TV Weather shots (Parts 63-66)

Hello again.
Here is my latest batch of Weather Shots that were shown on local TV recently. As usual, each shot is presented as a short video clip, taken directly from TV and converted for use in the blog video player (below). Today marks a slight change from the norm as I bring you my first ever BBC Weather shot!
Up to now all of my previous weather shots were shown on Tyne-Tees Television, all 62 of them, but I decided to try my luck with BBC and it worked out well. A recent camping trip on August Bank Holiday weekend gave me an opportunity to do my first ever sunrise shoot in the Lake District, which I grabbed with both hands. I captured what I consider to be one of my finest landscape shots I have ever taken, at Buttermere. A full blog entry of my camping trip will appear here soon.

Weather shots in the video player below are -
63. Roseberry Topping, Great Ayton
64. St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay
65. South Shields Sunrise
66. Buttermere, Lake District

Ash

Riverside Stadium, Middlesborough

Not sure why, but I've been making a few photography visits to Teesside recently. I had no previous interest in this part of the world, especially when there's plenty to offer 'up' the coast, rather than down. Although the Northumberland coast is far more photogenic, there are still a few gems to be had on the North Yorkshire coast, such as Staithes, Whitby & Robin Hood's Bay, but I opted not to travel that far south, and visited Guisborough and Roseberry Topping instead. On my way back to God's Country I asked the SatNav to guide me to the Riverside Stadium, home of Middlesborough FC, as I hadn't been there before and wanted to see whether there was anything worth photographing. The sun shone brightly upon arrival, yet there was a storm brewing, judging by the almost black clouds above. The contrast made for a nice shot, so off I went. As with many modern football stadia, there are iconic sculptures in and around the main entrance, and MFC was no different. I took a couple of shots near the Wilf Mannion sculpture, towards the reception. Under foot were the etched block paving, bought by fans and displaying their names, rather like perimeter walls at the Stadium Of Light, Sunderland. We always lead - others follow! 'Red n' White Armyyyy'.

Not much else to say, folks. So here are some of my shots, taken on two different days.
Cheers, Ash

Lens Review - Canon 100mm Macro, 2.8 USM

Welcome back!

Over the years I've taken a few Macro shots on a variety of compact camera's, mainly due to the fact the built-in Macro facility was readily available as an add-on feature. 'Might as well have a try', was the attitude behind it, without really having an interest in this area of photography, it was interesting to see exactly what type of shots each camera would pull in. In most cases each model would deliver more than decent shots, until I downloaded them onto my hard drive and opened each one up to view them on a much larger scale. Although these Macro shots looked very tidy on a two inch screen, the truth was out on a PC monitor - not that impressive. Depth of field was always going to be a stumbling block, especially on a camera that wasn't specifically designed for 'True' Macro, so when the opportunity arose to test out a dedicated Canon 100mm affair, I was more than happy to put it through its paces. Then again, I had no previous experience of using a Macro lens on a DSLR, so maybe it was ME that would be put through its paces! I loaned the lens for a weekend, hoping to get try it out on the coast of Sunderland, among the rock pools and sand at Seaburn and Roker. As the weekend progressed, and other commitments narrowed down my 'Play time' with this lens, I eventually had time to fit in a session, although the tide table wasn't on my side, so I turned to Plan B. I made a visit to Butterfly World, Stockton On Tees, to grab some close-ups of plants and... you've guessed it...Butterfly's!

Arriving with little under an hour before closing time, I quickly got to work with the lens attached to my trusty Canon 5D MKII. It was apparent from the outset that this task was going to be a tricky one. Using a Monopod, and running with a pre-determined batch of camera settings, I was firing away in no time, but on reviewing my work when magnified on the LCD it was clear to me that achieving pin sharp images wasn't going to be straightforward. Again, even with a dedicated Macro lens, depth of field was a real issue here, but patience and a touch of perseverance usually results in improvement, as I know first hand from experience, so that was the route I went down in the short time I had to make my pictures. Butterfly World was busy, even during the last hour of play, with kids running amok and making every effort to grab a butterfly and take it home - those Smoggies have no shame. A swift elbow here and there got the message across, as I wasn't gonna let some snotty nose kid ruin my shots, he he. Do one!!!

And so, down to the nuts and bolts of this lens...
If you want to jump into macro photography making compromise in image quality, this lens is the perfect choice, and here is why:

Advantages
1) Fast Focusing - Utilizing the USM (Ultrasonic Motor), the Canon 100mm internally focuses very fast, quietly and very accurately.
2) Non-Extending or Rotating - When focusing at 1x subject distances, the lens does not extend, and the front element does not rotate.
3) Crisp and Sharp Images - the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens is sharp wide open. The tiniest details in your tiniest subjects will come to life with this lens.
4) Excellent Optical Performance - Flare is very well controlled. Colour and contrast are excellent, although vignetting is apparent at f/2.8, but quickly disappears when the lens is stopped down.
5) Optimum Minimum Working Distance (MWD) - There are three macro lenses in Canon's range of USM lenses. The 60mm lens has a very short MWD of only 60mm, and insects may tend to scare and fly away prematurely. Also, the 180mm lens has a MWD of 240mm, and at this distance insects are not really close enough. The EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens, on the other hand, has a MWD of 150mm, which is ideal for butterfly and insect photography.
6) Very good image quality, L rated.
7) Nice build quality.
8) Large focusing ring, very easy to use.
9) Pretty good for portrait too, or so I've been told.

The Canon 100mm Macro is well worth buying if you want to get into this area of photography. Although I enjoyed testing it out, I reckon I'll stick with Landscape photography. That's where it's at for me. And on that note I shall scurry away, to return another day...
Until then, Ash

More TV Exposure! (Parts 60-62)

Last weekend, Bank Holiday, was spent in the Lake District as part of a two night camping trip. The weather was brilliant throughout, with not a single drop of rainfall, which is quite a rarity in Cumbria, even in Summer. We pitched our tent at Castlerigg Farm, Keswick, which was our fourth visit to the site over the last two years and certainly one site we'll be revisiting in 2014. On Monday morning I was up early and heading out in pitch darkness for a sunrise at Buttermere. A 5am alarm call started the show, before the 40 minute car journey through Seatoller, then the climb onto Honister Pass, before descending through the valley and into Buttermere. Upon arrival visibility was very poor. I stuck around though, being a patient and persevering type of photographer (he he), and was duly rewarded with one of the best scenes I've ever witnessed - it really was something else. The Buttermere pines, reputed to be the most photographed set of trees in the UK, along with a still lake, giving a glass like reflection that was screaming out to be photographed. The mountainous backdrop added to the picture, so there was no time to stand on ceremony as the scene in front of me only lasted a short while before the water began to ripple and the reflection disappeared. By the time that eventually happened the shots were in the bag. I'm looking forward to opening the folder with the other shots in, to see if there are more gems to work with. Here is one that I sent in to regional TV, as a weather shot. My photograph, which is titled 'First Light, Buttermere', was shown on ITV Border at 6.30pm on Wednesday 28th August, then again on BBC Look North 30 minutes later! 48 hours later it resurfaced on BBC once again during another weather forecast. Here are the screenshots, along with the original, converted from RAW to JPEG and downsized for the web use.

A full blog entry of my Lake District camping trip will appear here shortly. Until then...take care

Ash

Black & White Icons

Hello again!
Continuing the Black & White theme...

I have a rather nice set of framed prints on offer at £45 each. One or two examples can be found on display at Clay's Garden Centre, Washington and also Penshaw Tea Rooms. Mounted in white and framed in black, each measures 20x16 inches and is part of an ever increasing set of 'North East Icons'. There are four available at present, with more additions planned for the very near future. I recently sold two to a customer in Lechlade, Gloucester, so it's nice to know my work is continues to be scattered around the UK and further afield. Here are the icons that are currently available. I will post photo's of the actual framed images during the next few days. Cheers!

Ash

1. Winter, Penshaw Mounument
2. Groyne Lighthouse, South Shields
3. Millennium Bridge, Gateshead Quays
4. River Tyne, Newcastle
5. Guardian Angel

Black & White Photography

Wot, two blog updates in as many days! I guess it must be pissing down outside!!!
Oh dear, the colourful language raises its naughty head again, tut tut. Of course, pun intentional, as this latest blog entry has nothing to do with colour, unless of course I refer to grey scale, also known as Mono, but more commonly referred to as Black & White. I've never been a big fan of this type of photography to be honest, but lately I've been dabbling more and more with B/W conversions, and quite liking the end result. A big part of a good conversion is picking a suitable image to begin with. Many images simply won't work, so get your selection right and you're half way there. I cherry picked a few recent shots of mine before giving them the B/W treatment, and I'm well satisfied with their 'New look'. The majority of these shots were captured on dull, cloudy days, which is a good start as a lack of available colour generally has me pointing in the direction of B/W anyway, coupled with the fact that these moody skies often add a sense of drama to the shot, lending themself to B/W more than colour. Another slice of criteria is contrast - I tend to favour strong contrast in B/W conversions and always look at the depth of shadow and highlight before making a decision whether to 'Convert' or 'Back heel' the image I am considering for use. Thinking rationally, if it doesn't work in colour then there's only one path to go down. I choose to do my B/W photography in post processing, rather than capture it at source with the aid of Yellow, Orange and Red filters. Traditional methods, such as the Y/O/R filter route, were the only way to achieve true B/W shots before the introduction of digital camera's, but now it's a whole new ball game when you can easily lay your hands on a decent editing suite such as Photoshop. The end result, with the help of Photoshop is just as pleasing on the eye and it's a lot cheaper than shelling out on expensive B/W filters (that is, providing you have a copy of Photoshop that you managed to download for free!). Did I really say that? (wink).

And now to the business end of this blog entry - the photo's. Here is a small selection of B/W images by yours truly. Don't forget to click them for enlargements. The list is as follows...

1. Tynemouth (above)
Standing on the pier next to the Groyne Lighthouse, Littlehaven, I waited a few minutes for the arrival of the Amsterdam-bound ferry, which eventually arrived on schedule.  Plenty of great detail in the sky!

2. Tynemouth 2 (above)
As the ferry approached the Groyne Lighthouse at South Shields, I waited til it sailed alongside, then I tripped the shutter.

3. Transporter Bridge, Middlesborough
Positioned on the south side of the River Tees. Some nice foreground interest, and the Transporter Bridge dominating the shot. Not too much sky detail in this one.

4. Temenos, Middlesborough
A dramatic artwork on the banks of the Tees, with the Transporter Bridge in the background.

5. River Tyne, Gateshead Quays
I shot through a glass partition to get this one. A storm was brewing, as you can see in the distant black clouds. The rain was well and truly on its way...

6. Baltic Arts Centre, Gateshead Quays
And the rain soon fell! I took the lift from the viewing terrace back to ground level, which took no more than half a minute. Within this short space of time the heavens had well and truly opened. Seeking shelter in the Baltic doorway, I grabbed this shot, with like-minded folk opting to stay dry.

7. Roseberry Topping, Near Great Ayton, North Yorkshire
(as featured in my last blog entry). Works well in B/W. I quite like the added effect of the overhanging tree, which almost 'Frames' the iconic hill in the background.

8. St.Mary's Island, Whitley Bay
And finally, an experimental shot. Taken in broad daylight with a shutter speed of 45 seconds!!!!
An ND filter was applied to achieve an extra long exposure time, thus smoothing out the water in the process. A very dull and overcast day, with very little detail in the sky, Poor conditions for my type of photography, but you have to make the most of what you've got to play with, and on this occasion I landed a decent shot...

 

 

 

 

And that's all for now. I'll be back soon...in colour!

Ash

 

Roseberry Topping, Nr Great Ayton

Welcome back to my blog page!
I have many new photo's to share, but finding the time to upload them is another matter, which is the main reason ashleycorr.com hasn't had the update treatment lately. But that is about to change. A busy July scuppered my chances of getting out with the camera, which obviously had a knock on effect with site updates. However, I got my arse into gear this week and ventured outdoors once again to catch some more of the local landscape, including sets from Offerton, Cox Green and Wearmouth. They'll be here soon enough, but first up is a selection of images I captured in North Yorkshire, at Roseberry Topping near Great Ayton, a fifty minute drive from my home. I'd visited this location as a kid, as part of a school trip to Captain Cook Country, and distinctly remember being shepherded up the hill by our teacher, who clearly wasn't enjoying the task due to a complete lack of fitness on his part. Roseberry Topping is a mere 320m in height, so hardly Mount Everest in comparison, yet our shepherd struggled big style, and was ready to collapse at any given moment, much to the amusement of me and my classmates, he he. Since then, I've had no connection with Roseberry Topping, other than marvelling at it in photograph form, taken by Joe Cornish (probably Britain's most famous Landscape photographer). Joe lived locally for many years, so the Topping was on his doorstep - easily accessible throughout the changing seasons, and ready to be captured in all its glory. I made three visits to this site between May and June. My first jaunt was for one purpose only - to photograph the bluebells, with Roseberry Topping as a backdrop. The result is shown below. The bluebells were on show for quite some time, but getting 'The shot' wasn't as easy as first anticipated, due to the fact that a fair few had been trampled on by idiots. Aye well, you get them everywhere, unfortunately.

From the car, parked in the visitor car park at the foot of the hill, it was a very mild accent through the bluebell woods and up towards the summit, taking around 40 minutes in total. There were families up there, dogs, pensioners et al. Great views from the top, panoramic style. Another visit saw me heading through the woods once again, but instead of climbing to the summit, I headed through more wooded areas and out towards the fields. I wanted to retrace the steps of Joe Cornish and to locate one or two of his vantage points that he photographed from. After studying one of his shots in particular I headed up a footpath towards where I thought the shot was taken. I found it in no time. The foreground trees were ideal for a landscape shot that I was about to land, so I got to work quickly before the clouds drifted over and killed what was left of the blue sky in my viewfinder. Click. My first shot (top) is without doubt my favourite one from the three visits I made. I converted it to Black & White, and it too made a great shot! Another visit followed soon after, as I was in the nearby town of Guisborough, so paid a visit while the oilseed rape was on show, also shown here. And no doubt I'll be back again, sooner rather than later. I reckon Autumn might throw up one or two surprises down there.

Finally, click this link to view the Joe Cornish shot, which I replicated above. A nice comparison - which one do you prefer?

See ya soon, Ash