SPQ Photography

A Trip to Belfast Zoo

spqphotography — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:53:13 +0000

Situated in the outskirts of Belfast City, this zoo is home to more than 1200 animals, a high number of which are endangered in their natural habitat. From a photography point of view their are plenty of opportunities to net some great images with some of the enclosures having elevated viewpoints (e.g Giraffes) to give an eye-level view of the animals. The only downside of visiting the zoo at this time of year is the low position of the sun coupled with the fact that the place is situated at the foot of cliffs (Cave Hill) which resulted in alot of shadows and low-light situations. I found myself shooting at ISO’s of 800 and 1600 most of the time (using an EOS 450d which has a maximum ISO of 1600) and even with the use of a monopod i still ended up with a lot of unusable shots. The next time i visit it will definately be during the summer months when the sun is higher in the sky and ambient light levels are much better. Although hopefully by then i will have upgraded to a better camera body with improved ISO ability. Below are the images which i feel are the best of the day.

~ Scott

Zebras B&W

Zebra

Ring-Tailed Lemur

Pelican

Pelican Pair

Ostrich

Meerkat

Grey Heron

East African Crowned Crane

Logo designs

spqphotography — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:26:39 +0000

I feel that a well designed, easy recognizable logo is essential for a photography business (as with most businesses). Unfortunately graphic design isn’t my strong point and i’m not in a position to pay for a designer to create a logo for us, so it’s time to use what photoshop skills i possess along with a little creativity and make my own.

After a few various designs i’ve narrowed my choices down to the 2 logo’s below. I will link this post to my facebook page and see what my friends think is the stronger design. As this is a relatively new blog i doubt i’ll get any repsonses here, so it’s over to facebook for feedback. Of course if you’ve happened to stumble across this page, feel free to comment or leave an opinion.

~ Scott

version 3

or version 7

Doggy Rock (Garron Point)

spqphotography — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:32:41 +0000

Went fishing last night along the Antrim coast to a place called Garron Point. My friends and i call it Doggy Rock due to the amount of dogfish we catch there. Of course i had to bring my camera so before i set up my fishing rod i went rockhopping and took a few snaps of the surrounding area just after sundown, this being my favourite of the set. I must admit to adding a red photo filter adjustment layer to enhance the overall ‘sundown-ish’ effect. It’s a pretty basic shot but there’s something about rocks+sea+sunset with a long-ish exposure that intrigues me.

Shot Info: 0.7 sec @ f/22, ISO 100

1954 MG TF

spqphotography — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:46:46 +0000

While out for a leisurely drive today we stopped off near Portaferry with a flask of tea and some sandwiches at a spot on a quiet little coastal road. There was a couple already there who had the same idea as us. When i seen their car sitting there i simply had to ask if they minded if i could take a few shots of it. The guy was very friendly and didn’t mind at all and actually removed some stuff from the back seat so as not to spoil the image. He told me it’s a 1954 MG TF and he’s had it since 1960 and has had no problems with it at all. The saying “they don’t make things like they used to anymore” is certainly true. The car was very well looked after and was gleaming and i know that HDR images can really do justice to cars like this so that’s the technique i used here. I then added a lightroom preset and a little sharpening to finish it off.

Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria amethystina)

spqphotography — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 22:30:12 +0000

Went out with a friend today for a walk in the forest to find some mushrooms to photograph (makes a change from birds). It’s been a while since i made an HDR image but when i saw this strange little shroom i just had to give it the HDR treatment to retain as much detail as i could. The strange thing is that this is actually edible!!! Because the coloration fades with age and weathering, it becomes difficult to identify, hence the common name ‘Deceiver’. Shot info: 3 shot AEB @ f/16, ISO 100, merged to HDR with Photomatix Pro, finished off in Photoshop CS5.

~ Scott