Poor Camera!

My husband went out this evening to walk the dogs and came across the camera I put up in the local nature reserve. The poor thing had been pulled down and tossed into a bush, it was incredibly water logged and very soggy indeed, after retrieving the equally soggy photographic paper I decided to scan it anyway to see if it had managed to capture anything. (We have to remember here that it has only been up for about 6 weeks, and who knows when it ended up in the bush!)

Drum roll for the beaten up camera.....

Not too shabby really, it has got the tree line definition and the street light on the right hand side, and lots of water marks. 

More pinhole cameras...

As it was a decent day we decided to go and collect the cameras I had put up a few months ago. Sadly at both locations the cameras had been removed, teaching me the lesson to make sure they are positioned off the beaten track.

With the weather holding and the dogs needing a walk, my Dad and I set out to put up some more. They are positioned in places that are hopefully hidden from view, and in some excellent spots for capturing a great exposure (fingers crossed).

Camera One

Great spot, quite secluded, and again I found myself in shorts wading through nettles and thistles to attach this. One day I will learn to wear trousers.

The view from the camera, fingers crossed for some great sky trails.

Camera Two

Again up to my waist in long grass and nettles, with the ground under foot not quite where I expected it to be!

The view from the camera position.

Hopefully these will stay put and I can pick them up in a few months. Or leave them over the winter as I don't fancy walking around here when it is cold, wet and windy!

Combining Images...

After spending the summer taking a large number of photographs, with many of the same scene at different times, I decided I needed to try and do something constructive with them. I thought that be layering them I could get some interesting sky patterns. So here are the results...

This was my first experiment of using different exposure times to construct the image that shows the passing of the sunset on this particular day. I took a number of photos at different stages of the sunset and then cut sections from each. I quite like the overall image but it is not very dramatic.

This is my second attempt and I was using a different method this time, instead of using sections of the images I was layering them on top of each other. This image has approximately 8 images combined to give this sky effect. This is the dramatic effect that I was after, although I did end up making everything else a silhouette, I guess that will be something I need to work on.

My final attempt for the evening, and I decided to try out adding in a different set of images on top of the second image I constructed. The photos I used on this were of a more pink and purple sunset than the originals ones I had been using. The camera was also set up in a slightly different position so I have got a ghosting effect in parts of the photo which I really like. I am also really pleased with the subtle colour that is showing through the blues in the sky.

I will be looking into this further and finding some more interesting locations to take the original photos to then use. 

On a side note, I am doing this investigation as part of my A2 Photography course. I am looking at how social media can be used to influence the artist and the viewer. I have found a number of different photographers and artists over the summer that have impacted on what photographs I have been taking and it has pushed me to find out more about how to recreate the same techniques. This would not have been possible when I did my A Levels back in school due to the lack of Internet and social media.

So in conclusion:

How does social media impact on the artist and the viewer, does it allow the artist to become the viewer and the viewer to become the artist? Discuss....

Happy Accident Photo that lead to Light Painting...

From the photograph where I had captured a couple walking down the hill with a torch by accident I decided to look at light painting in more detail. It seemed to be fairly easy to get an image to capture light (considering I had done it by accident) I roped my husband into help me do some quick tests.

Just a bit of fun but they came out much better than I thought, as we only went out with the camera and used the torch on my phone. We decided that we needed to think of ways to make the photos more interesting by trying to add colour, or get something drawn, will revisit this again.

I am looking forward to when the nights get a litter darker so I can get the boys to help me, I think they will really enjoy running around with little torches and seeing the results.

Second Round of Pinhole Cameras....

After coming back from holiday we went and picked up the set of cameras put up at my parent's house, these were the second test set to see what would happen over a longer exposure.These cameras were positioned at the front and back of the house at different elevations to see if that would impact on the light exposure.

I am a little disappointed with this image as this camera was at the highest elevation, but it has not produced any light trails in the sky. I don't know if this has anything to do with the direction it was facing or the cloud coverage during the time it was up.

I like the start of the light trail that this photo has captured, I wish that I had now left it up longer, but I might go and replace it and leave it up for 6 months to see if the trails will develop further. I have edited this image and used a purple hue as it picked up the light trails and the detail of the image better.

I have now got 4 cameras still up (fingers crossed they are still there!), and I plan to make some more and get them up over the next few weeks. I think that leaving them for 6 months would make a big difference and also make sure they are facing south and not shaded.

Holiday Snaps

Being away from the comfort of my own home to try out some night time shoots I realised that I need to plan them out a little better as it is boring! and cold! Anyway, I dealt with it as best I cold with the clothing and equipment that I had in order to get some star trails while we were away.

Doing this, especially at a location where it is pretty much pitch black makes trying to focus the camera to capture anything much harder so sadly some shots are a little blurry as I had no idea if I had focused on anything. This reminds me to take a high powered torch so I can create a focus point for the camera.

Photos from the first day at the little beach, the aim was to try and get the motion of the water in a long exposure. This had to be balanced with how bright it was outside so the exposure was very short indeed (one to five seconds in some cases). I love how they have come out though and can't wait to play with them in the editing software to see how I can manipulate them.

Night time shoot, and this is where the problems start as trying to focus the camera was difficult, however, the results were great. The castle looks fantastic in the photograph and the star trails looked super, just wish I could have stayed out longer but I was far too cold.

Happy Accident, I changed position to try and get the stars above the hill, however, as I started the exposure a couple were walking down the hill and their torch was picked up by the camera. I think this is great, I really like it when I end up with "accidents" in my photos. It makes me want to have a go at doing some light painting with the boys when the nights start getting darker earlier.

I have no idea how I didn't manage to get the camera focused correctly at this point. But I do like the detail in the star trails that I managed to capture, along with the washing line as well.

Long Exposure Photography...water....stars and what is next?

I was feeling pretty good after the first few attempts at taking some images using long exposure and as we were taking a trip to Anglesey I took my camera as I would have some opportunity to take some photos.

What I did discover after setting up my camera was making sure it was steady, in focus and on the right settings. As much as I really enjoy taking photos of nature, I dislike the fact that nature moves constantly and gives some parts of my photos a blurry look. here are some of the results from the weekend away.

I was really pleased with how these turned out, in fact I was stunned as this was the first time out and about taking the photos of water. I then went and tested this same method out at the zoo to see if I could get some still water movement captured.




These photos of the small waterfall turned out better than I expected, I did have to spend time manipulating plants out of the way and also securing the camera into the ground.

The fountain at the zoo also provide to have some interesting water features once captured. I just thought it was pretty much still water, apart from the waterfall as the pond looked so calm. The long exposure shows that although it looks calm and unmoving that there is constant motion.

After the experiments with water I wanted to try out the star trails that I had read about, this took much more planning as we are not blessed with the clearest of skies at the best of times, and catching a night where there are no clouds and it is not windy or raining or really cold is pretty much remote. I have been lucky this past week that there have been a few clear nights to allow me to try out capturing the star trails. After some trial and error with setting and trying to reduce the amount of light getting in, and staying awake long enough for it to go dark is another big factor I forgot to mention, I did manage to capture a few decent shots.

I will need to work out a better power supply so I can have the camera running for longer to see if I can catch a whole rotation of the stars. We are off on holiday so I have packed up the camera and fingers crossed I will be able to get some excellent shots while away.

Final note.......AS Photography results are in and I got an A!

Long Exposure Photography Experiment One

After the success of the Pinhole Cameras it was time to try out long exposure using my digital camera. Before the first attempt I can't begin to tell you about the number of websites that I visited to read up on it and to also purchase the right equipment to get the best results.

Anyway, I tested out the equipment from the location of the seconds pinhole camera that looks out over the local motorway. I should say that at 3pm this motorway is very busy and the result made it look like a ghost road! I am wondering whether I should explore this branch of photography further and going into town when it is busy and get some "ghost" town shots.

A fantastic, and great way to test out the camera and the settings that I had carefully selected. Onto the next test.....

Second test of the day was to capture the changing of the sky as the sun was setting. I adjusted the settings slightly to factor in the changing of the light and conditions, who knew that I would be using Maths and Science to take photographs! So......here is the result, and again I am really pleased as it shows the motion of how the clouds move across the sky and the colours developing over time.

Next test it to try and capture water.....