Sweet and Sour - High Key

Sweet and Sour - High Key, originally uploaded by marush1.

Experimenting with High Key.
Attempting to capture High Key in camera rather than induce it during post processing. Bracketed shots at +1, +2 & +3 to find the best starting point. Decided +2 was the best option then switched to manual using the +2 speed and aperture and experimented around that point. Minor tweaking in Lightroom to finish off.

A foggy day

A foggy day, originally uploaded by marush1.

The sun never broke through the fog today so I made the most of what i had.
The original was almost monochrome so I put it through Silver Efex Pro and gave it an antique look. I then added a texture of 'old canvas' and what was a mundane image of the track by my house acquired a strange ethereal look.

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice, originally uploaded by marush1.

Trying to get the two components together was a big challenge. In the end I suspended a match in an ice cube tray and froze it. The next step was to work out the lighting. I decided that any form of side lighting I could produce wouldn't work and the ice cube had to be lit from below. To achieve this took a flashgun and covered it with a Honl blue gel. To this I added a Pringles tube which focussed the light on to the transparent lid of the tube. The lid acted as a support for the ice cube.
A few test shots with the match unlit to get the flash balance correct and then light the match and take the shot. To deepen the colour in post processing I duplicated the original image layer and set the blend mode to multiply. Sharpening took place on the upper layer only and the opacity was reduced to 80%.

Slow Burn

Slow Burn, originally uploaded by marush1.

One advantage of photographing incense sticks is that the room smells wonderful.:)
I wanted to get as close as possible to show the textures so instead of using my macro lens I put the Canon 50mm f/1.8 on a full set of Kenko extension tubes.

Smoke Trails

Smoke Trails, originally uploaded by marush1.

I tried for several years to photograph the 'bomb-burst' finish to the Red Arrows display but something always went wrong. Planes were out of focus, out of frame, or obscured by smoke from the others. Fortunately on this attempt I nailed it.