Dave Frost Photography - Canvey Island » Canon

the xmas Nifty 50 Challenge……

Dave Frost — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:56:07 +0000

I set myself a challenge this Christmas of only using the Nifty Fifty (Canon 50mm F1.8) prime lens. I thought it’d make me think harder about composition and framing as well as lighting. I’m not sure whether it was down to the unwillingness of my models, too much to eat or more likely too much wine but as challenges go, the end results weren’t that spectacular. Plenty of snaps for the family albums and the kids scrapbooks, resplendent with accompanying memories but precious few ‘real’ photographs.

And for something a little different…….

Messing about with the tubes again

Dave Frost — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 09:52:18 +0000

November – Right. Crappy weather busy at work and aside from the Football I don’t think I’ve taken a photo for fun for months.
Someone on the talkphotography forums had asked a few questions about Kenko Tubes so I dragged mine out of the bag and had a play….
Nothing special but not a bad result for 10 minutes titting about. The one with the flash underneath will be interesting to play with and try to recover some of the stamen detail…..

And so to bed

Dave Frost — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:01:37 +0000

Unlike the previous post which prompted a plethora of verbose musings I think this image should just be left without comment. It’s all about the light.

Timeless classics

Dave Frost — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:58:25 +0000

OK, so perhaps classics is pushing it a little bit too far, but whilst leaning back in my office chair I saw this pile of books that my eldest son has ‘finished with’. Music in the Meadow is 40 years old (was given to me in 1970), The Pictorial History of Aircraft was bought for me when I was around 9 (according to the inscription my Nana always insisted on writing) and The Ever Changing Woodland was published when there was woodland to change and the countryside wasn’t just a strip of land between motorways. Whilst the annuals in the photo are recent, both The Dandy and The Beano were also regular deliveries from Santa for me and my Father before me when he was a boy.

The image is nothing special, but it made me think about the printed word, the feel of a book, the smell of a book store. None of which a Kindle will ever be able to match. In spite of electronic everything, there’s something about the smell of a well thumbed novel, or the way a glossy page of photos turns that hopefully will continue to live on.

What a difference a Dave makes………

Dave Frost — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:33:14 +0000

Been messing around with different editing actions and techniques this week (as you may have noticed). One from the weekend’s visit to Burnham on Crouch, messed with, butchered and murdered in three different ways

First Up, a Dual Colour split tone process

Next – A more traditional black and white conversion, with different crop.

Finally – An ‘Antique’ Tint and vignette – Keep coming back to this one, but not at all sure why it appeals so much.

All of these were taken or more specifically snapped, by a bench by the River Crouch, just along the footpath beyond the sailing club, atop an old pill box thingy at Burnham-on-Crouch.
Was too windy to sit there for long, but gave me another shot to experiment with. Keep going back to the ‘antique’ look at the moment, hopefully it’s just a phase. Otherwise, not sure which of these three works best.

Shades of Summer

Dave Frost — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:17:11 +0000

Looking out of the window today, summer seems like so long ago. Yet only on Saturday the pool was open, the sun was out and summer was very much on the scene.

A hoverfly (or yet another closeup of an insect)……

Dave Frost — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:03:13 +0000

Was checking over the kit in the garden and ended up with another damn closeup of an insect……. No tubes, just me laid flat out in damp grass, waiting for it to stand still – f10, @200mm 1/400, handheld (again). No flash.

Really do need to get out and do something else…….

Liverpool Wheel…….

Dave Frost — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:45:29 +0000

Been sorting through some forgotten folders on my Mac, trying to tidy everything up in a vain attempt to become more organised. Stumbled across this forgotten shot from my first ever visit to Liverpool whereupon I spent the evening wandering around the docks on my own….

Unfortunately it’s a bit soft (hand held evening shots often are) but I did quite like the contrast and colour. If I’m honest it could probably do with the bottom bit cropped off, but no time for editing today.

A point in the right direction……

Dave Frost — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:52:44 +0000

Had a quick play with the Kenko Macro Tubes today after being invited to take part in a Macro project earlier in the week. Neither of these really cuts it but was fun dabbling again. Shame there aren’t many flies about and all the spiders have moved to Mazda. these were taken with the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 which despite being dropped (again) is still producing some nice sharp images. This was attached to the 30D via a 20mm Kenko tube.

No flash for this, just what was left of the natural daylight in the office, handheld too (would recommend a tripod though) with a shutter speed of 0.8 @ f5, ISO 100

Face like a bag of punched clay…..

Dave Frost — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:24:52 +0000

Underlining the theory and well known saying “You can’t polish a turd” is this one off and mostly unremarkable shot. It was by no means a keeper to start with and is probably less aesthetic now than it was before I took the sledgehammer to nut approach with the processing. The only reason it’s made it this far is because I haven’t updated this for a couple of weeks and this is all I have to show for the break. Taken in my ‘office’, this was part of a set, messing around and experimenting with different apertures and shutter speeds. Lit only by the screen of the Mac, this was originally a reasonably well exposed but otherwise slightly out of focus, bland ‘snap’ of my wrinkly, pockmarked and saggy face. Let it now serve as a warning to avid experimenters…(though in my defense I looked considerably better before I started messing about).