lee ramsden

Another trip up Blackpool tower.

Blackpool, Blackpool tower, monochrome, black white, reflection, Lancashire photographer, Lee Ramsden

Hello, id like to share some images from another trip working up Blackpool's tower, repairing the illumination lighting at great height. 

Blackpool council, worker, pressure washing, cleaning, sea front steps, golden mile, lee ramsden

Arrived to site early and so I walked the long way there. Was surprised to see early morning council worker cleaning the front. 

Blackpool tower, Wez, IRATA rope access, climbing, electrician

Ropes set, and decent underway. Always told "don't look down" but you have to in this game. 

Blackpool tower, abseiling, industrial worker, in orange ppe, LEE RAMSDEN
IRATA, rope access, level 3, Blackpool, worker, industrial photographer Lee Ramsden

Today repairs ongoing to the heart light. 

Blackpool tower heart light, illuminations
Blackpool illuminations electronics, control gear, electrician, technician

Sophisticated control gear, power the lighting on the Tower, helps it to change colour and be programmable.

blog, sea gull, blackpool, tower, colour, color, lee ramsden

A spectator while working at height. 


 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Lee

Offshore rope access technicians.

blog, Industrial, rope access, IRATA, trade, offshore, oil and gas, safety, acredited, HSE, health and safety, working at height, WAH, photographer Lee Ramsden

Hello, 

Today id like to show some of the IRATA rope access technicians that were involved in the decommissioning of the BP Miller. 

blog, rope access, selective colour, IRATA, abseiler, offshore, oil and gas industry, under deck, BP Miller, BP, Petrofac, ACN, Saipem, Lee Ramsden

Welding on dead weight supports to the risers. 

Blog, welding on the ropes, rope access, IRATA, abseiling, industrial, lee ramsden, BP Miller, oil and gas rig, north sea, offshore, employment, redundancies, oil and gas industry, BP, Petrofac

Rope access welder cutting a riser. 

rope access, IRATA, technician, PETROFAC, north sea, oil and gas industry, abseiler, climbing, rope, industrial, Lee Ramsden.

Long tiring climb back up. 

Happy rope technicians, rope access, IRATA, working at height, oil and gas industry, industrial photographer, Lee Ramsden

Rope techs at height happy in their work. 

25 years of rust, in the North sea.

 

 

Here, are two images 25 years apart. 

The images are of the "pig launchers", on the cellar deck of the BP Miller platform,

one while the platform was being commissioned, and put together,

and the second, while decommissioning.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Lee

Rig removal. North sea.

blog, Rig burning, welding, oxygen, acetylene, cutting, BP Miller, Decommissioning, industrial, removal, Saipem, Petrofac, BP, Lee Ramsden, hotwork 01
Blog, welding on the ropes, rope access, IRATA, abseiling, industrial, lee ramsden, BP Miller, oil and gas rig, north sea, offshore, employment, redundancies, oil and gas industry, BP, Petrofac
blog, Rig burning, welding, oxygen, acetylene, cutting, BP Miller, Decommissioning, industrial, removal, Saipem, Petrofac, BP, Lee Ramsden, hotwork 02
blog, Rig burning, welding, oxygen, acetylene, cutting, BP Miller, Decommissioning, industrial, removal, Saipem, Petrofac, BP, Lee Ramsden, hotwork 03
BP Miller, decommissioning, Petrofac, Saipem, BP, buring, oxygen, acetylene, rig removal, industrial, north sea, photo taken by Lee Ramsden
BP Miller, decommissioning, Petrofac, Saipem, BP, buring, oxygen, acetylene, rig removal, cutting, burning,  industrial, north sea, photo taken by Lee Ramsden
BP Miller, decommissioning, Petrofac, Saipem, barries, chain, lifting, crane, steel beam, BP, buring, oxygen, acetylene, rig removal, industrial, north sea, photo taken by Lee Ramsden

Infrared lens hotspot.

Good morning. 

If you have purchased the infrared filter as i previously mentioned in a blog post couple of weeks ago, and have been shooting with it, you will have noticed the strange colouring that you have received. 

The bright red file is normal, Prior to shooting setting a custom white balance is recommended. A lot of advice i have read is setting it again green grass or foliage. For the below image being a city scape there wasn't much grass around, so i chose to shoot in RAW and play with the white balance later in post. 

One thing i have learn is the visible hot spot in the centre of the image. I shot this using Nikons 24-70mm f2.8 and lens hot spots are a most common problem encountered when shooting infrared light. They usually manifest in the form of a bright circle, sometimes in the shape of aperture leaves directly in the center of the image. The problem is exaggerated as you stop down (increase f stop number), with the spot becoming more prominent and defined. 

Hot spots can be caused for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is the coating on the inside of the lens barrel being reflective in IR light. Another frequent reason is light interaction between the coatings of the lens elements. A less common reason is light interaction between the lens elements and the imaging sensor(usually the micro-lenses) in the camera. In this case using the lens on one camera model may have no hot spot issues and on another model there could be prominent hot spots.

Unfortunately, if your lens has this issue the only solution is to simply use a different lens altogether. Fortunately the majority of lenses don’t have this problem or the problem is very minor and normally not visible in images.

Once i find a suitable lens and am happy with the results ill report back. 

If you have any suggestions to use on a Nikon body id like to hear your views. Feel free to use the contact page.

I hope that you enjoy these images. This is a new technique and something i am enjoying playing with. 

 

Please feel free to share this post on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com

 

Thanks

London black and white images.

<img src="London.jpg" alt="BW monochrome black and white long exposure writing with iPhone torch Lee Ramsden moreLondon tower bridge river Thames">

Nikon D800 f11 15sec ISO100 24-70mm@28mm

Morning all, 

Thought id share some black and white images taken of London over the next few days. This image was created for a bit of fun. This was a 15 second exposure, while i was waiting for a timelapse set up to finish. The writing was created using my iPhone torch.  

 

Please feel free to share this post on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com

 

Thanks

Tower Bridge, London

<img src="Tower bridge moon.jpg" alt="river Thames luna night scene Lee Ramsden blog">

Nikon D800 f11 13sec ISO100 24-70mm@45mm

Another image of the World famous Tower Bridge in London on the River Thames. Taken at 04:24hrs with a prominent Moon showing. 

 

Tower Bridge (built 1886–1894) is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England which crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and has become an iconic symbol of London.

The bridge consists of two bridge towers tied together at the upper level by two horizontal walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal tensional forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical components of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. The bridge's present colour scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. Originally it was painted a mid greenish-blue colour.

 

Please feel free to share this post on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com

 

Thanks

 

 

Tower Bridge at Sunrise.

Tower bridge landmark famous world river Thames sunset sunrise moreLondon orange glow Lee Ramsden

Nikon D800 F8 1/13 ISO200 24-70mm@48mm

Another 3am start to get into London and set up ready for the sunrise. 

Here is a shot of London's tower bridge reflected in a shop window to try and give some symmetry. 

I adore Tower bridge, it is a wonderful looking structure. And is classic iconic London landmark.  As you can see from the below iPhone image, it is easily visible even by plane.

 

iPhone image london river thames iPhone iPhoneography nightscape from a plane lee ramsden

iPhone 4S f2.4 1/15 ISO800

Please feel free to share this post on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com

 

Thanks

London Shard building.

<img src="Shard colour.jpg" alt="the shard view at the shard viewing gallery hotel office building sunset sunrise dusk dawn london greater lee ramsden">

Nikon D700 F18 0.4 ISO3200 21mm

An image of the Shard building in London, taken from moreLondon's shopping area. If you are taking picture from here watch out for security as they will move you on. Even at 5am and not a sole about... 

This was a frame taken from a timelapse video, foolishly i changed the ISO to a ridiculous 3200 and forgot to change back. Luckily the Nikon D700 can handle the high ISO not too bad and so all not lost. 

 

I am fascinated with the Shard, i think it is a stunning looking building. I took the below image from the viewing gallery near the top. Please check out a couple of posts on the Shard, 

The view at the Shard - How to work around using a tripod

And the importance of a polarising filter - When shooting through the glass windows. 

<img src="London.jpg" alt="London view from the Shad viewing gallery London HMS Belfast greater London UK capital dusk Lee Ramsden">

 

Please feel free to share this post on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com

 

Thanks

Behind the scenes, pregnancy lighting.

Morning,

I hope that you have enjoyed this week of pregnancy images that i have posted.

Today i thought id share some behind the scenes images and some thoughts with the lighting used.

Maternity Pregnancy pregnantlighting strobes off camera flash professional lancashire photographer venetian blinds behind the scenes BTS set up

Fuji XT1 f5.6 1/30 ISO 800

As you can see from the above image, these were taken in my cramped dinning room. Even without a large space, using a little imagination and being creative with your space, you can create some nice images.

Maternity Pregnancy pregnant strobes off camera flash grey seemless backdrop back light low key high contrast Lee Ramsden

Nikon D800 f5.6 1/200 ISO 100

The important part i find is to light your subject how your like. Once lit well, then you can play with the background and try different things.

The above images are straight out of the camera. RAW files converted to JPGS.

Image on the left - the background was lit with a strobe covered with a red gell. Personally i didn't like this too much and so didn't process this.

The middle image - is obvious. I turned off the background light and so it rendered to black.

Image on the right - i turned the background light around and it shone on to the subject, bouncing back to illuminate the background.

The black background and the grey one, were processed to make the image have a little more interest. If you would like me to show in a future post how i did that, then please let me know.

lighting lit with an over head projector blossom trees skin pregnancy no flash natural Lee Ramsden

Nikon D800 f1.6 1/80 ISO 100 

The above images were not shown in the week, but thought id share them for a little fun.

They were lit, with a simple over head projector. The sort that were used in schools.

I printed on clear plastic an image of blossom i found on a stock image site.

No fancy photoshop here, just an image using a projector.

Maternity Pregnancy pregnant lighting strobes off camera flash long hair professional lancashire photographer images elenchrom quadra ranger snoot softbox grey seemless paper Lee Ramsden

Here is the lighting set up used for the bellow image. The bellow image is unprocessed. A converted RAW file again to JPG.

To create the lines on the background i used a venetian blind that i purchased from B@Q a while ago.

(It was defective and on sale for a fiver, result!)

The lights.

A - Nikon sb900 flashed through the blind to create the background. It was flagged to prevent spill onto the subject.

B- Nikon sb900 through a honey comb grid. To illuminate the bump.

C - Elinchrom Quadra through a snoot to add a touch of light on the face.

D - Elinchrom Ranger through another grid, to add some light on to the hair.

lit through venetian blind nikon sb900 elenchrom flash quadra ranger softbox out of camera unretouched Lee Ramsden Uk professional photographer

Nikon D800 f5.6 1/200 ISO 100

This was a fairly extensive lighting set up. It took a bit of time to set up, one light at a time.

When setting up lights like this, the subject has very little room to move. And so the set up takes patients from both parties. If your subject moves it can throw everything out.

Once the lights are set, relax. Make your subject relax and enjoy what you create!

I hope that you have enjoyed this week, viewing some work quite different from my norm.

Many thanks.

Lee.

Pregnancy week.

Nikon D800 F5.6 1/200 ISO 100

Morning, thought id share each day this week an image that i have recently taken of my better half.

Thought id kick off with this one, lit with a key, back and hair light. Nothing on the back ground rendering it to absolute black.

Ill post at the end of the week a behind the scenes with the lighting rig.

Thanks

Lytham Time lapse iPhone images.

Kessler crane timer oracle controler control count down timelapse uk england

Here are a few iPhone images taken whilst i was waiting for a time lapse set up to complete.

As you can see from the above image i had 4 and a half hours to kill...

Kessler crane timer oracle controler control count down timelapse uk england cineslider slide

The Kessler Cineslider. So far I'm pretty impressed with this bit of kit. Each time i take a time-lapse it gets tweaked and set up slightly different. Using lighting stands and moveable heads with the aid of a spirit level helps no end in getting the shoot straight from start to finish. 

time lapse rig kessler sun set colours nikon d700 iphone iphonography slider estury sea beach colours golden hour

My old Nikon D700 is now used for the time lapse work.  

Lytham life boat jetty pier esturay beach sea sand black and white
Lytham St Annes Lancashire England windmill sea beach sand grass bright blue sky church spire iphone image iphonography iPhone4s lee ramsden photography

Lytham green and windmill. 

Justins Clio Sport.

A  mate owns a Renault Clio Sport and wanted some pictures taking.

On a freezing Sunday morning,

Parked up on Lytham front and took some shots. 

The 2 images below are HDR. 

But have been processed differently, as I processed them in layers building up the scene. Personally I feel that they are too much and so i will be stepping back from the HDR technique for a little while to try out other views. 

<img src="Renault Clio sport" alt="Justin Napier HDR mad sky beach over done cooked silver fake unrealistic look old style lee ramsden"> 
<img src="Renualt Clio sport turbo 2 litre" alt="HDR Lytham Beach fast car">  

Snow in Dunstable.

I spent Christmas working on an oil rig, bummer!

I was down the south of England for New Year with family and loved ones.

As you are all aware the weather has been awful of late.

We got it hard in the North sea over christmas, I was itching to get home and have a play in the snow with the camera before it all melted.

Well, my luck was in, im now in Dunstable and the heavens open, I set out to get some pictures of the snow. 

The sky was dark and not looking good, I take a few shots of the people who are wrapped up warm braving the cold. 

Whilst on the retreat back to the house... 

feeling a bit disappointed, as there wasn't much that could be taken. I see the sky start to clear. 

Oh yes happy days....

I take my time to see what will unfold before my eyes. Some stunning colours started to come out.

I took a few snap shots of the cold and grey. My favourite piece of the weather is the cemetery scene.

 

<img src="snow scene" alt="Dunstable west street baptist church burial grave yard christianity lee ramsden Bedfordshire"> 
<img src="Father and child on the snow" alt="Dunstable downs Ciltern Chilterns Lee Ramsden"> 
<img src=" Dunstable Downs" alt="snow milfs house wives walking dogging dog walking"> 

Xav and Corinne Shoot.

Good friends of mine Xav and Corinne wanted some pictures taking of themselves. 

Corinne is a singer/song writer. Her personal site is here and goes under the name Vanessa René

" and so want a promo pic, where as Xav loves his bike and so wanted one with his beloved triumph bike...

The Bike picture, i was trying again with the flash at sunset theme i like. This has worked better then the car one i have previously done. 

Once again the TTL mode is letting me down. It has made me bite the bullet and im saving for some pocket wizard flash syncs. With syncs you can be so much more creative too, rather then just placing the flashes where they can see one another.

Here are my 2 favourite images from the day.

<img src="Xav Lomas" alt=" Xav Xavier Lomas Triumph motorbike weybridge surrey lee ramsden">
<img src="www.vanessarene.co.uk" alt="Vanessa rene singer song writer lee ramsden">