clivester's photostream  

Birling Gap, East Sussex - 31st December 2011 15:03
Birling Gap is a sparse hamlet at one end of the Seven Sisters, probably better known for it's ample Car Park and National Trust tearooms than anything else. The row of Coastguard Cottages and the small cliff on what they stand is being gradually eaten away by the sea and it will not be long before they all disappear. Having attempted to study architecture it is a sad irony that it is easy to tell exactly how many cottages have been lost due to their now asymmetric lines and form.

Anyway, this was taken down on the little beach at Birling Gap in far-from-clement weather - very windy, pretty rough sea, very cold; and I had a mixture of drizzle and sea spray for company. I quickly found a piece of flotsam rope for foreground interest but didn't think I was going to get much out of it... however I quite liked the result; the selective colour was an after-thought, but a necessary one to give it something to tie the image together.

Coast Set | Large on Black | Hit L for Lightbox.

I will be taking a very short break from Flickr to try and concentrate on my stock agency "portfolios"; it also seems fitting to do so now since I have a little lull in new photos (not used the camera for a couple of weeks) and I have finally caught up on Flickr after my extended surgical break last year! So, I shall be catching up with everyone in a couple of weeks :)

Grey Squirrel, St. Martin's Churchyard, Dorking - 29th December 2011 12:48
Another Grey Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) shot from the churchyard in Dorking. Armed with some pistachio nuts I forced these, admittedly tame, squirrels to stop darting around and pose for some portraits. I was completely undecided about which one I preferred out of this one and the other one. I liked the other one because of the point of view and detail, but I preferred the backdrop in this one! Anyone got any views on it?

This is SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) aside from the usual RAW processing and a little capture sharpening. Whilst it was shot in less than ideal light, my trusty 50mm f/1.4 lens produced some great images.

Animals Set | Large on Black | Hit L for Lightbox.

I have one more image to upload from the Christmas break before I am fully up to date; I may take a little break to concentrate on getting my stock agency portfolios up to date.

Grey Squirrel, St. Martin's Churchyard, Dorking - 29th December 2011 12:48
Having found some very tame Grey Squirrels (Sciurus Carolinensis) in Dorking last Christmas I went again, but this time I was armed with some pistachio nuts to keep them entertained. I personally much prefer Red Squirrels (Sciurus Vulgaris) I live nowhere near any remaining populations of them so I have to make do with the Grey instead.

This is SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) aside from the usual RAW processing and a little capture sharpening. Whilst it was shot in less than ideal light (it later rained very heavily), my 50mm f/1.4 lens was perfect and just the right focal length given they were virtually eating out of my hand.

Animals Set | Large on Black | Hit L for Lightbox.

Popcorn & Mug - 28th December 2011 10:49
This is some Marks & Spencer Toffee and Cinnamon dusted Popcorn in a spotty mug. Just a random image from Christmas, which I may delete... but we'll see! :)

Food & Drink Set | Large on Black | Hit L for Lightbox.

Ref: IMG_101_6877

Groyne, Bognor Regis Beach - 27th December 2011 14:01
Because of the dreary weather conditions I envisaged a longish exposure image that showed the streaky effect that is generated by a retreating wave on a pebbly beach like that at Bognor. A 0.6 ND filter combined with a 0.9 ND grad filter meant the exposure of around 2 seconds was long enough to capture the effect without going too far. The grad also helped make the sky look darker and more foreboding.

To finish off the image I took a little inspiration from the work of one of my contacts (Blue Fin Art) and applied a motion blur over the top part of the image; I felt this gave a more serene and calmer balance, and more importantly cut out the messy nature of the choppy seascape beyond.

The image in the comments is exactly the same image in colour, I have been a bit torn between the two but on this occasion the mono version edged it - what do you think?

Black & White Set | Large on Black | Hit L for Lightbox.