Commission for Industrial work

In July this year I was asked if I would take some images for Stainless Steel company for an important contract for a Chinese company.
Below are the images that I submitted for this project. Time was very limited, and I had less than an hour to produce the images, as the unit was going to be sent via air the next day, and this was an early evening job, due to my current work commitments.
All images were taken in situ at the client site with natural light from the roof lights and the sodium lighting within the workshop. The difficulty here was isolating the unit from the general working area and all the workings of the workshop. I would add that the client did want to show the workshop area within the image. However, with some judicious Photoshop I managed to get some good images. The area was also quite limited due to other ongoing projects so I had to use a larger and wider lens. I used a Canon 5D MKII, some with a tripod.

This is a general view of the "sled" which will become part of a food production unit.  This is actually the back view. Lighting was from the open door to the left, plus the sodium lighting in the roof.

 This is a side view showing the intricately of the unit.

This is the front view of the unit. As you can see it is a very intricate job, and quite compact.

This is some detail of the unit showing various valves and the intricate pipework to produce this item. All the stainless steel is highly polished without a mark on it.

This image was not requested from the client but I produced it to show another aspect to the detail. The client said that he thought that this was a good image, and was quite complimentary.

With just half an hour on site and not knowing the item I was to image, I am really pleased with the result, after some tricky Photoshop work, eg cleaning up the images with trailing hose and debris on the floor, the client was pleased, and paid.

Speculative work no1

During last July, Tatenhill Airfield had an open day, and I went up to see what was going on. There was not a lot happening, took a few photographs, but just as I was leaving a rather sleek aircraft came in. One reason for interest was the registration, and I was curious as to what if anything it represented.
One of the volunteers came up to me and asked me if I would like to photograph this aircraft. It turned out to be a Diamond DH42, owned by Diamond Aviation. Here are some images that I sent to them.

Just parked up waiting for the MD to arrive by car from Darley Moor. There are some very large canards on the wing tips. As you can see great for advertising.

Taxing ready for departure with the MD on board, not in the pilot seat as you can see.

This shot shows the sleek lines of the aircraft.

Another view showing the slim lines of this aircraft.

Whilst photographing this and chatting to the pilot, I discovered that he had taken off from the microlight concrete strip at Darley Moor, which is the first time since the WWII that a plane had taken off from there, as they have only recently cleared the strip, so a little bit of history here. The MD had to travel by car from there to Tatenhill due to the restrictions of such a short take off. The MD came out to travel back to Gamston, and saw I had taken some photo's, so gave me his card, and sent these images to him, and gratefully received.

The company has many interesting briefs, including carrying equipment to test radar installations at airfields as well as taking passengers in style (no trolley service though). More to pursue here though.

There were a few other aircraft there, there was an Islander in the hanger undergoing a refit with the registration of G-JPEG, used for Aeriel  photography. There was also a Slingsby Firefly (aerobatic aircraft) and an interesting discussion was had with Neil, the pilot, about his parachute and how he would have to turn the aircraft upside down to get out!

                                                                                      These are 2 straight images with no enhancement work done to them at all, but shows the difficulties in taking images like this on the hoof so to speak. With a client brief it may be possible to get some clearer shots, and some better backgrounds.

Kedleston Hall Derbyshire

I had a visit today to Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, along with a few colleagues, to take the opportunity to photograph various parts of the Hall prior to the public opening time. We had private access from 10 til 12 am.
At this point I would like to thank Michael for organising the event, and Janet and the other staff who gave their time to assist and inform us, and let us take the photographs.

Prior to the visit ( I have visited the Hall many times over the years) I again studied the National Trust web site to gather some up to date details and to see what images they were portraying. In line with my current ambition to produce images of Products and Industrial and Architectural subjects, I set my ideas for today on details of various items such as furniture, architectural details, with some particular general views of the building I wanted to take. These are 3 different, but specialist areas, to create images from, but they do also combine together in several ways.

I've set out below some preliminary images, and my thoughts on each one. All images have been taken with a Canon 5D with 24-105mm L lens, with auto focus and manual settings for speed and aperture, with centre weighted average metering, and with the camera set to 10 secs delay.

This is one of the benches in the Marble Hall, it being the Main entrance to the House, a very imposing Hall (this is not the main visitor entrance these days). The black grill in front of the bench would have been a heating grill, the date of introduction I am not aware of at this time.( This is one feature I would need to research to produce the correct image for a client for example). The lighting came from 3 overhead glazed openings in the ceiling (some 20' in the air) throwing natural light in to the Hall. The settings were F10 / 1/3 rd sec / 400 ISO with 28mm lens, and on  tripod. Some minor contrast tweaking done here, and cropped to suit. It may be necessary in future to ensure that the image is taken in the correct proportion where possible for final presentation. This is almost square and perhaps is a good shape for this image.

This image as you can see shows a closer view, showing some of the detail of the bench. It is quite ornate, and could possibly benefit from some additional lighting, but the shadows highlight the elegant carving of the lower part of the bench, and the foot, which is a now well worn gold colour. The lighting is again from the high ceiling. This image may benefit from some hue and saturation in photoshop. This leads me to explore the relationship between product and image and how much post processing can be done to enhance or not the product being photographed. Perhaps this also depends on the clients reaction and need for his product.

This was the first place I headed for, the fireplaces in the Marble Hall, and is one of the first images I took in the morning. Incidentally, the day started really sunny outside, but by the time I got the Hall the cloud came over and left us with a bright but overcast day. This proved suitable for the lighting, as the shades were left higher in the rooms and therefore more, and even, light was let into the rooms, as being aware that light can damage these some times delicate fabrics etc. This is also something to take into consideration when photographing elements such as these.

Health and Safety also has to be taken into consideration (another day for this discussion).

Although the image looked symmetrical at the time, on loading to computer, the reality was different. So, for this type of image I need to look more carefully to make sure I am getting what I want in terms of the content. Also with using a 28 mm lens there is distortion of the pillars either side, and to the fireplace itself. I will have to be more selective with my lens, but there was an element of space being available here to consider, to ensure the image I wanted could be obtained. I would add that I was not allowed to touch or move any items, although I could ask the stewards and they would do what they could to accommodate any reasonable request. I would think that for a client shoot then the scenario might well be different. Care of clients goods etc must be taken at all times.

The settings were F10 / 0.6 sec / 400 ISO with 24mm lens, and on  tripod. Some minor contrast tweaking done here, and cropped to suit to get the symmetry. 

This is a detail from the above fireplace, and I have just noted that the background is a different shade to that of the overall fireplace image. This might need to be addressed for client images to provide continuity. But the effect of the direction of  lighting for this detail would have been different to that for the overall image, although the lighting source was the same. Something to explore here.The settings were F4.5 / 1/3rd sec / 400 ISO with 24mm lens, and on  tripod. Some minor contrast tweaking done here. Interesting that Black produces a white reflection? even from natural light.

I remembered these sofas from previous visits, and I think they are superb. I have been unable to photograph them before as I could not get access to them, and with visitors about you are not allowed to use your tripod. Today I could go behind the ropes and study these wonderful pieces of furniture. The detail is exquisite, with the blue and the gold figures. But up close you can see the wear and tear on these objects, the gold colour is flaking, but the upholstery is without exception, and a beautiful colour which I think I have captured (important from a client point of view). 

The settings were F22 / 1 sec / 400 ISO with 32mm lens, and on tripod. Some minor contrast tweaking done here, and a hue increase to capture the gold colour. Again this was natural light (from the east)coming in from 2 large windows opposite, some 30' from the subject.

This is the other end of this large sofa, with a different detail at this end. The settings this time were F4 / 1/40th sec / 400 ISO with 55mm lens, and on  tripod. Some minor contrast tweaking done here, and a hue increase to capture the gold colour. I choose this setting as I was further away from the end of the sofa due to not being allowed to tread on the 18th century carpet!! But it does show the fireplace which is similar to the one in the Marble Hall, and throughout the rest of the house. Something else to consider with a client shoot.

This is a close up detail of a further sofa, with the light coming form a large east facing window about 6'away. You can see the wear and tear this close up, which you would not be able to see as visitor at such close range.

The settings was F4 / 1/15 sec / 400 ISO with 84mm lens, and on  tripod. Some minor contrast tweaking done here, and a hue increase for the gold colour.

This is one of the statues in the alcoves in the Marble Hall. They are a true work of art. This was lit by the natural daylight coming in from the ceiling as before. But with the addition of some reflected light from my 60cm silver reflector, which has enhanced some details by the forming of shadows and highlights. This image is a colour image and reflects the quality of the statue and the light falling on it, and in my mind gives a very pleasing tone to the statue. The marks on the abdomen are damage from time and I have left these here as it then shows a true representation of the subject. It looks like paint peeling off! on closer inspection.

The settings was F4.5 / 1/25 sec / 400 ISO with 105mm lens, and on  tripod. No extra tweaking was done here.

This is an image of one of the alcoves in the Saloon, a beautiful round room with an exceptional ceiling. The seats were especially made to suit the 4 alcoves in the room, along with the artwork, which is different in each alcove. I found that the curve of the alcove is difficult to show as I could not get high enough, but I think there is a good representation and the shadows add the depth for the curve from this level. I left the returns in to further emphasis the alcove, and the chairs either side are as positioned and I did not ask for them to be moved so that there would be perfect symmetry. lighting was from the overhead central opening in the ceiling some 30' above, with some light coming from an entrance door window to the left. The settings was F5.6 / 1/8 th sec / 400 ISO with 24mm lens, and on  tripod. Some contrast and hue was added to bring out the red more on the seating.

The walls do start to curve as they go up as they form an arch with a concave ceiling, which is highly decorated. I do have a reasonably good example of the ceiling, but we had to move on quickly as others needed to use the room. It is  a lovely room. Oh for all day to do this, there are so many images to be had.

All in all a good day and a good experience, although we were restricted by time, I have enough to ponder from this trip.

First day 17th Sept 2011

After much soul searching and still finding the passion for continuing to develop my photography I have enrolled today onto the new Level 4 course.
Steve Davis is once again the tutor, and we are mixed in with the level 3 students.
Steve outlined the course details and explained how it was to be run. We are going to be responsible for finding clients and setting up our own business.