This is a great community who are active in many different parts of Birmingham life. It is about celebrating inspired people and the success of different communities in the Birmingham area. One are of celebration is in photography. The good people of Birmingham have featured 10 of my best photographs as portrayed on their web site
It is interesting to me what other people like with my photographs. All the pictures taken were featured on Twitter @birminghamweare and received numerous likes.
Taking concert pictures is not easy for me as I am not as young as I used to be and do not like being squashed at the front of the concert. The chance to take some close up pictures came when I went to see Steve Gunn, a guitarist and songwriter, who is prolific songwriter. Steve’s style is influenced by blues, folk and rock and he is a pretty good guitarist as well.
The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath, Birmingham is an intimate venue and there is the ability to move through the audience and get very close to the artist. I had my Sony RX100v5 camera on manual settings with a shutter speed of 1/200, aperture f/2.8 and ISO 2000. Getting close and taking the pictures meant that the lighting was a little easier to control. I expect I could have changed the settings a bit more but I am generally pleased with the results. Also we got a selfie with the man himself after the concert.
The concert had some great music. He was good to listen to and he is an excellent guitarist. The small venue meant that the sound was good and the different parts of the band came together well\\. The guys sorting out the sound were not so happy but it was a good night all round.
I have started to take my wide angle lens out with me when wandering around Birmingham. I usually do this on a Wednesday morning as I have a clinic in the City Centre. I plan different routes around the city but today I went for a route from Snow Hill to Brindley Place. Along the way I took several pictures and at around 7.30am arrived at the NIA. The Iron bridge over the canal is a photogenic leading line and I started experimenting. It was then that a noticed that a colourful sunrise was starting to happen. I overcame the lack of tripod by using the canal wall. The manual settings of the camera were as follows shutter speed 1/13, aperture f/20 and ISO 400. I use live view to check the scene. I also ensured that I focused part way into the picture to find the hyperfocal length thus ensuring all would be in focus. I took a few more pictures and then went to one of my favourite coffee houses Tom’s dinner in the Mailbox. Browsing through the pictures and this one caught my eye. Processing is a mixture of Lightroom – up the exposure, drop the highlights, touch the shadows and a heavy vignette. I use a LUT (Lookup Table) add on to bring out the cinematic effect. Then into Photoshop where I use an unsharp mask followed by adjustment of the levels as the final adjustments. The picture looks good and I have also included some of the other pictures that were taken on my walk.
There will be many visits around the country in the coming few years as I am part of a research grant with 4 other universities (Glasgow, Leeds, Southampton and Edinburgh). The lead institution is Glasgow University and that is where the kick of meeting began. There was a Burns supper the night before the meeting proper and a chance to photograph in and around the University buildings. The University is very photogenic and has commanding views of the surrounding Glasgow area. The building is also impressive and the central area is called the undercroft. The University have left the Christmas fairy lights in place and it makes for an impressive site. There had been some rain the night before and this added to some of the street reflections seen in the pictures.
A good friend, Ewen, who is a professional photographer has written a great blog post “Your photography …. Finish the job”
His argument is that once you have taken a good photograph then it needs to be finished. Ewen saw one of my images on Twitter and he messaged me saying the following: –
That one tweet led me into the world of the British Tech Network and I joined their Photo League. It is led by Ewen and you submit your monthly photographs and receive constructive comments. I have submitted my first few photographs and already benefited from the professional advice on how not only to compose but finish your image. I was still intrigued about the finishing of the image and so I spent a day with Ewen at his studio. He took me through several simple processes that make your images stand out. A few simple exercises cleaned the “grey crud” from my images and then with some sharpening process I could see that my images immediately benefitted from his advice. Here are a few images which have been processed in Photoshop and they have been enhanced.
My tips from that meeting with Ewen –
Here are a few examples of checking your pictures and finishing them off.
Example 1 – this is a picture taken at Chesterton Windmill before Christmas.
—
The following is my attempt at processing 
—
This next one is finished by following some simple rules and a bit of creativity.
—
These next two are the before and after with a touch of blur.
—
……and that picture that first made me realise that there is more to just taking the photograph. Well here it is with a few added touches. 
One of the most photographic structures near me is the Windmill at Chesterton. I had visited it for the first time earlier in the year and I wished to plan another trip where I could have my tripod with me. I contacted a good friend of mine, John Bray, and we planned the visit between Christmas and the New Year. To really appreciate the Windmill you need to have good weather especially if you are looking for a memorable sunset. As luck would have it not only did we pick a good afternoon, it had snowed the night before which gave an added plus factor to the photographic outing. John and I spent an hour and half at the windmill taking photographs as the sun slowly left the sky.
The sunset was a good one and there were lots of opportunities for pictures. Even the moon got into the act. The temperature dropped and whilst it was cold there was little wind. We took lots of pictures and soon it was time to leave as the sunset was nearly finished. Just as we were walking away John turned around and said look at that view. It is the old saying always look behind you when you are walking away from the picture. John is really quick on getting his pictures out on social media and they were excellent producing much reaction. Here are my views of Chesterton windmill on a cold yet ultimately rewarding photographic session.
The new Dental School and Hospital at Pebble Mill offers many photographic opportunities. The sun rises and sets into the atrium providing various lights and shadows during the day. I have posted many of these on my Flickr site but cannot resist adding a few more.
It is just not me that likes the building as it has won an award from the West Midlands Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). It came first in the category “Innovation through Design” The judging panel liked the functionality and layout of the building. They highlighted the welcoming atrium, the open clinics and the world class research laboratories.
The Birmingham Dental Hospital & School of Dentistry will now go forward to represent the West Midlands in the national RICS Grand Final on 2 November 2017, competing against other projects from across the UK.
Meanwhile enjoy the pictures.
Biking from home to Coughton Court for a photographic visit. Each time I visit this National Trust property, I always spot something new to see. The house is full of interesting rooms and the views from the Tower are wonderful. There are also recounts of the history of the Gunpowder plot. These pictures give a small insight to what I saw around the house and the beautiful gardens.
The canal system around Birmingham provides terrific photographic opportunities. If you have the combination of a nice day and the time to wander along the canal network with your camera then there are few places that can match the views that you can find. Here is an early Monday morning walk along the Canal Network. Thank you to the West Midlands Branch of the Canal and River Trust for their work in maintaining our canal network.
