# A few shots from my trip to the North East Coast



## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

Yesterday the sun was out so we popped down to the North East coast from Tynemouth to Whitley Bay. I took a few photos and would like peoples thoughts. I have messed with the first 2 using Oloneo Photo engine using the HDR Tone Mapping etc while the others have just been squared up and had a few tweaks such as changing the shadows on the beach shot as the grass and church were very dark. All shots were took with my D5000 using the 18-55mm kit lens except the lighthouse which was taken with my 55-200vr. I used a polariser on all bar the lighthouse pic.

St Mary's Lighthouse








Ive redone this one as it looked over cooked. This one has just had Auto Contrast and been squared up.









Tynemouth Life Brigade Watch House









Tynemouth Outdoor Pool 


















Tynemouth Beach









The Priory









This is another step towards learning how to use my equipment and how to edit the photos in Photoshop.

Comments and advice welcome, Phil


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## Edward101 (Jun 5, 2009)

Nice shots Phil, for the shot with the lighthouse it would have been nice to use an ND or ND Grad filter with a slower shutter speed to soften the water, but nice composition definately suits it not in HDR though. But I like the shot, if you have shot in Raw format maybe add in a slight graduated filter?

I really like the Life Brigade Watch House also, nice lighting in the foreground etc. Might look quite nice converted into black and white, playing with the curves and contrast slightly too??

Nice set though, glad your getting plenty of use out of your new equipment :thumb:


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## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

Edward101 said:


> Nice shots Phil, for the shot with the lighthouse it would have been nice to use an ND or ND Grad filter with a slower shutter speed to soften the water, but nice composition definately suits it not in HDR though. But I like the shot, if you have shot in Raw format maybe add in a slight graduated filter?
> 
> I really like the Life Brigade Watch House also, nice lighting in the foreground etc. Might look quite nice converted into black and white, playing with the curves and contrast slightly too??
> 
> Nice set though, glad your getting plenty of use out of your new equipment :thumb:


Thanks Edward. Funnily enough ive just been desaturating the Watch House pic. I totally killed the Lighthouse with the HDR prog but have seen the error of my ways :lol: Thats a good idea and i think i mentioned that was the only shot where i didnt use my filters! Claire was getting annoyed by then! I have only used RAW once in the garden to see what the crack was but always used JPEG but i am defo going RAW from now. It seems to have so many advantages but its not user friendly to me as in i cant just whack the card in the laptop and see them through windows gallery. That might sound daft but thats what ive been used to. Do you use PS or Elements to view or even the bundled software from the camera? Or maybe bridge in PS. I need to learn how best to use RAW on the laptop. Is it worth me using the RAW + JPEG setting on my 8GB card?
B & W








Thanks, Phil


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## bretti_kivi (Apr 22, 2008)

Personally, I let everything process before I touch anything... process automatically into JPG and then decide what to spend time on.

Bret


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## Edward101 (Jun 5, 2009)

GIZTO29 said:


> Thanks Edward. Funnily enough ive just been desaturating the Watch House pic. I totally killed the Lighthouse with the HDR prog but have seen the error of my ways :lol: Thats a good idea and i think i mentioned that was the only shot where i didnt use my filters! Claire was getting annoyed by then! I have only used RAW once in the garden to see what the crack was but always used JPEG but i am defo going RAW from now. It seems to have so many advantages but its not user friendly to me as in i cant just whack the card in the laptop and see them through windows gallery. That might sound daft but thats what ive been used to. Do you use PS or Elements to view or even the bundled software from the camera? Or maybe bridge in PS. I need to learn how best to use RAW on the laptop. Is it worth me using the RAW + JPEG setting on my 8GB card?
> B & W


For HDR you really need the 'right' sort of image, maybe for the Watch House desaturate it when its not in HDR, I think it will look even better :thumb:

Shoot in Raw is a must imo, I just select the camera to Raw not Raw + Jpeg/Tiff etc as when Im editing the image Ill make a copy of it and save the edited in Jpeg if Im 100% happy. But in Raw + Jpeg is fine!
I just use CS4 and only use bridge for making contact sheets. But on my imac I can still preview my raw files in apples preview program.
U'll see the advantage of shooting in raw when it comes to editing them on the raw editor (or whatever its called when you open it up in PS :lol, much easier to change various things such as temperature and removing blemishes easily too.

Yeah it is a pain when you need to sort out putting on filters etc, I need to invest in some Lee stuff soon  more expense! Really want a prime lens too, need pay day soon lol.
Need to do a photoshoot tomorrow as Ive just started doing my degree in photography, got my first assignment today, fingers crossed I can get some decent shots :thumb:


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## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

Edward101 said:


> For HDR you really need the 'right' sort of image, maybe for the Watch House desaturate it when its not in HDR, I think it will look even better :thumb:
> 
> Shoot in Raw is a must imo, I just select the camera to Raw not Raw + Jpeg/Tiff etc as when Im editing the image Ill make a copy of it and save the edited in Jpeg if Im 100% happy. But in Raw + Jpeg is fine!
> I just use CS4 and only use bridge for making contact sheets. But on my imac I can still preview my raw files in apples preview program.
> ...


I know what youre saying about having the right subject for HDR. Heres the Watch House in normal B & W. 








I like the look of the B & W Filters and the Cokin system. Have you looked in to welding glass yet? I weld at work so have got a shade 9.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=152480
Also i'd really like to try one of the wideangle lense attachments off Ebay or the fisheye but im not sure of the quality.....
Phil


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

Looks like the practice is paying off.

i really like the second image, looks effin cold though.


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## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

Gruffs said:


> Looks like the practice is paying off.
> 
> i really like the second image, looks effin cold though.


Well it is the North East:lol: Just finding the time to get some practice is the hard bit lol.
Thanks mate


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Lovely shots Phil, I've not really done any landscape ones yet, did you use a tripod for them? I'll download that program you use for HDR images, I had ago with the built-in one on PS but I think it's rubbish TBH.


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## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

Pezza4u said:


> Lovely shots Phil, I've not really done any landscape ones yet, did you use a tripod for them? I'll download that program you use for HDR images, I had ago with the built-in one on PS but I think it's rubbish TBH.


They were all hand held mate. I tried a few with my tripod and an ND filter and they just came out white! Oloneo is great! Just got a gorillapod SLR Zoom aswell mate. Cracking!
Phil


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