davidfcookephotography.co.uk

 

This shot was taken at a RHS garden show in Cardiff. I noticed the girl looked a little forlorn and, with only part of the inscription on the bench showing the word ‘Down’, I thought it made a good image (See original image below).

After cropping to a square format, the Paper Toner Nik filter was used to convert the image to a sepia tone with a layer mask to remove the effect from the girl’s face. The Glamour Glow filter was then applied to give it an ethereal quality and a series of darken/lighten centre and Viveza filters was used to adjust the lighting. Minor distractions were removed with the clone tool. I added textures I had taken in Cuba and Morocco and, finally, the girl’s face was sharpened selectively using the High Pass filter with a layer mask.

This image has had 13 International acceptances including 43rd Photographic Society of New York International Salon of Color Photography 2015 (USA), Tallaght International Salon of Photographic Art 2015 (Ireland), Bristol Salon of Photography 2016 (England) and 2nd Swedish International Small Print Exhibition 2016 (Sweden).

Nikon D800, 28 – 300mm Nikkor lens at 230mm, ISO 1250, f/8, 1/640 sec

 

 

This was taken in 2013 on one of our trips to Northumberland. I was struck by the fact that the woman was sitting reading her book with the beam of light from the window falling directly onto her (see the original image below). I took as several shots and I liked this one because of the triangle formed by the three people which, I thought, made the best composition.

Post capture manipulation consisted, firstly, of cropping the image to a square format. There was still an extra person on the extreme right hand side of the frame. I added a layer of another shot I had taken which did not have anyone in that area and I used a layer mask to remove him.

Further treatment used Glamour Glow to give the image a slightly dreamy feel, Viveza to adjust the lighting, Vibrance to adjust the Vibrance and Saturation and Clone layers to remove minor distractions. I also used use a Paper Toner layer with a layer mask to get the colour the way I wanted it. The textures are images I had taken of cracked soil and of a wall in Rome. A layer mask was used to remove the texture from the three people in the image. Finally, it was sharpened using the High Pass Filter.

This image has had seven international acceptances including the 123rd Toronto International Salon of Photography 2016 (Canada) and the 70th Midland Salon of International Photography 2019 (England)

Nikon D800, 50 mm Nikkor prime lens, ISO 200, f/1.4, 1/250 sec.

 

 

This was taken in Rome on our holiday there in July 2012. I noticed the group of people in a small Gelateria just off the main road and I thought it would make a good image.

You will see, from the original image (below), that the arm, foot and part of the head of a third person who, apart from that, is hidden from view, is apparent on the right hand side of the image. I used the clone tool to remove these.

Other post capture manipulation consisted of cropping to a square format, followed by Glamour Glow to give the image a slightly dreamy effect, Viveza and Darken / Lighten Centre to adjust the lighting, Vibrance to adjust the saturation, and further Clone layers to remove minor distractions. I also used the Nik Paper Toner filter to convert the image to monochrome and I reduced the opacity of the layer to bring back some of the colour. Finally, the woman at the table was sharpened using the High Pass filter and a layer mask was used to remove the sharpening from the rest of the image.

It has had 6 international Salon acceptances including 66th Midland Salon of International 2016 (England), Sydney Harbour International 2015 (Australia), 10th International Exhibition of Photography Ecological Truth 2015 – Zajecar (Serbia) and 42nd Smethwick International Exhibition (2016) (England).

Nikon D810, Nikkor 50mm prime lens, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1250 sec

 

This image is from my trip to Barcelona in November 2015. It was taken in a small restaurant and I was drawn to the interaction between two members of the staff, one shown here and another out of frame in this image. I took several shots and chose this one as having the most interesting expression on the woman’s face. (See the original image below).

Post capture manipulation consisted of cropping to a square format followed by Hue/Saturation to desaturate the image somewhat. This was followed by Glamour Glow to give the image a slightly dreamy effect, with a layer mask to remove the effect from the woman. Brightness/Contrast was then used to darken the image, again with a layer mask to remove the effect from the woman. The Analogue Nik Filter gave the effect I wanted and Paper Toner was used to convert the image to monochrome. A series of Viveza and Levels layers, together with Darken/Lighten Centre, were used to adjust the lighting. A number of Clone layers were used also to remove minor distractions.

This image has had international acceptances at the 3rd Africa Photographic Awards 2017, 7th Cheltenham International Salon of Photography 2019 (England), Cyprus International Digital Photo Competition 2019 (Cyprus), 1^st Edinburgh Photographic Society Digital Salon 2021 (Scotland) and it won a bronze medal at the 2^nd Swedish International Small Print Exhibition 2016.

Nikon D810, Nikkor 50mm prime lens, ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/160 sec.

 

This shot was captured at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona in November 2015. I was attracted by the different expressions on people’s faces as they looked at the building (See the original image below).

Post capture manipulation consisted of cropping to a square format to isolate the group of four people I found the most interesting. A Gaussian Blur filter, together with a layer mask to bring back the details of the faces and isolate them from the background, was then used. This was followed by the Nik Film Grain filter to add texture to the image and Hue and Saturation reduce the saturation of the colours. A series of Viveza and Clone layers to adjust the lighting and remove minor distractions was used before sharpening it with the High Pass filter.

This image has had 4 international acceptances including the 105th London Salon of Photography Exhibition (2016) and a silver medal at the 2^nd Swedish International Small Print Exhibition (2016).

Nikon D810, 50 mm Nikkor prime lens, ISO 1400, f/1.4, 1/250 sec