The small village of Ysbyty Ifan can be found in the Snowdonia National Park, in north Wales. It’s a historic village, dating back to at least the 12th century. It has a predominantly Welsh speaking population of little more than 200 people, an ancient church, a water mill complete with water wheel, and an old bridge over the Conwy river.
I took this photo just before Christmas last year. I had a long weekend in Bremen to visit both the city and the Christmas market, but as I discovered there wasn’t much to see in Bremen, I decided to have a day trip to Hamburg to visit the markets and the city there.
This image is comprised of four original shots taken at different exposures, merged into a single high dynamic range image using Photomatix Pro, then finished using Photoshop CC and Nik Color Efex Pro.
I hope you like it!
Just before Christmas I spent a couple of days in Bremen, in northern Germany. Here are a couple of images from inside the Cathedral.
The Cathedral was originally built in Mediaeval times, but was restored in 1901 after falling into disrepair. It can be found in the Market Square, and is dedicated to St Peter.
As this is my final post for 2013, can I take this opportunity to thank you for following my work, and to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2014.
A few weeks ago I spent a couple of days shooting in the Conwy Valley in north Wales with renowned photographer Rick Sammon.
Along with local expert Pierino Algieri we explored some different locations in this beautiful part of the world.
First stop was this waterfall, close to the village of Trefriw.
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Thanks for taking some of your busy time to enjoy my work during 2013.
Here is the famous Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne, Germany.
Hey there,
I’ve been posting lots of stuff on 500px and Flickr recently, but I’ve been neglecting my blog.
I apologise. 😦
As a small step towards correcting my tardiness, here is a rainbow I shot in north Wales recently.
I mentioned in my last post how I’ve been given a free Awesome account at 500px. What has surprised me is which images are receiving the best responses.
To date, the image above has been my most popular image. To me, that is not a huge surprise. It’s probably my favourite image out of my portfolio.
More of a surprise to me, is that this image came a close second in terms of popularity:
This is a six image stitched panoramic shot, the first one I created using PTGui. Am I happy with the results? Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have posted it! But do I think it’s my second best image? I don’t think so.
Which just goes to show, sometimes you need other people to view your work in order to judge its worth. You get such an emotional attachment to an image through the creative process, that sometimes it’s difficult to take a step backwards, and assess your work critically. But it’s so important to do that.
For completeness, my current third most popular image is:
I note that all three of these images were taken on my most recent shooting trip, when I was in Paris. That is a good sign that my work is continuing to develop!
The Cook Strait separates the north and south islands of New Zealand. There is a regular ferry crossing between Wellington, the capital city on the North Island, and Picton at the northern end of the South Island.
We took the early morning crossing. The previous day we had experienced typical weather for that part of the country – howling winds and horizontal rain as we took the Magic Bus south into Wellington. It was therefore a real delight to wake the next morning and discover the weather had cleared, and the Strait was like a millpond.
The scale is deceptive, as you can tell from this shot of an oncoming ferry. Bear in mind that these are full size passenger ferries – in fact the one we were on I had travelled on before, in its previous life crossing between Holyhead in Wales and Dublin, Ireland!
I took part in a free Photowalk organised by Trey Ratcliff in Paris last autumn. It was scheduled to take place just as night fell, giving great opportunities for the creation of HDR images, and with one of the masters of the technique on hand to provide advice and guidance.
This is an image I took of the entrance to the Louvre museum.
It’s a three image composite, with post production in Lightroom, Photoshop, Photomatix and Topaz Adjust.
A key importance was the composition, ensuring the alignment of the pyramids with the centre of the building in the background, and also with the centre of the frame. Also key was the other tourists – as anyone who has been to the Louvre will know it’s a busy location, made even more so when there are several hundred photowalkers around the place with tripods everywhere!
I hope you enjoy it. This image is available for purchase as a Limited Edition print.
This church can be found at the western end of Princes Street Gardens, in downtown Edinburgh. Built in the early 19th century, it is a category A listed building. The decorative plaster ceiling takes its inspiration from the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey in London.
This image is a high dynamic range (HDR) composite of three original frames, and shows both the decorative ceiling and the stained glass windows. Check out my gallery for another image from inside the church.
Steve Oldham Photography 