- POTD Sat, 1 Feb 2014: Building blocks 1 February 2014
Building blocksI find it facinating how often when I am trying to take a photograph each day the most interesting images are the ones I do the least planning for. This box of blocks was at a friends house and I took a grab shot of it as we were leaving.
Colour corrected and passed in to Color eFex pro. I used the detail extractor to bring out the texture of the blocks and cross processing (nicely undoing my colour correctoin work) to give an more interesting colour effect that still has some basis on the real colours of the blocks. Finally a subtle vignette and pass back to Lightroom.
In Lightroom, time for some noise reduction and sharpening and that, you might say, was the building blocks I used to create the final image.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0201A-G01455
Continue reading → - POTD Sun, 2 Feb 2014: Groundhog Day 2 February 2014
Groundhog Day2nd February is Groundhog Day… my calendar appears to confirm this fact!
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0202A-G01463
Continue reading → - POTD Mon, 3 Feb 2014: Meet Harry 3 February 2014
Holiday souvenir – a lizard on driftwoodWhen we go away I always try to bring back a small souvenir from where we have visited. On our recent trip to La Palma we spotted a craft stall selling these model Lizards on bits of drift wood. This one reminded me of Harry the lizard in the TV show “Death in paradise” Here he is photographed on a sheet of white paper and lit by using a speedlight attached to a TTL cable. I also used a small bounce board to help fill in the shadows.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0203A-G01474
Continue reading → - POTD Tue, 4 Feb 2014: Victoria 4 February 2014
Victoria C on the sofa at Ian’s StudioModel Victoria was at the studio today to work with another photographers on a studio hire. I am grateful to both of them for letting me take this shot to share with you as my Photo of the Day for 4th February 2014.
Lighting is a large softbox situated camera right with an umbrella fill light camera left. The red wall is actually background paper with a short run of skirting board placed on the floor to make the wall look more realistic.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0204A-G01480
Continue reading → - POTD Wed, 5 Feb 2014: Getting Ready 5 February 2014
Test Shot – Toucan and Puppy on a chaise-longue at Ian’s Studio.The 5th February saw a baby/family portrait session at the studio for some clients.
Prior to their arrival I wanted to set up and check lighting. This I did with the aid of my two assistants – Toucan and Hush Puppy who frequently help me at portrait sessions involving small children.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0205A-G01485
Continue reading → - POTD Thu, 6 Feb 2014: Lend Me a Tenor 6 February 2014
Lend Me a TenorFirst dress rehearsal of Lend Me a Tenor at Stockport Garrick Theatre. The play is a farce set in 1930’s Cleaveland, USA. You can see more images from the show here: http://photos.imb.biz/garrick/lendmeatenor
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0206A-G01863
Continue reading → - POTD Fri, 7 Feb 2014: Prayer 7 February 2014
Model Sarah Angel at 1970’s Night at Ian’s Studio1970’s night at Ian’s Studio. Sarah Angel was our model. For this image we worked with a single light. The modifier was a 70cm beauty dish with a grid attached. The light was high up on camera left.
Other images from the shoot can be found here: http://photos.imb.biz/model/shoot/sarahangel1970s
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0207A-G01935
Continue reading → - POTD Sat, 8 Feb 2014: Celebrations at Burnage parkrun 8 February 2014
Celebrations at Burnage parkrunSaturday morning parkrun. Some mornings are harder than others. Thankfully this week there was a nice surprise at the finish. Katherine brought cake to celebrate her birthday.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0208A-G01991
Continue reading → - POTD Sun, 9 Feb 2014: Rain drops on a window 9 February 2014
Rain drops on a windowIt feels like it has done nothing but rain for the last few weeks in the UK. We don’t live in a flood affected area but I’m getting fed up of the rain. Thoughts and prayers are with those who are flooded.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0209A-G01995
Continue reading → - POTD Mon, 10 Feb 2014: One to One Training 10 February 2014
Lauren G at one-to-one training session at Pink Portal Studio, WythenshawThis POTD was taken at a one-to-one training session I was providing for a local photographer. Rather unusually for me the session was not at my studio. The photographer has his own space and equipment and so it made much more sence for me to go to him and work to train him with the lights and gear that he intends to use.
We covered general lighting techniques and some boudoir work. The model for the shoot was Lauren G whom I have worked with twice before. You can find images I shot at the training session here: http://photos.imb.biz/model/shoot/laureng1to1
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0210A-G02067
Continue reading → - POTD Tue, 11 Feb 2014: Preparing a quote 11 February 2014
Working out mileageI have been asked to quote for a major photography job. For obvious reasons I can’t go into details. All I can say is it will involve a lot of travelling. Today’s POTD is just a portion of the calculations I went through to prepare the quote.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0211A-G02091
Continue reading → - POTD Wed, 12 Feb 2014: Where Next? 12 February 2014
Insight Guides on a bookshelfThe weather is cold, rainy and very, very windy… I am sure it is no coincidence that Ann phoned me up about notices in a travel agent’s window. Unsurprisingly my mind turns to planing my next trip to a warmer climate. But where next?
On the plus side this is possibly my first POTD of 2014 to have been upload on the day it was taken!
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0212A-G02099
Continue reading → - POTD Thu, 13 Feb 2014: Katherine G 13 February 2014
Katherine GModel Katherine G was at the studio today working with a photographer who had hired the studio for half a day. This and the other three shots I took (See: http://photos.imb.biz/model/katherineg) are were all test shots to set up the lights for the client. My thanks to both model and photographer for allowing me to use them as my photo of the day.
I think we discovered an odd fact – this is Katherine’s third visit to the studio and other than these shots to check the lighting I am still yet to shoot with her.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0213A-G02104
Continue reading → - POTD Fri, 14 Feb 2014: Valentine’s Day 14 February 2014
Two Valentine’s day cards on a mantlepieceIt’s not brilliant image, but it was an easy shot to take for my valentine’s day POTD. A bit of post processing with Lightroom, Silver Efex and Photoshop and you have this.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0214A-G02112
Continue reading → - POTD Sat, 15 Feb 2014: Fallen Tree 15 February 2014
A fallen tree on the Trans-penine trail at Burnage rugby clubThis week’s parkrun at burnage had a new feature on the route… the fallen tree. Thankfully it wasn’t blocking the path but it had demolished the fence to the Rugby club just next to the gates we use. This meant a new start point and a new finish point for this week’s run.
I was running this week so my images of the run were all taken after the run, but do include photos of parkrun heroes, a flooded car park, fallen tree panorama and of course some more detail shots of said tree.
You can find said images here: http://photos.imb.biz/misc/parkrun2014-02-15
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0215A-G02116
Continue reading → - POTD Sun, 16 Feb 2014: Energy Boost 16 February 2014
Adidas Energy Boost running shoesWith Silverstone Half Marathon only 2 weeks away and the Manchester Marathon only 7 weeks away it is time to relace my worn out running shoes.
I am trying a different brand this time: Adidas Energy Boost. They are said to be something of break-through in cushioning, and this is something that is of great importance to me because of my arthritis. They certainly felt as though they had a lot of cushioning when I tried them on in the shop. Time will tell how I get on with them.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0216A-G02141
Continue reading → - POTD Mon, 17 Feb 2014: The Photography Show 17 February 2014
Pass and guide for The Photography ShowMy pass for next month’s “The Photography Show” at the NEC arrived today. Looking forward to it. (How’s that for a short POTD posting?)
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0217A-G02149
Continue reading → - POTD Tue, 18 Feb 2014: The Winter’s Tale 18 February 2014
The Winter’s TaleRehearsals are alredy well underway for Stockport Garrick’s production of The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare. Here we see the director consulting the script and his notes as actor Adrian performs a short monologue.
You can find the full set of rehearsal images I shot tonight here: http://photos.imb.biz/garrick/winterstale
The play runs 29 March – 5 April. For more information and to buy tickets please go to: http://www.stockportgarrick.co.uk/
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0218A-G02170
Continue reading → - POTD Wed, 19 Feb 2014: Advertising HDR 19 February 2014
Intu Trafford CentreI’ve been working for a client who has commissioned me to photograph advertising sites. Most of the sites are back lit which means the images need to be taken at dusk to show off the sites to their best advantage. This images is an HDR image created from a numer of exposures combined together in Nik Software’s HDR Efex package. I suspect this slightly sureal rending is not quite what the client will want but I quite like it and thus I’ve nominated this as my POTD.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0219A-G02596_HDR
Continue reading → - POTD Thu, 20 Feb 2014: Zara Du Rose 20 February 2014
Zara Du Rose at a small group session at Ian’s StudioThis POTD comes from a small group session with model Zara Du Rose. Zara was in the studio for a full day working with three photographers, while I was providing tuition on lighting.
You can see images from the rest of shoot here: http://photos.imb.biz/model/shoot/zaradurose1 (NSFW – much of the work we were shooting were different styles of nude and semi nude).
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0220A-G02739
Continue reading → - POTD Sat, 22 Feb 2014: Taking the finish at Burnage parkrun 22 February 2014
Taking the finish at Burnage parkrunRachael and John pack up the finish line at Burnage parkrun.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0222A-G02860
Continue reading → - POTD Sun, 23 Feb 2014: Salford illuminated adverts 23 February 2014
96 Sheet, SalfordThis is perhaps not how I would normally choose to spend my Sunday afternoon: sitting on the side of a busy dual carriage way waiting for an advertising sign to light up. However it is work and it serves to remind followers of my POTD posts that a lot of the time photography isn’t actually that glamorous a profession.
As unglamorous as it sounds – I do actually enjoy this work. Dusk photography is one of my favourite types of photography. Commercial photography like this is important to my business and getting images that will help my clients develop their business is also something that makes the wait all worth while.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0223A-G02923
Continue reading → - POTD Mon, 24 Feb 2014: Guns or Roses 24 February 2014
Guns or Roses tribute act at South Manchester Camera ClubHelping out at South Manchester Camera Club gave me the chance to get a couple of shots of members of a “Guns and Roses” tribute band.
This was created with two speedlight forming sandwich lighting (subject in the middle the two lights pointing at each other) the front light had a softbox on it and was off to camera right.
The plan was to create the black background without any form of background sheet by just letting the light fall off. In post production I helped it slightly by reducing the background exposure very slighly in Lightroom, just to clean it up. But in reality very little needed to be done to get the black that you see in this image.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0224A-G03013
Continue reading → - POTD Tue, 25 Feb 2014: Time Sync 25 February 2014
Time SyncWhen I have a second photographer working with me I need to know that I can synchronise the time camera time stamps between their camera and mine.
This is particularly important for shoots such as theatre photography where I produce slide shows of images and I need to be able to quickly order all the images from the two camera in chronological order. It looks really odd in a slide show if you show images from a sequence out of order. For example imagine two photographers photographing a section of a play where someone walks across stage, stands next to a chair then sits down. If the camera time stamps are out even by a just a few seconds the sequence might run in correctly and look very odd: Person stage right (Cam 1), person stage left standing by chair (Cam 1), person centre stage (Cam 2), person sitting (Cam 1), person standing by chair (Cam 2), person sitting (Cam 2).
The way I solve this is at the start of the shoot myself and the other photographers to take a sync shot. Basically we point cameras at each other and take a photo on the count of three. In post production, in Lightroom, I look at the difference in time between the two shots and then adjust the time stamp on one set of images by that amount. By doing this all the images will be in the correct sequence when ordered by “time taken”. Problem solved.
Today’s POTD is a time sync shot that I took of Graham who was shooting alongside me for the Stockport Garrick production of Girls Like That.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0225A-G03029
Continue reading → - POTD Wed, 26 Feb 2014: Gateshead Int Metro Centre 26 February 2014
Intu Metro CentreA trip up to Gateshead to photograph more advertising displays at dusk. This one is outside the yellow mall at the the Intu Metro Centre.
The final image is actually made up of two shots (taken on tripod) one exposed for the ambient light and the other exposed for the advertising display. The two images are then digitally combined in Photoshop. Add to that colour adjustments and all the verticals corrected.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0226A-G03512
Continue reading → - POTD Thu, 27 Feb 2014: Angel of the North 27 February 2014
Angel of the NorthLeaving Gateshead after the MetroCentre shoot I couldn’t resist a slight detour to visit the Angel of the North.
Processed in Lightroom, enhanced in Silver Efex Pro.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0227A-G03690
Continue reading → - POTD Fri, 28 Feb 2014: The Big Spill 28 February 2014
Plastic cup with water flowing out of it.I’ve been trying out various techniques for next weeks “Big bang theory night” at the studio. The premise is all about capturing an event in response to a noise, for example a balloon bursting or an object dropping. In this case a plastic cup of water. Apart from a bit of cropping and a bit of a tweak to clarity any exposure this is straight out of camera.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.Image Reference: FG0228A-G03742
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