I admit it. Even though a photo trip to Vietnam appeals, I’ve not just nipped out and shot this for the weekly photo challenge.
It was taken on a Fuji compact. I’d been out shooting for most of the day and had exhausted 2 battery packs on my DSLR.(Nikon, in their wisdom, don’t let you use normal batteries, so, when the packs are flat they’re flat). So those nice people at Fuji, who let you use any battery you want, saved the day.
I’ve promised myself that next week, whatever the photo challenge is, that I will shoot from scratch…..There…Now I’m committed.
I’m currently putting together a Gallery of images taken on a recent trip to Vietnam.
I finished the tour with a few days on the island of Phu Quoc where this shot of a lone swimmer was taken. It was handheld on a compact, so not tack-sharp by any means, but of all the beach shots this is the one that ‘takes me back’ the most.
I can’t tell a lie…This isn’t the Bloody Mary I drank when I first got up this morning…This is the one I photographed after the first one had restored me a bit…Friday night strikes again. Anyway..Freshly squeezed tomato, thick rim of table salt, tablespoon and a half of Lea & Perrins, teaspoon of Tabasco, parsley, (celery is for girls,) and a splash of Ketel One Vodka…OK, two splashes. Never fails.
Photo wise this was hand held with a bit of flash…f6.3 and 1/60th, 175 mm with a Sigma 18-250 on a Nikon D5000. Bottles were about 2 feet behind the glass. I posted a second version in Gallery 1 which I photoshopped a bit more.
Oh, it didn’t go to waste, I drank this one as well and then had a snooze..
(I took the photo and even I dont know what it is).
To HDR or not to HDR?
High dynamic range photography is getting more and more popular with amateurs and professionals alike but it does seem to polarize opinion.
The Autumn stock shoot I did at the start of the month, (a few examples in Gallery 1), was mainly straight single image shooting, but, I did start to experiment with 3X and some 6X HDR merges, (the largest of the images in Gallery 1 was a 6x merge)….
I was pretty happy with the results but even after removing ‘ghosts’ in Photoshops HDR feature I still feel the overall impression is one of unreality as opposed to hyper-reality..Though this can be effective on some shots I think that HDR pretty much always ends up adding a fantasy element which, for me, rules it out as a technique in the majority of situations.
It would be interesting to hear what others think….Is it as general purpose a technique as enthusiasts seem to reckon or is it over-used..(especially in advertising where it seems every other shot is HDR)?
A small selection of autumn images I have shot for stock have been added to Gallery 1.
Let me know if you like them.
Stuart Hyde is the creative director of RSH Media Limited.
The galleries accessed at the head of the blog feature a personal choice of images accumulated over 25 years in professional photography.
But… these tend to be the shots that were taken purely for pleasure… when the brief had been met, everything was already ‘in the bag’ and there was a choice… Head back to the hotel, or stay out for a while longer with a spare battery pack and the lens cap lost deep in a pocket.
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