for my liking). Enjoy, comments welcome as ever...

More Air Race Shots Up

2008-08-04T04:34:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Yes, another tranche from the Red Bull Air Race. These were shots taken at the start of the day when the weather was lousy, hence the slight blur on some shots from slow shutter speed and ISO noise I've had to reduce with Noise Ninja.

In terms of post processing, other than colour correction, noise reduction and sharpening, I decided to add a bit of selected lens and motion blur here and there to heighten the sense of DOF, particulary on shots where the planes are passing the Millennium Dome.

Oh and they're still not titled, as I want to get them all uploaded first. Here's a few from the latest batch:

First Air Race Shots Up

2008-08-04T03:14:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

I've started the mammoth task of processing and uploading the 1,000+ shots I took at the Red Bull Air Race the other day. The set's on the link above, and more will be added each day for a while. I started with the pilot shots I took at the end of the day, as it seemed like less of a mammoth task!

Here's a few of my favourites so far...

Red Bull Air Race

2008-08-02T03:33:00.001+01:00

Spent today at the qualifying session for the London round of the Red Bull Air Race. The race is held over the River Thames at Docklands, just opposite the Millennium Dome. It features a dozen or so pilots flying through a complicated course of inflatable pylons, and having to perform a variety of maneuvers, all within the fastest time. A great chance, then, to test out my newly repaired Sony A-100 and my new (well second hand) Minolta AF F4-F5.6 75-300mm zoom lens.

I'd managed to blag a media pass for the day, and so was nicely ensconsed in the media centre just opposite the start/finish line, well away from the hoi-poloi massed in the grandstands near the Dome. While this afforded some good shots, it meant I was standing with a load of pro photographers and their top-end cameras and lenses. I was slightly embarrassed to be there with my old kit, and the 20 year old zoom lens.

Annoyingly the weather wasn't great, with heavy overcast skies in the morning, and the odd spot of rain. Later things did brighten up, but only to reveal that the sun was directly opposite, severely backlighting a lot of shots. I therefore moved round to a different spot for the third runs of the day, and the photos seemed to improve. After the qualifying period was over, all the press were bussed down to the temporary airstrip to meet the pilots. I grabbed an interview with British flying ace Paul Bonhomme for the Beeb (though I doubt we'll use it), and managed to snap a few portraits with my F1.7 50mm Minolta prime lens. I think they came out alright.

Interestingly, despite having just bought a new 4GB card to take my total storage up to 10GB, I still ran out of storage midway through the second runs - as a result of shooting raw. I decided to swith to JPEG for the third runs, and take the chance on exposure errors. I was shooting continuously for most of the runs, so nailed about 1,200 shots. That should make for a LOT of work in post-processing, but hey, the weather forecast is rubbish, so why not?

South Bank Shots Uploaded

2008-08-01T04:56:00.003+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

Including those taken at the Press Photorgrapher Awards exhibit and the National Theatre. Most of these (though not all) were shot with my Minolta F1.7 50mm prime.

The link above is for the whole South Bank set, the new shots begin six rows up from the bottom, after the wierd guy hugging the light pillar! Comments welcome, as always, either here or on Flickr. Once again, here's some favourites:

South Bank again

2008-07-28T03:52:00.001+01:00

Yes, I know I shoot here a lot, but I was off to the National Theatre on London's South Bank with a friend to see the Press Photographers Awards exhibit and I wanted to take the newly repaired A-100 for a spin, especially as the weather was decent. Shot a few pics of people playing on the sand exposed by the low tide, and a few of the exhibit itself. I'll post shortly.

Hurrah for Sony, the A-100's back

2008-07-27T03:51:00.002+01:00

Yes, after less than a week those lovely people at Sony have repaired my camera and returned it to me with a new shutter in perfect working order. I really want to go out and get some shots straight away, but it will have to wait for the weekend as I'm working. Still well chuffed though!

Farnborough Pics Uploaded

2008-07-24T08:09:00.007+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

What I actually managed to shoot before the camera packed up has been processed, and the best shots uploaded. You can see them by clicking on the link above.

Here are some of my personal favourites:

St Pancras Station Autostitch

2008-07-24T00:07:00.003+01:00

Two shots stitched together to make a rather nice night shot of the interior of the newly, updated St Pancras International Rail Station in London. Only a few people inside when this was taken, as well. The magnificent roof of the Barlow Shed looks particularly good under artificial lighting.

British International Motor Show

2008-07-23T03:42:00.002+01:00

Managed to blag a press pass to the British International Motor Show at the Excel centre in East London. Very nice show, and great to be there on press day away from the crowds.

Unfortunately, what with the A-100 being out of action after the Farnborough incident and my Pentax S4 still being in my mate's possession I was camera-less. Coming to the rescue though, my housemate lent me his little Canon IXUS 6 megapixel number. Good camera, but as I was shooting without flash I had to up the ISO to around 400 so there'll probably be a lot of noise when I finally get around to post processing.

Shot a lot of cars under intersting lighting, so white balancing should be fun - though the in-camera settings will hopefully have helped. The most frustrating thing about going back to using a compact was the lack of any DOF with such a small sensor. I wanted to take some striking macros of details on the cars, but doubtless they'll all be lacking the kind of bokeh and DOF I really like.

I'll post the results when I've processed the shots - which could well be after I've been to the Red Bull Air Race.

Bempton Cliffs Shots Uploaded

2008-07-22T12:09:00.004+01:00

Click here to view photoset on Flickr

I've now uploaded all the decent shots I took at the Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve in East Yorkshire. The weather was lousy but I managed some half decent captures of birds in flight over the water. This trip just went to prove how utterly useless my 2x Teleconvertor is though, it is just far too soft, and without autofocus is not much use for anything, despite the 35mm equivalent 900mm reach it affords. Anyway, the shots are up in the Bempton set on the link above (bottom two thirds or so of the set), and, as ever, there are some of my favourites below:

Farnborough Air Show

2008-07-20T03:47:00.001+01:00

My first chance ever to visit the world's biggest air show, and I suffered a disaster! Just after the A380 had done its thing, in the first display of the day, my A-100 decided to pack up with a shutter error. It's on its way off to Sony now for repair under warranty, but it practically wiped out the day, photo-wise. I did have my newest eBay investment with me, a Sony DVD camcorder, so shot about 30 mins of video. Once that's edited and captioned I'll upload to YouTube and post here.

I still managed to knock off a couple of hundred shots, mind. Mostly of the A380 and static displays. Fortunately the F-18 took off early, so I got that, and a few of the display teams did a bit of practice early on, so I'll have some of those shots too. Still bloody annoying though.

Bempton Cliffs

2008-07-16T00:42:00.001+01:00

I've spent the day shooting birds. Not literally, of course. Went home to visit my mum in the Peak District and we headed over the to Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire for the day. The site is an RSPB reserve and one of the most important seabird nesting sites in Europe. The weather was awful, but there was lots of opportunity to get shots of birds like gannet, kittiwake and razorbill. Very few puffins around though - wrong time of year!