Another one

I'm kind of enjoying making these planet images now. This one is the Edinburgh city-scape from the Ferry Road. I had to illegally park and clamber onto the roof of a portakabin to get the panoramic shot.

Another world

This is another of those mini-world things I've been playing around with. I wish I'd taken more panorama shots that day I was in Edinburgh.

A few of my pals on Flickr have commented that they really like these shots so I'm now about 90% sure this is going to be my Graded Unit topic. I just need to go out and find a few more locations to work with. I bet the Forth Road Bridge would look amazing on a mini-world.

I'm not really too fussed about it all at the moment though. I just want to get Hogmanay out of the way then I can concentrate on my work again. Now, pass me another vodka and some nibbly things...

Happy Christmas!

My kitten says "Merry Xmas! Put my prezzies over there"

Small world

I've now had a go at creating one of those mini-worlds in Photoshop. I started off by stitching 3 images together, cropping it a little then making it a square shape. I then turned it 180 degrees and applied the polar coordinates tool inside the distort menu. And it was that easy!



It's not bad for my first attempt but I think I can improve with a bit more practice. The next time I go out shooting I'll get a few more panorama shots to play with. I still haven't settled on a topic for this Graded Unit though so I'm still keeping my options open at this point.

Post Edinburgh

Well, that was a fun but freezing day.

I reported to the Network Rail station and the second I walked into the office this lady says "Hi Alan, sign here please". I hadn't even opened my mouth yet!

"What gave it away?", I asked, laying the forbidden tripod on the counter and shrugging off the oversized Lowepro rucksack.

Anyway, after signing tons of forms and watching a 10 minute safety video I was issued with a much coveted "contractor badge". This was pinned to my chest for the entire day and I was thankful for it. Almost as soon as I started shooting overlooking the main concourse I was apprehended by two coppers. "Excuse me", said one of them tapping me roughly on the shoulder, "Just what do you think you're doing". I wheeled around, flashing the yellow badge in his face. He then said to his pal "It's awright, Mick... he's got a badge on". Great to see anti-terrorism policing so hard at work lol...

Joking aside I'm glad they were alert to me with the camera. Quite a few members of the public were staring at me as well, but once they clocked the badge I could almost see their thoughts as they realised I was "somebody official". I have to admit it was a weird experience.

Anyway. When I was issued with the badge the lady asked me where I would be shooting from. I replied that I would only be on overhead walkways as I needed all my shots to be looking down. Unfortunately the walkways weren't really that high so I left the station and made my way to a better vantage point. Here is the first image I took:



Not really that great but I applied a few corrections and made it look like this:



It's not bad but it's still not brilliant. I won't submit anything to the graded unit unless it blows my socks off. I must admit this image does exactly what I set out to do yesterday, namely get a shot of a train and make it look like a miniature but I'm not really convinced I can get an entire set of 10 out of this. I'm still liking the miniature planets I mentioned previously (thankfully I got some shots I'm going to work on later to attempt this effect).

Here are a few other images from yesterday where I've applied the tilt/shift effect in Photoshop.

Going to Edinburgh

I completed the risk assessment form today and had it signed off, so I'm definitely going into town tomorrow. It's actually quite good that they've banned the tripod as it made the risk assessment easier to complete.

I'm going to have another look at other peoples online images of the station to try and get an idea of where they were shooting from.

I'm still not sure if I'll go ahead with this idea though. I was searching the internet today and discover a photographer on Flickr who creates these amazing planetoid images:



What she's doing is taking a 360 degree shot by swinging the camera round on a tripod then stitching the images to form a panorama. She then does some clever stuff in Photoshop to make it look round. I've already watched a YouTube video on the technique and it looks fairly straight forward.

When I'm in Edinburgh tomorrow I'll take the tripod and grab a few 360 test shots then come home and play with them. I'll also apply the tilt/shift technique to the train station shots.

After that I guess I'll make up my mind and try to stick with it. But it'll all probably change again in January!

Second idea

I took this shot of one of my kittens and a miniature model I had lying around a few weeks ago. It was inspired by the artist Slinkachu

I really like his work and I'm starting to wonder if I should be doing this instead of the miniature fakes. I'm still going into Edinburgh on Saturday to get a bunch of shots of the trains before I make up my mind. For practice, earlier today, I downloaded a shot of Waverley train station. I had a go at the miniature fake effect after I'd watched a photoshop tutorial. The final image was okay but it didn't really blow my skirt up to be honest and that's why I'm now thinking about other ideas.

All I really know at this stage is that I don't want to just take a photo and chuck it into my final 10 images. I want to have a lot of post production in Photoshop and Lightroom 'cos I find that to be a lot of fun.

Permission granted!

Hi Alan,

Sorry for the late reply.

Saturday the 19th is okay for your photo shoot. I’m afraid we can’t allow the use of a tripod and flash when you are taking your photos.

Can you please sign in at the Network rail Reception (opposite Platform 1) before you commence and bring along photographic ID.

Regards

Darren

Oh God! Now I'm officially a bit nervous. This is the first time I've ever put myself in a situation where I know members of the public are going to challenge me. Mind you, my tutor did say to wear a high-vis vest and people will think I'm a member of staff.

As far as not being able to use flash and the tripod goes I'm not too concerned. I'll just need to get there at midday for the maximum light and if necessary I'll just balance the camera on a wall and use the cable release.

I'm now going to do some online research about Waverley to try and scout the best photography locations in the station.

Train station update

It's been a week and they haven't replied. I sent this message earlier:

Hi Craig,

It's been a week since my last email but I've not had a reply from Darren Gallagher. He might be on holiday or something?

Is it okay if I come along this Saturday afternoon to photograph for an hour? I need to know by Friday 18 Dec so that I can sort out the Risk Assessment forms at the college for the public liability insurance to be valid.

Many thanks,

Alan Fisher

Police permission

I sent an email to the British Transport Police last night. I wanted to know if I need permission to photograph at Edinburgh Waverley. They replied quite quickly, and I was surprised, saying that I needed to contact the station's PR department but they'd forwarded my email. Very helpful.

If I'm going ahead with this miniature project then I really want to have some cool locations. That's why I'm thinking about Waverley station. There's a taxi concourse and several overhead walkways I could shoot from, 'cos to get a successful shot you really need to be looking down on your subject.

Anyway, I got an email this evening from Network Rail in Glasgow:

Alan

Non media related photography requests should be sent to Darren Gallagher, copied above. Please can you tell us what you intend to take photos of and how they will be used please?

Thanks,

Craig

Craig Bowman
Media Relations Manager
Network Rail
Buchanan House, 58 Port Dundas Road, Glasgow, G4 0LQ

I've now sent a new message to Darren Gallagher and copied Craig Bowman on it. I basically said that I want to shoot for an hour, it's for an HNC Photography course and the images won't be used anywhere else. I also mentioned that any member of the public who's face is recognisable will be blurred out and that I'm also covered for Public Liability by the college. I don't really see them having an issue with me photographing there.

Now. Where did I put those Risk Assessment forms!



added later tonight: Here is my reply;

Hi Darren,
I'm currently doing the Graded Unit which is a six month long project and is part of my HNC Photography course. I've decided that my subject is "tilt/shift miniatures" and I would like to shoot at Waverley station for around an hour.

Tilt/shift photography is where you take an image from above and then make it look like like a miniature model on the computer. I plan on standing on the pavement next to the taxi access ramp and also one of the upper walkways to shoot down over the main concourse. I have attached an example picture of what I'm trying to achieve. These shots work particularly well in train stations and that's why I'm contacting you. Should any member of the public be caught in my shots, their faces will be blurred out and unrecognisable.

The images will be printed at the college, put into a folder then sent away to the Scottish Qualifications Authority. They will not be reprinted or used anywhere else without permission. Please contact West Lothian College on 01506 418184 if you require clarification on this and ask to speak to Neil Sinclair or Alan McGregor (head of photography). I will also send a copy of the final images to you which you could consider using for marketing etc.

I'm fully covered by West Lothian College's public liability insurance and will have a copy of the certificate with me. I will also have my matriculation card and shooting brief should any member of the public question me.

I would like to aim for Saturday 19th december in the afternoon if possible.

Many thanks for your time.

Alan Fisher
Student id no. 20044568 West Lothian College.

[image included in email as shown below]


Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/22083244@N06/3549695929/in/set-72157618464598535/

Idea number one

I've been toying with this idea all day.

Tilt shift miniatures are fascinating. They take real objects and make them look like little models and I really like them. This image is one I tried out a few months back when I was fooling around with my camera. I liked the effect so much that I joined an online tilt shift community.

Typically me, however, I forgot about it after a few weeks because I was busy with other college stuff and my full-time job. Today has got me thinking about it again and it could be quite a good idea for the graded unit. It's something I like so I don't think I'll get bored after four months. They're also really interesting photo's if you get them right, and I've seen some terrible examples online.

I also discovered this evening that Blurb (an online book publisher) can create an amazing hardback book from a personal blog. I tried it out earlier with the few posts I've made here so far and it looked amazing. I'm definitely keeping this blog and will publish it at the end of the unit as part of my evaluation.

First day

Today was the official start of the Graded Unit. We had a good talk about it in class and the tutor outlined what we have to do quite well.

We also got to see some work from past students; some good some not good, but it was helpful to see how they'd set it out, presented it etc.

The good news is that this year for the first time we only have to provide 10 images as a minimum. Which probably means that those 10 images will be more heavily scrutinised by the adjudicators, but I'm not too bothered about that. I don't want to submit any old rubbish just to make up the numbers. Last year they had to provide 20 images which is probably why I wasn't that impressed with their work.

I'm not going to do the Hollywood starlets any more, I don't think. What I'm concerned about is booking a model who doesn't turn up, or a hair stylist making my "starlet" look like Edward Scissorhands. I really don't want to have to rely on other people for this particular project. I might still do it as a side project for those keen enough however, but I've got a few other ideas I'm more interested in. I'll need to choose my subject soon and stick with it. Our tutor warned us that changing halfway through could be disastrous.

I'm going to have a good think about it over the next week.