Philip J Toy Photography

Abstract Lights

2009-09-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

If you have a nice dark room, a tripod, fluorescent handheld lights, christmas coloured lights a couple of willing volunteers then this kind of effect can be produced. Just play around with long exposures, high ISO, self timer and zooming in and out. Just great! :-)

Autumn views of Pitstone and Ivinghoe

2009-09-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a glorious day for the light, I took number of pics around the area where I live. Here is just a few. Enjoy!

Tractor tracks on grass

St Mary the Virgin church spire viewed through wheel spokes

Abstract view through wheel spokes of ploughed field

Pitstone windmill

2009-09-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

This shot was taken during the golden hour when the lighting was at its best. Crisp autumnal colours are accentuated.

Sunnyside Allotments, Berkhamsted

2009-08-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

As part of the National Allotment Week, an open day was held at the Sunnyside allotments in Berkhamsted. My wife Rachel and I spent a good three hours looking around various plots eyeing up and admiring the bountiful produce and flowers on display.

We're new to the self sufficiency game (as can be seen from earlier posts)... so we were grateful to all those on the allotments who gave us some useful advice and encouragement!

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Grasshopper in Glass

2009-08-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

The other day we found this little character in our bedroom wall, so thought it an opportunity not to be missed to photograpg him close up!

Neon Sign Lightbox

2009-07-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

I had this image rejected by Istockphoto as possibly having overfiltering issues. I looked at my workflow and realised the initial version submitted was white balanced corrected on fluorescence. Obviously there's a lesson to be learned, in that the image subject is of a Neon light. With that in mind here's the accepted image, plus an old faithful taken 3 years ago. Hope you enjoy!

New Garden Vegetable Lightbox

2009-07-11T06:38:00.001-07:00

Our veggies are coming along here's a link to my latest shots of veggies.

Summer in the Garden

2009-07-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a selection of pictures of our garden taken over the last couple of weeks. Its been a real pleasure to see so much activity. The bee was a real surprise. It was struggling to fly with a rather large leaf in tow. The raised beds are full of colour and the poppy is one of my favorites and is a reminder of the time I spent working in Denmark. Hope you enjoy!

Abstract Air Conditioner

2009-06-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

This is one of my best sellers on Istockphoto at the moment and one of my favourites!

Bluebell lightbox

2009-06-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a lightbox I recently created of my bluebell images on Istockphoto.

Istockphoto Exclusivity

2009-06-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

After three hard years of contributing images to Istockphoto, I've now managed to join the ranks of Exculsive Contributors. Its being a very enjoyable experience in picking up advice along the way from some great stock photographers and I'm now looking forward to producing great images for a wider audience!

Strobes

2009-03-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

Stay posted, as in a couple of days time I'll be starting to use strobes and hopefully be adding more versatility to my photography!

Snowy Field Towards Cheddington

2009-02-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

This was the wintery scene of a field looking towards Cheddington. The field was freshly ploughed a couple of weeks ago, hence the weird wavey appearance.

2009-02-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

This was the snow scene on the Marsworth road this morning taken from just outside our house. The Chilterns can be notorious for difficult winter driving conditions. The lack of salting of roads by the local highways agency doesn't help!

Rat Tracks

2009-02-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the rats did play! Well we have the evidence in the form of tracks in the snow. I cranked up the ISO to 1600 in this shot, the yard is partially lit with 500 watt halogen security lighting and taken within the safety of our summer room. I'm hoping we'll get more snow to capture the rats in all their glory!

2009-01-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

My images can be found on istockphoto. Feel free to take a tour.

Frost Covered Trees

2009-01-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

This morning Rach, my wife 'phoned me before I left for work to say that there was heavy fog about and drive carefully. Knowing that there would be fog I took that little bit of extra care on the roads, I also took my camera, as I had a great feeling that there would some opportunities later in the day to take some shots.

Where I work there are some trees bordering the boundaries and this shot was taken just before the sun burnt the frost off the Silver Birches.