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1/400 sec, f/6.7, ISO 100, 300mm (600mm equiv.), Van Mildert College, Durham University.

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Nothing more than a few ducklings.

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1/60 sec, f/3.8, ISO 100, 32mm (64mm equiv.), Observatory Hill, Durham.

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Before editing.

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1/60sec, f/3.8, ISO 100, 32mm (64mm equiv.), Observatory Hill, Durham

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Edited image.  Cropped to place Cathedral tower and couple on the right hand vertical third.  Reduced highlights and increased shadows.  Used a mask to select and edit the sky.   Added a slight vignette.

On reflection, I think the tree on the left is too dark and the shadows could be adjusted to bring out more detail and give the image a better balance.

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1/50 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100, 24mm (48mm equiv.), Observatory Hill, Durham.

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Before editing.

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1/50 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100, 24mm (48mm equiv.), Observatory Hill, Durham.

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Edited image. Cropped to remove plain grass so that the foreground was mainly yellow buttercups. Used a mask to select and edit the sky to bring out the colour and definition of the clouds.

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We discussed the creation of portfolios, or collections of photographs.

We looked at the work of celebrated photographers such as Ansel Adams, Martin Parr and David Lachapelle.

I drew a connection between Ansel Adams' images of the American south west with Anton Corbin's images for U2's Joshua Tree album.

We discussed Martin Parr's 'The Last Resort' which was a study of a bank holiday in New Brighton - the point he was trying to make and the inclusion of specific elements  which 'date-stamped' the images.

We discussed the narrative behind portfolios and the commentary or message the photographer was trying to get across.

We then discussed what we needed to do to pull together portfolios for our course assessment.

I subsequently had a look at Martin Parr’s work online and learnt that he is a documentary photographer with an interest in charting society and social groups.  Some of his work is very similar to anthropology and sociological studies.  One of his themes is leisure and people trying to enjoy themselves whatever the circumstances.  I hadn’t heard of him before but now know he is a very notable photographer and filmmaker. I didn’t realise it but he made the ‘oneness’ indents for BBC One - the clips of small groups of people pursuing hobbies like birdwatching, kayaking and dancing which they show between programmes.

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1/80 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200, 75mm (150mm equiv.), Old Corn Mill weir, Durham riverbanks.

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A heron shot from a distance with a long focal length. Image cropped considerably to increase the focus on the bird.

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1/100 sec, f/2, ISO 25, 5mm, phone shot, Merryoaks, Durham

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Phone shot of a bumble bee on a flower. Used rule of thirds with the bee on the top left intersection.

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Looking down Saddler Street, to the market place. The Ukraine flag on the Town Hall caught my eye. Reduced the exposure of the sky, but think I have overdone it.

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1/125sec, f/6.3, ISO 400, 54mm (108mm equiv.), St John's College, South Bailey, Durham

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A tight crop on the college name and coat of arms above the entrance.

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1/400sec, f/6.3, ISO 400, 52mm (104mm equiv.), St Cuthbert's Society, South Bailey, Durham.

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Dormer and third floor windows of the different houses which make up St Cuthbert's.  The different windows and varied roofline are typical of that part of the city, so for me this image has a real sense of place.

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Used a longer focal length to try to achieve compression, bringing the Cathedral closer to the cobbled street in the foreground.  Reduced the exposure of the sky in Lightroom to pull out the definition of the clouds.

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1/60sec, f/10, ISO 400, 24mm (58mm equiv.), corner of Owengate and Saddler Street, Durham.

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Not the sharpest image, but liked the contrast between the pink and blue and the women's denim jacket.

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Used the tree on the left and the corner of the north west tower on the right to frame the shot. Darkened the 'frame' with a touch of vignette.

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The shadow cast by the north west tower on the north trancept. You can see the shape of the pinnacles and castellations.

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The DLI Cross is on the intersection of a horizontal and vertical 'third'.

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A quickly taken picture, shot from the hip, of a skateboarder. Like the angle and the two people standing back to see what happened.

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1/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400, 28mm (56mm equiv.), Prebends Bridge, Durham

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Asked a bunch of students on their way to a college ball whether I could take their picture as they walked across the bridge.  The backdrop has leading lines from the bridge and the kerbs taking you towards the gap in the tree canopy on the other side of the bridge.

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A bunch of students off to a ball, pausing and posing for a picture.  I thought that black and white made it look a bit more 'classic'.

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1/50sec, f/4, ISO 200, 60mm (120mm equiv.), Fenwick Lawson's sculpture of St Cuthbert, Durham Heritage Centre.

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Took this through the railings of the gate.  Went for a tight crop on the head and used the contrast with the dark canopy behind to emphasise the profile of his face.  Converting to black and white suited the 'contrasty' nature of the shot and brought out the detail of the grain of the wood and the carving.

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1/50 sec, f/9, ISO 800, 17mm (34mm equiv.), Durham riverbanks

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An image taken in week 2, to try to use an element of scale in the composition - a girl by the river - compared with the towers of the cathedral above.

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1/50 sec, f/9, ISO 800, 17mm (34mm equiv.), Durham riverbanks

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Same image as above, edited in Lightroom.  I wanted to draw more attention to the girl sitting by the riverbank to illustrate the height and scale of the cathedral.  I used masks to darken the sky and the foliage, but to lighten and pick out the gap in the canopy where the girl was sitting.

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8/10 sec, f/11, ISO 800, 16mm, The Heron, Freeman’s Reach, Durham converted to black and white

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We reviewed what we had learned on the course so far and revisited the images we had appraised on week 2 to see if our understanding and appreciation of the images had changed.

We then reviewed editing in lightroom classic and edited our own images in lightroom online.

We learnt how to upload and 'rate' images so that we could quickly identify the better quality ones worth editing.

We discussed black and white photography - history and aesthetics - and looked at how to convert an image to black and white in lightroom and the edits you might then make.

We finished off covering colour systems and colour calibration including focusing on calibrating your monitor to match your camera and printer/printed output settings.

We spoke about monitor set-up and making sure that we weren't spending hours staring at a screen as this could affect our vision.

I edited the attached photograph of an illuminated sculpture of a heron, removing distracting elements and then converting to black and white.

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1/1600, f/2, ISO 20, 4.6mm, phone shot, Whitechurch, Durham Brewery Takara pale ale

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Discovered a vintage American army jeep in a campsite. Liked the way it was 'leaning' with the slope and how the wind caught the flag.

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Used the wing mirror of the jeep to frame the Union flag which was flying from its rear aerial.   Raindrops on the mirror slightly spoil the shot.

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Used the gate and yew hedge to 'frame' the path to the front door, with the jubilee bunting adding a touch of colour.

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1/800sec, f/4, ISO 100, 120mm (240mm equiv.), Pickwick Close Platinum Jubilee street party.

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My neighbour, Ang at our jubilee street party. Used ‘rule of thirds’ in the crop - her arm and champagne glass on a vertical and her eyes on a horizontal.  There were more of us at the street party but some of my neighbours didn't want their photograph taken when I asked.   Others didn't want their image posting on social media.  Although it was a public space, out of courtesy I had to ask and respect their wishes.

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1/500 sec, f3.5, ISO 100, 50mm, (100mm equiv.), Pickwick Close platinum jubilee street part.

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Used ‘rule of thirds’ for portrait of Heather and Oscar at our jubilee street party. Heather was sitting on her doorstep - so private property - so I needed to make sure I had her permission and she was happy for me to take the picture.

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1/320 sec, f/2, ISO 20, 4.6mm, phone shot, Prince Bishop Shopping Centre, Durham

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The line of Union Jack umbrellas, leading the eye to the two street performers on stilts.

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1/2,000 sec, f/2, ISO 20, 4.6mm phone shot, South College, Durham University

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Looking up from below bunting to create ‘viewpoint’ and to use the blue backdrop of the sky.

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2.8 sec, f/8, ISO 400, 28mm, (56mm equiv.), Durham Market Place

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Using ‘scale’, the man looking up in the foreground indicates the size of the jubilee projection of The Queen on the Town Hall facade.  This photograph was published in The Northern Echo and received over 6,000 ‘likes’ on the ‘I love Durham’ photography Facebook site and has been shared over 180 times.

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20 sec, f/11, ISO 400, 11mm (42mm equiv.), Durham School Boat Club landing, Durham riverbanks

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Using 'reflection', the Cathedral lit up for The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, reflected in the River Wear.

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20 sec, f/11, ISO 400, 28mm (56mm equiv.), Durham riverbanks

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Revisiting a shot that I've taken before, the bowed roof of the Old Cornmill in silhouette against the Cathedral, this time illuminated for the The Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

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0.8 sec, f/8, ISO 400, 27mm (54mm equiv.), Durham Market Place

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Exploring 'viewpoint', the DLI memorial statue in silhouette against the Platinum Jubilee projection on Durham Town Hall.

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Used reverse 'selfie' camera on my phone to take a shot from the ground looking up the stem of an allium.  Edited out a distracting leaf in Photoshot, cropped and adjusted lighting and colour in Lightroom, using a brush to adjust the saturation of the flower head.

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1/2200 sec, f/2.2, ISO 40, 3mm, phone shot, Durham University Business School

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Looking up the stem of an allium again, later in the day when there was less cloud cover.  Cropped in Lightroom with the flower head on the intersection of 'thirds'.

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1/2200 sec, f/2.2, ISO 40, 3mm, phone shot, Durham University Business School

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Exploring ‘viewpoint’, looked up the stems from underneath two alliums using the selfie camera on my mobile phone. Lighting and colour enhanced in Lightroom.  Used a radial gradation mask to increase exposure in bottom right matching the light catching the stem.

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Enlarged image in Lightroom to see how noise reduction, sharpening and de-hazing might reduce the noise.

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Tried to use a high ISO to allow a faster shutter speed, appreciating that I'd need to try to reduce the 'noise' in Lightroom.

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Cropped in Lightroom using thirds guidelines.

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We had a look at different aspects of composition and discussed what composition is and what makes a good image.

We also got all the IT stuff out of the way and logged on to the web version of Lightroom before walking through the programme and looking at some simple editing processes.

We discussed different 'rules' and compositional techniques and also what subjects we might take - buildings, landscapes, people, animals, plants.  We looked at how different compositional techniques suited different subjects, for example the use of scale when photographing buildings and landscapes.

At break, I took the attached - a 'helicopter' shot of clover and buttercups which I then  cropped in Lightroom using the 'golden spiral' cropping guideline.  You can just about see it.

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Clover and buttercups golden spiral crop

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Fast shutter speed and high ISO to catch the great tit. Generated lots of noise which I tried to clam down in Lightoom.

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Fast shutter and high ISO to try to capture the great tit in flight.  Generated a lot of noise which I tried to calm down in Lightroom.

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Fast shutter and high ISO to try to catch the great tit in flight.  Used a long lens on a tripod with a shutter release.  Quite a tight crop and an attempt at reducing the noise in Lightroom.  Not that clear but possibly the best in flight shot after sitting still for a couple of hours.

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1/2 Sec, f/11, ISO 250, 60mm, Old Fulling Mill Weir, Durham riverbanks

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Used slow shutter speed to blur the water, to make it look whiter and misty.

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1/15 sec, f/4, ISO 1000, 60mm, Durham Riverbanks

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Foliage. Used large aperture to create narrow depth of field to pick out the detail of one leaf.

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No other reason, than I like it.

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1/50 sec, f/9, ISO 800, 17mm, Durham Cathedral

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The light caught the cathedral just as the sun was setting, making it more red than usual. Balanced all three elements to try to get the right exposure. Like the girl hiding/sitting by herself on the riverbank, away from the footpath.

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Used large aperture to create narrow depth of field to pick out one of the railing posts, with the others blurred in the distance.

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1/30 sec, f/20, ISO 640, 31mm, Durham Cathedral

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Small aperture to capture the detail in the distance and the clouds.

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1/4 sec, f/22, ISO 250, 12mm, Durham School Boathouse, Durham Riverbanks

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Used small aperture to give a large depth of field. Used adjacent buildings and the overhang from the roof to frame the Cathedral. Was trying to capture the barriers and warning notices to create a sense of exclusion/prohibition.

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1//400 sec, f/4, ISO 640, 60mm (120mm equivalent), The Old Corn Mill, Durham riverbanks

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I usually take pics of this view of the Cathedral from down by the Old Corn Mill weir, or just along a bit from the landing at Durham School boathouse. I hadn't really looked through the gap between the two buildings before and spotted what I thought was an interesting contrast between the failing and weak roof of the Old Corn Mill and the strength and solidity of the much older Cathedral behind. Used a wide aperture to try to capture the detail of the curve in the bowed roof, compared with the rigid straight lines of the Cathedral.  Also tried to use the contrast in colours and light between the dark roofing slates in the foreground and the lighter sandstone in the distance. Not sure why the shutter speed had to be so fast but it looked right on the exposure meter and histogram and I didn't need to do much to it in Lightroom.

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1.3 sec, f/22, ISO 100, 12mm, Old Fulling Mill Weir, Durham Riverbanks

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Used slow shutter speed to blur the water over the weir and a small aperture to give a wide depth of field, picking up all the detail into the distance.

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1/20 sec, f/10, ISO 200, 15mm, Durham School Boat House landing, Durham Riverbanks

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Used a narrow aperture to a wide depth of field to pick up the detail of the reflection in the foreground and the Cathedral and foliage in the distance. Had to be careful as the landing is wooden and can be slippy.

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1/25 sec, f/4.8, ISO 640, 75mm, Prebends Cottage, Durham

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Stood behind foliage to try to mask the tarmac path and road.  Used a large aperture to blur the foreground and increase the focus on the cottage in the distance. Used the healing tools in Lightroom to remove signage from the lamppost.

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Used large aperture to get a narrow depth of field to isolate one light in a chain. Pink and orange also look good against bluey green - colour wheel opposites.

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Mrs Edworthy's veg trug. Spinach and coriander on their way. Use large aperture to give a shallow depth of field to give emphasis to the crop sticks.

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I knew about the exposure triangle, and balancing shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

I didn't realise that over-exposing 'blew' the detail in the highlights.

I hadn't used the histogram in the camera before to review test shots and check/set the correct exposure.  I've now got that set so that it pops up with the immediate review of the shot just taken, which is helping me to quickly assess what adjustments I may need to make.

I also hadn't tried panning before to try to freeze moving objects, and managed a couple of half decent first attempts by the road amongst a number of blurry shots.

We had to be careful as the traffic was moving quickly.  We had to have an eye to our own health and safety as vehicles were approaching from both directions including behind us.

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Fast shutter speed and high ISO to try to capture blue tit leaving its box.

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Fast shutter speed and high ISO to try to capture a blue tit leaving its box. Shutter speed could have been faster and need to improve focussing. Focussed on the hole - could have used the animal tracking setting.

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Great tit leaving my other birdbox. Again fast shutter speed balanced by high ISO. Need to work on focussing again.

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Portrait of Pretzel, my border terrier. Large aperture to narrow depth of field to help increase focus on her eyes.

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1/200 sec, f/5, ISO 400 85mm, Edworthy Towers

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Blueberry flowers. Used large aperture to try to isolate flowers from background and surrounding foliage.

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1/13 sec, f/18, 13mmm, ISO 250, Houghall College

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Used 'leading lines' and a small aperture giving a wide depth of field, to lead the eye into the distance, with detail in focus.

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Over-exposed with detail lost in the highlights.

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Under-exposed with little detail in the shadows. The pinks in the foliage are more apparent though.

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Was trying to pan to 'freeze' the scooter against a blurred background to create a sense of speed.

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Panning again. Caught this better than the scooter - can see detail of some dents on the side of the car.

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Made a few of us smile - how precise the signage is. Edited and converted to black and white in lightroom.

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1/800 sec, f/2.4, ISO 20, 4.6mm, Whitechurch, Durham Brewery Takara pale ale

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1/25 sec, f/1.7, ISO 400, 25mm, Wallaby spotted on way back to car park, Houghall College

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In our first week, we learnt about different types of camera, sensors and storage media including film and media cards.  We also looked at the basic camera controls which are common to most cameras and the different types of lenses you can use and the different effects they have.

We looked at where you might find battery compartments and card slots on a camera and spoke about formatting a memory card ready to use.

We spoke about the legal and ethical aspects of photography - the legal framework around taking photographs of people in public and private spaces; and where you might seek permission to take photographs of people including children.

We also discussed health and safety issues, being aware of the risks where we might be taking photographs and of what is going on around us while we are concentrating on taking pictures.

A lot of it was a refresher of what I already knew, but I did pick up some new understanding of which lenses you might use in different situations.

I didn't understand the compression aspect of a long or telephoto lens and why that's suited to portraiture and landscape photography.

I have a photograph from Observatory Hill looking across Durham that I am proud of and never realised that it was the lens I had used which brought Penshaw Monument 'closer' to the Cathedral.

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I have a Panasonic Lumix G9 mirrorless camera.  It has a micro four thirds cropped sensor.  I opted for that because the previous camera I used - my wife's Lumix G3 - is micro four thirds and I had bought a long zoom lens for that, so wanted to keep to the same system rather than have to buy new lenses.

Compared with the G3, the G9 has separate dials for shutter speed, aperture and ISO which is really handy.  It also has a number of function buttons to quickly access focusing and metering options and to review images taken.

The G9 has a 12-60mm kit lens.  I've bought a 25mm wide angle lens and a 75-300mm zoom lens.  From my wife's G3, I have two kit lenses - a 14-42mm and a 45-150mm.

I've got a couple of spare memory cards and batteries, which I always keep charged up so that I don't run out of puff.  I also have a third party battery grip which gives me access to a second battery when I am out and about.  The G9 takes a SD memory card and has two cards slots, which I've set to JPEG and RAW.

The G9 doesn't have a built-in flash, so I've recently bought an external flash, which I need to learn how to use.

Beyond that, I have a travel tripod, a monopod, a cable release and a variety of basic UV, ND and polarising filters for the different sizes of lens I have.

I've also invested in a warm hat and gloves as it can get bloody cold when you're out and about, particularly on winter evenings!  And walking boots because it gets slippy too.

At home on my desk, I have a basic laptop with Photoshop Elements 2019 installed. For the course, I have subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud and am now using Lightroom to edit the images I have taken.

I've set up a Amazon Prime Photos account for on-line storage and also have an external hard drive.  I've got a USB card reader, as the memory card slot on my laptop is a bit temperamental.

I post photographs to The Northern Echo Camera Club facebook page and occasionally have had images published in The Advertiser and the Northern Echo.  I also post to 'I love Durham' and 'County Durham Loves Photography' facebook pages and submit images to competitions on the 'Photocrowd' website.

I follow some photographers on  Instagram but haven't really posted any of my own photographs there.

And that's me.

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1/50 sec, f/9, ISO 800, 17mm (34mm equiv.), Durham riverbanks

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The same again but with the overall exposure of the image increased a tad to show more detail in the foliage and the aspect ratio changed to 16x9 to emphasise height.

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Framed the Cathedral with foliage. Increased the temperature of the sky to make it more blue.