The Big Freeze

A few days ago I finally got round to trying an idea I've had in the back of my mind for ages, namely Cybermen in the freezer.
This was inspired by the Cybermen using cryogenic "Tombs" to hibernate for long periods of time in "Tomb of the Cybermen" and "Attack of the Cybermen".
Timing was critical for shooting this picture, as I had to wait until the freezer was mostly empty so I would have room to set up and light the shot.

More after the jump.

Snow Fun

Remember, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

Halifax from a Great Height

Halifax Panorama, originally uploaded by Hellbelly.

I've recently had the opportunity to take some photographs from one of the higher vantage points on Halifax, and thought it would be an ideal chance to try a panoramic shot.
Constructed from eight shots, composed vertically and stitched in Photoshop CS5.

More photos from high up here.

SNOW!!!!

Just a very quick shot (as it was freezing cold!). Just using a flash with a warm gel bounced off the most expensive flash modifier I own, which costs as much as a house!
(the front of my house).

:)

Bex

At the same time as I were shooting Fran, Emma and I were also shooting Bex.
We used pretty much the same lighting set ups on both models;

Clamshell lighting



And Ringflash

`

And check out Bex's awesome side shaving!



Bex wasn't so used to being in front of the camera, so I used my patented "talk a lot of rubbish" technique and soon she was throwing shapes with the best of them.

And I still think she looks like Bjork :)

Francesca

Fran has modelled for Emma Carter (who was helping out on the shoot) before, but it's the first time I've photographed her and I certainly hope to work with her again.
First up we set up a 43" shoot thru brolly camera left and a bare flash to blow the background out to pure white.



Then we pulled out my (much underused) boom arm to use some clamshell lighting along with a silver reflector.



Finally we used the Rayflash and a bare wall for some ringflash shots.

Bring out The Gramsch!

It's been a busy few weeks photography wise. First up was a shoot on the streets of Leeds with Graham, who I've known for a long time, but not seen for a couple of years. We shot fast and loose with just one light, and mostly with the 70-200 F4 IS and the 50mm f1.8 prime, which produced some cracking images. After 2 hours rain stopped play, but out of 160 frames or so, I got 98 keepers, which I think is pretty good.
And I got to hang out with genuinely unique and strange (in a good way) individual.

Photographers In Space!!!

While hunting around on the internet looking for an example of the Reseau Plate used on the Hallelblad cameras the Apollo astronauts took to the Moon I came upon this interesting little item, the "NASA Astronaut's Photography Manual". An interesting read, as it not only covers the technical skills needed to operate an manual focus, manual exposure medium format camera in space, wearing heavy gloves and a helmet, but also because it takes time to teach the astronauts the basics of composition, and how to take an aesthetically pleasing photo.
It's available to download Here.

Your Country Needs You!

Your Country Needs You!, originally uploaded by Hellbelly.

I've recently been having a lot of fun playing with Nik Software's Silver FX Pro plug-in for Aperture.

Eleven Days of The Doctor

Coming Soon.........

Derek the Domo's Big Blackpool Adventure

Derek has a steady job. He stands on the counter at Legacy Comics and greets customers as they enter. Derek likes his job, and Derek is good at it too.
But one day, Derek decided that it was time he saw some of the world. So he hitched a ride with me to Blackpool.
Derek did many new and exciting things in Blackpool. He went to the zoo, rode on a tram AND an open-top bus, went to the seafront and stayed in a hotel.
But before long, Derek missed his little comfy spot on the counter, and was glad to come home.

But who knows, maybe Derek will have another adventure someday......

See some of Derek's photos here.

Manhunters

And there we are, 7 photos, 7 days.
I hope you've enjoyed them, I certainly enjoyed doing them (it was a little bit of an experiment)

If you missed any, here are the others;

• Saturday - Ewoks in the Mist
• Sunday - "He's No Good To Me Dead"
• Monday - GONK!
• Tuesday - "ITS A TRAP!!"
• Wednesday - Hammerhead
• Thursday - "Always let the Wookie win"
• Friday - "The shield will be down in moments, you may start your landing."

"The shield will be down in moments, you may start your landing."

Come back tomorrow for the final photo in the series.

TVR Growwwl -The Return

Last Sunday I went along to the TVR Growwwl -The Return event in the Piece Hall in Halifax, where over 100 TVR cars had gathered. Luckily the weather held out for the day, although the bright sun did present a few challenges for photography due to the high contrast. Fill flash with Canon's High Speed Sync was the order of the day!
I also bumped into fellow flickerite Tim2ubh while I were there (which was nice). Tim's got some great photos from the day here.
I must also thank Simon at Legacy Comics for letting me use his shop as "basecamp" for the day. I don't think I would have managed carrying all my gear round in the blazing sun all day! Cheers Mon Bravé :)

Always let the Wookie win

Wise words, I've always thought.

Hammerhead

One of the many shifty denizens of Mos Eisley.

"IT'S A TRAP!!"

GONK!

"He's no good to me dead"

Original "mail-in" Bobo Fett figure.

Ewoks in the Mist

First of seven photos exclusive to the blog.

Come back tomorrow for photo number two!

30 Years of Empire Strikes Back

Empire Strikes Back was released 30 years ago today (blimey, that was a quick three decades!).
To celebrate that (and the fact that I've just found my old Star Wars figures), I'm going to be uploading a new Star Wars photo exclusive to the blog, starting Saturday, everyday for a whole week.

Come back everyday to catch the latest photo everyday or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with the latest.

Invasion!

5" Cyberman from "Invasion"
Canon 400D with Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro Lens
Photographed outside with one flash gelled with a CTO (Tungsten gel), bounced off the front of the house.

The Invincible Iron Man

3.75 inch Marvel Universe Iron Man.
Canon 400D with Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro Lens

Happy Star Wars Day!

Toy Tuesday & Thursday - H

Second Episode

And this is the other half.

The Doctor is In

Well, Matt Smith is now well and truly The Doctor, after the opening episode of Series 5, "The Eleventh Hour".
The first of the new series action figures have been released (along with the new Sonic Screwdriver, which I'm giving a miss).
This is one half of the "Crash" set.

Camera crew in the Borough Market.

Back to Basics

As an experiment, I decided to forgo the D-SLR, macro lens and flash set-up, and try to produce some shots with the most basic set-up I could get together.

Lighting is provided by a desk lamp from Wilkinsons reflected off the white side of an A3 piece of art board, with a peice of A4 paper folded in half on the other side to provide fill.
The background is another piece of card, and the figure is stood on a piece of black card.
I used two different cameras for this test, a Fuji s602z (a 3mp model from 2002) and a more recent Canon Powershot G9 (10mp, 2007).
Both cameras where tripod mounted.

Set-up Shot



Shot from the s602 and desklamp (left), and Canon G9 with flash (right)



Not bad for an eight year old camera. Proof that you don't need loads of expensive equipment to take decent photos.

More photos here

A Foggy Day on Mondas

We've had a lot of fog where I live over the last few weeks (along with quite a bit of snow) so I decided to head out to try and take some pictures.
I had an idea for a shot in my head so I packed a camera, my 35mm f2 lense, a flash and a toy Cyberman. The picture was taken in Peoples Park in Town, lit with a bare Speedlight handheld camera left. To get the background to be recognisable I had to stop down to f8, so the shutter speed was a slow 1/10th of a second, which is why the Cyberman has a little bit of a "ghosting" affect.
I used Live View to compose the shot as I couldn't get low enough to use the viewfinder. Overall I'm quite pleased with it, and I'm going to try some similar ideas soon.

And yes I know it isn't a Mondasian cyberman :)

Superhighway

Harry got a new fibre-optic light toy for Christmas so I couldn't resist taking a few shots. :)

Desolate Snow

I've finally got round to getting some of my prime lenses sorted out so they focus properly and accurately.
This shot was taken through my living room window in the small hours of the morning, with a shutter speed of 1/15 of a second. I braced myself against the window frame to steady the camera and came out with a pretty sharp shot.
Hopefully I'll post some shots with the 35mm f2 and 50mm f1.8 mkI soon.

Cyberman

I know, I know, another Doctor Who picture, but I couldn't help it.
AND this Cyberman was FREE! How good is that?