Gordon McFarlane Gallery -Alloa

We have had a number of framed prints on display at Gordon McFarlane's Gallery in Alloa for over a year now, the gallery is mainly the upper floor of a Jewelers shop in the town and the owner had a passion for exhibiting works or Art. We have refreshed the works on a regular basis as Niel's various exhibitions change, but a few of my black & whites images have been on display in the main shop for a while as a semi permanent display, guess they like them there !.

The shop manager Niel McFarlane is always keen to offer a wide selection of artworks and crafts from oils to photography and drawing, alongside many smaller 3D works and does seem to be a fan of artistic photographic prints.
There will be a new photography only exhibition starting mid August so time to get some new images sorted, not sure what we will be submitting just yet but think its time to offer something different.

The gallery has for the past 2 years taken part in the Forth Valley Open Studio event link

Dancers in the dark - Solo Exhibition

Have just completed the setup of a collection of my full sized prints from the Dancers in the Dark project along with a selection of smaller images up for public display for over 6 weeks, brilliant !.

I was asked by ArtSpace of Bridge of Allan if I would put on a solo art exhibition at Clive Ramsay cafe/bar in Stirling. Must admit I was curious at first how these works would go down as the cafe/bar is in a relatively new sports center rather than a more formal gallery where the images would be well received but once I saw the venue and realised that there are dance studios on the same floor it seemed a good venue, and Clive the owner personally liking the work rather helps :). This is their second exhibition, the first being the beautiful paintings by Iona Leishman from Dunblane.

So, all hung a few days ago and have 2 meet the artists sessions planned, Tuesday 3rd May from 12 - 3pm and also on Sunday 12th June from 4pm - 7pm to coincide with the Forth Valley Open Studios event (venue 18). Must confess the frames being a mid brown or contemporary black work really well in the cafe which has similar decor, we could not have done better if this was an interior design commission !

There are 9 full sized limited edition framed prints at approx 1mtr square, a couple of medium sized open editions at 60cm Sq, then 12 of the small Black Boxes, these have proven to be very popular.

Funny thing happened during the hanging, we met a local gent from Killin who was with his friends having a coffee before Curling, when he saw the work he said 'wow, these yours, thought you just did landscapes", this happens a lot, funny how photographers and indeed other artists get pigeon holed with their work so its good to go as public as possible !

Exhibition Extended - Again !!. As yet there is no confirmed end date

Venue :
Clive Ramsay Cafe/Bar, 1st floor, The Peak, Stirling Sport Village, Stirling, FK8 1QZ
More details on the works at... www.davehunt.eu/dancersinthedark/

Going back, or moving forward ???

I have been fortunate to inherit from my late father a rather classic photography relic, an old 120 roll film bellows camera, an English made Kershaw "King Penguin", we gather that it would have been purchased in about 1952 so its older than me !!!. I gather its the earlier model with automatic focus … sorry, fixed focus, unlike the deluxe model that had a a choice of close and distant settings - very posh.
The camera takes 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 negatives, that's about 6cm x 9cm which is double standard 645's so we get 8 shots on a roll. Settings ? well aperture is f11 or f16 with shutter speed of approx 1/60th or bulb - and that's it - as a Meercat would say 'simples'. I did manage to find a pdf online of the original handbook with many useful tips on taking photographs like 'make sure you hold the camera steady" and 'don't point the lens into the sun" - brilliant !. The manual consists of 12 rather small pages and its the only camera manual that I have read more than just a few pages.

So, buying my first stock of roll film for many years I went for Agfa Delta 400 which is a medium speed black and white film that should enable reasonable shots with the available aperture settings in the Scottish winter outdoors.

I wanted to capture some local landmarks which would offer a timeless appeal and decided on the local castle ruin and the Falls of Dochart, all I had to do was pick a time when the light was right and not having a tripod mount with the right thread, hand holding or balancing on a stone wall was the order of the day.

I saved a few frames to try some studio shots light using the modeling lights, will try and use flash later but his will need a frig as there is no flash trigger !

The results.
I was to meet a local photographer to discuss some other work who works mainly in film and she was happy to develop the film in time for me to check the camera asap.

I was so relieved, and somewhat excited that the first roll that this camera has shot for possibly more than 40 years was just fine. Accepting the limitations of a rather simple lens the images are not bad at all, certainly representative of photography in the days long before 35mm. Clearly no light leakage in the bellows and the shutter still works fine so should continue to produce photos for as long as the film is available which hopefully will be a long time yet.
With the knowledge gained its now time to run off some more rolls and plan to use for some of my future fine art location and studio work !

How do you expose ??

Fear not, we are not about to divulge any secrets about where you can be found running around with nothing on except an old mac, unless of course you want to warn us so we can miss the event !

You often hear folk say things like 'expose for the shadows', or 'get the highlights right', but what are they on about, and why ?
It's often a technique to aim to get the exposure right for the shadows in the picture and let the highlights sort themselves out, something possibly more relevant with traditional film photography which is more tolerant of highlights. Sounds easy but with extreme contrast the highlights may be overexposed, or 'blown out' to use the correct term. This subject has been done to death for film and I am certainly not going to dig into this rather deep subject, but what is interesting is how things are today with all this digital photography that needs a new set of rules ?
Without going into boffin mode the digital sensor has far less tollerance of the highlights that film capture offers, things are getting better as the technology improves but they are still unable to handle too much light unlike film that can retain detail well into the brighter lit bits. Problem is that light meters look at light and can only quantify brightness, be it average scene or spot areas but its basically a volume sensor for light.
So, what we are told to do now is expose for the brightest areas, use that retched histogram on the camera to make sure we get as much light captured as possible before 'clipping' kicks in, the point where the sensor is saturated with light and we get pure white. Thankfully RAW came along which if used properly gives us more tolerance by being able to pull back about 2-3 stops of light that may be overexposed, problem is to pull back this details means that something has to give and it's probably the subtle graduations or texture of the brighter parts of the image. "Use the Recovery tool" I hear someone say at the back of the class - if desperate ok but this can be the best way to flatten the highlight detail, and sometimes the whole image - should be nicknamed the 'Flatten' control.
Ok, so if we want the best exposure then the more light we capture in a digital photo the better the range of image detail and in turn the better the exposure we get in the dark areas ? - That's that sorted !
Well, the problem is you see so many images exposed to the max and the result can be total loss of reality, if the brightest part of the scene is a mid light level then that's what it should be captured as, why turn grey to almost white. Far better to look at the scene, how dark are the dark bits and how bright are the bright bits, turn that histogram off and look at the scene..
I could at this point get into the practice of using a 50% Grey card but that's for another day, I would rather share my own thoughts through personal examples.

Example 1 - light flooding into an old Croft.
Exposure was set for the light hitting the floor whilst wanting to retain the detail in the shadows. Had I used an auto mode or reflected light meter reading the light hitting the window surround would be almost correct and everything else black. I personally like the flooded light effect, not for the purists but as an image it works for me.

Example 2 - same location but no direct light in the scene.
This time an auto mode or reflected light meter would expose the brightest area, the floor at full exposure so the whole image would be over bright and to me lack any sense of reality. This is a classic shot for worrying about the shadows and mid tones and not the highlights ...... cos there aren't any !.
Ok, we could set exposure to max and wind down in post production but isn't that just being a little bit lazy...yes, and there is a little more to it ... read on.

Lets look at portraits. 2 examples with the camera set to expose for the actual ambient light and not whats reflected off the subject. In both cases images are shown 'as captured' with no exposure or contrast (gamma) correction.

The first example image if shot in auto mode would give the brightest part of the pic to be close to full exposure which would be the clothing top, which although white was not very reflective so appeared a dull white. However, the near white background would raise the average light level hence risk under-exposing the image so how can the camera get it right ? Here we have a nice even skin tone, detail in the top and also importantly the dark jeans.

Model : Joceline

The second is a similar light setup but here the black background in auto would give less average light hence risk over exposure, and the lack of highlights would further increase the exposure as the camera will try and make the darkest area as bright as it can, which will be the side of the face and the right arm.

Model : Raphaella

In both images looking at the black and white versions the skin tones appear mid grey which is what I would expect. When did natural skin look white ?

So, whats the point of all this rambling ?
Simple, try looking at the scene and 'seeing' the light and setting an exposure to capture the scene as it really is and not what some research technician has decided as the best vanilla flavored exposure for every picture their camera is aimed at. Many folk starting in photography with digital get very confused about exposure so they rely on the camera's brain which as good as it is can get it very wrong as it can only see the quantity of the light. This is the basis of what is taught on my training courses so that the pictures taken by my students actually look like what their eyes see.

Oh, was that a plug - Yup ! and here comes the obligatory link to details of my training courses !

And finally one more wee rant..... many point and shoot cameras are very clever and have face recognition to help the photographer. Wow, how useful is that ? I think that by the time I forget what a face looks like then I will probably be too old to or blind to want to use a camera.

What next, a camera mode that tells you what to take a picture of ?

Falls Of Dochart, Killin.

We've only lived here for over 11 years, just about becoming a new local.... nearly. Why is it then that of all the images that I share very few are local landmarks, maybe they are too obvious, too easy, too 'will do that tomorrow' !!
It was a fellow photographer Bill that has put me to shame. He found my work on ArtLimited and was kind enough to post many comments of appreciation, but in doing so he noted that I had no image on my profile of the Falls Of Dochart. This location is arguably the most iconic local landmark, in part due to its picture postcard setting, and helped to fame along the way by being used as a location in the 1959 film The 39 Steps.
So, digging into my archives I found a couple of images in the style that would be appreciated by visitors to ArtLimted. Taken a few years ago on a rather dull, wet and wild day soon after a period of heavy rain so the river was a raging torrent with the sky breaking open to allow the winters dull sun to make an appearance.
Really getting carried away now, have made some prints to sell locally !!


Not quite the traditional images one sees of the Falls which am sure most end up on greetings cards or Chocolate box lids, but underneath the picturesque scene lies a far more dramatic picture, you just have to look for it. And yes I am guilty as charged, they were taken from the tourist photo spot on the bridge, there is a far better viewpoint lower down which most casual photographers will pass by, but I seem to recall that for this shoot the waters were too high to give a clean.perspective, or maybe I was just in touch with the tourist within me !

Ana Somnia

Ana Somnia - A really amazing web animation from the guys that created 99Rooms - need a web cam to run, you will see why !

The 99Rooms project - an inspiring mix of photography, graphics, animation and interactivity, especially as I have been capturing derelict buildings in my Passage of Time Project - planning to develop that project more in 2011.

New toys, and a long awaited shot....

In these times of careful spending where the cash is reserved for needs rather than wants new toys are few and far between, but maybe that makes us appreciate them even more ?. However have recently had 2 that have made a bit of an impact.

First was a long awaited upgrade to Lightroom 3, have been running v1 since it was released (before that the Beta). Did try v2 as a trial and Gill runs it but it didn't really give me anything that I needed but v3 has a few features that are both for me really help me improve my final images, and save me some time so will boost productivity. Main improvements for me are the image processing features including 'post crop vignette' so I can make final post edit previews for web without using Photoshop, no plans to replace CS for finishing and prints but its great to be able to prep images for either print preview or client proofs and sample prints. One reason for taing so long to upgrade was thta I needed to upgrade MacOS and again, have the policy of only fixing things that are broken, but had a few apps that would not work below 10.5 so time was to move up :-(

Second toy was a compact camera as an xmas pressie from Gill, have been looking for something to keep with me at all times but struggled with accepting something that would not stand up to my Digi SLR - always feared that I would grab that winning image with an inferior camera and be frustrated that it will not print up, but then thats better than no camera at all, that's been the dilemma !

So, looking around there were a few that might fit the bill, one being the Panasonic Lumix 5 as I always wanted the Lumix 3 with its f2 lens, the Lumix G2 (but thats a 4/3rd camera so bulky and needs lenses), Maybe the Samsung EX1 which is well rated ...or the Nikon P7000 as I am something of a Nikon guy. No, it had to be the one that many Pro's keep in their bag and has a pedigree as a quality workhorse, the Canon G12.

Why ?, well it scores very high in all reviews, has a real 'Rangefinder' viewfinder backed up with a flip out screen, real big dials for the main controls on the top, and takes great pics ... oh, and it looks like a real camera !

But, will it do the job ? (don't worry. this will not turn into a full review). In the short time that I have had it found the low light capture more than acceptable so lots of spontaneous arty portraits, quality is as expected ... and it's easy to take full control - really hate fiddly bits of technology where design overtakes functionality !

Final test was to grab some images for possible big print - scary. Was out a few days ago and the light and mist was just incredible, and what was in the car, yup, my new friend.

I have been trying to get this shot for ages, a favorite location, an old castle ruin near Killin but never seen it in the mist and with good light. So, a few tests in Av and manual modes, sooo impressed how well the shots were captured, sharp (enough) and well exposed - phew !!
Then it was down to the end of Loch Tay where the mist was lying on the water, and the edge still icy.
last was a grab shot up the estuary of the River Dochart, even shooting into the light failed to upset the G12, these web copies do not do the shots justice as this shot is crammed full of subtle detail.
Back home RAW images taken into Lightroom for some simple processing and hey presto !! - got some very impressive results without an SLR or Photoshop layer in sight.

Oh, and no way, will not be putting my D3 or CS onto ebay as they will always be my toys of choice but for when time is not on your side at least I can produce more than acceptable shots.

Also I now have a quality camera that can use to grab some decent candid portraits, nothing kills the moment like dragging a big pro camera out the bag - street photography here I come.

Thanks Gill :-) - yes you can borrow it .. if I am not using it...