Off the usual path

I do miss Europe. I do particularly regret having missed a majority of my summer, having spent it in the monsoon rainy season here in Asia. Whilst I am learning a considerable ammount, and the longer I spend here the further I see photographic oportunities arise before me, there is something particularly special about Europe during the summer. Its not just Spain, but rather the UK, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Tangier, Casablanca (I know they dont technically constitute Europe but they do border the mediterranean), France...They always say, "I'm going to spend my summer in Europe," or ,"Remember that summer in Europe?" There is just something magical about it. In my last days,  as hectic as they were I took the oportunity to take a drive with my brother down the coastal highway, till we found some random exit, and made our way down to the beach. The sun was just beginning to set, and I thought rather than sit at home, it would be the perfect oportunity to get out and do some shooting! And boy am I glad I did.
















Of course shooting at sunset is always an interesting adventure. How long do you spend on the sun? When do you catch the Sun? When is that sweet spot where you can catch the most ammount of detail? When is that shot that you take Just after everyone else is finishing shooting the sunset which blows out half their image? One of the first thing's I learned about photography is that when the sun is setting, theres always a "sweet" moment slightly later than most might consider which give the best dynamic range and colours. The shot which sets you aside as a "pro" photographer. However, just because you're sitting around waiting for it, doesn't mean you cant keep shooting. As a the Sun begins to set, you often get the best kind of light to shoot things in. One of the important things people forget during a sunset is to turn around! You never know what magic the light from a setting sun will bring...just dont forget to look back at the sun when its just about to finish dipping beyond that horizon...














Of course a sunset was not all we found at the beach. The building in the following image as I discovered was one of a series of abandoned railway stations from years ago (back in the days of Franco I beleive) which went along the coast from one end of Malaga to the Other. I have made a note of this, and am determined to seek out these other stations my next summer back home.





I hope you've enjoyed the images and you can find the full flickr set here

Manila Bay The Third part

I realise after having seen my two previous HDR Images, it probably tends to leave one expecting a similar level of calibre from any following images, not exactly the wisest of my decisions in my attempt to impress with my photography lol. However despite that I did manage to pull out a couple more Images that I was particularly happy with that didnt require the processing and time spent in putting together an HDR Image.

This first one is my particular fave from the following batch.

It was taken from the very same boat as my original HDR as the sun was begining to set producing a beautiful oportunity for some sillhouwhettes. However unfortunately it was rather cloudy and the beautifull sunset I had been expecting promtly dissapeared behind a clump of clouds choosing to reside just over the horizon, ruining that moment of perfect light where the sun just about direclty shines through the boat giving me the perfect Image. But as is life and ESPECIALLY photography, you dont really quite get what you want.

As for the following images most were taken earlier in the day, I'm particularly happy with the one with the sea as a backdrop. I was quite pleased to see the way the sea reacted in the background as an out of focus subject creating some nice circular reflections. I'm not sure if it was because of the distance between my subject, the lens and the sea behind the subject, or weather the position of the sun had anything to do with the way it was beautifully reflecting back into my camera but further experimentation will certainly be on my list of things to investigate.

Now before I continue yammering on and put you all to sleep here are the remaining pictures:

Enjoy!

also I'm to lazy to continue to translate this into spanish xD I'm sure google translate will do an amazing job though :D

Manila Bay

Manila Bay Boat_HDR
Originally uploaded by sbalani

And so here it is, the blog post of the week. Not that I have much to post about these days, however thats something i hope to change...soon. It seems I may have an impending buyer from my camera extracting shrilling screams of joy from my masculine voicebox. I am just that step closer to a D300 and flash goodness. Oh all the things I have planned....I hope not to dissapoint. Anywho this picture is from my previous trek with my D40, when I went off to Manila Bay! Much to my surprise it was quite a pleaseant walk-about adn with the sun just starting to set created a virtue of oportunities to shoot all sorts of things.....if only I had flash xD.

Anywho this was at around 5PM with probably the best setting sun I was going to get as the sun was promptly setting, and whilst it created a nice sillhouwhette I felt the picture told more of a story and drama if it were properly exposed. Without the aid of a tripod or an able fash system I was forced to handheld a series of shots and pray for photoshop to do its thing. And as always, it delivered in beautifull HDR my rendition of this Image. However it doesnt end there. I DID manage to get some nicer sillouwhettes of when the sun was a bit higher and more orangy, especially closeups which I am quite happy with. Something to reassure me that as I await my new toy my skill has little but deteriorated. My biggest fear. Hopefully I will be able to quell such fears and resume shooting on a weekly basis once I get my equipment in order but for now I leave you this lovely picture to enjoy . And if you're lucky There may be a second post this week. If not! see you next week!


oh and as usual the rest of the pics from manila bay can be found hencewith:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbalani/sets/72157622384859460/

or by simply clicking on the image.

Wet ´n´wild

I´m sure many a photographer out there has gone the extra length to get that image they so desperately want to have just right, wether its trekking through rain, hail, sleet and snow in alaska to caputre polar bears, or hanging upside down from a lamp post so that your subject is not framed by other people taller than you when youre hundreds of meters away, or running around avoiding local security and attempting to setup, shoot and take down an on location fashion shoot before they return, a true photographer will do what me must for that image.

Although my stories dont quite compare, i think beeing chest deep in the sea, in one hand my flash gun, wrapped around my neck so that i can support my telephoto lens and camera on my elbow to shoot shoot and light my model on some rocks in the sea deffinetly constitues as a dangerous adventure!

Of course most people at this point start thinking what kind of a nutjob runs into the sea with over a thousand dollars worth of equipment. Well my only answer to that would be a photographer. And for the most part, if things go as planned (or even if they dont) the pictures that end up as a result of the shoot will have any photographer tell you that the risks are always worth the picture.

(i´m still processing the pictures i took on the rock, but i will deff include one in my next post.)



The picture below was another one that i took on the beach, however there was an old house nearby with some interesting grafiti which i thought would contrast well with the outfit my model had chosen, although more details on that in my next post)

And as for the lighting the top image was natural light from teh rising sun (this shot was done at 8am)

and the one below i had a canon flash right next to the model camera right

and a flash next to me camera left toned down to just complemetn the natural light as fill.