Salem On White

This is from Monkey Forest, UK.This is the winner of their 2011 "Portrait of a Primate" competition.

Canon 60D and EF 70-300 IS USM.

As Shot / On Flickr - 300mm / 480mm, 1/320th, f/6.3, ISO 3200

This is from Jon Law, Doobrady on Flickr

Canon 60D and EF 50mm f1.2 USM L

As Shot / On Flickr - 50mm / 80mm, 1/2000th, f/2.0, ISO 100

This is from Jon Law, Doobrady on Flickr on Burton Dasset, Warwickshire

Canon 60D and EF-S 18-135 IS

As Shot / On Flickr - 35mm / 56mm, 1/400th, f/8.0, ISO 100

This is from Monkey Forest, UK.

Canon 60D and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM.

As Shot / On Flickr - 200mm / 320mm, 1/320th, f/2.8, ISO 1250

Canon 60D and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM.

As Shot / On Flickr - 200mm / 320mm, 1/500th, f/2.8, ISO 250

Canon 60D and EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM.

As Shot / On Flickr - 160mm / 256mm, 1/320th, f/6.3, ISO 6400

Canon 60D and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM.

As Shot / On Flickr - 160mm / 192mm, 1/500th, f/2.8, ISO 250

These are shot mostly wide open to get the background out of focus. Most of the monkey forest pics, are cropped a touch and mainly just warmed up. There might also be small tweaks to exposure, blacks, fill light, vibrance and clarity. Notice the slow shutter speed, it was a dark day and I shot fast and was lucky to get things like this nice and sharp. Thanks to Jon Law for the amazing lens.

Twycross Zoo 2010

This is from Twycross Zoo, UK. Canon 40D and EF-S 55-250 IS.

As Shot / On Flickr - 65mm / 104mm, 1/1000th, f/4, ISO 800

Canon 40D and EF 50mm f/1.8. Was tricky to get rid of the flare, used a few Lightroom adjustment brushes.

As Shot / On Flickr - 50mm / 80mm, 1/800th, f/1.8, ISO 1600

Canon 40D and EF-S 55-250 IS.

As Shot / On Flickr - 55mm / 89mm, 1/1600th, f/4, ISO 800

One WIth Nature

This is from Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida . Canon 400D and EF-S 55-250 IS.

As Shot / On Flickr - 250mm / 400mm, 1/2000th, f/5.6, ISO 800

This is from Jephsons Gardens, Leamington Spa. Canon 60D and EF 70-300 IS USM.

As Shot / On Flickr - 70mm / 112mm, 1/125th, f/6.3, ISO 320

6,7,8 & 9

These are from Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida . Canon 400D and EF-S 55-250 IS.

With these 3 I did the usual, crop to tweak composition, up contrast and fill light to strengthen image, some clarity as well.

As Shot - 240mm / 384mm, 1/500th, f/5.6, ISO 800 / On Flickr

As Shot - 250mm / 400mm, 1/250th, f/5.6, ISO 800 / On Flickr

As Shot - 250mm / 400mm, 1/250th, f/5.6, ISO 800 / On Flickr

This is Jephsons Gardens, Leamington Spa, last week. Canon 60D and EF 70-300 IS USM.

As Shot - 235mm / 376mm, 1/250th, f/8, ISO 1600 / On Flickr

For this image I found that the bounced green on her face was too much, and I found her hair was something that really made this image turn out so good. So I tried playing with the RAW calibration first, change the green levels and tweaking until the reds felt like a subtle split tone. I also removed some stray hairs with the patch tool in Photoshop. Its not often I even bother with PShop but I think it was worth the effort in this case, making a good photo, a great one.

5 - Florida BIrd

Took this one last summer at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida . Canon 400D and EF-S 55-250 IS

As Shot - 250mm / 400mm, 1/320th, f/5.6, ISO 1600

This dude had a crazy look, i wanted a simpler more focussed composition. I also heavily brought up the blacks, which gave more contrast. Finally a used a couple of light gradients with a negative exposure to make the desired part of his face more prominent.

On Flickr

Photo 04 - All About Contrast Pt. 2

Took this one last summer at Warwick Castle. Canon 400D and EF-S 55-250 IS

As Shot - 235mm / 376mm, 1/350th, f/5.6, ISO 800

Its a bit muted like the other, doesn't have the darks I wanted. Also I didnt like the composition as it was too similer to another I had, so as i missed the square crop, I tried that, seemed quite appealing to me. Took some empty space out of the top, filled the frame entirely.

The photo is obviously too contrasty, has too much brightness in some places, and not enough in others. When we look, we see the front of the beak, not the eye, as we probabl should see first.

You can see below how I tried to rectify this

This is the result

As you can see, the features are cool, teh background is cool, but the beak still overpowers the images too much, and the eye is too far gone. So I went to Lightrooms amazing non-destructive adjustmeant brush. To change the beak, and bring out the eye.

And here is what I got.

On Flickr

Doesn't look too natural, but it does look striking, to be honest, I could have gone about this better, maybe with curves, not sure. It would have maybe been better to adjust tones rather than get out the adjusment brush. But every photo is a leaning opertunity, and I'm quite happy with this as is. Hi Ravi :P

Photo 3 - All About Contrast

Another oldie, and my first flower, taken on the bridge, Kodak z712IS, outside in natural, overcast light.

As Shot - Approx 420mm, 1/160th, f/6.3, ISO 64

On Flickr

I don't have any lightroom settings because this is from the stone age of using photoshop, but its fairly easy to see whats going on here.

The original JPEG is overly muted, neutral and boring, so i brought in the dark and brought out the colours, Then using layers and masks, I darkened the background and lightened the plant for the contrast and seperation. The proccessed image works because its telling you where to look, and where not to. This is how dodgy photoshop jobs still make it through the cracks into print.

If anyone actually reads this blog please email me to say and I'll keep it going.

Photo 2 - I See You

The subject is Andrew Jones, he's on flickr. I used his Samsung GX-1L DSLR with a sweet Samsung D-XENON 100mm Macro Lens at f/2.8 and a few extention tubes.

It was shot at bolton abbey, and I wish i wasnt visible in the reflection.

As Shot - 1/180th, f/2.8, ISO 200

On Flickr

Lightroom Settings