I'd been thinking about having a go with gels for a while and I watched something on his website and saw that he uses a Lensbaby for some of his shoots so I thought I'd give it a try.

When Steffi posted on Facebook that she was coming back to Britain for a couple of weeks over Christmas,I knew she'd be perfect for this kind of shoot so I invited her over. 

The main drawback with this kind of setup is the amount of space you need but fortunately the church hall next-door to me was available and proved to be the perfect impromptu studio.

This particular setup needs at least 4 lights. I was using a combination of speedlights and by Jinbei Traveller 1200. The speedlights left and right had blue and yellow gels on them and were firing into polystyrene boards to spread the light out further. the 'b' head of the Jinbei had a red gel on and was firing into a reflector to colour the background but not the shadow and the key light which was a gridded beauty dish was set to overpower some of the colour on the face.You can just make out how it was lit in this behind-the-scenes shot here.

NB - Th reflector you can see to the left of the backdrop is just acting as a flag to stop the light from the speedlight spilling onto the backdrop.

I was looking through my phone pictures yesterday and I found a picture I took of my setup when I took this picture so I thought I'd share it. I use it quite a lot for product shots particularly when glass is involved because there are fewer distractions reflected in the glass.

I have a few A1 sized pieced of foam-core in black and white that I use for product shoots as backgrounds and surfaces but I also use them as flags and reflectors if needed.

For the shot of the reflector, I had the machine on a pice of black foam-core with another behind it. I then pus two more either side to stop any ambient light hitting the subject. The two pieces of polystyrene are preventing light spill from the strobes hitting the background so it stays white - I sometimes remove these to get a different effect which you can see in the pictures of the Whisky bottle and cocktail below.

The strobes are then fired into white foam-core so the light comes back at the subject well diffused and slightly from behind. If you keep the gap that the light enters really narrow, it created a very pleasing rim light on bottles. If there is detail on the face of the subject that I wish to pick up in the shot, I usually light it with a focussed beam from my head-torch. 

The projector picture was taken using my 24-105 F/4L at 105mm and at f/11. The shutter speed was 1/160th which is the max I'll usually use with this particular trigger and strobe combination. The shot was then processed in Lightroom to make the black truly black and increase the contrast.

Here are some more shots using the same  (or slightly modified setup)

As luck would have it, when I arrived at 'Pets at Home', they had an ex-display tank on special offer which was just the right size I was looking for. I got it home, filled it and over the next few days, got the images I needed for my client.

Then it was time to play!

Using the same lighting setup of a single ex-600rt at 1/8th power pointing into some white foamier camera left, and some silver card on the right-hand side of the tank, I set up a couple of small martini glasses in the tank so I could pour some coloured Monin syrups into them to see how it looked.

First I used Pink Grapefruit Syrup.

I then decided to add some Blue Curaçao syrup in to see what would happen.

I decided to keep pouring to see the results.

I'm really pleased with how they came out and I'll definitely have a play with this setup again.

To see the result of the client images, follow The king of Soho on Instagram click here

Sassy went off to prepare her costume and I had a think about how I was going to come up with something that would do her vision justice.

This was the picture she had in mind which didn't seem too difficult but we were doing our shoot outdoors on a bright sunny afternoon. I came up completely blank with a location that would allow me to have a nice clear bit of wall in this style. The only places I could think of were either too public (Sassy ain't that shy but I think that would have drawn a little bit too much attention to ourselves) or too far away from where I could park the car. (I needed a lot of kit with me)

Anyway I decided to compromise - I chose a secluded location but the wall (underneath a road bridge) was heavily graffitied which I thought might add a bit of character and make the shot 'ours'.

The next challenge was to make it look like evening time when all around us was bright sunshine. I set up my Jinbei Traveller with all 1200s pointing directly at Sassy with just the open reflector attached to the head. Dialling in an aperture of f10 to keep the whole of her nice and sharp, I took the shutter speed up to 1/2000 second to pretty much lose all the ambient light.

In processing, I just needed to make some of the dark tones a bit darker and raised the highlights slightly and added some vignetting and I think we managed to come up with a great take on the scene from the film.

With that shot in the bag, we thought we'd try and get some more pictures inspired from other scenes in the film  - a quick Google Images search brought up a couple of likely candidates and we thought we'd give this one a bash.

Now obviously the futuristic setting wasn't happening at all! (There's no way my PP skills are going that far) Nor was the costume change so we ran with what we had.

In this outtake, you can see how bright the light we were working in was. This is the correctly exposed without flash picture which was a 1/640th at f4

After a little refinement of the pose and setting the camera to 1/4000th second at f4.5 we were able to achieve a far moodier shot.

Obviously the contrast has been boosted in Lightroom  but again I was pleased with the overall feel of the picture - it doesn't faithfully recreate the scene from the film but I don't think we were ever going to achieve that anyway. I'm just glad we could pull off some great shots that (IMHO) look like they were inspired by the Fifth Element and that Sassy certainly brought a resemblance to the character Leeloo

With the world of Photoshop it's so easy to go beyond what you can see in front of your lens. Because I am by no means expert at photomanipulation, I often forget what I could achieve if I put my mind to it.

Fortunately when it came to shooting the summer signature serve for Drambuie, I had this image in mind because it played perfectly with their creative model at the time.

With the strapline 'A Taste of the Extraordinary', the brand had been drawing influence from the surrealist movement and I wanted to reflect this in my cocktail picture.

Shooting in the comfort (and safety) of my home, I set the camera on the tripod and went about getting the shots needed for my composite.

The drink stayed in the same place all the time and the ice cube was placed on the bar counter to reference where the cuff was to be in the pictures. The collar and hat shots were a little bit 'trail and error' to get them in exactly the right place.

Once all the pictures had been taken, it was a case of loading them all into Photoshop so I could layer them on top of each other and mask out the bits I did't want and blend them together to get a seamless picture. I was then able to convert it to a high contrast mono which I could also add a mask to to get the colour version of the drink to 'pop' out.

Weaste Cemetery was Salford's first municipal cemetery. Before the cemetery opened in 1857 most burials took place in churchyards. Salford Corporation was one of the first municipal authorities to recognise that churchyards could no longer provide sufficient burial space and so the plans for Weaste were made.

In the Victorian age, cemeteries were considered to be amenities like parks and gardens and were usually designed in a similar way. Weaste Cemetery was no exception and its beautiful design made it the most desirable resting-place for well to do Salfordians and Mancunians.

Since 1857 over 300,000 interments have taken place at the cemetery, including:

• Joseph Brotherton - became MP for Salford in 1832. In 1849 he was instrumental in making Salford the first municipal authority in Britain to establish a library, a museum and an art gallery, and later with William Ewart persuaded Parliament to pass the Public Libraries Act. Joseph Brotherton's belief in clean living and a clean environment for working people made him a prime motivator in the establishment of Peel Park in Salford. He also helped set up the vegetarian movement and his wife is credited with writing the first vegetarian cookbook.
• Sir Charles Hallé - Britain's longest-established professional symphony orchestra, the The Hallé, was founded in Manchester by the pianist and conductor Charles Hallé, and gave its first concert in the city's Free Trade Hall in 1858.
• Mark Addy - a renowned local figure who worked in a factory near the river Irwell, and during his life saved around 53 people from drowning after leaping in to save them. There is a memorial in the cemetery dedicated to him, paid for by grateful local people.
• Eddie Colman - one of the Busby Babes who tragically died in the Munich air disaster in 1958.
• Ferdinand Stanley - was immortalised in Alfred Lord Tennyson's epic poem Charge of the Light Brigade, after surviving the battle in 1854.

The other day I was trying to get Dylan to go down for a nap so I had a quick drive through the cemetery to get shots of some of the elaborate memorials that would look good as mono conversions.

Here are some of my favourites.

I'm quite fortunate that I'm in a state of zen with my kit at the moment. I honestly think that there's nothing I really need to do the kind of pictures I like (short of a lottery win and I can upgrade everything) so I was fairly confident I could spend the day at the show without being tempted to drain my bank account. 

This led me to realise that at the show last year, the only thing I bought was a Lee Filters Big Stopper and as I passed the stand I bought it from, I realised that I still hadn't used it. I used to take lots of landscapes a couple of years back and now I hardly take any and the few I have taken have not given me the type of composition or been the kind of conditions that would suit the long exposure so the Big Stoper has stayed in my kit bag.

Until today. The theme for the photo-a-day challenge I'm doing (see January's blog posts) was Building Architecture and not only was there a fair bit of cloud around, it was moving across the sky quite fast which is perfect for this kind of shot.

I managed to get 2 shots I really liked in the short time I was down in Salford Quays as the gale-force winds were actually making getting crisp shots quite difficult. 

One is of Daniel Libeskind's Imperial War Museum North

The second of Michael Wilford's Lowry Theatre.

I think I may have to plan an early morning jaunt to the coast to put this filter properly through it's paces.

A friend was shooting a wedding recently and had been specifically asked to get a shot on the bridge next to the Reception venue which is one of the signature shots that a lot of bride & grooms go for judging by the venue's website - and for god reason, it's a beautiful stone bridge over the River Bollin with trees on both sides and frames the bride and her husband really well.

BUT NOT IN FEBRUARY!

I had arrived at the venue to add a bit of lighting assistance as my friend was concerned that by the time they were ready to do the bridge shot, it would be too dark for his usual setup. I offered the use of my Traveller and came along as lightstand holder and to make sure they worked.

I got to the venue before the wedding party and thought I'd have a quick recce of the location. I got down to the riverbank from where the picture is usually taken and realised that all the trees were barren which, combined with a darkening grey sky meant the picture looked awful. I went onto the bridge to look at it from the other side - the sky and trees looked better from that side but there was nowhere from the roadside to get a shot from because of the trees on the riverbank - you'd be able to get a good shot if you were actually in the river but you can't get there....

...Unless

Yes, unless you climb over the bridge parapet and drop 10 feet to the ground below then you can make your way through some bushes and climb down into the river from there. This meant that I had to volunteer to get the shot so as the bride and groom made their way to the spot, I got ready to climb down - and promptly dropped my camera the 10 feet to the ground below! I didn't hesitate to follow it and to my joy, the soft ground had cushioned the fall and there was no damage. I scrambled down to the river, put the camera on the tripod, set up the shot ..... and found out my battery was dead!!

I hadn't planned on taking any shots that afternoon, I just took my camera with me to see how it looked through the viewfinder. Panic set in and I set about trying to climb back out of the hole I was in (literally as well as figuratively) and find the second shooter who also uses a 5d to borrow a battery from her - climbing out via a holly bush (ouch) I got the battery, jumped back down the 10 foot drop back into the river and got the shot

PHEW!!

I also saw another opportunity to change the framing slightly and get another shot without the strobe and get a nice silhouette for a mono conversion (something I don't do often) which I think came out lovely.

Shot in the back, back out through the holly bush and into the pub for a well-deserved cuppa only to find that my autofocus on my beloved 70-200 wasn't working any more - I prepared the shot in the river using live view and manual focus so I hadn't noticed that the autofocus wasn't working - it must have been knocked when I dropped it - gutted!!

Luckily by the time I was ready to leave - it was working again so I've put it down to the condensation from coming in out of the cold but boy I was worried for a minute.

So there we go - I wasn't supposed to take the picture and it so very nearly didn't happen but in the end we got the shot, and that's all that matters.

I'm really happy to announce that my picture 'Splash' won the Spirit of Salford photography competition/ I was so pleased with this picture, the deadline day for entries had arrived and I didn't feel I had anything in my portfolio which effectively portrayed the spirit of Salford. That Sunday morning, Dylan was asking to go and play in the garden and from there, out into the street. I was initially reluctant to let him go out because I knew there was a big puddle just outside the gate but his momma had just bought him his first pair of wellies so as I took him inside to put them on, I also grabbed the camera as I thought this may give me the opportunity I was looking for.

Just as I thought, the first thin he spotted was the puddle.

He then proceeded to run back and forth through the puddles giving me some great expressions - I chose the picture I entered largely because of the amount of splash in the picture but you can't beat this one for the facial expression!

Unfortunately although Mamma bought the smallest size she could find, they were still a couple of sizes too big and his over-enthusiasm brought him to a soggy end.

Still, I got the photo and once I was able to compose myself (naughty Daddy) I picked him up to go back and get changed.

So my idea of the Spirit of Salford is very much about making the most of what you have. Something about making the best regardless of rain or sun and the innocence and enthusiasm of children.

I've decided to stick with #theidearoom photo challenges but from today I'll be moving them off my blog - I shall probably feature them every now and again but I would also like to use this blog for other things too. I have created a flickr album and the whole project shall be on there. You can see the album here ----> https://www.flickr.com/photos/alternateperspective/sets/72157650187077438/

Day 1 of the February challenge 'BELOW' I think the most obvious connotations with the word below are connected with water so here's a picture of our goldfish below the surface.

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“There are no strangers, only friends you have not met yet.” ― W.B. Yeats This will have to sum up today's picture for #theidearoom January photo challenge. I was working all day with a team of people I haven't worked with before but they helped me out by agreeing to be in my picture.

Today's picture for #theidearoom photo challenge is a bit 'Inception'-y the title is "Picture in a Picture" and I've AT LEAST achieved that although it could be 'picture in a picture in a picture' now remind me again! Am I still asleep or is this real?

I was considering waiting until this evening to take my picture for today's #theidearoom January challenge photo seeing as I have ambitious plans to make something I've never tried before. Unfortunately that means that there's also a good chance that the resulting dish won't be in any way photogenic so as the snow is falling outside, I thought a nice, piping-hot bowl of soup would make a great subject - and lunch!

I was quite prepared for today's challenge in one sense. I knew what the title was and I researched the meaning of personality trait to give myself some ideas as I knew I was going to be heading to London and back - I knew I was going to be immersed in all kinds of personality and behavioural patterns en route.

Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as I had hoped. None of the journeys I took were that busy and the few people i did manage to capture discretely with my compact weren't really exhibiting any obvious personality traits and then it hit me, quite literally in the face. One of the "Big 5 Aspects of Personality" is "Openness to Experience" which includes tendencies towards Artistic Interests, Creativity and Adventurousness. Behold - another excuse for a selfie! Well kind of - I was pretending to take a picture of myself but really wanted to get the reflection of the lady in the seat behind me on the train. Her curiosity must have been piqued because she is looking directly at the camera and has firmly established herself as the subject which goes very well with what I was trying to achieve.

I've had a busy day today and my mind was pretty scrambled so I have Ellen to thank for the inspiration for today's #theidearoom January challenge photo - the theme was 'A Challenge' and as soon as I mentioned it she suggested the Scrabble board. The hardest part then was coming up with a rack of tiles which would prove challenging to even the most avid wordsmith.  I don't think I did too bad - there's not much I'd get out of that!

A great title but not a good day to have it on! Having the baba all day and dealing with his routine combined with poor weather meant that nothing grand could be planned for today's #theidearoom challenge photo. Instead I had to settle for a selfie in the kitchen.

I suppose the title 'Simple' could lead to all kinds of interpretations (another selfie opportunity perhaps?!) The way I wanted to do it was to come up with a very basic composition with as little distraction as possible. When I arrived at the pitch to watch Ellie's hockey match I had an idea to use the ball on a 'power point' and pitch markings on the grid of thirds to emulate the traditional compositional 'rule'

I spent all day at work taking pictures of all manner of shiny things for today's #theidearoom January challenge photo but when I got home, my baba had been playing with some CDs in the kitchen and I thought it'd be really cool to capture some of the rainbows in the Champagne I was drinking (hey, it IS my birthday after all!) 

This is Ted, say hello to Ted. He is just about the same age as me. I've had him as long as I can remember and I'm pretty sure his name pre-dates my ability to speak so I can't be blamed for the lack of originality regarding his name. Today's #theidearoom photo is A favourite thing fortunately seeing as I've already featured most of my favourite things already this week. Top of my list would be my baba, second (just) would be the wifey and my bike and Rum also feature high on my list. The only other inclusions could have been my iPhone which probably comes 3rd on the list and Pizza but I thought I'd be a bit sentimental and go for my oldest companion.

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quite an odd title for today's #theidearoom January challenge photo because the majority of pictures I take are obviously taken from where I stand (although I do take a remarkable number of pictures on any shoot lying on the floor) Anyway - in our kitchen at my face level there is a small decorative mirror, around 5 inches across and I thought it would be good to try to get a picture of myself but without getting the camera in the shot as you normally would when taking that kind of shot. I'm holding my Canon 5d mkII with a 70-200mm lens on above my head pointing at the mirror which wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination.

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An interesting title - how do you capture noise? I may have taken an easy option and gone for something that makes a noise. I think a train is one of those objects where even if you only see a picture of it, you can still imagine the noises that accompany it.

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If ever there was a title which called for a selfie it's this one but I didn't want to go down that road and instead sought inspiration from sources which celebrate imperfections where you don't usually want them. I have a few hand-made cocktail glasses which have defects in them which make them unique and I was going to use one of them when I remembered this range of spirits. They are sold in hand-blown bottles and always have lots of imperfections in them and are often quite wonky so I thought they'd be perfect for today's #theidearoom challenge photo.

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if you saw yesterday's blog post then you know that we're experiencing a cold snap at the moment (well it is Winter!) and today was the coldest day so far. In the shade, temperatures barely rose above zero so whilst I was out with the baba there were frozen puddles everywhere. I wanted to be a little more imaginative for today's #theidearoom photo challenge picture so once we were back home, I got a takeaway container and put some water in it and waited until it was frozen before adding a slice of apple and topping up the water until it was all frozen. I was then able to take what was essentially a bloomin' great ice cube and backlight it with my head torch to bring out some of the details of the ice.

With luck, #theidearoom photo challenge title for today was 'exercise' and I had arranged to go on a ride with Johnny and some of his friends. After we set off, with the sun shining brightly, I thought that perhaps I'd overdone it with the layers as we had warmed up quite nicely after the first climb.  As we crested one of the hills we could see we were heading towards a change in the weather cue fog and snow for the rest of the ride.

I really wanted to do something different for this shot as the title was 'In My Home' and nearly all the shots i've done so far for #theidearoom photo challenge have been taken indoors at home.

I decided to brave the cold and a few drops of sleet and stood outside the kitchen window for a bit whilst Ellen made Dylan some porridge. That way I was able to get a picture which really was in my house 

Today's picture for #theidearoom January photo challenge is entitled 'candid' I knew I didn't really stand a chance of getting a good shot with the compact and a quick trip to the supermarket confirmed this. I settled on the DSLR with 70-200mm lens so I could shoot without people realising and decided to perch myself in my front room and have a go at capturing motorists as they drove by.

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This one proved a challenge to come up with something different seeing as the majority of the pictures I've posted for this challenge already have been close-ups. I wanted to show something familiar in more detail than people are used to seeing. when a notification flashed up on my computer screen I pressed my lens right up against it and got this shot.

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I was stumped for a moment with today's #theidearoom photo challenge but then I figured that nothing could be more ordinary than your own eyes after all, you probably see then every day but don't actually notice them until there's something different about them.

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I had lots of ideas running around my head for today's picture for #theidearoom January photo challenge but in the end I decided on this close-up of our hallway wallpaper as it gives a nice contrast between raised and smooth and gives the textures real depth.

In BetweenOur olive oil and balsamic vinegar bottles in their wooden holder with the carry handle between them.

Our spotty and stripy oil & vinegar bottles have a wooden base with a carry handle between them which helps to create this enigmatic shot for #theideaoffice photo challenge.

BRIGHTThe low winter sun breaks through the trees on a walk through the woods.

The low winter sun breaks through the trees on a walk through the woods providing a great shot for #theidearoom photo challenge for today.

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#theidearoom January photo challenge continues and I wanted brightly coloured subjects so I took a bag of sweets and lit them whilst I put a sheet of glass over and put a couple of drops of water on the glass. I then focused on the droplets as they refracted all the colours.

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Today's picture for #theidearoom photo challenge doesn't look as if it conforms to the criterion but I can assure you that the camera was below the feet of this statuette which is on our mantelpiece. Many people don't realise that it's often more flattering to take full-length portraits when the camera is at least below waist height. In fact, I take most of my portraits lying on the floor using my 70-200 lens and the results are always awesome!

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Thinking outside the box for this one. Today's #theidearoom photo challenge title is 'dark' so rather than go for a dark subject or a picture taken in the dark, I've chosen my dark glasses.

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It's typical that the day titled 'outside' for #theidearoom January Challenge is pretty much the only day I have no need or inclination to leave the house. After putting it off for as long as possible, I popped into the street to catch the last of the daylight as the sun set over Salford.

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#theidearoom January Photo Challenge continues with today's title being 'clean' I thought the textures and colours of my toothbrush would work well for this one.

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We went for a walk in the park this afternoon which gave me an opportunity to take a picture for today's #theidearoom photo challenge. I decided I wanted a high contrast scene that was familiar but not immediately recognisable and this view of an electricity pylon proved the ideal subject.

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Day 3 of #theidearoom January Photo Challenge. there's something strangely calming about seeing your stationery neatly lined up.

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Day 2 of the January Photo Challenge - I took a great photo on the compact for today's challenge picture but I can't get it transferred and uploaded today so I've had to shoot another on my iPad of the change I have left from today's excursion.

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The first title in the January photo challenge is 'new' and today's picture is all about a clean start and a new beginning. Happy New Year everyone I hope you achieve all you hope for.

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Lady Jane sent me this the other day via Facebook and I'm going to do it and post each day's results here.