Lighting painting interiors.

Hello,

Today is like to share a process with you on how I like to light my interior images.
If you’ve ever tried to photograph a building interior, you know how tough it can be to properly expose all parts of the scene. You know how many areas tend to fall into darkness.

When this happens, many photographers will just try to recover the shadows with a brighter exposure or some dodging and burning. Unfortunately, that can lead to muddy results which often display a lack of texture and colour.

One technique that I like to use with modern photographic tools is light painting.

One method would be to literally stop down the aperture, wear an all-black outfit, and wave a light around for a 30-60 second exposure to fill in shadows.

Luckily, things are a bit easier these days. You can use a single Speedlight and see the results instantly.

I personally like to use a speed light and a remote to pull it off, (depending on how much power I’ll need.)

The aim here is to add light in spots that appear to have natural light falling on them – either from landscape lighting or interior lighting. Adding flash or hot light will dramatically clean up the quality of the light, by giving it direction and fall off. Whereas the ambient light may create a muddier appearance due to having no directionality, incoherent colour casts or being mixed with the window or interior lighting.

Above is an image of myself adding a pool of light onto a foreground part of the scene.

A couple of points to remember -

• The camera has to be on a tripod or secure point and does not move throughout the process.

• The camera has to be in manual mode to ensure that each frame remains consistent. Focus, exposure, ISO, colour temperature etc.

While using a Speedlight I use pocket wizard triggers, one on the flash, one in the hot shoe on the camera, and another as a trigger in my hand which is able to fire the camera and flash remotely.

Again here are a few more images of me moving around the scene adding more illumination.

(Schoolboy error though, this time I forgot to pack my coloured gels and so had a bit more photoshop work to do after the fact.)

Once all the images are captured, they are imported into photoshop and aligned.

Using a base layer, (without any flash) I add each illuminated frame on top.

Changing the blend mode to “lighten” and adjusting the opacity, I am able to change the intensity and have greater control of what is lit.

Finally using a layer mask, I paint out everything that is not required to help to keep the image clean.

The final example of this technique in use.

Personally, I think the before image would have been a flat, uninteresting image. By adding light to different parts of the scene I feel brings in greater interest and a more polished professional product for my clients.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about this technique,

please drop me a note.

Kind regards,

Lee

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Blackpool Transport

1/20 F2.8 ISO800 NIKON D800 50mm

1/30 f5.6 ISO400 NIKON D800 50mm

1/30 f 5.6 ISO400 NIKON D800 50mm

Hello,

A few images of different transport along Blackpool Promenade.

In this post I have included the camera settings, as I wanted to illustrate the different shutter speeds used whilst panning to capture the moving vehicles. All images taken were handheld.

But I am sure you will agree when it works, the images look great and really isolate the moving vehicle in the blurred moving scene.

1/60 f1.4 ISO200 Fuji XT3 35mm

Flotta Oil Terminal.

Hello,

Today id like to share a few images taken at Flotta oil and gas processing terminal.

The Flotta Terminal is located on the island of Flotta in the Orkney Islands just north of mainland Scotland. It was commissioned in 1977, with Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Limited becoming the major shareholder and operator in May 2000. The terminal covers a 395-acre site, approximately one-sixth of the area of Flotta Island. Crude oil is imported to the Flotta Oil Terminal from several offshore installations through a 30” subsea pipeline. The pipeline is fed from the following Repsol Sinopec Operated fields; Claymore, Scapa, Piper ‘B’, Tweedsmuir, Tartan, Highlander, Duart, Petronella, Galley and Nexen’s operated Golden Eagle field.

The crude oil processing facilities consist of three separate crude stabilisation trains operating in parallel. This allows a design maximum plant flowrate of 375,000 bbl/d to be processed between the three trains.

The stabilised crude is then transferred to the Crude Oil Storage area with the Desalter wash water transferred to the Desalter Water Treatment plant.

There are currently insufficient volumes of gas supply to sustain the operation of the gas processing plant; as such the gas plant facility was decommissioned in 2017/2018. Gas from the overhead stabilisation process is utilised as fuel gas at the hot oil heaters and powerhouse which generate site electricity using duel fuel turbines. Any excess gas is used at the powerhouse, where there is spare generating capacity to allow additional power export to the national grid.

Blackpool Promenade at night

Hello,

Today id like to show a couple of recent drone images taken at night.

I hope that you are well.

Lee

Blackpool Tower at sunrise.

Hello,

Today is a quick one of an image of Blackpool Tower at sunrise.

I hope that you enjoy.

Lee

The Wild Ginger

Hello,

Today I’d like to share a few images recently taken for a local business “The Wild Ginger”.

Facebook page

A lovely Gift & Homewares shop in the coastal town of Ansdell, Lytham. Supporting talented Artisan makers, Cards, Gifts, Homewares, Handmade items such as jewellery, Pictures and ethically conscious products. Dogs are also welcome.

Christmas decorations along the Golden Mile

Hello, I hope that you are well.

18 sleeps until Christmas….

Here is a photo of Blackpool prom getting into the spirit.

I hope that the bow is well secured, as we have been seeing some high winds recently.

Lee

Setting sun in the North Sea.

Hello,

Today i would like to share some images of the setting sun in the North sea.

I have been lucky in my time offshore to see some amazing weather.

A spectacular sun rise, or setting sun in the middle of the sea is something really magical.

I hope that you have a good weekend.

Lee

The difference two weeks can make.

Hello,

I hope that you have had a good week.

Today i wanted to share a quick comparison.

The above images were taken litteraly two weeks apart. On both occasions i was very lucky on the weather front.

If you have not yet been, i strongly recommend a trip up Helm Crag in the Lake district.

Out of all the hikes there, this is regarded as one of the easiest.

Even with all your camera and camping kit.

Hope that you have a good weekend.

Lee

Petrofac Bridge View

Hello,

Today id like to share with you some images of the office where i am currently working.

Again all drone images, the above image a little cameo roll as felt that i needed a person in the frame to add some interest.

Have a good weekend.

Lee

Head for heights.

Hello,

How are you? Have you had a good week?

Today id like to share some images of a job on Blackpool Tower.

The above image is obviously not one of mine, but wanted to show how things have changed, and thank god that they have.

The guys in the past had little or no working at height protection.

These days we use advanced techniques such as rope access, to access these hard to reach places safely.

I hope that you have a good weekend.

Lee

Accommodation vessel.

Hello,

Hope that you are well.

Today id like to share 3 more images of the Safe Boreas Flotel in the North Sea.

I asked the question to see if anyone could work out what camera these recent offshore oil and gas images were taken with..

All recent offshore images were taken with my iPhoneX.

The advancements of these cameras is phenomenal.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter and would love to see what images you have achieved with your phones.

Lee

FRIARTON BRIDGE

Hello,

Today id like to share an image of the Friarton Bridge in Scotland.

With me working in Aberdeen and travelling the 350 miles each weekend home, i have driven over the bridge numerous times and the scale over the amazing Scottish landscape has always been a nice part pf the journey.

Friarton Bridge Is a steel box girder bridge with a concrete deck, across the River Tay on the southeastern outskirts of Perth, Scotland. The bridge was designed by Freeman Fox and Partners with the team being led by Dr Oleg Kerensky. The bridge was a pair of steel box girders (one under each carriage way) 4.3 m wide overlaid by a lightweight concrete deck. It forms part of the eastern spur of the M90 between junctions 10 (Craigend) and 11 (Broxden), the most northerly motorway junction in the UK. It also forms part of the important east coast road corridor from Edinburgh through to Dundee and Aberdeen. It was the first large box girder bridge to be built to the Merrison Rules which were introduced in 1973 after the collapse during construction of three box girder bridges during the 1970s. The bridge was strengthened during the 2000s to cope with modern traffic loadings.

Have a good weekend.

If you have not yet subscribed to my monthly news letter, it would be good to keep in touch.

Lee

Platform construction

Hello,

How are you? Have you had a good week?

Today id like to share some images of a North Sea oil and gas platform module.

This module was constructed in Aberdeen but a consortium of companies.

These images were taken are on the day that construction was completed and they were being shipped out to the platform.

Leaving the yard to head to vessel.

Two more parts of the puzzle.

From wagon to shipping vessel.

I hope that you found these interesting,

I was lucky to have followed the construction from design all the way through to execution.

Lee

Oil Rig.

Hello,

How are you?

Today id like to share 4 images of an North sea oil and gas platform.

There have been a few images on this blog now and more to come.

I would like to know what your thoughts are on the camera used to take these images?

Ill reveal in the next rig post.

Have a good weekend.

Lee

Edinburgh Castle

Hello,

I hope that you have had a good week.

I want to share with you an image of the One O’clock gun at Edinburgh Castle.

What is the One o’Clock gun?

The firing of the gun dates back to 1861, when businessman John Hewitt brought the idea to Edinburgh from Paris. It’s now an Edinburgh tradition, but the ‪one o’clock‬ gun originally came into being out of necessity over 150 years ago. It has been 158 years since the first audible indication of the time was made during bad weather at Edinburgh Castle. The citizens of Edinburgh, as well as the ships docked in the ports of Leith and Firth of Forth over two miles away, were able to hear the signal, quickly making it a curious visitor attraction. With an electric cable stretching over 4,000 feet from the rear of the gun to the Royal Observatory on Calton Hill, the original 18-pound gun was operated via a mechanical trigger at precisely ‪1pm‬ each day apart ‪from Sunday‬, Good Friday and Christmas Day. The 94-pound artillery weapon was provided by the Royal Artillery. The weapon of choice is now a L118 Light Gun. This particular weapon has been in service approximately 15 years, and is traditionally fired by a volunteer District Gunner from the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery.

Have a good weekend.

Lee

Lecropt Kirk Parish, Church of Scotland

Hello,

This is the Lecropt Kirk Parish, Church of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.

What an Amazing building, and interesting contrast between the old and modern.

It was built in 1825 now with the M9 adjacent.

Bonus random fact for you, the founder of the special air service (SAS) Major David Stirling was from Lecropt.

Have a great weekend

Keep in touch

Lee

Accommodation at sea

Hello,

Id like to share a couple of images of the accommodation vessel the Safe Boreas attached to the side of the Mariner A platform.

Again as previously talked about, all about the timing. There is around 2 hours difference between these two images.

Have a good weekend.

Lee

Helm Crag, Lake District

A quick post on why you should be picking up that hobby you have been putting off.

Having a hobby is a great way to unwind from the stresses of the workplace. Research shows that people with hobbies are less likely to suffer from stress and depression. Activities that get you out can make you feel happier and more relaxed. For me my hobby is wild camping. I enjoy the planning, problem solving, the aloneness, the waiting / hoping that the weather will cooperate. Helps me to think and hit the reset button on the stresses of the workplace.

Pick up that hobby you have been putting off.

Your mental health is fragile and needs attention as much as your body.

If you are suffering with mental health, there is help out there.

Talk to someone you trust. Talk to your GP. Contact a professional at one of the many charities out there, www.mind.org,

www.mentalhealth.org.uk

www.together-uk.org

Subscribe and feel free to talk to me.

I hope that you have a good weekend.

Lee

The Mariner A oil and gas platform

Hello,

Today i thought that i would talk about the oil / gas rig that you will have seen images of. I was involved with the construction of this beast. At any one time there was 850 people offshore.

As oil rigs go, this is a one of kind.

The Mariner oilfield is located in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea, about 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, in block 9/11a. It was discovered in 1981 at a depth of about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) below sea level. Water depth in the area is about 100 metres (330 ft). Estimated recovery is at least 250 million barrels (40×106 m3) of oil. 

As of December 2012 the operator, Statoil (now Equinor), made the investment decision and final approval of the field development plan by the UK authorities is in progress. The plan envisages a production, drilling and quarters platform based on a conventional steel jacket, exporting oil via a floating storage unit.

The oil is heavy and viscous, with API gravities of 12.1°–14.6° and viscosities ranging from 67cp in the field's Maureen reservoir to 508cp in the Heimdal reservoir. The small volume of associated gas will be used as fuel for the platform, and more fuel gas will be imported via a connection to the nearby Vesterled pipeline.

In summary

It took over 35 years to work out how to extract this super heavy thick oil. The diluting solution that mixes with the oil, thins it out, and we end up with an even better product. As this platform isn’t on a pipe line, she is connected a large vessel, known as an FSU (floating storage unit) This FSU pumps the diluting solution to the platform, and the platform then pumps back the recovered oil. A large tanker comes into the field every few days to collect the produced oil.

Amazing isn’t it.

Have a good week.

Lee