Following on from some recent work I did with students from FutureSkills College in Media City, Salford (click here for a recent blog entry about this), I was contacted by one of the students who is breaking out into the world of acting, she was wanting some actor headshots.
Milly was quite specific in the kind of style that was required, under instruction from her agent, and prior to her arrival the studio was set accordingly and all lights pre-prepared. Milly also brought along Mike, who is also studying acting, and although never had a photoshoot done before, we shot him some headshots too.
This shoot done in my small home studio, and to achieve the look we were after, the studio part was shot using speed lights, either in soft boxes or a beauty dish,
Shot against a grey backdrop, and the beauty dish with a grid fitted, enabled us to direct the light directly onto Milly & Mike, without any issues of light spilling onto the backdrop, creating a complete black background.
With Milly, we started off with just the beauty dish which gave a very flattering soft coverage across her face, and just a little bit of separation from the background.
It wasn't long before we added a couple of speed lights behind her, to bring out highlights in her hair and create a little more of a seperation and extra dimension to her shots.
The shots were also converted to black and white, which always allow for the use of a bit more contrast, and gives a different feel to the shots.
After these shots, we decided to try a few shots, making use of the brick wall in the studio. Again shot with the speed light in a beauty dish, they gave the moody feel needed for the shots.
With Mike, we started straight away with one speedlight in the beauty dish, and another bare bulb flash, out of shot and positioned to the left rear, straight away creating a hair light and separation from the backdrop.
I find that when shooting headshots, you don't always have to create a little space above the head, and breaking composition rules by cutting the top of the head out of shot makes for some awesome and different looking images.
Again, with Mike, we shot some against the bare wall of the studio to achieve the moody look. With these, as well as the beauty dish used to create Rembrandt lighting across the face, we placed a 2nd speedlight, shot bare bulb onto the wall, giving a little texture to the shot.
Following the studio based shots, we then ventured upstairs to the front room, where we have a huge window that lets a large amount of light through, and shot some natural light headshots, using a reflector.
Having these natural light shots as part of a headshot package, always compliments the studio based shots, and give clients extra options when it comes to submitting images to agents. We were all exceedingly happy with these shots and the look.
Working with Milly & Mike was an absolute joy, and despite Mike never had a professional photoshoot done before, both were easy to direct and very little effort was needed.
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A beautiful Saturday morning, a rare mild February too, and with the missus over in Bradford having hair and nails done, thought I'd take the opportunity to arrange a park shoot with a model through Purple Port.
I've wanted to work with Abi for a while now, and she's relatively new to the modelling game, having only been modelling for two years.
Working with Abi was a joy. She needs little, if any direction, and such a pleasant girl with a great work ethic and sense of humour.
This shoot was the first outdoor outing for my new Godox TT600 wireless speed light, placed inside a Godox umbrella octobox.
This speedlight also has high speed sync, which is an absolute must when shooting on a bright sunny day. Even though it's a speedlight, it emits enough power to over power the ambient light outside.
To start with, I placed Abi on a monument that overlooks the park, and with the sun behind her, acting as a backlight and giving a wonderful glow, whilst acting as a hair light.
The speedllight in the octobox was placed at a 45 degree angle, and during the shoot we would move it round, so we could make a more even spread of soft light across her face.
Using the speedlight to match ambient light is relatively straight forward. You take an ambient reading, using the meter in your camera, and determine the shutter speed and aperture, then using your flash meter, you then adjust the power of the flash to match your ambient reading. Using this method ensures that both the background and your model are correctly exposed, although to add some drama to the shot, you could narrow your aperture, or increase your shutter speed to darken the background. Ideally, if you are wishing to do this, then the best suggestion would be to just narrow your aperture, as most speed lights, unless it's one with high speed sync, have a maximum shutter sync of 1/250th of a second..
I also brought along another Yongnuo speedlight, to act as a kicker light on Abi's left side (as the photo's above show). This gives a further dimension to the shots and creates a good separation between Abi and the background.
After using a couple of other areas to shoot, we finished off using a tree for Abi to pose against, this time just using the one speedlight in the octobox and the sun as a kicker light on Abi's right side.
Really enjoyed this shoot with Abi, and can't recommend her enough to my fellow photographers. I shall look forward to working with her soon, hopefully a studio shoot next time https://instagram.com/dreamerandbeliever1996?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=civcqo7k2tcw
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Just before the end of 2018, I went to Futureskills College at MediaCity UK, to assist students with some assignments. They were studying hair and make up, and were after shot against a clean white background. Below is a small selection of shots.
All these shot with a 2 light set up, one strobe with a beauty dish as the main light and the second light behind the model, ensuring a crisp white backdrop.
This week I was asked to return to do some more work for a makeup student, who was wanting an Alice in Wonderland shoot, with the shoot to take place outside in a park near the college campus.
To say it was freezing cold was an understatement, and setting up the shoot, late in the afternoon, with the sun setting and the cold biting, was quite a challenge, especially when it came to loading batteries into the speed light and on camera trigger.
With the theme Alice in Wonderland, the remit was for dark & moody pictures, but at the same time ensuring the makeup and costumes were showcased in the images.
While doing this shoot, it dawned on me, just how cheap the setup was and the quality you can produce with such inexpensive equipment. For these shots, all of the equipment used was ordered through the Wish shopping app. For these shots I used the Godox TT600 2.4G Wireless Speedlight, which cost £44.10, Godox X-Pro High Speed Sync Wireless Flash Trigger for Nikon, at a cost of £26, and the Godox Portable Umbrella 80cm Octobox, priced £17.
So for less than £100, you have a portable one light setup, ideal for this kind of job. So with everything setup, light dropping rapidly and hands almost falling off with the cold, it was a quick check on ambient light setting, and matching speed light settings to achieve the desired look.
With this set up being high speed sync, it meant that I could shoot beyond 1/250th sec shutter speed if required, but with the light dropping fast this wasn't necessary. To keep the shoot going fast, I kept the shutter speed at 1/250th and just adjusted the power of the speed light to achieve the look.
As it gets warmer and lighter during the year, this setup will be used to its full potential, and there will be Youtube videos added to my channel at some point, giving full details of this setup and how to achieve images like this, without breaking the bank.
To see all the images from this shoot, you can click here https://simonnortonphotography.co.uk/p782411023
....and get out to shoot some landscape photography and finally get round to film for my YouTube Channel.
Yep, it's finally landed, after months of deliberating about it.....my first ever video on my YouTube Channel. With it being my first video, I thought I'd do something different and do some landscape photography. As the weather was gorgeous and sunny, we decided to set off to one of my favourite haunts, Dovestones Reservoir, in Greenfield near Saddleworth.
On arriving there, it was clear that quite a lot of others had the same idea, and with no room in the car park, we decided to scrap that idea. Whilst driving back through Greenfield, we saw the road leading up to Saddleworth Golf Club, and took a little drive up there. About half way up, there was a little parking bay, and a public footpath leading to Moorgate Quarry, so the decision was made, this would be the focus and subject of my first YouTube video.
We followed the path up by the side of the golf club, until we got to the top of the hill, with a communications mast that looks straight across Saddleworth, Greenfield and Mossley. The views from the side of the hill looking across were nothing short of amazing, if anything too perfect, with clear blue skies and not a cloud insight, probably not the best for landscape photography. Needless to say though, I was determined to get a shot out of our expedition and enough content for the channel.
So it was time to shoot a panorama across the valley, looking across to Greenfield and with Dovestones Reservoir in the distance. Shooting in manual mode and with the camera on a tripod, ensuring the horizon was level for every shot, I shot 6 images from left to right, at 38mm - ISO100 - f/18 - 1/60th sec.
After spending the next hour admiring the scenery and shooting b-roll for the YouTube video, I came across a lovely little composition. A small group of rocks leading up to a lone tree on the side of the hill, and placing it on the right hand third of the picture, creating some space on the left hand side of the pic with the gorgeous blue sky creating that sense of wide open space.
So my YouTube channel is now up and running, and all comments are welcome, along with suggestions as to what you would like to watch on it.
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...and like most weekends recently, the weather has been awful, but it doesn't stop me coming up with other ways to keep my 3 year old daughter occupied, instead of watching endless episodes of Peppa Pig.
So the sequel to the recent "beast from the east" returned, bringing cold, gusty winds, and plenty of snow....and lots of different lighting scenarios for natural light portraits. Time to empty the large window sill of vases, pots and flowers, open up the blinds, grab a reflector and sit my daughter on the window sill and an impromptu mini photo session just using natural light.
My trusty Nikon D7000, along with a 50mm f/1.8 lens, makes for the perfect combination for some wonderful portrait shots.
After a bit of gentle persuasion, and bribery consisting of crisps and sweets, time to get Kaylee sat and maintaining interest and attention for at least 2 minutes while I get some shots. Shooting with one hand, and balancing a reflector with the other hand, isn't always an easy process, but I'm a bloke and can multitask...right????
With these set of shots I decided to use the silver side of my reflector, knowing that I'll also be converting the shots into black and white, and the silver gives shots that extra bit of contrast, as well as filling in the shadows. Metering for these kind of shots is straight forward.....spot metering. Filing most of the frame with my daughters face, and spot metering, means you get the face exposed correctly, and the background overexposed, exactly the look I was going for in these shots. For the camera settings, hover over the pics for more details.
Kaylee GraceISO 200
50mm
f/2.8
1/640sec
Kaylee GraceISO 200
50mm
f/2.8
1/640sec
With the lighting changing quite quickly within minutes, overcast with menacing snowy skies one minute, to bright sunshine the next, I was especially careful as to where I placed her on the window sill, as there were occasions where the sunlight was coming across the left hand side of her face and giving some harsh shadows. By moving her slightly to her right, I was able to then manipulate the bright sunlight to create a hair light on her left hand side.
Kaylee GraceISO 200
50mm
f/2.8
1/640sec
Thankfully Kaylee is more than used to daddy getting his camera out at any opportunity, making get shots of her having fun and generally showing off quite easy.
Kaylee GraceISO 200
50mm
f/2.8
1/250sec
Kaylee GraceISO 200
50mm
f/2.8
1/640sec
YouTube channel coming soon....
After quite a bit of deliberation and thought, and also watching other amazing photographers be successful at it, I've decided I shall soon be launching my own YouTube channel.
Over the past couple of years I've found myself moving more into the tutoring side of photography, which I do love doing, and thought that it's high time I followed others and progressed further in the world of social media.
Now when it comes to photography I'm certainly no expert, and have no formal qualifications in photography or teaching, but just seem to have a natural way of passing on what I've learned over the years to others (well so I've been told anyway), so the content on my channel will be my own interpretation, whether that is right or wrong...but that's what I love about this wonderful art....there's no right or wrong way and everyone has their own take on pictures.
Also this year there will be more landscape shoots added to my portfolio, which will enhance the content on my channel.
So what kind of things can you expect on my YouTube channel???? Well there will be tutorials, behind the scenes footage on various shoots, from model shoots, portrait shoots, street photography, cityscapes to landscapes, and quite a bit of vlogging too. From time to time I will also produce videos showing the complete process from taking the picture, the thought processes behind it, to the final post production of the image in Lightroom or Photoshop. There will also be quite a bit covered about working and creating professional and studio quality images but without paying hundreds and thousands of pounds on equipment, and how you can capture some amazing pictures with just a basic set up.
The first video is currently under production, and should be realised within the next 7 days or so, and will basically be a short introduction about myself, my photography and what to expect from the channel......you may even get a "what's in my bag" video to start off with as that seems to be quite popular.
So once the first video is produced and released, there will be links posted on my website, and no doubt a short blog done about it too.
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.....as you never know where they may lead too.
Just over a week ago I answered a call of help on a Facebook group. It was a student, looking for a photographer to work on a TFP (time for print) basis. Basically, TFP means that, as a photographer you work for free but gain the benefit of achieving more pictures to add to your portfolio. As you can imagine there are a lot of these posted, and as a photographer you tend to weigh up each one and think of what possibilities it could lead too should you wish to take on the offer.
With this call, for me it was a no-brainer. Good PR for my business, as I'm helping out a student from a local college with a high end fashion exhibition, not having to rent a studio as we used the college studio, and Lauren (the student who organised it) was clear on what she was looking for, plus the possibility of what else it could lead too in the future.
There were two themes, red and yellow, and two models, Jess and Olivia. Neither of them are professional models, Jess is a friend of Lauren's and Olivia is a fellow student, but working with both of them was an absolute dream and, to be honest, looking at the results, neither of them would look out of place on the modelling scene.
Both shoots were tethered straight into Lightroom, so we could see the shots as they were taken and make lighting adjustments or editing decisions as we were going along, and also at the end of the shoot it made choosing images for Lauren a lot easier at the end of the session.
To the first shoot, theme of Red....this was supposed to be an outdoor shoot, but due to the return of the snow first thing in the morning meant that both were now going to be studio based.
Before shooting I set up the camera settings to shoot at the maximum shutter sync speed of the lights (1/250th sec) and then adjustments the aperture until I get a black screen. Doing this ensures that none of the ambient light in the studio is affecting the shot and gives me complete control of the two studio lights I was using.
So this is the lighting set up for the shoot....
.....a strobe through a soft box situated at a 45° angle towards the model and another strobe, situated behind the model, facing the white backdrop, and creating a clean crisp background.
Studio Shoot Red-026
Studio Shoot Red-041
Studio Shoot Red-022
Studio Shoot Red-031
Eventually we wanted to experiment using lighting gels, and using the exact same lighting set up, I place a purple gel over the light placed behind the model, increased the power of the light, as placing a gel over the diffuser you do lose one stop of light, and then it's a trial and error process until you get the desired amount, and with the strobe light at the same power, replaced the purple lighting gel with a light pink one. As we were shooting head and shoulder shots, I also had the model hold a silver reflector, bouncing some light to fill in shadows under the nose and chin.
Studio Shoot Red-089
Studio Shoot Red-103-Edit
The effect worked really well, and although these were shot on a white backdrop, you can also get the same effect using a grey backdrop, which tends to be the favoured coloured backdrop for photographers.
We then experimented with the black backdrop, firstly using just the speedlight through a soft box at a 45° degree angle (left hand pic below), and then using the 2nd speedlight with a red coloured gel, placed in a direct line on the right hand side of the model, and directly facing her, to create a strip of red lighting down her left side.
Studio Shoot Red-106
Studio Shoot Red-140
Then it was onto the yellow themed shoot, featuring Olivia. For this one the lighting set up was exactly the same as the above shots, but this time, changing the backdrop to a yellow colour, and using the speedlight behind the model to create a vivid yellow background.
Studio Shoot Yellow Olivia-012
Studio Shoot Yellow Olivia-019
With this shoot we also experimented with props, using sunglasses that were donated for the shoot, but having the model carefully place them so we didn't get any reflection of the soft box showing in the lenses of the glasses.
Studio Shoot Yellow Olivia-029
Studio Shoot Yellow Olivia-073
Studio Shoot Yellow Olivia-080
Studio Shoot Yellow Olivia-085
Again shooting tethered into Lightroom, when it came to the end of the shoot, Lauren could quickly choose which images she wished to use and place on an SD card, and with very little editing needed, the choosing and converting final images to JPEG was all done in minutes.
Knowing that these images will be used as part of a high end fashion exhibition, with some influential people taking part, does justify the decision to take up this TFP offer, and the possibilities that taking part in it could lead too.
So I'd say, as a photographer, whether hobbyist, semi-pro, or pro, never rule out doing TFP jobs and always weigh up the possibilities that could end up coming your way, and the PR for your business and photography skills......watch this space!!!!!
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So the one thing I've never done with my camera before is shoot video, and yesterday (against my better judgment) I ventured out to shoot some video of the weather we've been having over the last couple of days.
Must say I'm really impressed with the video capabilities of my D7000, and would certainly consider adding video to my list of services at some point at a later date.
As recently I seem to have been going down the route of tutoring a few people in various areas of photography, I'm certainly considering filming some online tutorials and setting up a Youtube channel.......watch this space!!!!!
]]>So the "Beast from the East' has arrived and causing chaos across the UK, and thankfully a perfectly timed week off from the day job, so mostly been a week of chilling out, watching the snow...the only downside being is not being to get out on the golf course at the moment.
Tuesday this week, I decided to get out in the cold and the snow and get out for a wander round Reddish Vale Country Park in Stockport. It's a place that's more or less on my doorstep, yet never been round for a walk there before.
On arriving I got lucky as we had some heavy snow overnight, and when I got to the car park it was bright sunshine, albeit very cold.
This picture I also sent in as weather pics to ITV Granada and BBC North West Tonight, and it managed to get a couple of seconds of screen time at the end of Tuesday's North West Tonight on the BBC.
My thinking behind this picture, is sung the viaduct in the distance as a focal point, running across the lower third of the shot, and framed by the trees on either side. I also used a narrow aperture to make sure I got a good clean sharp shot from front to back, using a wide angle lens. There was also a circular polarizer placed on the lens to take out the flare on the iced up pond and bring out the blue in the sky.
Then having a wander round, and following the river that flows through the Vale, I came across this composition. Using the grass at the front as a bit of foreground interest, and the river running through towards the back of the shot, again a narrow aperture and circular polarizer to bring out the blues in the sky.
A further wander round, and following one of the paths, I came across this shot, which looks amazing when transformed into black and white.
My final favourite shot is this long exposure shot, Using a circular polariser to take any glare from the water, and an ND filter to slow the shutter speed down, to around a 2 minute exposure.
I thoroughly enjoyed my walk round there, and will be going back to discover more and spend more time walking round there looking for more pictures.
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This booking came from a recommendation via Jay & Nicole, who's shoot with their daughter Amelia was featured in the last blog entry.
Vickey wanted some shots of her adorable 10 week old son, and a few of them together.
As with all portrait shoots I use my trusty 50mm lens, shoot at the fastest sync speed allowed with the studio lights I'm using, in this case it's 1/160th sec, and then before I start using the studio lights, I change the aperture settings until I get a black screen (explanation to follow) and tethered straight into my laptop through Lightroom. The reason why I set my camera to give me a black screen before I start using the studio lights, is so I can be sure that none of the ambient light that's in the studio will affect my shot, and ensures I have total control of the lighting on the shoot.
So before we started to shoot, I spent a bit of time with Louie, allowing him to get used to me and the surroundings. It wasn't long before he made his mark on the shoot and decided to be sick over my shoulder, so after a quick clean up and reassuring a mortified mummy that it wasn't a problem, we decided that mum and Louie shots together first would be the best way to start.
Shooting this first set of images was great fun, especially as Louie decided to look around everywhere, except the camera, and we got everyone involved behind the camera to try and get his attention, whether it was clapping or making funny noises.
I find the best way to tackle this is to tell mummy just to continue looking straight into the camera, whilst everyone tries to get babies attention, although it's amazing the number of really good natural looking shots you get whilst mayhem is going around behind you.
We then made use of the newly installed backdrops and backdrop system and switched to a plain grey background to produce some gorgeous, classic mum and baby pics.
With Louie now settled into the shoot, it was time for a change of back drop, find something suitable and comfortable for him to lie in, and just shoot away to get some wonderful solo shots of the little guy.
Once again after the shoot, it was time for Vickey to sit and choose her favourite shots, that would be edited and emailed to her within 2-3 hours, and as with previous portrait shoots, trying to get shot selection down to a final 10 was incredibly difficult.
Vickey soon got her selection down and went away with 10 wonderful images, and the feedback I've had from them was amazing.
Thanks again to Vickey and Louie, it was an absolute pleasure to work with you both today and hopefully see you again in the studio.
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Another wonderful shoot in the studio, and Jay and Nicole brought their gorgeous daughter Amelia for a kids portrait shoot.
To say she was a natural poser is an understatement, and without doubt the best child I've ever worked with on a shoot, very photogenic and loved posing...she even did her pouty pose for me.
Throughout the shoot I used my go to 50mm fixed lens, allowing me to use a wide aperture to throw the background out of focus. Lighting wise, I used either a large rectangle soft box with a honeycomb grid, or my beauty dish, used to light the picture below.
During the shoot Amelia was telling me all about her ballet, and after a change of costume and back drop, she decided to show me some of her ballet moves, which involved a lot of jumping around.
After 30 minutes of shooting, it was time for mum and dad to choose their favourite images, they were then edited and sent to them within a couple of hours.
Amelia was just a pleasure to photograph and such a gorgeous smile too, and both parents walked away really happy with the images they chose.
]]>A pleasant winters Friday morning in Castlefield, and another model shoot, this time a fashion theme, with Jannamie Windsor.
She is a great model to work with, and before the shoot we had bounced around a few ideas so we knew exactly the kind of images we were looking for.
As with all model location shoots, I always arrive early so I can scout suitable shooting locations, especially if I haven't had time to check the area days before, but as I have shot in Castlefield before, it's an area I know very well.
All the images shot were using my nifty fifty, a fantastic lens for portrait & model shoots, and never fails to deliver an excellent shot.
For these first few images (above), I wanted to make the most of the sun behind us, and use it to act as a rim light behind my model, and with an aperture of f/4.0, this guaranteed the background was suitably out of focus. I also used a speedlight and a white shoot through umbrella to create fill in light. To get these images requires the use of a light meter, as you meter for the ambient light around you and then have to match the settings with flash power.
For this next set we moved into the shade and made use of one of the steel pillars holding up one of the bridges across Castlefield Basin. For these we were relying more on the speedlight through the umbrella, as there wasn't as much natural light coming through, again using the 50mm lens, shutter speed of 1/250 sec and aperture of f/5.0
This shot above has to be the favourite of mine from this shoot. Using the bare brick wall as a backdrop, I placed a speedlight out of shot and facing the model's face, just a bare bulb flash for this shot, but the zoom on the flash set to 105mm to create a narrow beam of light that just lights the models face and creates the dramatic, moody effect.
During the shoot Jann spotted some graffiti on a wall, and we had to use it for a few shots, so it was a quick change of outfits and take a few using the red graffiti as a great backdrop to create some edgy, urban fashion shots. For these I also narrowed the aperture slightly, f/7.1 to give the images that slight dark and moody effect, but kept the focal length (50mm) and the shutter speed the same (1/250th).
When shooting, either using speed lights or studio lights, I always keep the shutter speed to the maximum shutter speed that syncs with the lighting you are using. Working this way means that the shutter speed is one less aspect of the shoot that you don't have to worry about, and gets you into the practise of controlling your flash power manually, and you can always narrow your aperture to create more moody lighting.
Jannaime was a brilliant model to work with, needed little, if any, direction, and a great laugh too, and we have already been talking about working on some more model shoots together in the future.
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With the arrival of a new bunch of light modifiers, I was keen to get my model portfolio updated and refreshed for 2018, and worked with experience model Tasha Johnson.
The look we were going for was minimum light, and the three hour model session included head shots, lingerie, and topless.
Starting off with head shots, and lit with just one beauty dish and honeycomb grid, this brought out the striking blue in Tasha's eyes, and to say we were both happy with the finished images was an understatement.
Eventually moving onto lingerie. These set of images were lit with one rectangular soft box, with a honeycomb grid. Using the honeycomb grid allows more direct use of the light and creates less fall out. On most of these images, we had the use of Tasha's partner, stood using a reflector to bounce a little bit of light back towards the model, and also a few with a speed light between the backdrop and the model, giving us just little bit of light separation between Tasha and the black background.
Finally moving onto the topless images, and these were shot with a combination of lighting. Some just lit with a single beauty dish with honeycomb grid, and others with the rectangular soft box, again with honeycomb grid.
Tasha was a fantastic model to work with, needing little or no direction when it comes to poses, and you could tell that she is very experienced. Needless to say it won't be the last time we will be working together, and she already has some ideas for future shoots, and some outdoor shoots too, once the weather gets a little warmer.
]]>Yes I know it's a bit late and it's January 11th, but after quite a rollercoaster last 6 months or so personally, I'm now getting back to normality and ready for new challenges and some exciting new projects and ideas for 2018.
Going to keep this blog post fairly short and sweet, but this year brings some new openings for Simon Norton Photography, starting with teaming up with a local photo studio to provide our children's photo shoot package.
With over 10 backdrops and at least 5 different vinyl floor, along with props, and refreshment facilities for clients, it's a perfect little studio for us to hold all our children's photo shoots.
Along with adding model, fashion & glamour shoots to my portfolio this year, 2018 is looking to be an exciting and busy for Simon Norton Photography.
]]>Having tried and failed in the past, and this year's supposed to be the most amazing for some years, last night I decided to get out, set the camera up and see what I could catch.
So home from the day job, around 1:30am this morning, out into the back garden with the camera sat on a tripod and on interval timer (settings details to come shortly), and facing north east, and just stand and watch.
Right the settings......my D7000 with a sigma 10-20 mm f/4.0-5.6 lens, the aperture as wide open as possible (f/4.0) and a 15sec exposure. Reading other sources they suggest 20-25sec exposures, but after a couple of test shots I found 15secs to be adequate. Had the lens as far back as it would go (10mm), manual focus and set on infinity. ISO set to 800 and the WB set to cloudy, this enabled me to shoot in an area with quite a bit of light pollution, but not let the orange street lights affect the shot. The camera mounted on my manfrotto tripod and set on interval timer so fire off a shot every 15secs, as I'm shooting a 15sec exposure then this is the least amount of time needed between each shot, others would say I needed to give it about 17-18secs on the interval timer but found what I set was good enough.
Shooting the perseids can be bit hit and miss, and normally it's sods law that the brightest meteors tend to fall when your camera is in-between processing exposures, as was the case in the early hours of this morning. Luckily though, it wasn't long before I captured one, and was also the brightest of the ones that I witnessed.
The early hours of 12th-13th August is supposed to be the peak of the shows this year, but they can still be seen days after that, so will be out tonight to try and capture some more, and as I'll be finishing the day job earlier this evening, should be out from around midnight.
Perseids Meteor Captured in Denton, Greater ManchesterNikon D7000, Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, f/4, ISO800, 15sec at 10mm, WB cloudy
.....and also my birthday, so spent most of the day just chilling out, enjoying the sun, and have camera at the ready as always.
Shooting garden insects, particularly bees, wasps etc., is something I've never tried before, and whilst sitting in the shade a couple of them decided to help themselves on the flowers.
With my sigma 70-300 lens attached, camera in aperture priority mode, and ISO bumped up to 3200 to enable me to get a fast shutter speed, particularly as they move fast, and it's not easy shooting at the 300mm end of a long lens.
With these shots I used an aperture of f/7.1, this giving me enough to blur out the background, and maintain a fast shutter speed.
I also shot in burst mode, with over 50+ frames shot in just over a minute.
After a little editing in Lightroom and Photoshop these are the 2 shots I was most pleased with.
They look the same shot, but there is a subtle difference between the two, and also framed using the rule of thirds.
Now back to enjoying the sun, the rest of my birthday, and off for a curry......yes just what you need on a hot day!!!!
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Yes it's been a while since I've updated this, due to reasons I'm not going into on here. Anyway, yesterday it was out into Manchester for coffee, catchup and a wander with the camera with one of my photo buddies.
Being honest, I found it difficult to be inspired yesterday, not sure whether it's the consequence of trying to get my photography mojo back, or whether it's my home town just lacking in photographic inspiration, which considering what we in Manchester have been through recently I doubt it's the latter!!!!
I started off my getting a few of the standard shots through windows, looking into cafe's.
We then wandered into St Annes Square, where up until recently, it has been the focus for remembrance, vigils and floral tributes for those lives lost and injuries sustained in the recent terrible Manchester terror attack. The council are putting the square back to it's normal look now, all the flowers, candles, balloons etc.,have gone, but are all being preserved towards a lasting memorial, and whilst there came across Councillor Pat Karney who was waiting patiently for someone, and we didn't have to wait long to find out who, and what he was doing...
....being interviewed by reporter Amy Welch for Granada Reports.
Whilst wandering around the square, I also captured this shot....
....after the terrible bombing at the Manchester Arena, the police presence has been massive in Manchester, and captured this shot of two constables listening intently to the gentleman asking where all the floral tributes have gone.
Then a wander round to near the town hall, and this, parked where they shouldn't and an apt registration plate....
A couple of food and coffee stops, then wandering up Market Street, to find this reflection shot outside Primark...
...and a sit down next to the newly refurbished fountain in Piccadilly Gardens, where my want to take a long exposure shot was quickly dashed, after discovering I didn't bring any filters whatsoever.....better planning needed next time!!!!
On the way out though I grabbed this shot....
...if looks could kill!!!!
Although I didn't take that many shots yesterday, I was quite pleased with the one's I did and how they came out.....maybe a lesson for the future....quality not quantity.
Certainly gave me the kick I needed though to get out with my camera again, and will be making the most of a week and a half off the day job, to get out with it more....inbetween playing a lot of golf and gym routines.
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...and off to meet Kaylie, her partner Ross and their three children at Victoria Park in Holmfirth for a kids park shoot.
This glorious park overlooks the village and is ideal for shoots like this, and we were blessed with some amazing weather too.
Kaylie and her partner also wanted some family shots taking during the shoot, and more than happy to oblige. So to start things off we shot this family picture at the top end of the park, where this round bench area overlooks the whole village.
Then it was time to make the most of the wonderful flowers in the park, and they also created a good backdrop for some of the kids pictures.
The thing with doing children's park shoots, it trying to keep them interested, and entertained, whilst keeping the shots natural too, so it wasn't long before we were off to the play area, let them loose and just shoot away.
Before finishing the shoot, we had to make use of the flower beds again, and grab some lovely shots of mum and dad on their own.
Kaylie, Ross and their children were fantastic to work with, and lots of fun, and with such a gorgeous location, and a little trip to Comp's chippy on the way home, a good day was had by all.
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One of the benefits of having a gorgeous, photogenic 2 year old daughter is that she is always ready to assist daddy with practising photo techniques in the studio.
Last Saturday morning, myself and Kaylee spent half an hour playing with bubbles, black background, one studio strobe through a softbox and a speed light behind the model to create a ring light to separate her from the background.
First thing was to get Kaylee in place, set up the camera on a tripod with remote release, get the exposure correct on the studio strobe and the speed light behind the model and then get to work.
Here is the lighting diagram for this set up....
When using studio strobes and speed lights, I always use the fastest shutter speed possible, for my D7000 and yongnuo speed lights it's 1/250th sec.
For this shoot I used my 50mm prime lens, and aperture of f/5.6 and ISO 100.
After a few test shots and teaching Kay how to sit still and not wanting to inspect every shot, I sat down just to the left of the model and using the remote shutter release started to blow bubbles towards Kaylee and encouraging her to catch them.
I was exceptionally pleased the results and will be adding the kids 'n' bubbles shoot to my kids portrait offers.
Not done this for a long while, and a work colleague wanted to go out into Manchester to do a bit of street photography, so though it was about time I went out and about and see what I could capture.
As usual it was a typical grey, miserable day in Manchester, with very little detail in the skies, so looking for inspiration at times I found difficult.
We started off in Albert Square, where chinese new year celebrations were in full show...
....this processed in Lightroom and using selective colouring to bring out the red lanterns against the back drop of Manchester Town Hall.
Then a wander up Moseley Street for some long exposure photography, using the trams. Took a few attempts to get this shot, due to people walking past, but it's expected as Moseley Street is a busy little place full of office blocks.
There seem to be more and more rough sleepers in Manchester city centre these days, and whilst wandering round to Market Street, I didn't expect one to be placing his bank card into the hole in the wall.
Round to High Street, and a great place to practise panning techniques, in between trams. This shot again processed in Lightroom.
Over to Deansgate Castlefield tram stop and capturing a dramatic shot of the bridge leading from the tram platform to Deansgate Rail Station. As is the norm with Manchester, lots of building and construction work going on, so I decided to edit out the cranes in this shot, and also using a few processed in Lightroom, managed to bring out some detail in the sky to create a dramatic look to the picture.
Whenever I get out and about in town, I always love to shoot a miniature style picture. This miniature tram 'n' traffic shot, taken from the bridge from Piccadilly rail station, across London Road.
Whilst to some the trams are a bit of a nuisance in Manchester, to me, as a photographer, they are a great source for a shot. This picture below taken at St Peter's Square and was a shot for my weekly #52project, with this week's theme of capturedmotion.
Finally, and what most photographers who do street photography like to shoot....people.
Although by the end of the day my feet were killing me, and at times lacking in inspiration for a shot, I'm quite happy with those I've picked out and certainly will be taking to the streets of Manchester, and other areas, more to hone my street photography skills further,
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So to 2017!!!! Going to be another busy year, and started off with a studio family shoot. Jan, his partner Lucia and their two boys came to our studio for an hour long shoot.
Using both a black and a white backdrop, and also using my daughter's Paw Patrol toys as props, we had great fun and provided the family with some fantastic images, which they gave amazing feedback on.
As well as a set of colour, they also get a set of black and white images too, all available for them to download from their own private online gallery.
If you wish to book a family photo shoot, then feel free to contact us on 07714 418708, or visit our contact page.
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As it was another glorious afternoon, it was time to get the 2 boys out into the garden and grab a few snapshots of them both together.
The sun was very bright, so for all these shots I made sure that they were facing away from the sun, with the sun creating a nice little backlight, and using off camera flash to fill in the shadows. Also shooting this way, ensures your subject isn't squinting.
For those who have tried, but failed, to shoot family pics in the sun, with the sun behind, it's quite straightforward.
STEP 1, AMBIENT LIGHT METERING - Place camera in either aperture priority or shutter speed priority mode and take a meter reading with your subjects in the shot. I also use evaluative metering. Once you have the meter reading you desire, place the camera in manual mode and dial in the settings.
STEP 2, OFF CAMERA FLASH METERING - This is where having a light meter is handy, if you don't then it's just about adjusting the off camera flash. Set up your off camera speedlight (in manual mode), start with around half power, and using your light meter take a reading of the flash from under the chin of your subject. The flash power needs to be the same settings as you've dialled in STEP 1. The idea behind using off camera flash in daylight is to eliminate any harsh shadows created by sunlight, and also to fill in these shadows without making it look too much like you've used a speed light.
STEP 3 - Click away and fire some shots. Doing it this way, and keeping the flash the same settings as your ambient light, you eliminate harsh shadows and also fill in where you tend to get harsh shadows whilst shooting in direct sunlight (round the eyes, cheeks, nose). You also get that fantastic catchlight in the eyes of your subject.
Don't forget that shooting this way, you can also control the ambient light, by changing your aperture settings. To create a more moody ambient background, make your aperture smaller but don't change the power of your speed light. No matter how much you change the aperture, the power of the speed light on your subject will remain the same.
So get out, while we have our 3 day summer, and get those gorgeous family snaps using the guide above.
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Again, busy both photography and personally recently so not had chance to post for a few months. So what's been happening I hear you cry!!!
Firstly, the wedding of Shaun and Toni at Bury Town Hall and reception at the Boltholt Country Park Hotel in Bury. It was a wonderful ceremony and a gorgeous setting for the reception afterwards, and I've never seen a couple sooooo suited and in love.
It was such a pleasure to work with these two and in such a beautiful setting too. The Boltholt Hotel is a fantastic wedding venue, with a gorgeous lake and lawns at the front, that make a wedding photographers dream when it comes to capturing the bride and groom shots after the ceremony.
I'm currently working through all the shots and ahead of the time normally taken to deliver the final shots to my clients.
I wish Shaun and Toni all the best for the future, and along with their little boy Corban, who recently featured in one of my newborn shoots, they make a wonderful family together.
Wedding Prices for 2017!!!!
I'm fully booked up for 2016, not even spaces for last minute weddings I'm afraid, and 2017 is booking up really quick too, but there are a few spaces available if you haven't booked your wedding photographer for next year....and I'm freezing my prices too!!!!
All weddings booked for 2017 will be at the same price as 2016, so if it's on your list of things to organise then time to get it done before I'm fully booked again. Visit my wedding page for more details on my wedding packages.
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It's been such a busy time recently, not just photography wise but generally too and I've hardly had any chance to sit and write a new blog.
So firstly, it's been a busy time since I put my "2 shoots for £40" offer on here and various Facebook pages.
My first booking was with Lee and Anthony who wanted some shots with their nephew Ethan. This shoot was taken in their home and I took my portable studio set up along.
Time to occupy Ethan with some toys, and bring some more colour into the shots taken against the white background.
After the usual family posed shots, I took the backdrop down and the lights away and decided on a more natural shoot with Ethan playing with his toys in the front room. There was also a nice large front window with light streaming through it, so it was natural light all the way for the rest of the shot....I do prefer working with natural light.
All 3 were fantastic to work with and Ethan especially was a delightful little boy with the most amazing blue eyes. I'm just waiting now for a combination of a sunny Saturday morning, and a free one when I'm not already booked to shoot their outdoor shots.
I've just recently moved into the world of newborn baby shoots. There's been a bit of a baby boom recently amongst my friends so a good opportunity to get them to my mini studio set up and get some newborn shots added to my portfolio.
Firstly Lisa, her partner Helen and their gorgeous little girl Thea.
This has been a steep learning curve for me, but was very pleased on how the shots have come out.
Then the following day it was Shaun, his fiancé Toni and their little boy Corban. Corban arrived asleep, ideal for posed shots, but with his being a light sleeper he soon woke up and his eyes were everywhere.
Still it was another fantastic shoot and again really happy with how the shots came out.
Really enjoyed both these shoots and have a few more booked off the back of these shots, and looking forward to adding more to my portfolio.
Another reason why I love photography is that I always have friends who are either keen to take it up as a hobby, or already take pictures but are keen to improve and just get out whenever possible to shoot some pictures. This week I went out into Manchester with my mate Yorkie, and normally we do some street photography. This time though we went out with a pre-requisite of what shots we wanted to take.
The first I wanted to shoot was the new Co-op building in the centre of Manchester, some say this is like a mini version of the gherkin in London.
Ideally I wanted more drama with the clouds in this shot. I used a ND filter to create slow cloud movement, but as it was a typical grey day in Manchester, I didn't get the movement I was after. Also removed a couple of posts in the front of the building in photoshop.
Then we moved to Victoria train station as we wanted to capture trams in miniature form. I do love experimenting with this form of photography and certainly Manchester lends itself to it very well.
Finally onto Piccadilly tram stop and some motion blur capture, and pretty pleased with how this one turned out.
So it's been a busy few weeks and it looks to be getting busier too, not just photography wise too. Taken up golf last year and now have quite a few society matches coming along soon, so have invested in a few lessons, I'm also training to run the Manchester 10k run, raising money for Pancreatic Cancer Research, and you can visit my Just Giving page to read my story and make a donation if you so wish https://www.justgiving.com/Simon-Norton5
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Week 11 - Texture
This was a shot taken during our recent snowy spell and love the texture of the snow on the branches. Also with this shot I was experimenting with some photoshop actions.
Week 12 - Silhouette
​This shot yesterday, in-between rain and hail showers. Went up to Werneth Low to grab this shot. Using a narrow aperture and an ND filter to capture the cloud movement.
So, spending a Good Friday evening going through some old photo's and went through some of the shots I took recently whilst up in the hills above Saddleworth, trying to get a glimpse of these elusive lights.
Looking at this shot, there is the feint sighting of the green haze created by the lights, on the horizon.
Firstly week 8 and the theme is Outtake.
I chose this picture as technically it was an outtake from a wedding I covered just before Christmas 2015. It's the daughter of one of the bridesmaids and while my macbook was uploading a load of bridal prep shots, this little girl was doodling on her toy in the front room. I asked her to hold up what she had been drawing and this is the result. I love this shot as it's natural and shot in natural light too. Right behind me was a huge front window which lit this shot in a very dimly lit room, but captured the light in her eyes just beautifully.
Week 9 theme is Black and White.
This is a shot from my recent trip to Iceland. It's a black and white shot of the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal outdoor spa which is just amazing and one reason alone to visit this amazing country.
Finally week 10 is 'Selfie'.
The theme most photographers hate....that's why we prefer to be the other side of the camera. This is an old shot (yes it's allowed in the rules), taken last year for Comic Relief. I was having a play around in the studio and then working in lightroom to work on the processing. I wanted to capture shots similar to those taken of celebs wearing a red nose for the comic relief website. Also with Sport Relief just around the corner it's quite topical.
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Having just spent a few days in Iceland trying to see them, with no success, I get back home after spending the evening with family in Oldham and look on Facebook in disbelief.....the Northern Lights have been captured above the hills of Oldham!!!!!
My first reaction is "WTF!!!!" and convinced these lights are taking the piss out of me. So it's time to grab the kit and tripod, thick coat, hat and gloves and set off to see if they will appear for me.
My first port of call was Hartshead Pike, it's about 10 mins away from me in the car, and overlooks Tameside and Oldham and normally a great spot. Sadly not, and once again the cloud is proving to be my nemesis, so it's off out further into the hills.
Heading out towards Saddleworth, I decided to go through Greenfield and past Dovestones Reservoir. If you take the main road past Dovestones, it takes you, eventually, over the tops into Kirklees and Huddersfield. This was the road I used to take my shot of Dovestones that made the Manchester Evening News 2016 calendar...
....hehehe yep, any chance to get this shot in and a mention again!!!
This time I carried on up, determined that I wasn't let the northern lights beat me. I had just passed the Kirklees border sign and came across a maybe on the left hand side and decided this would be the place. I positioned the car so that I could place the camera on a tripod, facing North, just outside the drivers door, and with the remote cable in hand, and sat fairly warm inside the car, started clicking away.
It was so calm and peaceful up there, especially as it was gone midnight, and the peace was only broken by the odd car going past.
While sitting there, staring into the night sky, and wishing the clouds would drift over quickly, you're eyes start to play mind games with you, and you start to convince yourself that you've seen the northern lights.
After a few shots, and not convinced that the cloud cover would give me a hope in hell, I then see a glint of hope looking through the shots, and believe I may have just caught a glimpse of the northern lights peeking through the cloud.
If you look carefully on the horizon and in-between the clouds you can see little glimpses of the green that is synonomous with the Northern Lights.
The two red dots to the right of shot, I believe may be coming from the Holme Moss TV tower that overlooks Holmfirth.
This second shot, shows a little more of the lights peeking through the cloud. It's amazing that despite using the same camera settings, which I'll go into more shortly, the white balance changes each shot (I was using auto white balance).
What was weird though was that the camera had captured, what I believe to be Aurora Borealis, yet due to the cloud and constant staring into the night sky, I couldn't see it with the naked eye.
I was sat here for over an hour, and having now discovered a couple of aurora forecast websites and a twitter account that keeps you informed of potential aurora activity, I'll be keeping a beady eye on these and will at some point get better shots, and will also in the meantime research other places to view them.
All 3 of these shots were taken using my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, camera on tripod and using a cable shutter release. ISO 1000, f/4.8 and a 15sec exposure, and most importantly, camera in manual mode.
These are roughly the recommended setting to take shots of the northern lights, and as you take each shot you can adjust the ISO, aperture and shutter speed to suit the look you are wanting to get with your pictures. The general rule of thumb is, use the widest aperture you can with the lens you are using, and if necessary, adjust the ISO to get the slow shutter speed you require. If the northern lights are putting on a great show above you and moving slowly, then you need to change your shutter speed to around a 30sec exposure.
So a little disappointed that I didn't see them in full effect, but it makes me more determined to see this spectacle with my own eyes, but then excited at the same time that I did manage to capture a bit of it through the camera.
Aurora Borealis, I've got my beady eye on you!!!!
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Being a photographer you do try to take your camera with you every where you go, and especially knowing my photogenic nephews are around, you can guarantee the camera is with me.
After pulling out jigsaw after jigsaw, Elias finally settled down to watch Toy Story 2, and likes to sit in grandma's chair near the front window. This also gives me the opportunity to get out the nifty fifty and shoot some candid portraits.
My Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8D is my favourite lens EVER!!!!! Fantastic for portraits, especially in low light and when wanting to use just natural light only.
Lovely and pin share is this lens, and looking forward to using this lens more when I look at upgrading to full frame later this year.
Being a portrait photographer, my 2 nephews are just fantastic to shoot, and love getting candid shots of them. It's true to say that my family aren't short of pictures of the 2 boys.
Also love experimenting with different processing in photoshop and lightroom with my portraits.
Elias is a perfect subject, and he always has a wide range of funny faces he pulls.
Whenever I can I always use natural light, although using bounce flash you can still get some excellent portrait shots in low light.
To say I've enjoyed the break in Iceland is an understatement. Yes it was disappointing that the northern lights didn't come out to play, but that didn't spoil our enjoyment of such an amazing place.
It was a busy few days but I wouldn't change a thing.....fantastic scenery, amazing adventures and good company and laughs with one of my besties.
I'm already looking into coming back, hopefully towards the end of this year, a second attempt to catch the lights and do more photography round Reykjavik.
Not being someone that's well travelled, it has now spurred me on to see more places and look into more similar city breaks.
Here's to my next trip...wherever that may be!!!!
]]>Slightly worrying that already on reception desk there is a notice stating that the night cruises have been cancelled tonight....will worry later as tiredness and chilling out is needed first.
Although there is slight disappointment that the Northern Lights have escaped us to far, we are still really enjoying our stay so far and this is another highlight.
The Blue Lagoon is situated near the geothermal Svartsengi power plant and is just an amazing experience. Once inside you get a wrist band attached that has a chip installed into it, and you use this band to pay for towels, robes, drinks and food whilst using the outside spa.
It's just a weird feeling, walking out in the freezing cold in your swimwear, and then into the lovely warm spa, where you can swim or walk all the way around and stay really nice and warm. It's strange too how in one area it could be almost boiling, yet 2 feet away a little more tepid, but still warm. Also amusing is wandering round here with your body in the nice warm spa, whilst holding a cold beer lol.
We arrived there around 10:15am, tired but looking forward to a nice chilled out afternoon, and it seemed the bus driver may have had little sleep the night before and was irritable...kept pressing the point that he was picking us up at 12:30, and not on gods clean earth were we going to rush our time there. Can't understand why he said this, as you get a little timetable stapled to your bus tickets that clearly display buses on the hour back to Reykjavik.
Can't recommend a visit to here highly enough. You can even cover your face and body in a Silica mud mask, leave it on for 5 minutes then wash it off and it leaves your skin nice and smooth.
We stayed in here till around 2pm, a good enough time to chill out and recharge the batteries and catch the 3pm bus back to Reykjavik.
Finally back to the hotel to find out that the Northern Lights cruise had been cancelled due to weather....so alas the lights have beat us this trip!!!
Needless to say though I will be back and hunt the lights again!!
]]>First stop on the Golden Circle tour is Pingvellir National Park. The part was the original site of the original Alpingi, the national parliament of the settlers, and is also the setting for many of the most important events in the history of Iceland. The views of this park is just stunning, this is a pano shot from a viewing platform not far from the coach park.
This stop is used on the tour as a quick leg rest and loo break, but gives you enough time to take in the breathtaking scenes. It's amazing how when you stand and admire these views, you suddenly don't feel the cold.
Time for quick touristy photo no.1...
Hop back on the bus, and off again 10 minutes later for another quick stop....either the driver is wanting to pan out the trip or has a weak bladder. Time though to see more of this national park, and a rather precarious walk down a pathway...honestly don't know how the pair of us didn't end up on our arses!!!!
Quick touristy photo no.2....
After a half hour stop here, it's onto Gullfoss and to view the Golden Waterfall. The waterfall is located in the Hvita river, and cascade 32m down in 2 stages.
On the way to this waterfall, our tour guide (who was really good I might add!!!), was going on about the restaurant nearby which sold traditional Icelandic meat soup, which isn't really a soup but more a broth/stew. We can both categorically justify that it's neither a broth or a stew, more like 3 litres of hot water with one chicken stock cube, a load of boiled veg and over boiled lamb....all for about £10!!!! I think the term we used was #stewmyarse.
Still this did warm us up, and felt sorry for Chloe whilst stood near the waterfall as I went into full photographer mode, trying to use filters whilst my fingers were dropping off.
Back onto the coach and heading off to Geysir, and the geothermal field in Haukadalur. This field is a natural wonder of hot springs and boiling mud pools.
This is a pano shot of the field of hot springs....
Also a little further up is the Strokkur, which sends up a column of water, up to 30 metres high in the air, about every 10 minutes. Was quite amusing to watch all the tourists gather round as this shoots high into the air and let out a...whoooooo!!!!....bit like watching kids watching bonfires.
Next stop on the trip was Skalholt church, a stunning small church with an amazing view right next to it. This is the view with your back to the church.
Inside the church is a list of all the ministers who have served at this church, and over 90% of them have surnames that end in SSON. I firmly believe that those in Iceland who own a business that manufactures S's for signs in the country must be billionaires!!!
Whilst inside this church, which has some amazing stained glass windows too, there was a really moving moment where Chloe lit a candle for her nan.
The final stop on this tour is to Fakasel and the Icelandic Horse Park, and as neither of us had any interest in horses, we decided to make use of the bar there instead hehehe.
Overall we were very impressed with the Golden Circle Tour. The tour guide was excellent, the views were absolutely stunning and it's a great way to see Iceland. Also have to say the wi-fi on the coaches on the tour is amazing too, even in remote areas it was in full working order.
Finally back to the hotel, quick freshen up, bite to eat in the hotel bar (yep back in time for happy hour hehehe), couple of drinks, and then back out for our re-booked Northern Lights bus tour.
The difference between this tour guide and the guy on the Golden Circle was unbelievable. Having set off and finally away from the lights of Reykjavik, we pulled over in what I think was a lay-by whilst travelling up into the Iceland mountains. I can only think that the driver and the tour guide thought they may have spotted the Northen Lights, but it was plain to see that all you could see was light pollution from Reykjavik in the distance. This stop also created an impromptu photography lesson from me to a small group of Japanese tourists.....bill is in the post lol. Thankfully this didn't continue at the main stop, especially as Chloe would've had to resort to desperate measures to get rid of them lol.
Back on the coach, and off to a motorway services for a 45 minute stop off, this followed by a quick tour of the car park from the driver...god knows what he was doing, and then off to our final destination.
There we were, in the middle of nowhere, the tour guide assuring us that he's put in a call to someone above (WTF!!!!), and approximately 12 coaches descended on someone's house, with us all piling out all over their fields trying to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Sadly to no avail and there was only so long you could stand in a few feet of snow without loosing the feeling in your feet, and trying to take long exposure shots whilst others are flashing torches all around you. This was the nearest we got to a shot of the Northern Lights....a brief moment when the clouds parted...
Very tired and cold, we finally got back to the hotel just gone 2am, knowing that another early start was waiting the next morning to the Blue Lagoon, but it will be a morning of relaxation and chill in the outdoor spa, followed by the Northern Lights night cruise....our final chance to see the elusive lights.
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We were expecting it to be cold, but boy we didn't realise just how cold until we walked out of arrivals at Keflavik and towards the waiting transfer bus. At the time it was around 5°C but felt more like -4°C!!!!
So we got to the Best Western Hotel in Reykjavik to check in, only to be told that the hotel was fully booked, despite the fact that we had already booked this hotel back in November 2015. Thankfully though the receptionist had upgraded us to a 4* hotel nearer to the centre of Reykjavik for no extra cost, and provided a taxi to the Hotel Reykjavik Centrum, which I can't recommend highly enough!!!
The hotel is lovely, the food is amazing and the room I was upgraded to included a full on wet room, although to Chloe's amusement, she pointed out that I was given a disabled toilet....maybe the cheeky buggers took my age into consideration hehehe.
Attached to the hotel is a restaurant, where we dined on the first night, and the food is just amazing. The hotel also includes a bar, with happy hour every evening between 5pm and 7pm....obviously we made use of this facility hehehe.
The look of the surrounding area of Hotel Centrum is very nordic and very picturesque, and I'd imagine at Christmas time it just looks magical....although it looks magical now!!!!
Finally, after checking in, and unpacking, it was off into the centre of Reykjavik to jump on the sightseeing bus tour, starting at the Harpa, which is a very impressive concert hall and conference centre.
If you visit Reykjavik I do recommend this bus tour, and maybe if the weather was a little kinder to us we may have made more use of it and stopped off at some of the sights on the way.
As you set off from the Harpa, one of the first buildings you see is the Prime Minister's Office in Downtown Reykjavik.
Thankfully the bus tour wasn't an open top one, as it was bitterly cold and start snowing during the tour. After doing the tour we stayed on the bus to get off at a stop nearer the centre, solely for us to avoid the embarrassment of doing a Torvill & Dean impression on the icy pavements while walking back into the centre of Reykjavik!!!
Whilst waiting for the bus to set off again, I captured this shot of Chloe, as the light coming through the bus doors off the harbour was just spectacular for a close up portrait shot.
I also managed to get a panoramic shot before the bus set off again, looking across from the Harpa, across the harbour and towards the snowy mountains.
Unfortunately the weather on this first day was grey, and snowy and also resulted in the cancellation of our Northern Lights night tour, but we are hoping to re-book and squeeze it in before the weekend is out and set off back home!!!
We eventually made it back into the centre of Reykjavik, via a hat shop, as Chloe's ears were about to drop off, and while waiting I decided to do a little Iceland street photography and captured this shot of a couple of Japanese tourists.
With new hat and ears warm, not any old hat by the way, she had to get one with bobbles on we set off to walk to a nearby grocery store to stock up on coke, to go with my honey JD and Chloe's malibu, and as we did the heavens opened, and got caught in a mini blizzard whilst walking through the little square near the hotel.
So after a couple of drinks and a really nice evening meal at the hotel it was time for some much needed rest, as Friday it's the Golden Circle Tour, a full on, 8 hour day touring geysers and waterfalls, and (weather permitting) try to re-book the Northern Lights Tour for the evening!!!
]]>Surprisingly I've found this fairly easy, and after talking to a few others who have taken similar trips at this time of year, you don't really need to pack heavy jumpers, clothes, boots etc., and that the climate is not dissimilar to the UK at this time of the year.
So with a week to go, I packed the case with the clothes I'll be wearing whilst there, then added what photography gear I will be taking (stripping it down to the bear minimum but enough to capture what shots I'm after) and found i'm about 1.2kg under the maximum weight. I'll go into more detail shortly regarding the camera gear I'm taking!!! Another benefit of taking a trip to Reykjavik at this time of year is that the climate here is similar, albeit in Iceland at the moment it's a few degrees cooler, and you can turn up at any UK airport wearing your polar expedition clothes and not look out of place.
So to the camera gear.....well going is my trusty Nikon D7000, complete with charger and spare battery. The battery grip stays behind due to it's weight, and this allows me to take an extra lens, macbook or extra filters. So the kit lens (18-105mm VR) is coming, along with my Sigma 10-20mm (ideal for those wide angle shots for shooting the Northern Lights) and had considered taking my nifty fifty, but it would mean taking extra filters, and for the shots I'm wanting to take the kit lens would be more than sufficient.
So this is likely to be the list of gear I'l be taking on the trip....
- Nikon D7000
- Charger & spare battery & 2 SD cards
- 18-105mm VR Lens
- Sigma Wide Angle 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC lens
- ND1000 filter 67mm (for the kit lens)
- ND1000 filter 77mm (for the wide angle lens)
- Remote cable release
- Cokin filter holders & set of ND filters
- Manfrotti Compact Light Red Tripod
- Macbook pro with charger lead and external portable hard drive
Just a quick note on the tripod. This tripod I accidentally bought just over a year ago from Curry's, and only after I bought it I realised it was designed more for compact or bridge camera. That said, I've since used it with my D7000 on and the Sigma wide angle lens, and found it sturdy and fantastic to use. This has now become my default travel tripod when I'm needing to keep weight down, here is a link to the tripod, ideal for a DSLR with small lenses on it, not for long telephoto lenses http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/cameras-and-camcorders/photography-accessories/tripods/manfrotto-compact-light-red-tripod-10010405-pdt.html
So that's me all packed and ready for a trip I've always wanted to take, and finally getting to do it, fingers crossed that the lights will be out to play, and packing as many trips as possible into the 3 nights I'm there, I'll try to keep this blog updated while I'm there.
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Firstly week 6 theme of 'Unbalanced'.
The reasoning for this shot coming under the them of 'Unbalanced' is due to the precarious position I found myself in while shooting this long exposure, with both myself and the tripod balanced on the edge of the river.
Meanwhile, here's Week 7 - 'Love'.
I was assisting my mother in keeping my 2 nephews occupied, and this is the youngest one, Elias, who loves posing for the camera. In fact both love doing it, and are quite used to it everytime they are with Uncle Simon
This is the shot I've been wanting to take for a while...
It was a little treacherous climb down to the side of the River Tame, and you have to avoid numerous items of rubbish that had been dumped down there. This long exposure was taken using my polarising filters I've recently purchased ready for my trip to Reykjavik next week, and my ND1000 filter to get the milky flow of the water and movement in the clouds above.
After shooting this, I moved nearer to the bridge and turned around to capture this image, featuring the chimney near to Portland Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne...
Then making my way back to Portland Basin, I did another periscope broadcast on the technique of taking a panoramic shot. For this image below I stood underneath the cobbled bridge that faces the Portland Basin museum, took a meter reading of the scene, dialled in the settings, camera in manual, and then took shots whilst twisting from left to right and making sure that scenes in shots overlap each other. You then import the shots into Lightroom or Photoshop and let the software do it's work while it creates the panoramic.
Finally, whilst making my way home, and still having my wide angle lens on the camera, I grabbed this shot of a canal barge near Portland Basin marina, and played around with presets in Lightroom to create the gritty effect on the shot.
It's been a while since I spent a few hours with just me and the camera, and not been on a photo job, and it was an enjoyable couple of hours.
Certainly will be getting out during the year to create more shots and landscapes.
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So I'll bring this blog up to date with all the shots from my 52 project so far this year, and a brief explanation of each shot.
Week 1 - "Time"
Time is an important factor of my day job, so it was quite apt that this was the first theme of the 52 project.
Despite promising not to shoot many shots from the day job for the 52 project, this was too good an opportunity to miss (although that promise won't be kept to I can assure you).
This is a picture of my duty card for that particular day at work, shot with iPhone and using a couple of filters on instagram, and cropped so the duty card filled the whole frame.
ISO 40
1/50sec
f/2.2
Week 2 - "My Everyday"
So onto week 2, and already going back on my promise on using my day job as subjects for the 52 (well I did warn you above hehehe).
This is a scene I see more or less everyday, rush hour at Cornbrook tram station.
Again shot on iPhone and using instagram and snapseed filters.
I used the tram on the left and the platform furniture on the right hand side to frame commuters in the middle of shot
ISO 160
1/8sec
f/2.2
Week 3 - "Out Of Focus"
This was an old stock shot of mine, originally taken during a street photography shoot in August 2015.
At the time I was honing my panning skills as it's not something I've tried before.
For this shot I was trying to frame the cyclist between the 2 taxi's and place the cyclist in the first 3rd of the frame, whilst using a slow shutter speed to convey movement.
This shot with my Nikon D7000.
ISO 280
1/20sec
f/32.0
Week 4 - "Shadow"
Quite a tenuous link with this one, and this shot bore out of the fact that I hadn't any time to think and get out to take a proper shot and also wanting to use my camera, and take a fresh new shot.
So these are my running shoes, and they have made me a shadow of my former self, as I'm currently in training for this years Manchester 10k run. Running, or any kind of physical sport, hasn't interested me in the past, but having lost quite a bit of weight through it and feeling better in myself, I'm now hooked.
This shot, taken in my front room with the D7000 and using natural light through the front window, and composed with the trainers filling most of the frame.
ISO 1600
1/50sec
f/4.8
Week 5 - "Morning"
A shot of the postbox at Victoria Rail Station, another one taken using iPhone and using the snapseed app.
Again time was against me this week, and whilst waiting for a friend to arrive saw this opportunity for a shot.
Using the collection time plate to fill frame diagonally from left to right.
ISO 100
1/17sec
f/2.2
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As with all websites it will grow as the year goes on, and soon will be adding client proofing areas and print sale pages. The print sale pages will include some of my landscape shots which will be available to buy as large prints.
2016 looks to be a busy one too, not just this website but also working on another vehicle to sell some of my landscape and city scape pictures, and also my desire to visit more places this year. I'm already working on this desire to visit and discover new places, with a trip to Reykjavik towards the end of February to witness and photograph the Northern Lights.
Hope you find my new site better, and please feel free to send a message here http://simonnortonphotography.zenfolio.com/contact.html to leave feedback on my new site or if you wish to book one of my photography services.
Also, those who know me best know that I'm the worlds worst when it comes to updating blogs etc, so I'm not going to make another false promise, but when time allows (and I remember hehehe) this blog will be updated.
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