Category: Photography

More Dartmoor 365ing!

More Dartmoor 365ing!

Continuing my quest for Dartmoor 365 Squares, in May we headed out out to F4, F5 and G5. Or to put it in normal language, High Down Ford, Great Links Tor and Widgery Cross.

The order as it turned out, was F4,G5,F4. As with a lot of Dartmoor it teases you and lulls you into a false sense of a ‘nice’ walk. Of course all walks on Dartmoor as ‘nice’ but some lets say, are more challenging than others.

F4, easy!


Then, ok so you want to visit G5, here is it!

The path looked straightforward and was really, but as you got further along it just got steeper and steeper.

I must add at this point. I like walking and can easily walk for hours, but I am quite ofter carrying a big heavy camera racksack on my back!

Any way, let just say, there are great views from the top and its worth the climb.


This tor is very interesting and very distinctive with the Cross on top. Created for Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee.

Turning around, we could then see Great Links Tor in the distance and as we’d ascended to a nice height of 452m, the gentle incline to 568m (see my Tor page) was easy.

This has to be one of the most interesting tor on Dartmoor. Amazing lines in the tors, gaps to look though and around and a big valley drop of on the far side.

Whilst exploring, I heard a noise and immediately recognising the sound as a helicopter, it was approaching the other side of the tor.

Running to a gap I got this great photo between the rocks.

Only having a very wide angle lens, made for difficult shooting, but I’m really pleased with how these came out.

This was a great experience, which topped off a brilliant day of exploring.

On returning home, I post these to a facebook ground, and coincidentally was commented on by an ex-military photographer, how happened to know the pilot and the photos were shown to the people on board to!

More Digital Sports Balls

More Digital Sports Balls

As mentioned in my previous post, Sports Balls Overlays I’ve been creating a range in Digital Composite Sports Ball. These are available via Etsy.

I’ve expanded the range recently to included 2 new designs.

A Volleyball

And a Baseball.

There will be even more soon.

These are just a part of my digital range. Only available to purchase via Etsy, but can all be viewed using the link.

Victorian

Victorian

Towards the end of last year, I did a lot of Re-enacting Portraits from time periods around the 1400-1500s but not nothing from late 1800s. That all changed in October with the arrival of a lady who loved Gothic Victorian dress-wear.

When shooting these period costumes I try and shoot them in a style that is in keeping with the look.

In this case I created a panelled look room backdrop to give the images a more interesting feel,…

…as well as creating a wallpaper that matched the theme.

My studio is also full of many props. This includes a huge trunk that dates back to the golden age of train travel. I thought it would also look great in these photos.

We went on shooting more a few more poses, creating many that the lady loved.

If you re-enactor or like period style clothes that you would like photo in, then please visit my portraits pages for more examples and prices for one my creative portrait shoots.

A Tudor Re-enactor

A Tudor Re-enactor

Not long after my initial re-enactment shoot I got an enquiry to do a portrait session for another Tudor re-enactor.

With different clothing it provided some good variation on the first shoot.

With different props

and different weapons, we produced some nice portraits for him.

Then a change of clothing and a different weapon.

and adding a pike, which is a challenge and it only just fits in the studio!

finally, a peasant costume.

If you’d like to see more from this shoot or book a shot with me, please visit the gallery below for more information.

Warhammer

Warhammer

I’m still not writing enough in my blog, but I have been quite busy. I have a few more post that will follow soon explaining this.

Now, my Son has recently got in to the Warhammer 40k role play game and we bought him a lot of figures. I have tried playing this with him but haven’t really got in to it. I have also been helping him paint and teaching him how to paint his figures. I am definitely no expert, but painted a few models kits when I was younger, to I know the basics. These figures however are something different!

As we’ve been painting, he’s taken on the Orks and I’ve been painting the Space Marines. I then decided it would be great photograph them.

I created an alien planet scene.

We then added a bit of action.

As you see, I’ve created some planets in the background. I have since created more and will be selling these on Etsy very soon!

I found a big lump of concrete that had set in a big mountain like shape and it really looked ideal for another scene.

and of course, a straight forward model shot. (It shows up all the bits I missed!)

Then I tried the Orks and created a woodland scene with broken trees and branches. This was a big hit on instagram (@leophotographyuk)

Then my Son created a scene and took the photo. He said he wanted fire in it! Hmm, doesn’t mix well with plastic models and paint, so I settled on creating all the pyrotechnics in photoshop afterwards!

Quite fun to do and I’ve enjoyed painting and photographing it so far, but he has so many!!!… I’m sure I’ll be doing many more

Sports Portraits

Sports Portraits

Are you a sports person or do you have a Son or Daughter who is a sport person? I do!

My three children all love cricket. My son loves swimming, athletics, but mostly cricket as does it more seriously than the other two. So, I take a lot of sports photos of him.

If you or your children are involved in a sport have you thought about getting any photos done of them in their sports gear. I offer great studio sports portraits. I tend to just do studio sports as then it is just concentrated on your child without worrying about how else is in the photos.

If you are interested for yourself or your child, please get in touch to book a session. Then if you like, as I have done, you can come back over the years to show a progression.

Over the years, I’ve taken photos of my son as he has progressed with his cricket.

He started playing softball matches a couple of month after turning 7 and his first hard ball match a month later.

At the end of every season I try and put together a compilation of images from that year.

Every Year I like to update the photos I take of him in the studio.

and get creative with them

Another end of season composite

As he progresses and learns new shots we also incorporate them into the shoots.

And I’ve got more creative with the photos too.

2021 season

Although he didn’t grow out of his gear for a few years, each studio session has shown a progression in him and his style.

He also is a good bowler

As well as the yearly composites, I’ve also created a few match montages.

Please get in touch if you would like to book a sports portrait.

Maternity Photography

Maternity Photography

I’ve been quiet once again on my blog, but I’ve had a good excuse.

For I while now I’ve wondered about my maternity photography section on this website. Whilst there is nothing wrong with it, it amongst everything else I do. I’m not sure if that would put some people off, seeing maternity photography on a website with wildlife and aircraft photos.

So, to that end I’ve created a dedicated website! It contains more information related to maternity photography, a selection of the beautiful photos in the galleries, and information about the shoots themselves.

It is call www.LeoMaternity.co.uk

I will of course leave the maternity section on this website, as not everyone will find the exclusive site, but I hope the new site will give a more relevant look for future Mums-to-be finding my website.

More Wine Bottles

More Wine Bottles

So, as I said last year, I’ve been a bit lax on my blogs posts and it would seem the same has happened again so far this year. Maybe it’s a good thing, too busy to write posts?…

Anyway, to round off last year, I’d been photographing Wine & Gin bottles and the last studio shoot of the year was another product shot of a new wine.

This is another ‘classic’ product on a white background, perfect for just showing off the bottle of wine with no distractions.

If you sell products, why not give me a call for a free quotation to photograph your products.

Old Photo Restoration

Old Photo Restoration

I’ve been doing a lot of photo editing recently. Changing and blurring background in Portraits as well as some creative edits. I’ll post some examples soon, however I wanted to talk about old photos.

Everyone has old photos, just sitting in a box. I have, I’m sure you have somewhere. When you look at these photos, they contain great past memories, but they just sit in the box, or out on display fading. A lot of these photos are also showing their age with scratches and marks.

I can help bring these photos back to their original state.

Here is an example of a photo that I have restored.

Contact me for more information on how you can get your photos restored.

A Wet Walk around Belstone

A Wet Walk around Belstone

A couple of days ago, my Son and I decided to head out with the cameras and visit Dartmoor again.

Its the first time I’ve been in over a year, maybe 2 years, so it was nice to get out exploring again.

We went search of the Nine Maidens, which took me a while to find, but we have amazing view whilst searching.

and then the rain came!

So, a slight change of plan and after a hot chocolate, the sun came out a bit and we explored again, this time in Belstone Cleave. Another Dartmoor 365 square for me!

The cleave was really interesting and I need to revisit next time, but we both came back with lots on interesting photos.

I’ve drawn out the route we took, slightly erratic, but that’s the fun!

LOP CV Photo Challenge Wk 11 – Food

LOP CV Photo Challenge Wk 11 – Food

I don’t know if you had the same issues, but I found last weeks challenge a bit tricky, trying to find interesting Red things! So this week is a little easier. Food! Just make sure you don’t eat it both photographing it

This image I photographed this week, wk 10, as my Wife wanted to open the Olive Oil!

I know we did in the Kitchen and Bottles and Cans challenges, for which some of us might have photographed food, but at least a direct food challenges allows us to open those cans or bottles!
So show me all your interesting food challenge photos this week via the challenge tag #lopcvphotochallenge

Past challenges and results can be viewed here.

LOP CV Photo Challenge – Week 3

LOP CV Photo Challenge – Week 3

Now, I been so excited about my week 3 subject, that’s its only Monday and I’ve done it.

Week 3 is Water

With the help of my 8yr old Son, his first time behind the camera, we created this image from a few shots.

I then took these photos with my Son dropping the tomato. We made quite a mess, but it was great fun and we plan to do some more.



Again, You can find peoples entries on social media using the hashtag #lopcvphotochallenge

You can also view all my images from my challenge here, with link to the social media feeds too.