Stand on the Right

Posted on January 18, 2012 by murphyz

Stand on the Right

This is day 3 in my week long mini-series of shots from the London Underground.

This one comes with a message that all users of the underground should adhere to, otherwise be branded as both a tourist and as annoying. Sure, the escalators are pretty narrow, but it’s certainly wide enough to accommodate two flows of traffic. If you’re standing, do so on the right. If you’re walking up or down, you should be able to do so freely on the left without having to dodge in and out of people.

Again, not too much work done on this shot. It’s a single bracket that I put through a few PhotoTools filters. I was pretty poor at kneeling and keeping everything straight and centered so I had to do a little perspective crop work to get it looking as symmetrical as possible.

Hope you’re all having a good week and enjoying this mini-series, just two shots left to see this week.

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Watching Waterloo

Posted on January 17, 2012 by murphyz

Watching Waterloo

Image #2 in this week’s mini-series of shots taken on the London underground network sees us remaining at Waterloo station.

I’ve seen variations of this shot before, but never had an attempt to do so myself. However, as I stood there with this series in mind I opted to give it a go, and found myself on a relatively empty platform. I had to wait a little while for people to move out of the shot, both direct and in the reflections. I stayed in this spot as I wanted to include the CCTV camera in the image.

It’s not too heavily processed, mainly just running it through a few of the PhotoTools filters. I did flip the final image horizontally so that the reflected wording of the station name was legible in this image, I just preferred that to the mirrored version.

Oh, and if you look closely you’ll see the reflection of me taking the shot in the middle of the image :)

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Burrowed

Posted on January 16, 2012 by murphyz

Burrowed

This week I’m going to do a mini-series of shots taken on the London underground network.

The ‘Tube’ as it’s commonly known here in London, perhaps the Metro or Subway in your own city, is what allows millions of people to navigate their way around London on a daily basis. It’s crowded, it’s hot, and it can be a maze, but late at night it starts to become another beast altogether as commuters and revelers all find their way home and the network shuts down for another night.

I don’t spend much time on the tube myself anymore. I’m fortunate enough to live in a very convenient location which happens to be a 10 minute walk to work and the need for use is generally if I’m having to travel out of London or reach another zone for a photo session or other such venture.

This shot was taken after a brief photowalk with Dfacer on Saturday and was at Waterloo station. Of course on the first glance you may not expect it to be part of a train station, and I really hadn’t noticed how futuristic parts of the network look until I started taking photos of them. I did have to do a little creative post processing to get the end image here, I admit. The ‘doorway’ at the end of the tunnel is a poster of Leonardo DiCaprio, and the tunnel to the right of that is…well…now gone, only to be replaced by a copy of the wall opposite.

I hope you enjoy it though, I had fun processing it. There’s another conceptual one coming up at the end of the week, with a few more straightforward shots between now and then. I’ll see you tomorrow for #2 in the series.

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Night at the Museum

Posted on January 13, 2012 by murphyz

Night at the Museum

Another shot from the British Museum, but in quite a contrast to the fresh, white, minimalist image posted yesterday.

I was waiting around the entrance when the lovely staircase leading up to the viewing gallery suddenly had no people on it, and so I quickly took that opportunity to grab a few handheld brackets.

It is pretty heavily processed to get a dark, night time feel to it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

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Pose

Posted on January 12, 2012 by murphyz

Pose

My lesson for today – don’t be scared to experiment and make mistakes.

This week a friend bought her first camera, a Canon EOS 550d. I had a little something to say in the matter, as I was given a budget and asked to assist, and this wonderful bit of kit is what we ended up choosing. A new dSLR can be daunting for someone who has never used one…I should know as a few years ago I was in the same boat. We started with the basics of Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO which is where I think most people should start.

By playing with these settings and seeing the results that they have in different light conditions and in working with each other you gain a greater understanding of what they do, and how one effects the other. This is what was happening yesterday when I took this photo, but it was my inexperienced friend who first took this shot and inspired me to repeat it.

We went to the British Museum to have a quick photo session and found ourselves, as is often the case when I visit here, at the viewing gallery which overlooks the great court. After being down in the darkened stairways and compensating for the lack of light using a slower shutter speed and a higher ISO, my friend failed to adjust for the sudden brightness that was available as part of the large open space and glass ceiling that was now in front of us. As such, the images taken from there were pretty over exposed.

However, looking down at the public from this height, the image taken, even though technically incorrect, looked awesome. A solitary figure in the middle of a vast amount of whiteness was quite compelling.

So I stole the idea and took my own shot with the same outcome in mind…though I admit my shot wasn’t as pure and did require editing in Photoshop afterwards. The lady in the shot was busy preparing herself for a photo that her friend was about to take of her.

This image is the result of experimentation. Sure, it may not have been me who was experimenting at this stage, but it reminded me how much can be learnt by playing around and making mistakes, and also how sometimes that one shot you love is created by this.

Don’t be afraid to go wrong.

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Skyline

Posted on January 11, 2012 by murphyz

Skyline

The London skyline has been changing over the past years; I say for the better.

This view is from one relatively recent addition to the skyline, and is looking at several more with the Heron Tower, Gherkin and the currently under construction Shard all in view.

I was walking past a place the other night and saw a mock up of future London and what the skyline may look like, the Gherkin was tiny in comparison to the large buildings that surrounded it. I was in a rush that day, but if I get to go past there again I’ll grab a shot of it and post it for a comparison.

I thought a blue tone on this shot made it look nice and futuristic.

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Hope Gap

Posted on January 10, 2012 by murphyz

Hope Gap

This weekend I trundled off to the coasts to try the new camera in an nice rural environment. I must admit to being a little bit lazy, as usual, though as I didn’t get up for a sunrise, nor venture out to see a sunset. Instead I just moseyed around during the day, in weather which wasn’t the best when it comes to photography…but in many ways could have been worse.

Due to the lack of colour in the sky I opted to shoot a few images knowing that they would eventually be processed in black and white, which was the case with this one.

The title comes from the small area I was in, if indeed my memory serves me well and that is the name of the location. It was a nice little beach area with easy access down steps from the cliff side, and offered some nice formations when down there. I think a sunrise from here looking towards the Seven Sisters would be lovely.

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The Dome

Posted on January 9, 2012 by murphyz

The Dome

The Millennium Dome in London was built for the Millennium Experience, a year long series of exhibitions to commemorate the year 2000. I think it was mocked by most leading up to the launch, and certainly didn’t do as well as it was expected to. Nowadays it’s the O2 Arena and is used for gigs and other events throughout the year.

Regardless of the intention of the building or what it’s used for now, there is no denying it is a pretty unique structure and one that is often photographed by those who see it.

This is my first posted shot that was taken with the shiny new 5d Mark II – a superb camera that I am really enjoying getting to grips with. I say shiny, it’s already showing a little war paint as I have managed to drop it from chest height already. 36 hours in before that little gem happened. I thought I had it safely locked into the tripod, which has become pretty fussy lately with the RC plate locking in. I was wrong, and it plummeted to the concrete ground. Originally I thought it had nothing more than a little scratch on the corner which had taken the impact, however upon further investigation the next morning I noted there is a crack in the frame. It still works perfectly well, and the camera itself along with the glass that was attached are in perfect working order…just a bit annoying what with it being so fresh. I feel I took it very well though.

It could have been worse, of course. At least it only fell from chest height onto the floor at my feet…it could easily have fallen over the opposite side of the wall I was placing my tripod on, coming to a swift end 48 floors below.

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On A Limb

Posted on January 6, 2012 by murphyz

On A Limb

Well…I’ve finally gone ahead and moved to a full frame camera with yesterday’s purchase of the Canon 5d MKII – hurrah!

murphyzLaw dictates that it is now a high probability that Canon will announce the MKIII today, that really would not surprise me at all. Still, if they did it would probably just reinforce how much I want the MKII and I’ll be happy anyway.

I’m very much looking forward to playing with this shiny new toy and getting used to it and how it works. As long as I figure out brackets in the immediate instance I’ll be okay.

One thing I have noted is the increase in file size meaning I will get fewer shots on a 16GB card. I wonder if that means I will become more selective with what I shoot? I guess time will tell.

It does mean I’m pretty limited as to which glass I use at the moment as well, as I think it’s only the new addition of the 24-70 and the trusty old nifty fifty which will be fully usable on this new body. Two decent lenses though.

Anyway, back to today. It’s Friday again, already, and this first week back at work has been super busy and has flown by. The shot above was taken from Regent’s Park and is almost straight out of camera with just a few tiny tweaks in post process. As you can see, I wanted quite a lot of negative space in this one.

I hope you all have a great weekend – happy shooting.

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One Nation

Posted on January 5, 2012 by murphyz

One Nation

Walking home after my trip to Regent’s Park earlier this week I noticed this CCTV camera which really jumped out at me. I think the fact it was on a building that was full of panes of glass was what did it, and I quite liked the reflection I could see in the glass. I shot a few handheld brackets stood from directly beneath it and like the end result.

In a world that is now full of CCTV I think it’s easy just to accept that they are there and ignore them, and in many ways it’s good that they are unobtrusive. I feel so, anyway, but I know many people disagree and don’t feel they are of any real benefit to society and certainly don’t deter crime. I think they work though…and they have certainly thwarted me on several Urbex trips, so someone is watching them and acting on any behaviour deemed suspicious. I’m just glad there was no security at this building because they would ask why I’m taking photos of their security cameras, and the only valid response I have is ‘because it’s there’.

The title of the post is taken from this Banksy image which I thought was quite fitting for this shot. Let’s face it, it was going to be this or something relating to Big Brother and 1984.

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Hose

Posted on January 4, 2012 by murphyz

Hose

I was a little lazy over the festive period, but on Monday I decided to head out to Regent’s Park for a few hours with Ray and take a few shots. I was travelling light, with just the camera and the 24-70 glass on me. The BlackRapid strap that I’ve had so many issues with in the past works excellently with this heavier, longer lens – I only have issues when using the 10-20 or 50 prime as the back of the camera sits against my thigh with those lenses.

I didn’t want to carry anything additional, so mostly stuck to single exposures with a few handheld brackets along the way. I would like to do more shots that are non-HDR and this, surprisingly, is one of them.

I liked the way the hose was just sat there, and it was unfortunately behind a fenced off area which I couldn’t be bothered to go into which means it does have a little bit of the distracting metal to the left. On a more energetic trip I may have moved the metal out of the way a little so I could get a clean shot.

Not too much was done in post process, I sharpened it up and ran the Urban Sickness filter over it in PhotoTools and that’s pretty much it. I was surprised how much the end image looks likes it is HDR, but can promise you it isn’t.

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Downhill From Here

Posted on January 3, 2012 by murphyz

Downhill From Here
Lego Wars is a monthly contest held by Chris Nitz, it’s free and fun to enter so why not play along with us?

Another month, another Lego Wars. The last one of 2011 saw us handling a snowy theme…which is nice as we haven’t seen any snow in London at this time of year. Still, where there’s a will there’s a way – and where there’s a Waitrose there’s a bag of flour to be found…

Here’s a few images that show how it was created:


It would be great if you could pop over to the site and vote for your favourite one for this month…and even better if you like Lego and photography and wish to take part in future months…it’s top fun and does get the creative juices flowing.

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East London

Posted on January 2, 2012 by murphyz

East London

This shot was taken from Broadgate Tower during the Open House Weekend early this – oops – I mean last year (it’s going to take a while to get used to saying that).

The dome on the left is the O2 Arena, which I still often call the Millennium Dome, and then the main buildings of Canary Wharf to the right. I shot at 100mm on a cropped sensor with a cheap lens, handheld, 3 brackets and behind a sheet of glass on a sunny day. As such, the quality of the original brackets is not very and it took a bit of effort to clean up the image as best as I could. By the time I had done so, this tone was the only thing that was making it workable for me, and I quite like how it turned out.

Today’s a nice day, and the last one before work continues once again, so I’ll hopefully find the motivation to head out there for a few hours later and start off my 2012 photography.

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2011 Roundup

Posted on December 31, 2011 by murphyz

I’m not one for New Year resolutions. I have tried them in the past and never stuck with them…and as far as I’m concerned I have a long list of things I want to do, and places I want to be and when the real motivation is there for me to do them, they’ll get done.

I do, however, have a list of things that I want to aim towards in order to take a further step with my photography, and it’s a list I’ve had for a while now but haven’t really done much with. A few are hopefully going to progress in the following year, but I’m not going to hold myself to them and if they don’t happen then so be it, I will not beat myself up about it.

So, here’s a quick look at a few things I wish to do in the near future, a few words to those who read this blog, and also a look back at some of my favourite shots over the past year.

The list:
New camera. I wish to take the leap into full frame and will hopefully do that very shortly. I’m awaiting the outcome of something else to see if I have the available funds, and then I’ll likely jump right in there and buy the Canon 5d Mark II. My only real stumbling block is whether or not to hold off for the announcement of the 5d Mark III which will likely be in the around the end of Q1/start of Q2 of 2012. Knowing me, though, I’ll just buy the Mark II and consider an upgrade if it’s worth it and if the price is right when the next model is released.

Sharing. I wish to share a little more about my workflow and how I produce a final image and I guess the best way to do so would be via a few videos that look at my processing an image from the camera through to release. I think this would also be an opportunity to get feedback from others on how they work differently to myself, and that would be very beneficial. Along with I’ll like to add a page with software reviews and links to discounts. I’m starting to get more and more people emailing me with questions on how I do something and taking the time to build this resource will save me time in the future, and help more people.

Participate. I’m the first to admit that I fail quite hard on this in comparison to others who tweet, comment and promote other photographers a lot more than I do. I would like to start spreading the love a little more.

Sell something. Photography is pretty consuming, and pretty expensive. I’ve recently been given an opportunity to get some of my work out there and start selling it, and I look forward to delving into this and hopefully making a little cash to pay for all of the hardware and software I use.

That’s it. Nothing too major, but steps towards doing something a little more than I am already and which I feel will be beneficial.

A few words:
I really just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has dropped by and supported me throughout this year. Whether you leave a comment here or on one of the photo sharing sites, whether you tweet or like my work, whether you email me or link to my posts, it’s all appreciated and doesn’t go unnoticed. I don’t think I would be able to keep up a daily post if it wasn’t for those who appreciate them, so thanks very much for providing me with the motivation to do so, and helping me to try and raise my standards so that what I do post is of quality. I’m looking forward to continuing to share my work with you in 2012, and growing as a photographer.

A few favourites:
I’ve published about 237 shots on this blog since February of this year, and I have a lot of favourites within there, so much so that it is difficult to pick a top 5, 10 or 20. So I don’t bore you with all of the re-runs, here’s a simple way for me to do it. What follows is one image from each month, 11 in total as I started this photoblog back in February. Sure, there are some months that may have a few of my favourite shots, but I think it’s fair to split it this way.

February – Misty Morning

March – The Day The Music Died

April – Stairways & Shadows

May – I Dreamt I Was Batman

June – London’s Burning

July – At Night I Stand Watching

August – Lone Tree

September – Head in the Clouds

October – Shard Sunrise

November – Ascend

December – Birdwatch

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Beauchef

Posted on December 30, 2011 by murphyz

Beauchef

‘Beachy Head’ on the South Coast of England is a corruption of ‘Beauchef’ which means Beautiful Head[land] in French and was the name given to this stretch of cliffs up until 1724.

It’s interesting what you find out on Wikipedia when struggling to find a title for an image!

So, this is the last new image you will see from me in 2011 as we’re quickly approaching the New Year. I’m going to put up a post tomorrow with a roundup of some of the images I’ve posted here since the photoblog began, and then it all starts again on Monday – hurrah!

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Bonnie, Bonnie Banks

Posted on December 29, 2011 by murphyz

Bonnie, Bonnie Banks

As many of you may guess, this image is from Loch Lomond in Scotland. If you didn’t guess this from the title then that perhaps means you’re not familiar with Runrig, or the song that the Scotsman voted as ‘Scotland’s Greatest Song‘ in 2008. Here it is on YouTube if you really feel like subjecting yourself to it.

I’ve mentioned before how wonderful, and uncharacteristic, the weather was during my trip to Scotland earlier this year – and as we drove up the Eastern side of Loch Lomond we just had to pull over at one point to make our way down to the rocks and sample the views that were on offer.

This one I share with you :)

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Rusted Bicycle

Posted on December 28, 2011 by murphyz

Rusted Bicycle

This old rusted bike was sat outside one of the cells on the Nuclear Research Facility in Orford Ness.

Not sure how long it has been there for, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going anywhere in the near future. The weather on this little piece of land is pretty rough, with the harsh sea air and strong winds likely speeding up the rusting process significantly.

The sun was pretty bright this day and I used quite a few of the PhotoTools filters as well as FocalPoint to process this. Here’s one of the original brackets for a comparison.

Rusted-bike-original

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A Grand Entrance

Posted on December 27, 2011 by murphyz

A Grand Entrance

Another shot of the Freemason’s Hall in London. This one was taken on Christmas morning where I was able to stand in the middle of the road and frame as I wished to do so without fear of people walking in the shot or cars running me over.

The problem with the festive period is I keep thinking it’s a weekend and forgetting that I should be uploading an image every day…so the chances are I’ll accidentally miss one upload this week.

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Night to Day – Piccadilly Circus

Posted on December 26, 2011 by murphyz

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday.

Last year I went out on Christmas day and took photos of a very desolate London, rushing from place to place trying to capture the eerie atmosphere of this usually vibrant city while it was pretty much empty.

This year I wanted to go back out there while it was still quiet, but only really had one purpose to do so and that was to try my first attempt at making an image that transcends from night to day. This is what you see above.

I took multiple exposures over a 45 minute period, stood in an empty Piccadilly Circus. I started early while it was still dark and continued until there was quite a lot of light. I then processed a selection of these shots, giving me around 5 to work with, before then merging them together to appear night at the left and blending into daytime at the right.

It turned out quite well for a first attempt and I look forward to trying more in the future.

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Season’s Greetings

Posted on December 25, 2011 by murphyz

Season's Greetings

Thanks to everyone who has visited, revisited, commented, tweeted, linked, liked, plussed (?) and appreciated my work in 2011. I hope you all have a wonderful festive season.

This shot was taken today, Christmas morning, in a relatively empty London.

best wishes

Mike

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London Sunrise – Panorama

Posted on December 23, 2011 by murphyz

London Sunrise - Panorama

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So this is the last post before Christmas, which seems to have rolled around once more with the stealth of a ninja, and what better way to celebrate than by providing a shot for Santa to guide his way through the London skyline by way of a panoramic. Be sure to check out the larger view for all of the detailed goodness.

I love the skyline of this magnificent city, though must admit the Shard is an issue. Yes, it’s one of my favourite buildings at the moment and I try and shoot it whenever I get high up…but it does mean that I have to have a lot of sky in the shot above the other buildings, just to give the Shard room to breathe. Luckily this shot was taken as the sun was coming up and there were some nice clouds in the sky so it at least offered a bit of focal interest throughout the shot.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, whatever you may be up to. Happy holidays, and happy shooting.

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Freemasons

Posted on December 22, 2011 by murphyz

Freemasons

This shot is of the Freemason’s Hall in London. It’s the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England where all of the Masonic Lodges meet, but it’s also where some of the TV show Spooks was filmed.

I used to walk past this spot regularly when I was in my old office, and I have seen a few interesting things enter it’s doors along with the TV crews. My favourite was a pest control hawk which goes there every few months, I think, to deter rodents.

This was a very quick process a long time ago and though I had intended to re-process I decided I quite liked it just the way it is in the end.

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The Drop

Posted on December 21, 2011 by murphyz

The Drop

A view straight down from the best rooftop in London; she will be missed.

Had the work Christmas party last night, which was good fun, and have opted to take the day off. Sensible Mike remembers the last Christmas party that was held on a weeknight and decided it was safer to have a day off rather than risk working in a horrid state. In the bar after the meal, where the second round ordered were tequilas, I was thinking I had certainly made the right choice – though I feel alright this morning.

I should use this time productively to do something like Christmas shopping (it’s still ages away….right?) but know that I’ll only end up buying stuff for myself if I attempted that.

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Plastic Pirate

Posted on December 20, 2011 by murphyz

Plastic Pirate

A couple of weeks ago I went to ‘Winter Wonderland’ in Hyde Park with John, James and Dylan. It was a very cold night as we stood around taking a few photos, and though I didn’t take a lot that I liked it was good to be able to play with the new 24-70 2.8 as this was the first time I had really been out with it. It was also nice to finally meet up with YorkshireStacked and mattomatto who kindly popped down to say hello; hopefully we’ll get to go on the long overdue photowalk soon (even if you do shoot Nikon).

Outside one of the rides was the pirate you see above. I have no idea what the ride was, but I liked the way he stood out and allowed the background lights to fade away. However once I was processing the lights were actually a little distracting from the subject so I opted to process as a black and white instead.

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Arrival

Posted on December 19, 2011 by murphyz

Arrival

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all had a ice weekend and are prepared for this final run up to Christmas.

For today’s image we’re heading back to the disused turbine engine research facility and the lovely doors that I have shown you a shot of previously. However, with such wonderful doors to photograph I of course had to get one shot with the hoodie character standing in them, so here it is.

The last shot I did here had cold blue tones so I decided to process this one pretty differently with golden colours and a red glow from the emergency light. Hope you like it.

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