London Shard building.

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. 

Hoya 52mm Pro-1 Digital Circular Polarizing Screw-in Filter

Hoya

Buy on Amazon

Hoya 58mm Pro-1 Digital Circular Polarizing Filter

Hoya

Buy on Amazon

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

Thanks

Canary Wharf on the river Thames, London

Nikon D800 F14 30seconds 24-70mm@24mm ISO100

Image taken of Canary Wharf, London's financial district at 05:00hrs to catch the sunrise. 

Like with all landscape photographs it is a gamble with the weather. 10 minutes after setting up the fog came in and nothing was to be seen. This was the best frame of the shoot and you can see the clouds coming in. 

Feel free to share this post on your social media, with credit given to www.leeramsden.com

Thanks 

Two weeks of London in colour.

Hi, and welcome to the new blog format. 

I thought that id kick things off with over the next two weeks ill be posting an image a day of London. I hope you like them, and please feel free to share these on your social media sites giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com, and add the URL http://leeramsden.com/blog to your RSS readers. 

Many thanks.

Nikon D800 F11 15seconds 24/70mm@24mm

Lytham Time lapse iPhone images.

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...

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. 

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

Lytham green and windmill. 

Helvellyn composite images.

Hi, i thought id share the images that i used to create the image bellow.

The top left image was me putting my idea down as a drawing.

The Helvellyn page was created in photoshop with taking some information from Wiki.

Also i used a wood effect background which was warped and pulled about to make it fit into the scene.

Lytham Timelapse.

The attached Youtube video is my first attempt. (well with usable footage)

and a play with 4K.

On average each sequence was around 4hours of shooting time. Which on a cold January morning, or evening certainly makes the process harder and you have to check and double check everything so not to waste your time by not producing any usable footage. Which happened on more than one occasion.

Below are some stills taken from playing with a time-lapse rig.

This is something that i really like the look of and will be pursuing the opportunities further.

Nikon D700 F8 5.0 ISO800

Nikon D700 F8 2.0 ISO800

Nikon D700 F8 1/400th ISO200

Nikon D700 F5 1/8000th  ISO200

Nikon D700 F5 1/125th ISO200

Nikon D700 F5 1.6 ISO800

Helvellyn Composite.

View fullsize

Morning, I thought id share a composite image that i created recently for a bit of fun.

I am still yet to climb Striding edge, but will complete this in the summer.

As i have mentioned in previous posts, i do these type of images as i really enjoy thinking of a concept and then trying to execute the idea, and if nothing else it certainly hones my photoshop skills making me quicker and understand all the tools more in depth.

Thanks

Lee

Blackpool.

Fuji X-T1 1/280th F 7.1

Fuji X-T1 1/9000th F2.8

The Isles of Shetland.

iPhone 4s 1/15 f.2.4 ISO500

Working in the oil and gas industry I have spent my fair amount of time on the Isles of Shetland.

It has felt like a second home at times, and over the summer of 2014 I was spending more time there than at home.

iPhone 4s 1/270 f.2.4 ISO50

I feel privileged to have had the chance to spend so much time on such a gorgeous island, even with the brutal weather for 9 months of the year, this does not bring the spirit of the local inhabitants down.

The local people that I encountered and worked with, were amazing, lovely people. They appear to have a different look on life and take things in their stride.

Living in such remoteness they have became resourceful with the weekend evening entertainment, with the party busses which tour round the island villages, visiting the bars on a pub crawl - fancy dress in mandatory!

They sell Puffin poo to tourists....it is a delicacy!!

They breed miniature horses,

iPhone 4s 1/1700 f.2.4 ISO50

They dress up as Vikings and after spending a whole year, and thousands of pounds on building the most detailed / intricate wooden boat…. they set fire to it.

iPhone 4s 1/300 f2.4 ISO50

The airport of Scatsta was closed for two days, as an employee was getting married and so all the airport personnel attended the wedding.

iPhone 4s 1/20 f.2.4 ISO160

The island attracts many hill walking enthusiasts and photographers, but it is clear to see why.

With the unique landscapes,

(not a single tree to be seen though as it is too windy and the ground being peat),

migrating puffins, stunning beaches and many different festivals through out the year.

I could happily spend my days later in life, up on a hill, on the Shetland isle away from the problems, hustle and bustle of normal life, enjoying each day as it came.

Fuji X-PRO1 1/600  f.5 ISO 200 at 14mm

Note - 

At the present moment in time, if you are looking to visit, I personally would recommend the Isle of Lewis or Skye, only because Shetland is currently having a gas plant being built, with another on the cards and so the main towns are bursting with contractors. If you were to hire a little cottage away from the towns then I am sure you wouldn’t even notice.

iPhone 4s images were taken with the standard camera app and so the meta data shown is not controlled by my self. All images edited using the in phone Snapseed app. 

iPhone 4s 1/120 f2.4 ISO50

iPhone 4s 1/60 f2.4 ISO64

iPhone 4s 1/540 f2.4 ISO50

 iPhone 4s 1/2000 f.2.4 ISO50

iPhone 4s 1/2000 f.2.4 ISO50

iPhone 4s 1/120 f2.4 ISO3200

 iPhone 4s 1/15 f.2.4 ISO400

Happy New Year.

Lumix GF1 1/50 f.8 ISO800

Happy New year every one, and i hope that you have a great 2015. 

While you are all out celebrating christmas and the new year, i have been stuck on a 35 year old gas and oil platform in the north sea. 

Fly home soon though and will be spending some quality time with the family. 

Can... not... wait!!

Here are some images from a cold Ninian South Platform...

Lumix GF1 1/80 f.1.7 ISO400

Lumix GF1 1/100 f.1.7 ISO800

Lumix GF1 1/100 F.1.7 ISO800

Lumix GF1 1/60 f.1.7 ISO400

The dream team. Daz and Phil.

Workplace health and safety motivational speaker - Ken Woodward.

Today we had a motivational speaker in work trying to push a poignant message. - Very interesting and what a gent.

http://kenwoodward.co.uk

In a horrifying workplace accident, Ken Woodward lost his eyesight as well as his sense of taste and smell. It left his family devastated and his colleagues traumatised.

Like all accidents, it could have been prevented. From that moment on he was determined to do all he could to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else.

Since then, his dedication towards creating positive safety cultures and setting new standards has improved the working lives of thousands of people and changed the way hundreds of organisations operate.

Over the last decade he has become a globally recognised figure, providing people with the awareness, mindset and confidence to comfortably approach occupational safety issues with a fresh perspective.

Astonishingly, in one year alone, he made 112 flights, 19 overseas trips and 285 presentations to stop others being hurt.

I strongly recommend booking him, and watch him help you drive the message to your workforce.

Photography competition winner.

Well that was a nice surprise. I logged into the works email system and found out that i had won their Picture competition.

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently sub contracting to a global oil and gas company called Petrofac, as a health and safety advisor. The project is based on the Shetland Isles, building a gas plant.

Over the internal system a few months ago, a photo competition was announced. So i thought that i would have a punt......

turns out my image of Battersea power station was chosen,  out of the 5000+ images that were submitted - as the overall winner!!

Over the moon!

A nice new iPad air on route to the house. Thanks ever so much.

The image was displayed on the intranet home page, and globally sent over email to the 10's of thousands of employees world wide.

If there is a plant manager who wants some professional images of their gas/oil plant, some where warm... please speak up. Ha

Thanks

Lee

Shetland Gas Plant.

Hi thought id share with you a few images from my day job, up here in the Shetland isles. We are building a gas plant, currently 2500 guys on site. Mad times.

Composite with a snow machine in the garden.

   Nikon D800 f10 1/125th ISO 100

Good morning, hope that you had a good weekend.

This was the set up, pretty straight forward really. Two light sources, both camera left. The elinchrom ranger in a large octa positioned in front of myself, so the light was feathered and soft.

with a bare elinchrom quadra behind back lighting the snow.

With a snow machine you can see on the left of the image.

The image was shot with grey paper background intentionally to aid in the photoshop work afterwards.

Image set up and execution around 45 mins, and all photoshop work an hour and half.

Some times these images can take a lot more, but having the final goal in your mind and through experience you can achieve that goal much quicker and have a nicer final product.

  Nikon D800 f10 1/125th ISO 100

A cold trip to Helvellyn.

Nikon D800 f8 1.5seconds ISO100 with various flash bursts around the scene.

Last week i headed out to try and take some pics up Helvellyn in the lakes. I was losing light as i didn't plan on the amount of weight i carried would slow me down so much, and so i pitched up here rather then planned for the evening. 

I awoke at 3am and the place was covered in snow. At first light there was an absolute white out, and was very thankful for carrying a GPS with me as navigating would of been near on impossible in zero visibility. 

So photo wise it was a failure but a good heavy load carry is a well received for a bit of Phys after the indulgent new year. 

Nikon D800 f5.6 1/50th ISO800

Brrrrrrr a fresh morning.....

Nikon D800 f2.8 1/50th ISO5000 Lit with red head light.

Breakfast for a king... 

 Thanks

Lee

Volvo V50 - play with a car rig.

Nikon D800 f10 1/30th ISO800 (multiple flash exposure)

I know that we are all guilty of this, i purchased some camera kit, and it has just sat there for months unused... (this is just me? - yeah right)

And so it was time to have a play. I purchased some car rig - mounting equipment. For making the movement shots you see in magazines.

Nikon D800 f5 1/13th ISO 800

Here is a final shot, with using a slower shutter speed to give the sense of movement, i would of been blurred in the shot, and so inside the car is a strobe light, set to rear curtain sync to give a pop of light to freeze me, and make me sharper. 

I triggered the camera and flash using pocket wizard 3's. I find these work a treat. I have one in my hand, and when i press the button the camera fires, and the flash. 

Nikon D800 f3.2 1/15th ISO 400

A Shot of the mounting system attached to the bonnet. 

Nikon D800 f5 1/13th ISO800

Added another pole to extend the reach of the camera. I felt the camera was too heavy for this though, as the poles were worryingly bending, and so only a very slow speed was used when driving.

Here is a short Video of the top image, being taken and processed. 

Thanks

Lee

Blackpool on a Shitty Afternoon.

Nikon D800 61sec F14 ISO 100

Hi all and Happy New year.

Apologise for the tittle to this post, but i am climbing the walls to do a shoot and so headed out this afternoon. Not much going on but thought that was kind cool.

Sorry I'm no good at making flamboyant arty titles up like most, there seems to be more thought gone into the title then the image in a lot of cases.

I aim to head up to the lakes at the end of the week if i have not returned to Scotland for my day job.

Hope you are well.

Lee

Metal Prints. Loxley Colour.

Hi all,

Hope that you are all set and ready for the festive period about to kick in.

If not...... good luck.

Just a quick one today, thought id Share an image of a print i have recently had made for me by the guys over at

Loxley Colour. 

I decided on ordering a metal print, to really make this print shine. I am truly speechless, the quality is fantastic. The turn around from order to your front door is also really impressive.

I was never a fan of the metal prints, but maybe it is just i have never seen the right image displayed. A landscape or a high saturated image really shines and looks impressive, a blurred HDR picture from your iPhone of your dog or selective colour will not benefit being printed on metal, never.....

This is Loxley's largest metal print size, 60x40 inch. I sent them an image with a size of 30x20 and they managed to double the size perfectly.

This is not a cheap print though, but i feel it is worth every penny. You certainly pay for quality.

This photo of me stood with it does it no justice what so ever...

Something you really have to see in person!

I had made some framed prints for clients and am very impressed.

We will certainly be sticking with Loxley Colour now for all our professional prints.

Have a great festive holiday and hope to see you in the new year.

Lee

Wind Turbine instalment.

Recently i spent a week rebuilding a wind turbine. Interesting work scope seeing the guts of these great machines that line our landscapes. 

Apologies for only having iPhone images.  

A view of Lancashire from the top.

Nostalgic trip...

A mate of mine has recently gone and bought an original Namco Point Blank arcade machine.

Looking back  into my youth, this game certainly took most of my pocket money.

It was a great afternoon reliving a misspent youth..