N Spiers Photography » Black & White

Stormy day at home!!

Neil — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:31:25 +0000

After waking up at 8am on a Sunday… not impressed at all. I sat in the mancave reading a book and suddenly noticed it was pouring down and blowing a gale. Therefore no oppurtunity to get out early and take some shots. I was pretty gutted about this because I’d built up in my head a day of photography with my lovely (pregnant) wife out and about somewhere. Then out of nowhere the rain stopped, the clouds lifted but the gales continued, not to be put off I thought that with it now being clear and sunny it would be perfect to take some shots down on the Promenade. I checked the high tide time which was 13:10 and then made sure I had everything ready, including my now trusty Neutral Density filter (ND). Two cups of tea and a breakfast later, myself and Liz were on one hell of a blustery Promenade, we braved the walk down to the sea defences at North Shore and luckily the waves were not breaking on us.

After remembering reading an article about trying to get a few shots fired off underexposed and overexposed, I had just over 40 shots, all taken in the space of 10 minutes. We headed back home as Liz only has a small lung capacity (her words not mine hahaha) but then again she is carrying our first child, so i’ll let her off…only this once mind you. Brew in hand and sat in front of the PC I then went about trying to get the best image of the bunch converted into black and white. With help from a book that a friend has lent me, I found the best way of doing this with the original image being in RAW format and must admit I am very happy with the end result. Let me know what you think, with a comment or two.

Image Details:

Camera: Sony A200
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Time: 1/500
Aperture: F9

Tools of the trade

Neil — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:39:09 +0000

Taken at Barton Grange Garden Centre. Proves that taking your camera with you EVERYWHERE works. There was a falconry display on, as much as I did not agree with the birds being placed on a stand an shown off I just had to get a photo of one of my favourite birds… the Barn Owl.

As much as I appreciated everyone shoving a camera in the poor birds face I decided to go for a different angle and take a shot of one of the birds tools of the trade… its talons. On converting to black and white I got an image that I am very proud of.

Blackpool Sea Defence

Neil — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:21:44 +0000

Blackpool sea defence

Corroded Railing, North Pier

Neil — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:20:12 +0000

Corroded Railing, North Pier

Stormy North Pier, Blackpool

Neil — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:17:36 +0000

Taken in early May this year. The weather seemed calm but as soon as I got to the Promenade it was blowing a gale. No one around but still the picture does not show how the weather changed so much at the coast. Please see Black & White catergory for more shots from that day.