Sightseeing in Reading

Sightseeing. When you are travelling somewhere and you want to bring some pictures home, to show them to your friends and family.
It's a good opportunity to practice your style or just to show how you've seen the place.
This time, I had only 2,5 hours in Reading, U.K. to take some pictures. I didn't know where I am, and what is usually the theme of photography there.
So I've just grab my gear, and started to walk. Up on the Gun street, turn left, turn right, again a left, and I was totally lost.
I was lucky, because without the being lost in a foreign city i would have never seen things like these:

Picture Noire

Not too much to tell about the picture below.
Yesterday i was shooting at the regular place, for the rockvilag.hu streaming radio's party.
I've seen a girl, who was wearing minimal makeup, but strong red lipstick. I've stopped for a moment.She was standing in the dark, and i have my zoom lens attached to the camera. I didn't want to use flash, but this lens has 4,5@35 mm. So i shoot, and than hoped that lightroom could do something with the underexpo.
Well, it did. +4 to expo correction, a lot of noise filtering, and i was able to create my 2nd PicNoire photo.

I hope you like it.

Interestin effect without photoshop

Yesterday I was at a local underground pub, because i was invited to shoot on the concert of the Super Bad Heroes. (Not to mention that one of my pictures selected by the band to print on the flyer)
There was a small stage, and not really interesting lights. I was a little but confused because i wanted to shoot some unusual pictures but because the environment i could not find the way to the perfect picture.
Than i remembered a suggestion from Scott Kelby's book.
So I've tried it. Like playing. It became interesting. (I know that is not the best result, but i'll work on that).
The effect is simple: All you need is a Zoom lens (mine was the 18-105 Nikor VR), and a Flash.
First, do the usual things. Select the theme, focus, and...
And select a long exposure than rotate the zoom ring on the lens while shoot.
Have you seen the StarWars light speed effect (the stars became lines of light)
It's something similar:

I've made 2 mistakes during these pictures.
On the first image, I've misplaced the focus, and I've selected too long expo time. (that's why the drummer's face became blurry).
The Second image it's much better, but next time, i'll try to find how the slow flash sync works (sync only to rear curtain) and zoom in. Maybe that will be able to get rid of that ghostly look blur from the face.
:)

Animal shelter

Today I assembled the new furniture for the cats. During this time, the box was laid down on the floor to let the kitties play with it.
When everything was completed, i took the camera, and took a small video about how they overrun the "scratching post".
And than i was able to take a photo about our younger cat, Mazsola (her name is Raisins).

One comment to this picture. It was a happy moment, she was inside the box, and played "Where is the kitty?" But when i opened the picture in Lightroom, i saw an another possibility in it.

And the comment is about it. It's almost Xmas. So, if you can, please choose a nearby animal shelter, and help them a little bit. A small amount of money could mean a lot for them. Some food, or medicine during the hard cold winter could save lives... 

Cut, Cut, Cut.

It's all about cutting. I have to confess i was amazed when I see an alternate framing on one of my picture. The funny thing that the cropping was made by Facebook. I took some photos during a new band's concert. I've sent the best 100 pictures for them, and they uploaded to their band profile. I've checked the pictures, just to know that the watermarks are still in place.
And than. Facebook made an automatic crop (thumbnail view of the whole album) which actually made my picture better.
Just to show what i'm talking about.
The original:

And how facebook modified it?

Almost a CD cover. Well, i would be happy if they would use my picture as a cover. :)

Meanwhile i'm in a big project now. I'll try to create my own DIY beauty dish, to let me have the chance on controlling the light. Well, at least i'll able to strat learning.
Plan is based on the Chinatown Special. Well, i'll see. :)

Feedback

More than a week away from my previous post, and now, i've seen a video (from a community site) which was a good feedback from my "job".
In the previous post I've reported about a session on the Pandora's Box concert. Now, a small music video is out on youtube based on the pictures taken during the concert. Watermarking is a good thing. :)

What can I say. It feels so good. :)

Boat of the music

Finally i could take some holiday from my job. So, i was really happy when i was invited to an event on the Hungarian  Music Ship (A38).
It was a birthday party of the band (Pandora's Box) with a special guest (Időgép)
It started as a usual concert event. But when the lights went down  I was shocked. I've never faced a light setup like this before (as a photographer). Now, I know why i can read everywhere the description: ,,Constantly changing light".
It was. Red, blue yellow and robot lights. At the beginning, i took approx 40 shots with no success. Over AND underexposed parts, burnt out... Horrible.
But than. Somehow it became clear how i can record those lights.
It was a real challenge for me.