A shot of the red arrows performing some banking maneuver of some sort. Haven't really worked it much at all, think I may revisit it in the near future.

Bless em, little ones can have all the fun. This little photo of Holly tickling her brain just reminds me of the good ol' days of being a reckless and free kiddie :)

I can't help but think that this shot reminds me of 2001 a space odyssey - it's the bright blurred whites or the shapes or a combination of both. Regardless, I like this shot :)

Phil B and I popped over to Windsor last week or so for some evening snap shots. Poor Phil, so involved with the shots managed to leave his camera bag unattended, several hundred metres away from him for a good half hour *shakes head* there's always one.

What with Mr Bray forgetting to update this charmedimages fotopic site, it falls to me to do his dirty work and post a photo. So here he is, a less than frequent visitor to charmedimages, Mr Philemon Bray

Well it's been 60 days since Sean last added his own photo onto here and this probably sums up how you feel about regularly tuning in to see nothing new.

Following my last update, Mr Parry is still a regular gym attender although I did hear rumours about him digging out his camera at the weekend - that must have taken a while to find!

Some interesting facts for you:

Photos added by Sean on Charmed Images
2006: 27
2007: 112
2008: 22

Any kind of trend there?

Anyway, enough baiting. This was taken following an Overnight Walk, of the Ironman himself.

Somewhere, among the multiple hard drives, you may find the 'excellent?' shot taken by the young apprentice, on a toy camera, in this photo back in 2006. It sits, filed with a few thousand others, waiting and hoping that one day it may be looked at.

Mr Parry, after an amazing burst of 12 photos in succession, now spends on average 12 hours per day in the pursuit of fitness at the local gymnasium. He has little time for photography or sifting out gems from his hard drive - hence the takeover.

More from Sean in July.

Maybe.

Phil and I went to our usual spot for photographing sunsets and this is the 20% pro in action. Taking a photo of what looks to be some grass. An inspiration to all I'm sure.

This was my mums and wifes reaction to my attempts at photography during the aforementioned BBQ. Mum clearly displeased and Ruth so distraught she's broken the expected decorum and told me to "Shuv off!" No appreciation of the art at all.

Had a recent BBQ at my place and took a few snaps of Nephew James. Such a sweet kid.

A random 'snap' of an 'acquaintance' [in the loosest form you understand] Mr P Bray. Action shots of Mr Bray coming soon ... Maybe.

Took 11 photos of Runnymede from atop the Air Force Memorial. Patching and tone mapping the results and this is what you get - a whopping 2.75 metre panorama :)

Another shot of the memorial. This dog appeared from out of nowhere and positioned itself perfectly for a snap shot. Apparently JFK jr was a big fan of dogs.

Ruth and I ventured over to Runnymede on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a walk around the 3 memorials. The first one, on US ground, is one to JFK.

Found this picture in my photos from Devon. Have no idea who she is in honesty, but alas it's a cute picture and it's another day ticked for CI.

Another photo from Devon. This one has been HDR'd slightly to bring out more detail in the clouds, but not so much that it offends Mr P. Bray.

Still have lots of really cute photos of Leah in the labyrinth of photos I've collected over the past few months ... was playing around with this in B+W, but decided this in colour showed her cute cheeks off so much more.

Ruth and I visited Cliveden not but a few weeks ago and oddly I managed to take my camera along for the ride. For some reason this stump just stuck out at me and although the image isn't great (the background is too cluttered), I really like it. Now that I have the 24-70, I'll be down there again come sunshine to get some more shots.

When all else fails ... there's always Guinness. [I'm guessing Becky really won't like this photo]

Another shot of the adorable Leah. Haven't bothered to edit this one, the last or the few more to come. Will get around to it one day - may even print these out when I do. Maybe.

Popped down to Devon last weekend to say hi to the Wells family. Managed to take 350+ odd photos which will probably never see the light of day, apart from this one and MAYBE a few others. Don't get your hopes up for a CI come back just yet ...

Took a photo of quite a cool tree the other day and thought the photo on itself wasn't all that, but the tree had something I liked enough to spend some time messing with it.

The Mrs and I popped down to Ray Mill Island at the weekend to enjoy the lovely sunshine and of course I took along the camera to get some shots.

Annoyingly the focus is off, but it still came out ok for fotopic.

Whilst browsing through the few odd thousand pictures in my Lightroom Library I found this shot of Windsor. Not content that the photo was acceptable just in-camera i decided to have a go at it and make it look a little older.

Finally got out with the camera today and what better way to get out and about than with a couple of friends. They'll be (dare I jinx it) a few photos coming up here in the next few days ... maybe.

This shot, of an 'athletic'(?) Mr Parry, was taken a couple of years ago during a failed attempt to make what is known in the trade as a 'bridge'. I remain hopeful that Mr Parry may also add his own shot for March although the clock is now ticking!

It seems that the positive torrent of photos which started appearing on here back in January seem to have dried up and I find myself forced to dig this one out of the archives to ensure an image for February! ;-)

A pic taken of Sadie, my mother-in-laws dog from the weekend.

This is my dear wifes virtual-alter-ego 'Ruth' after a) making a terrible shot to get there and b) breaking into a fit of "oooohh, it's going, it's going ... Nnnooooeeessss!" Must say the Wii is the best Christmas present ever - thanks Mum :)

For some unknown reason I seem to like images like this one I made today. It could be the simplicity, the cel-shaded style or the simpli ... no wait.

Well I like them, how about you?

... there was no hope left. From the ashes of some frankly terrible photos (mugshots?) of me, I'm here to reclaim this territory and return to posting photos on a 'frequent' basis again.

This photo was taken at my works Christmas Party. Because we all arrived late I never did get the photo I wanted of all the coll's standing on the stairs waving etc. Still, this is a nice little shot to ease me back in to CI.

Here's to the X number of photos in 2008.

You might see some new photos soon.

Maybe.

Happy Christmas and here's to 366 photos in 2008 from Charmed Images!

New month. New photo. Again, it's not been added by Sean, although again it is of Sean.

Does this count as bad hair? ;-)

I was getting bored of the previous photo so thought I'd hack in and add one for Mr Parry as he seems to have vanished currently.

The good news is that I have over 100 shots of him which I can use if necessary (or until he changes his password!) ;-)

This is one from Wellington, taken in the summer.

Come back Sean, all is forgiven?!? ;-)

This is the last of the photos I'll be adding of Tim and Em. Again not a great photo, but just brings a smile to my face knowing how silly and fun the afternoon was.

NB: Involuntarily Em's lip would quiver from it;s own free will. An amusing and slightly scarey visual experience I can assure you.

Another photo of the happy couple. Not great technically speaking, but it does convey sheer happiness so it's alright in my book.

Another shot of Tim and Em. What was nice about taking photos of these two, was simply that I asked them to stand by the tree and they just started talking, cuddling etc and it was quite informal and made for some nice shots.

Tim and Emma came over and asked if I would take some photos of the two. Easier said than done when the fool of a man is wearing a yellow t-shirt in bright sunshine. Still, did my best and have a few photos from that 'shoot' to add on here over the next few days.

I picked up a strange variety of cake the other day, filled with soft cheese. Basically gross. However this tame squirrel was more than happy to have it off me, although I didn't see the state of him when he had eaten what was quite possibly a cheese mountain half the size of him. Still got a good couple of photos of the little critter.

Annoyed the AF didn't pick up his eyes all that well.

If you go to a car show you expect to see cars. However if you go to Donnington, expect to see an acrobatic bi-plane, a spitfire flyby and a Red Arrows flyby. Not bad for a free event.

Turned the camera on, ripped off the lens cap and took 2 shots. Came out quite well in honesty for the sub 2 second photoshoot.

Boy have I missed Matt. Matt was one of my best friends as a kid. He took off to pastures new with his family about 6 years back and well I thought all was lost.

An intense Google one night found him with his own company and the rest they say is history.

This was taken through a wire fence with the cars traveling over 85mph.

Like the edginess of the 2 cars so close to each other wrestling to take or keep the best position.

It's breath taking. My fiesta from a stand still heading up as steep as castle hill and 3 if not 4 times as long. It's breath taking because I'm pretty much getting out to give it a push.

A Formula 1 Renault however, behaves like these is no hill, no air resistance and just glides over the track with relative ease.

I've added one (in red) to my crimbo wish list.

Took a trip up to see the Donnington Renault weekend. Went last year (photos are somewhere on theuncharmed site ... probably). Anyway, again good fun like last year, only this time I was armed with a better camera and a longer zoom lens.

Managed to get some nice close up shots of the cars as they sped by of close to 160 mph ! Have a few of the F1 car to show as well and that traveled at more than 200mph :)

Thanks to Mr Bray for his sterling work taking over CI for a few days - can't thank thee enough for not adding bad hair photos :)

Sean is in process of changing jobs currently. This candid shot was taken on his first day at his new position of train driver. 'No bad hair tho' - well not too bad, anyway! ;-)

Mr Parry has gone away for a couple of days and amazingly has left me in charge of uploading a couple of shots for him. This time I've been given a free reign on what to upload - apart from the caveat 'no bad hair tho'!

This projector used to live in the loft at our church until it was cleaned out. It was last seen disappearing into Mr Parrys car and its location is now unknown. Good fast lens though! ;-)

Another photo from B'mouth. Running out of photos to use and time to PP any of them.

This is pretty much as is, slight mods in sat, exp etc and then a clone of an unhealthy dose of flare.

Just a quick snap from the recent (read: distant) trip to Bournemouth.

Still yet to go through all the photos, PP them and get them added to my other site - theuncharmed.fotopic.net

Threw this one up as I liked the different layer of clouds and the jets just add some sense of scale.

Must be a family gene, to place something into their mouths and stare off into the distance. Much like my recent shot of Holly.

Similarly with Holly's photo, I like the innocence and wonder it portrays.

NB: This was taken in Bournemouth.

Attended, cooked and slaved my way through a grueling ill-fated BBQ at church the other day, while although having my eyebrows melted to my forehead and my finger nails curling back in retreat from the wicked flame, I did manage to grab a few shots of the other attendees.

Boosted the clarity or sharpness to 100% to bring out the streams of age in this gentle man and I think it's turned into a nice pic :)

Another week, another shot of Holly. Another broody comment photo in the making :)

This ones quite different. Basically, Phil B over at Daily Images pinched my idea for this shot so I had to come up with something different and well, PP'd to heck :)

Thought the golden path, showed what life is like when you're in love - it's blissful happiness when it's true love and theres nothing quite like it on this planet. Apart from maybe a IDs MKIII ?

Again no B'mouth photo, but a nice peaceful photo of a swan from Ray Mill Island.

PP the background to black for more contrast and got rid of a few errant leaves. Lowered the saturation of the Swans body and voila a CI photo emerges.

Might have some B'mouth photos tomo. Might.

Was meant to be getting back to B'mouth photos but I'm getting side tracked all the time.

This simple photo was taken at Phil B's house the other night. Nothing special, but I thought I'd have a play with PP to try and bring out the protective nature of the composition. I think it worked - what's your thoughts?

At some point I will get around to adding some more B'mouth photos, but for the moment I'm enjoying some photos that I took over at Ray Mill Island the other night.

Really like this kind of image. Giving the effect of being painted I believe adds a little something to the image.

This was just a snapshot of some passing Geese. If I had got them in focus I would have loved it.

As it stands it's alright, something certainly quite different from the normal shots I add on here.

A nice (posed) shot of Phil and Holly. If I had had more time I would have asked Phil to look down at Holly or hold something for them to both focus on.

Still it works as a nice family type photo.

Really like this photo and another one to follow. Seems to have an old world touch, that keeps me staring away. Really reminds me of classics from the author John Steinbeck, like his books Cannery Row and East of Eden, this photo portrays the sense of family perfectly.

I think this photo for me really sums up what B'mouth is all about.

I would say it's not for the sun or the limited tanning opportunities, it's more about the sand, the sea and the social reputation the place has.

If it's a nice day, you think about the beach and the sea and this has happened so many times that we now think of a nice day being the beach and the sea and therefore B'mouth. Hence why the entire weekend I was there was punctuated with few people wearing normal beach attire and where the majority were in jeans and tops.

For some reason my head has it that these are benches and not chairs. Must be getting old.

Anyway, I've been waiting to use this PP effect on a photo for ages. It works really well with straight lines and this photo was just perfect for it.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. Don't make me force another shout out !

This is the same photo from yesterday but HDR'd. In this case the idea is to bring out more detail in the jets.

Not 100% sure on this, let me know what you think wont you?

This is my favourite shot from the weekend. I've got plenty of 'samey' shots which I wont bore you with apart from tomo when I'll offer a HDR version of this for comparison.

What I will say about this photo is that this was taken in portrait and as is. Although it actually works quite well in landscape as well :)

A little thanks to Mr Bray for the recent weekend photos. Have to say wouldn't be where I am now in photography (yes, yes not far along I know) without his enthusiasm for the art.

Wouldn't be CI if a pic of Holly didn't appear each week.

I've got about 6 or 7 photos that will be up here from the recent holiday in B'mouth all of which have different levels of PP woven into them.

This was a simple RAW edit, low saturation and then adjusted the hue and further adjusted the saturation on various channels to achieve a subtle effect.

As ever comments are welcome :)

Rather enjoyed my weekend with the Bray's in the wonderful location that is Bournemouth. The Weather was varied, but thankfully on arrival the sun was out, the clouds were offering a nice background and the Red Arrows were out doing there thing.

This is a PP'd snap of a Red Arrow. Many more are to come over the next few days.

Last shot from James' B'day party from last week.

Annoyed that I kept the aperture at F4 instead of 5.6 or 6.3 - meaning that I don't have a single picture with both eyes in focus. Disappointing.

Nothing spectacular, but this is a quick photo from the rolling hills of Devon.

Next time I head that way I'll be sure to get some sunset, coast and good shots.

Quick pic of niece Leah Wells. Have to say she's an adorable bundle of rather quiet cuteness.

My first picture of my recent holiday in Devon. In honesty, this really is about as good as it gets. Devon is actually quite a boring place for photos unless you can go looking for them. With the Mrs having a bad knee I didn't get to go to any of the more photogenic stuff.

Still, I like this one. Reminds me of my wife's wandering habits :)

This is the second photo which Sean has left me to add on in his absence. He's generously allowed me to post-process this, although I was slightly limited by having to work from a JPEG file (that's my excuse and I'll stick by it!) He's back tomorrow, hopefully armed with Devonian photos!

I've been asked to add todays photo for Mr Parry who is currently in Devon. Sadly, I've been given little freedom this time and merely asked to add one of his photos for him. This is the first of two shots I'll be adding. Sean returns on Wednesday.

A strange shot of my brother Thomas from a family gathering the other day. Enjoyed the odd composition and clear bright background.

I'll be on holiday until Wednesday. However fear not I'll be asking Mr Bray once more to step into the breach and place photos on CI. Fortunately I'll also be providing him with the photos that should be placed, so no more mop head photos of me.

This photo makes me think of how immense things are. For example, this chunk of charcoal started somewhere, ended up in a bag, then a BBQ and some little wotsit then decided to light it up and drape animal meat upon it.

Thought with the recent spate of BBQs over the last few weeks that it was poignant to mention the foundation of our outdoor cooking entertainment.

May as well have been 1872 in honesty, this photo and some others have been hidden away and survived across 4 separate PCs an numerous HDD failures. But survive they have.

This was possibly the worst BBQ on record and Jon's poor eyes are testament to the ridiculous conditions experienced.

This photo was just a mere low res jpg so forgive the terrible quality. Twas also a Nikon ...

I've been holding onto this photo for some time wondering whether to put it up here.

It was taken with the ol' Nikon and the much loved 50mm 1.8 (poorly taken albeit).

Let me know whether it's because I took it, that I like it or whether there is something more to it.

Continuing the theme of portraits, here's one of my good friend Mr Phil Bray.

Really like this photo and thought black and white added a suitable depth.

A further review of my photos from the recent BBQ shows that 80% of them are Holly. Therefore I've accepted her by unofficial adoption as my baby model. Hope the parents wont mind :)

Found this amusing little photo in my collection from the most recent BBQ.

Quite enjoy the facial expression :)

A picture of Alan whilst playing kubb (sp) in a park. Thought this was again a good testimony to the portrait ability of my new lens.

Edited to B+W and a harsh crop were my only real PP edits.

Recently I've been taking lots of sunset cloud shots and ever more I'm finding that the patterns, colours and textures that are offered up are just amazing.

This shot was taken from my back garden, if the tree hadn't been there I'm sure I would have a better shot to show, but the image still captures the 3 marvelous features of sunset clouds perfectly well.

Another pic of the adorable James.

Enjoyed watching him trying to get the water from the bottle of the glass.

Had a BBQ at out place on the 1st. James my nephew was being as cute as ever. I gave him the big beanbag to play on and he played on there for ages.

Have a few shots of him to add over the next few days.

Here goes my first quick attempt at doing a panoramic. No PP was done on the individual photos apart from some basic WB adjusting.

Took CS3 about 15 seconds to put this together - gotta love PS :)

This is something else I'm going to be keen on messing around with in the future.

Apologies for the dimensions, the actual file is 10,000 pixels wide and a few thousand tall so poor fotopic really can't handle the stress of it.

Contact me if you'd like to see the original.

Went to the same spot as a few weeks ago with Mr Bray last night to capture the sunset once more.

Many of the photos were not unique from the previous visit as to be placed on the site.

This one however although still in a similar guise, after a tiny amount of post processing begins o reveal the strong, almost painted lines of clouds in the rich sky.

Really like this image. The composition could have been better, but the colours and implied texture really do it for me on this one.

Mr Bray believes these are called Thumble-Whistles or something or rather. Preposterous babbling if ever I heard.

Please enlighten Mr Bray with there correct terminology if you so may.

I've still got some shots to put up from mine and Mr Brays evening shoot from last week. Sadly the 3 photos that I have ready to put up are exactly the same as 3 of his :s

So I thought I'd start with something different.

Also thanks to Mr Bray who's untiring efforts have led me to relive my bad hair and spelling days :)

Oops, managed to post yesterdays image a day early where todays images should have been yesterdays late addition. Tomorrows, todays photo will be added tomorrow, although in reality with me being so late it should have been added yesterday like yesterdays should have been added before, but the day before yesterdays should have been added today as per my comments. See?

I thought I'd add another photo on for Sean as he still seems to be struggling, although I know that his PC is now working.

Hopefully he now knows how to spell his name! ;-)

Another follow-up on the theme of 'Sean'. This was taken on a camping trip a couple of years back. I have more embarressing ones I could have added but I'm feeling kind.

Ha Ha! It's Phil from the outstandingly good Daily Images and I'm sabotaging Charmed Images to add a couple of nice shots for Sean. This is the first, taken amazingly only a couple of years ago at the BBQ to celebrate his and Ruths engagement. He really seems to have aged over the last couple of years...

Sean has a broken PC btw, but will hopefully be up and running later on.

Thomas was upset that Ben got to be put on my website and not him. So here he is, Thomas Parry.

This was him lining up a basketball shot - not sure what the pursed lips are for, but he's a cutie all the same.

Again the new 70 - 200 proved to be an excellent lens for portraits.

I spent yesterday with my brother Ben celebrating his 13th birthday.

Really liked this shot because of the great background and charming lighting.

I did a bit of PP, but nothing major.

Enjoyed a BBQ at our house with friends last night. I'm still getting to grips with the new camera and lens. Although I'm still a few weeks away to have the settings dialled (SWIDT), I'm really enjoying the quality of each.

This was a photo from the BBQ of the ever adorable Holly.

In respect to Mr Bray, this has no post processing work done on it.

This was again taken with Phil the other night. Loved the way this long cloud was just slowly moving across the sky and with the vignetting at the top edges it kinda looks like you're seeing from the sunset, past the clouds and into space.

May photoshop some stars on this at some point.

The snappily named post for today was taken yesterday with Phil Bray whilst out testing my new lens. This photo however was taken on Phils original 18 - 55mm OEM lens.

Came out quite nicely I think.

Annoyingly tho, I must have reset the camera so this and all my photos from yesterday were taken as Jpeg and not in RAW. Hence minimal PS editing.

Ok, maybe it's not terribly exciting, but again it highlights how sharp the lens can be.

This shot was taken in a field just as the sun was setting. Like how the background creates a nice, well background and allows the colour of the subject to come through.

Well the Lens arrived yesterday and the Camera arrived today and I'm one happy bunny.

Chose this boring shot today just to highlight how sharp the 70 - 200mm F4 L lens really is.

More exciting pictures to come tomo however :)

'nother pic from the wedding and 'nother pic of James.

Another pic from my sisters wedding. This time of my Brother Ben.

Thought this photo wasn't taken by me, I thought I just have to add it.

The rood boy is none other than 11 month old James Bray (my nephew).

Just thought it was a funny picture worth sharing. Word.

Actually the title should read Photoshop boredom.

Was trying to get creative with Photoshop but had a total mental block.

This was created a few days ago and just haven't had time to add it to CI.

Pic of husband and wife holding hands.

Hi all. I've sold the D70s and I've ordered the Canon 30D. Takes about 10 days in all to have it sent through so in the mean time I'm taking a holiday from CI.

Times have been good with the D70s - I've taken over 5,000 photos and I know my photography has improved no end with it.

But times roll on, the 30D is a better camera and gives me access to all the 'L series' lovliness of Canon lenses.

Very excited :)

My sisters wedding was ages ago and I'm still slowly going through the photos.

It's a pity I didn't get Chris as well as I did Lea-Anne, but I like the shot all the same.

Expect more and more of my photos over the next few weeks to be backlogs - I'm selling the trusty D70s and upgrading to a 30D so I'll be without my camera for a few weeks.

Took this photo the other day at the church BBQ. Because I was sitting so close and only had the 50mm on me her head has really filled the frame.

Think the smile is great - so natural :)

This shot was take a while back and just hasn't, until now found it's way to the pages of CI.

This was just when I received my 50mm F1.8 lens courtesy of image photographers.

Love the DOF of 1.8 - really can add so much to your photos.

Looked up from a brief respite at our church BBQ today and was impressed with the array of colours.

Few tweaks of saturation and exposure and here we are. Possible BBQ shots to be added to theuncharmed soon - possibly.

We'll call it even. I didn't add this photo yesterday and you didn't take one like it, so we'll call it even.

The story goes that I was meant to pick Phil up at 4:15 so we could go and take some sunrise photos. 4:30 sitting outside his house and still no show.

Anyway, I forged forwards and managed to take a few photos for CI.

This one caught my attention because of the 3 layes, the barley, the hill and the cloud all leading up to the sun.

Just playing around with HDR to see what kind of effects I can create. This was knocked up in photoshop in 10 minutes after playing backwards and forwards with the tones.

Chose this pic, because if you look in the top right you can image that's the sea and you're falling through the clouds.

First of, a big thank you for Phil Bray who I mercilessly stole this image from.

I basically needed a photo that I could practice some HDR on and here's my first try.

Comment people, comment.

I went over to Pinkneys Green the other day hoping to take a photo that emulated the great barley field from dailyimages.fotopic.net and was rather disapointed with a) the lack of poppies, b) the miserable sky and c) the fact that water was coming out of the sky.

Still managed to take this shot @ F1.8 and I love how it's come out in an almost pastel colouring.

Also to note, this has not been edited in anyway - rare for a PS fanboi like me.

This was just an experiment in DOF. Was quite impressed with how small the area is. Hopefully should make some portrait photos really stand out (once I get around to taking some that is).

Points as always for telling what the subject is.

Thought I'd give you something different today. A trio of shots from the recent overnight walk.

This was taken with my new 50mm 1.8 - which I was taken in by the fact that the sales spiel was that it could take hand held photos in the dark against a subject 20ft away. What a load of rubbish.

I managed to get around about 15 photos out of 150 +

As requested here's the 'Yellow Time' photo in B+W.

Works well. Can see me using this at low opacity as a background image to a banner or flyer sometime soon.

Another shot taken from Phil B's living room. Again following still further on from my 'post' and then my 'Green Light' photos, we come to a simple yet striking Yellow Time.

Trying to get together some strange and rather random pics for banners etc and thought this would fit the bill quite nicely.

Shout out to Becky - Leave us some comments girl !

This photo was taken at Phil B's home on Wednesday night. Don't worry, his home isn't painted in anyway like this.

I decided to again take the photo to the extremes, much like my 'post' photo and see the effects. Adding a thin black border to this further sealed it's fate to be added to the CI pages.

Let me know what you think.

A random photo of one of the trees at my sisters wedding. Something about this I like. Not 100% sure what however.

This was taken in Bournemouth. wasn't a great photo, but after messing with a few photoshop settings I came to enjoy the extreme colours.

My sister got married the other today and although I haven't sifted through the 500+ photos to find photos of the happy couple, this photo of my wife (a bridesmaid) and my mum caught my eye.

Another pic from Bournemouth. Following on with the 'nature is detail' theme, here is another one.

The actual picture is heavily cropped, with the usual midtones, saturation and clarity adjusted.

With my new lens, 50mm 1.8 courtesy of Image Photographers I'm hoping to get some small dof nature photos taken sometime soon.

I went to Bournemouth the other day with the clear intention of grabbing a photo of the sand dune grass waving slowly in the wind.

However, as the day was so bright and I had no filters or a polariser, Icouldn't get the shot.

Next time I'll go better prepared.

This was a photo taken in Bournemouth a few days ago.

Was trying to get a sillo shot of the church. didn't really come out as expected - but still a good photo all the same.

Kinda looks like the heavens are opening literally above the church.

Another shot from Wellington Country Park.

I've always loved photos looking through trees and so usually at any opportunity I'll take a few snaps with my head snapped back.

This one came out quite well. Cropped an over-bearing bit of sky from the left and fiddled with the usual clarity and saturation levels etc.

Took a trip down to Bournemouth yesterday and managed to grab a few shots. This was taken in the gardens between the beach and the town centre.

OT: With the sun so bright yesterday, it's highlighted (SWIDT) the need for me to get a polariser and a few ND graduates. Both of which would help control the bright sky.

Another photoshop edit. Copied each later, re-sized and rotated everyone of em.

Slapped a border on them and hey presto, we have a picture.

This is all just me messing around with Photoshop at the moment - I have a plan that will be gracing these hear pages in the near future.

This was again taken at Wellington Country Park and was a quick shot of Ben.

Another shot taken from Wellington.

Not overly happy with it, but it's a start in the right direction. This was shot in manual - starting to like the quiet and faster focusing benefits given by manual focus.

Another shot from Wellington. I was pleading with Rebekah to look up and smile at me. Was tempted to say look up at daddy to try and fool her - but then in a public park taking photos of kids and asking them to them as if their daddy has a way of ending in tears.

More arty ones tomo if I get around to it.

I've been wanting to get a photo of lots of flower heads together and then Photoshop them with a different background to really maximize there impact.

This here is again very similar to my banner work, simple and effective and hopefully eye catching.

I'll be doing more Photoshop work with these flowers shortly so come back soon.

Took this picture at a BBQ last week. In honesty I did actually have a better picture of Holly (edited version) but I deleted it thinking I wouldn't use it.

Typical. This is a slight edit of the usual saturation, contrast and exposure etc. Also added more digital vibrance and then cropped and rotated it from it's original position.

Also cropped out mum and added a black background which hopefully won't be that visible (although the hack and slash cropping will be).

I've been getting a bit more work with my design business/sideline and I thought it would be kind of cool to make a seal for a customers flyer.

This is only a beta - but I think it came out quite well for a first try - whadya think?

Just been thinking about my time spent in the Arctic at a sweet age of 16.

Thought I'd post up a few low res shots of the local scenery.

I was in fear that this photo was going to be a wash out. I neglected to change my settings for the bright reflective pub and kept the lens wide open at F22 with a 30 second exposure. Not good.

Some Photoshop work afterwards however and I think it came out quite well.

Added a border as it was missing something.

Another photo from last nights Henley outing.

This time the shot was taken from the other side of the bridge.

I cannot believe how much time I had to spend on this photo removing the dark patches left from my 'orribly dirty sensor.

Will be investing in a sensor-cleaner rather quickly.

Last night Phil B and I went out for a spot of photography after a BBQ (or 2 for me) and upon Phil's commendation we traveled to Henley on Thames.

Again no good sunsets, but we did managed to loiter around the bridge for a while where we both manged to get some good shots.

Apologies, but many of our photos will be similar over the coming days.

Phil B invited me around for a BBQ. Naturally I said "Yes please". Much the same way as I had responded to my mums request for a BBQ today as well.

Here's a pic of the BBQ at Phil's.

Went for a walk in a local field (forget it's name). What looked like a promising sunset soon turned into a turned into an overcast canvas.

It did however give me some time to take a few shots of the local forna. This being one of them.

Was in London on the 5th for a graduate fair - nothing particularly fun. So at lunch I took myself to grab a few snaps.

Came across this collection of bikes and after a little editing in Photoshop (points to those who can tell me what I removed) I'm happy with the way it came out.

Congratulations to Jon and Phil, yesterday marked the day when their new venture Image Photographers went live and is open and ready for business. This was the email that I designed and they sent.

Was all done in a rush, so hope their happy with the end result. Also to note the header at the top was animated which showed another 10 or so pictures.

My last picture to add to CI from my recent evening trip to Windsor. Was quite impressed with how similar the moon and the sun are.

Trip to London tomo, so should get some good pics.

Another shot cropped and slightly toned up from my evening spent with Phil B in possibly the most dodgy part of Windsor.

It was Ruth's birthday today so we went to Windsor to relax, take in a boat ride, and enjoy the summer sun.

Managed to grab a few photos of the castle from the boat. No points for guessing which castle of course ;)

Went with Phil Bray of Daily Images fame to Windsor this evening/morning.

We spent 2 hours stranded in a field waiting for the moon to show itself. In the mean time however we managed to take a few shots of the local trees. This one came out quite well although it is a little too noisy.

Thought I'd give a sneak preview of the newsletter designs that I've been putting together.

It's a basic outline - but for an email, that's all you ever need. The colours are subject to change as per the clients requirements and of course the size would scale with the copy length.

Any comments would be appreciated.

p.s. 'proper' photos to come on Saturday.

Expect to see more Image creatives coming soon.

I've always loved how you can get those fish-eye type photos of a cityscape. Well today I taught myself how they actually do them - the colours are awful, but I'll try and get this licked soon enough and add a sun and a moon or 3 as well.

Was asked to take photos of some of the team at work. Liked this one because of the higher angle.

The sun was totally in the way and if I had a reflector I would have been ok. Don't have the time to edit it at the moment, but may come back to it in the future and remove the facial shadows.

Recently I've been creating lots of banners for work, friends, fun and a possible business venture.

I must have created 40 or so in the last 10 days. Thought I'd show some of them off here.

Feel free to let me know what you think :)

Took a few pics of my little Nephew. Hoping to build a collage of cute pics. This one just grabbed me - not sure if I'm broody or just a fan of puppy eyes (or both!) but I'm liking it.

This is my Azonic DS2, it;s shortly going to transform from a state-of-the-art 29 speed do it all bike to a pre-70's era singlespeed junkie bike.

Sometimes simple is better.

Don't look so surprised. I was cooking dinner today, and thought yeah, heck I'll do it. I'll use that expensive camera of mine.

I took a few quick snaps, some with flash and some without. This one came out quite nicely with no editing. The dark centre manages to draw you in and the pasta strands just add to the kookiness.

Had our Christmas over at my mums on the 20th and the highlight had to be little James. He's near 6 months now and is getting cuter and cuter every time I see him.

No comment required, pictures speak louder than words.

This is a shot of a little village in Devon. Points for the full name of the town.

I was searching through the photos and this one seemed to be well composed, with the bushes making a suitable frame. Any thoughts?

No one expected a return of photos on this site, and no one expected such a random photo for such a return. Still it's a photo, it's a photo site and it was taken by me. What more do ya want?

A few fav photos from the fireworks night that I went to some months ago.

Thought I best post them up, just so people don't think I've passed away or given up on Fotopic.

Another photo (to fill up the days!). This time from the wonderful land of Brugge or Brugg-ie for the un-cultured. This has to be one of my favourite pictures. Love the scene, the calm the promise of life and it's pace. This was taken in the afternoon on Saturday.

Continuing my "damn I was there series" I give you Australia, land of the wild. I went to visit some relatives out there and I have to say it was a blast. Long time ago now (2004 or was it 2003?) but still amazing place and amazing people. This was a shot from the Sydney Bridge looking at the Sydney ... oh what's it's name ?

One from the archives, but one that I still look back on and think damn. I was there when I was 16, crossing that hundreds of miles from civilization. Spent my 16th Birthday in a mosquito infested forest, trekked 18 miles that day (iirc) and although it wasn't all fun and games then, I sure look back and think, damn I was there.

The weather in these here lands is a changin' which makes great photography.

I captured this shot as I came home from work, ran in grabbed the camera and bam, here it is.

COMMENTS people are always welcome ;)

Just a literal quick snap from yesterday. Pointed the camera, took the shot and it's job done.

Ruth really likes this one so I thought I'd put it up for her.

This was a shot I had taken at a church 50th year celebration and although the whole picture was out of focus and showed half a smile and half wincing eyes (probably from pure hesterics) once cropped (fav word at the mo) it for me at least turned into a cool/different photo.

A quick avant garde pic. Nothing really special, i was actually trying to go for an outline shot, but this took my fancy when I looked at it on screen.

A quick crop of a dark edge, evened up the central object and hey presto another day in the insatiable charmedimages photo catalogue.

When I was young and saw old photos of grandparents from the days of black and whiet film, it never occured to me that they also saw colour.

This photo is an ode to my childhood innocence, this is how I imagined that saw things back then.

I think I was 4 when I squashed this fantasy (Nan informed me when she was a kid that red lollies were the best ... but how did she know?).

This is a learning photo. I'm trying to learn the different techniques of GIMP and I'm trying to improve my composition. I should really have thought about removing the flowers at the bottom and maybe creating a great dof would have helped.

I changed the view to that of a canvas (only grade 1 of 100, and it acheives a nice effect. Will have a go again in a few days time.

I'm not sure why I love the colour orange. Perhaps it's the punchy zestful (groan) passion it inspires or the way it easily falls and can intermix with hard yellows and soft reds.

All I know is right now, Orange is my favourite colour.

Snoopy popped over the other day to have a sniff around and although she usually doesn't like cameras, she stood still long enough for me to get this shot.

Because the dof was slightly out, I've adjusted the picture to be presented in oils, thus hiding my weaknesses as a photographer and allowing me to play with GIMP all the more.

I was taking a walk away from work the other day armed with my D70s and although I couldn't really see anything that was bright on the ground, I did note that the sun was bursting through the clouds and although it wasn't with rays of sunshine, it was pretty bright and therefore this is my chosen pic for Photo Friday - Bright.

Comments welcome, good or bad :)

I've been playing games for years now and the main attraction has always been the gameplay and the enjoyment through completing levels or quests or whatever. This was all fine until games graphics started to become good. I've got a pretty powerful home gaming machine and the resolutions, the advanced textures and with all settings to max I can make a game look pretty realistic.

Therefore does this mean I can take a picture in game and still feel happy that I've taken a photograph? Can I call it a photograph?

This particular ... Jpeg was from HL2 Lost Coast and it's a er jpeg of a fisherman.

Comments welcome :)

There's something about a field that can bring a calm over someone. It's akin to removing thoughts from your mind and settling on the motions of the swaying long grass.

Spent 5 mins here at work and took a couple of snaps. Here's one that particularly takes my fancy.

As my camera is presently on charge and I didn't manage to get out for my usual daily photo today, I decided to route further into my archives and found this. Again it needed sharpening and cropping, but over all it's a nice pic (and fills another day) :)

This is where I work. It's in Cookham although it's contents aren't great, it's area and the building itself are pretty cool.

This is an old photo, possibly from when I first joined the CIM. Think I like this photo because of the light green grass. Check out my theuncharmed site for a more comprehensive list of my local Cookham.

I went to Donnington at the weekend with my best mate Timmy and although there were plenty of different cars and all fast, none was as fast as the F1 car. None were as loud and breathtaking and none were worth the 5 1/2 hours stuck in a traffic jam on the way home as the sleek and sexy F1 car. Truly amazing.

This is a pic from the archives. Think this is from the mid 80's and judging by the hair I think that's a fair assumption.

Actually I think the hair is pretty impressive. If only I had hair like that now, I would be a legend !

This is a pic of my little Brother Thomas. it was taken Christmas 05 and I have to admit he's pretty adorable. What's great to see though, is that he's literally a little version of me. The cheeky-hidden-agenda smile, the puppy eyes that could bring a mother to her knees and a cute button nose that gets the girls 'aaww'ering.

Cropped the image a bit and sharpened it up by 30% as well.

I went to a friends baby shower today in a local Indian restaurant and although I'm not totally aware of the ideals of a baby shower, the meal, the company and the last drink whatever it was were rather good.

This is just a quick pick from the night. It demonstrates that candid photography can bring a smile and bring a possible P60 to your desk in the same stroke (pics of my boss).

I took this photo whilst taking a walk away from work. With work so stressful at the moment it's nice to break away and just enjoy the local countryside.

This shot was taken literally 100 metres from my workplace.

Always reminds me the grass is always greener on the other side. Idon't know why exactly because the grass is just as green this side, but it's always reminded me of that saying so we'll leave it at that.

This was my one of my first photos with my new Nikon D70s. It's a picture of my desk at work.

Using the D70s for the first time was a pure thrill. It was easy, fun and the resulting image although just a quick snap came out much better than my usual prepared photos on my Ricoh R2.

I've owned a Canon 35mm SLR and the joy of using the camera, the ease and the feedback 'klunk' from the shutter is what makes photography exciting for me.

More of my photos here: http://theuncharmed.fotopic.net/