Category: Photography

This is what the blog is about, the results of my being a Photo Hobbyist

2011 Deck – Week 4

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography14 Comments

I went out on at least two occasions this week with the sole intention of using the Sigma 10-20 Ultra-wide angle lens.  Just so that I didn’t disappoint myself I made sure I chose one of those for this week’s Deck photo  🙂

This is what remains of the building that housed Frandec Travel Service and Frandec Health Insurance, it was one of Georgetown’s old wooden structures, nothing as fancy as a Victorian Styled Mansion but nevertheless, it gave the area some of it’s character.

It was burnt down this January, suspected arson.

 

Frandec's Remains

Looking into the sun

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography14 Comments

I remember reading the manual for the Canon PowerShot S5 (and later for the Canon EOS Rebel T1i) and one of the things they say NOT to do was to point the camera directly at the sun.

Well, I couldn’t help it, I did it numerous times with the S5 and I certainly didn’t stop when I got the T1i, although doing it with the T1i hurts more since I am looking through the viewfinder and not using a LCD screen 🙂

One of the dangers of taking a photograph pointing into the sun is losing most of the correct colour in the scene, but since I was planning a BW with this one back in September of last year, I don’t think that consideration mattered too much.

This is the bandstand at the Kingston seawall, with the Pegasus Hotel seen behind it, and the sun behind them 🙂

 

Into the Sun

The Calm – LBI HDR

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography24 Comments

For anyone who has followed my through my blogging, you’ll have seen Nikhil’s name popping up with some regularity, we’re friends, and he’s also my photo-buddy.  In September of last year he came out with a spectacular image which has since been used by Kriti in their publication of the 2011 Scotiabank (Guyana) Calendar, it’s an amazing image, he titled it Resting Drama (if you click on the name you’ll see it on his site).

I was left stunned with his image and had not processed any of my images from that day, they will all pale in comparison.  Today I decided to process one, (I’ll get to the others eventually) this one was a three image HDR, whilst he faced north, I faced east, into the slowly setting sun.

I want to explain a few things; firstly, it’s a three image HDR (High Dynamic Range) trying to get the most detail out of the scene.  Secondly, it’s about the scene as it is depicted, I tried as much as possible to keep the image as “natural” as possible, sometimes HDRs can go overboard and look over-processed or even cartoonish.

The sky was cloudy, so we were in a shadowed setting with some cloud coverage overhead, heavier as you looked eastward,but far towards the east the sun was setting, and fewer clouds were in the sky that far east giving the sunlight entrance to the scene.  The sunlight bathed the seawall mildly or gently, You can see the wetness towards the sea reflecting the light, even the grass shoreward was lit to a degree.

I think I may be using too many words, I should just let the photo speak for itself.

 

The Calm - La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara. 3 Image HDR, 27mm, ISO 200

The Parallel Project – Starburst

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, The Parallel Project20 Comments

There are special filters that you can buy to create those “star-burst” effects from very bright points of light, but you can also do this by using a small aperture, the aperture rings in the lens will help to produce this same star-burst effect without you going out and buying those filters.  Of course, the filters do give some very neat effects  🙂

I had intended this experiment for a night scene, but as I was in the park accompanying Nikhil, I thought I’d try it out using the sun as my source of bright light.  (I even took shots with a larger aperture to make sure it was working as it should)

 

The Tree in the Park. 1/30s, f/16, ISO 400, 18mm

2011 Deck – Week 3

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography7 Comments

I almost thought that I’d have to re-post Compton as my Deck Photo this week, I didn’t do much photography until the end of the week  🙂

I had the chance to re-visit a scene I had done a few year’s ago, back when I was shooting the Canon PowerShot S5 IS, which I still miss.  The scene was on Sheriff Street, and it was a photo that was “borrowed” from my Flickr photostream to be used on a Facebook page about Guyana.

Once again, it’s Twilight time and the sky is touched by the wings of the angels, the wands of the fairies, or just one of those physical phenomenons of light on particles in the air 🙂

I hope you like it.

 

The Street that never Sleeps. Handheld, 1/13s, f/3.5, ISO400, 18mm

Buddy’s Pool Hall give s a nice addition of lights to the street, and it is Sheriff Street, the street that never sleeps!

100

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography13 Comments

Normally on a Friday, I post the newest photo for the Deck Project, but I will have to post that tomorrow.  This is my one-hundredth post since starting this blog, so I was looking for something special to do to mark it.

I decided to go through the photos that I’ve taken since using this current camera, the Canon EOS Rebel T1i, and I found three images that I thought would mark the occasion nicely.

Firstly, an image taken on the one-hundredth day of 2010, I only took photos on one subject that day, so I had to choose one from those, and one that I had not already uploaded.  I may never see Washington DC (especially when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming) so this tree is our Guyanese version  🙂

Secondly, the one-hundredth photograph, or more specifically the one-hundredth shutter-activation of the T1i.  This was from a project I did for Banks DIH, they were soon to open the new fine-dining restaurant and bar now known as OMG!  This scene is from inside the restaurant,  This is among the first experiences I’ve had with a Digital SLR camera.

Thirdly, I had reached and surpassed nine-thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine shutter actuations on the camera, and the numbering had started over, so the next photo is the second one hundredth image by number on the camera, so technically it’s the ten thousand and one hundredth image.

I started this blog with a post called “Before Our God”, with an image taken at the funeral of my maternal grand-mother, coincidentally on the one-hundredth post, an image from that same day is numbered 100.

For all those who have gone before us, those with us and those to come after us, most of us eventually realize that photography is more than just clicking the shutter-release button, it’s about the Moment, the Memory and the Meaning of the scene you have captured.

Compton

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography15 Comments

I recently put this image on Flickr, and I got some favourable responses, and because I haven’t blogged in a few days I thought I should put it here as well 🙂

I was sitting in the vehicle waiting for my wife to finish up in a Supermarket on Regent Street, I was reading on my phone (at this time it was “The Witching Hour” by Anne Rice), and in my peripheral vision I say some movement in the distance.  Yes, it’s a busy street, but I’m sure you get my point.

His name is probably not Compton, but amidst the multitude of things adorning his attire is a name-tag proclaiming him to be Compton.  He is a colourful character, and you seldom see past the spectrum of colours, the purposeful stride and the “insane” air about him.

I hurriedly put the phone down, reached into the back-seat for the camera, and quickly composed and clicked to get my shot.  I had to wait two seconds while the camera took the shot since I had forgotten to reset the timer from the previous night, so he is two seconds out-of-focus.

 

Compton

The Parallel Project – Cross Polarization

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, The Parallel Project15 Comments

I say cross-polarization and people ask me about bees and plants, its polarization not pollination!  Yet, I do miss those bees and the flowers shots, I must go hunting soon!

This week’s experiment is in cross-polarization.  If you’ve even wore polarized sunglasses (and I haven’t because I wear spectacles already), you might have seen strange patterns on car windshields, the polarised sunglasses are revealing areas of the glass that was put under stress during the manufacturing process, the patterns resulting when using the polarised sunglasses are a phenomenon known as “birefringence”.

The important part of all this is that the results have a very cool effect when combining a polarised filter on the camera with a polarised light source through a transparent material that has gone through a stress-related manufacturing process.

Just for experimentation, I’ve used a transparent plastic ruler.

 

Using The Rule - Cross-polarisation, 1/10s, f/5.6, ISO 200, 218mm, CPL filter

Twilight Convergence

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography11 Comments

It’s not what I was looking for, but sometimes you have to use what you have and not wish for what isn’t there 🙂  I have been looking in my rear view mirror on my way home every evening for that nice twilight glow, the sunset that has left variations in colour in the sky and the winds that have left scattered clouds or wispy clouds that add that little extra “umph” to the scene.  Well, this isn’t it, but I decided to try a few long exposures and while I was at it, an HDR  🙂

I woke early this morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I came in to process this early, in a standard photograph you wouldn’t see anything in the foreground, but in this HDR quite a bit can be seen, the sky is lighter than the actual scene. but that’s because of the HDR processing, I think it balanced the scene out nicely.

 

Twilight Convergence - 3 image HDR, 2 stops apart. f/4, ISO 200, 10mm

2011 Deck – Week 2

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography14 Comments

This last week I took quite a number of photos, and the choice for the image for the deck was a little more difficult.  In the end it came down to a choice of several from the Trip out west that Nikhil, Naseem and I took last weekend.

I will eventually process all my favourites from that trip and load up an album, but for now I will just give you the one I chose for the 2011 Deck as well  🙂

Of all the water crafts that were at the conservancy, one in particular caught my attention, it was a tug-boat (I think they’re called that), it was  quite distinctive from the other shallow boats and canoes on the water, and definitely more appealing than the barge that was moored nearby  🙂  It reminded me of cartoons I watched as a child, and I fully expected to see either Bluto or Popeye on deck!

 

Ahoy!