Deconstructing images

I always find it interesting to take a step back from a photo and to find what makes it ‘work’ as an image. Here’s a shot from the Long Walk near Windsor Castle.

(Nikon V1 & 50mm Zeiss f/2 lens @ f/4, 1/320th and 100 ISO)

It’s shot with a long lens to ‘fore-shorten’ the view and look along the line of trees – the image wouldn’t have worked with a wider lens, I’d have had to move closer to the trees and the perspective would have been very different.

The tree line disappears into the top right hand third of the frame and the shadows from the trees run almost parallel to the narrow path that crosses the image. The shot is made interesting by the woman with her shopping, ideally I’d have taken it a few seconds earlier when she was perfectly on the right hand third of the image.

The light is key to the image, at sunset it has a lovely wrapping quality that casts deep shadows.

Prague, looking up

I do some street photography, but I often find that I take more pictures of buildings than people  when I’m wandering through a city.

Here are some I haven’t shared from my trip to Prague over the summer…

(All images shot with a Fuji X100)

Local light

It was a resolution for last New Year, and I’ve mostly managed to keep it: I try and get out with a camera at least once a week. In the middle of all the admin and the marketing I’ve found it can be very easy to forget to go out and take pictures. A bit ironic considering I’m a photographer.

Here are a few shots from last week…

(Both images were shot with a Nikon V1 and Zeiss 50mm f/2 lens.)

Grass art

As a photographer I’m probably a bit overly fascinated by grass – lots of photos on my Flickr seem to feature it – but I think it’s a subject that lends itself well to the occasional photo…

(All images shot with a Nikon V1 and Zeiss 50mm f/2 lens.)

Christmas 2011

It’s 2012, and a new year with lots of exciting things in the pipeline. For now though I’ll just share a few images from my Christmas in Germany…

On the streets

Every now and then I try and get out on the streets of my town with a camera. It’s one of the things that keeps my photography eye in practice and a nice way to escape for a morning.

(Both images were shot with a Nikon V1 and 10mm f/2.8 lens.)

Local scenery part.II

Just around the corner from my local castle is this lovely street. It’s part of the original town, retained with as much English eccentricity as possible…for the tourists. In the early morning it’s still quiet though and at one end is a little cafe that opens for breakfast.

(shot with a Nikon V1 and 10mm f/2.8 lens)

 

Local scenery…

I love living near a castle…

(shot with a Nikon V1 and 10mm f/2.8 lens)

French light

There is something lovely about the light in Southern France.

When I shoot a wedding I spend most of my time watching light and then working from that to determine the rest of my composition. Occasionally, as a result, I will find myself taking pictures of little scenes that are just made by the light. Here are a couple from Thibaud and Evodie’s French wedding…

To see more of my wedding work visit charlwoodphotography.com

iPhone photography

Happened to walk past this abandoned car before the weekend – quite impressed with how well my iPhone shot came out with a bit of Photoshop work. It’s murky and dark, and not all like most of what I shoot, but I quite enjoyed creating something a bit different…

As always, the camera that counts most is the one you have with you. (Annie Leibovitz is even a fan of the iPhone for that reason.)