Paul's UNIFORM...

...and just for once, nothing from the back catalogue.

I went out with the camera over to Dubai Mall with deliberate intent to find something Uniform to shoot.

Sweeties

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 80mm
F/5 1/30s
ISO 1000 (ISO Auto)

Mindful of the Tripod Police and their ilk, this close-up took some timing. I had to wait until all the security guards had turned away from the uniform colours of M&Ms. The shot is tweaked slightly in Photoshop to remove converging verticals.

Sweet Security

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 120mm
F5.3 1/30s
ISO 1000 (ISO Auto)

This is one of the many security guards. It's a worrying trait: a shop that sells multi-coloured sugary happiness needs high-profile security to ensure that nobody takes any photographs of the merchandise. I don't really understand it either, but here we are, with a uniform standing in front of columns of uniform sweets.

Photographically, this was tricky. It was shot from some distance away, and the guard is lit from behind. There's no opportunity to use flash at that sort of distance, and getting the guard correctly exposed blows out the background colours. So I got the best compromise I could and then selectively boosted the guard's brightness in Photoshop post-processing.

As with the other shot from the confectionery store, I set the camera on ISO-Auto with 1/30s as the minimum shutter speed, and used aperture priority. It's a useful trick where tripods are forbidden and there's not much light. The camera jacks up the film speed until 1/30s is possible.

Shabab

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 29mm
F/4 1/50s
ISO 200

Two groups of young gentlemen, all wearing the same attire. It was going to be these or else a group of hoodies, but the latter is Not Coming In Dubai^TM this time of year. Luckily, not a baseball cap in sight. Shabab, incidentally, is Arabic for Boyz or possibly Yoofs.

As with other shots taken in the mall, I had to be quick off the mark, so composition was adjusted afterwards in post-processing.

Frangipani

Nikon D300s
Sigma 50mm macro
F/3.2 1/250s
ISO 200

Do you like the uniform flowers? They do smell nice too. This was just an excuse to get out the Nifty Fifty and play with the macro. I shot this one late afternoon in the hope of getting some reasonable shadows, and cropped it close in the camera.

UNIFORM - Richards Effort

Hi Guys,

Here is my go at Uniform, going to try and shoot more but was playing single parent last week so chaotic.

Anyway here it is :-



EXIF etc..
Canon 350D
Sigma 50mm
1/1000 sec
f1.4 (Av mode)
ISO 100
And because if I didn't Steven would be upset :
Flash off camera on 2ft bracket mounted on camera right.
High Speed Sync (Camera normal 1/200 sec)
1/2 Cut CTO (Orange) gel.

Coments, Critique and Questions as always welcome.

If I get time before end of the month I also will try and shoot a few more as well.

Cheers,
Richard B.

May: UNIFORM

It's already Star Wars Day, and Richard hasn't put up a Shutterbug subject for May, so I've stepped into the breach with "Uniform". Naturally, this is because I have a couple of pictures that fit one obvious interpretation of the subject. The facts that today is May the Fourth, the white uniforms vaguely echo Imperial Stormtroopers and the first piece in the band's set was The Flag Parade from The Phantom Menace are purely coincidental.

The event was the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines playing at a picnic in the grounds of the British embassy on 24 April. Just a day after St George's Day.

Woodwind

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 105mm
F/5.3 & 1/320s
ISO200

Confession being good for the soul, I confess that I was aiming for a more tightly-cropped image of the bespectacled clarinetist, but I chopped the knob off the top of his helmet. So this one will have to do. As you see, I was aiming to get all four clarinets in shot, but with short depth of field in order to accentuate one of them.

Drum Major

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 120mm
F/16 & 1/40s
ISO200
Poor man. He stood there, motionless, for about 20 minutes with sweat beading off him. This despite the tropical uniform. I liked the reflection in the silver globe. Small aperture here so that the items reflected in the globe would be in focus.

Drums

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 24mm
F/5.6 & 1/400s
ISO200
One rank of drummers. The shutter speed was short enough to freeze the marching, but still retain some movement of the drumsticks. The YBOD will be pleased to observe that at this late stage in the proceedings the flag of St George had blown back over the parapet and was almost invisible. Maybe I should have cropped to top to remove the slightly distracting white ensign.