I have been largely inactive over the past six weeks due to a fractured collarbone. I have my follow up x-ray on Monday, and after that I should hopefully be all clear to get back out on the bike and do some more shooting (once I have my bike fixed that is).

In the meantime I ordered a couple of models of the USS Enterprise to use for a few images I had in mind.
I must admit I am a bit of a trekkie, in particular I love The Next Generation as I was brought up with this series of Star Trek. One of the Enterprise variants I ordered was the Enterprise-D, which features in the TNG series.

The day I received the models we had a clear night sky, the perfect opportunity for the shot I had in mind. I wanted a shot of the starship against a real starry sky. So off I went to the garden and got my shots sorted. This is what I came up with.

With these two images I added a simple lens flare, and added some glow to the engine drives. They're not bad, but they're not as dynamic as I had envisaged. This technique would work if I could get out into the countryside and get some decent images of the Milky Way, but there isn't enough in the sky for my liking as they are.

With this in mind I decided to scour the web for tutorials on making spacescapes, including starfields and nebulae. I have seen some stunning spacescapes on sites such as Deviantart, and thought that they would make a much more dramatic backdrop for the Enterprise. After staying up until 3.30am (did I get a shock when I realised the time!) looking at various tutorials for this and that I went to bed with plans of experimenting the next day.

The next day I had a play about and tried out a few tutorials. I was getting frustrated as it seems that most of the starfield tutorials are aimed at much smaller pieces, whereas I wanted to keep the 18MP size that I get direct from my camera, in order to give me a decent printable size. After a while of experimenting with variations on tutorials (and even creating some brand new brushes specifically for creating different stars) I came up with a starfield that I was relatively happy with as a base for my spacescape. I then set about experimenting with different brushes, with different settings (altering the scatter, angle, spacing etc.) and combining the results with some Gaussian blurring and sharpening to create some nice nebulae effects. These nebulae were added as different layers, and then the blending options were altered to give different appearances, as well as using various tools such as gradient maps.

Once I had a scape I was happy with I then added the Enterprise and did a bit of blending to try and make it appear a little more integral to the scene, rather than just slapped on top of it.

This is my first ever spacescape and I must say I'm quite pleased with the outcome. I will be having a bit more of a play with this style of graphic art, trying to incorporate more complex subjects such as planets and moons.

Had a bit of an experiment today, trying to create a circle panorama.
There are certain things you need to think about when doing an image like this, in particular you need to make sure that no object touches the top of the frame, or it looks very odd when complete.
Anyway, this is the first time I've ever tried this, and I'm quite pleased with this as a baseline. I have some more things I would like to experiment with using this technique.

I've been concentrating on mountain bike self portraits recently, and trying to get out riding as much as I can. It's not proving easy. I have had the flu for about two weeks at the start of February. I had just about got over it the middle of last week so went to a local trail and did a small shoot. I felt a bit dodgy after that so took it easy for a couple of days. I was feeling well again so decided to go out on a ride with the Muddy Madness MTB Crew yesterday. It was around Watchmoor Wood and Moors Valley Country Park. A glorious day and a great ride. We stopped off at the bike park at the end of the ride for a bit of a play, which is where it went a bit pear-shaped! I took the table wrong, I had more speed than I realised and was too far forward on the bike and just nose-dived onto the table, coming straight off down the transition at the end. Next up was three and a half hours in A+E, which revealed a fractured collarbone. I'm out of action for at least a week, I have a follow up at Poole General at the start of next week.
Worse than the injury though is my bike. Bent cranks and a bent mech hanger, nightmare. Can't afford to fix that at the moment, so I have decided to put a few things up for sale, see below.

On a better note I have had one of my self portrait images published in IMB. Follow the link and head to page 133. There are some nice images in this issue.
http://www.imbikemag.com/issue16/ 

FOR SALE
Prolimit Maverick Steamer 6/5 wetsuit Size Eur48 UK S (fits me beautifully and I'm a normal UK M)
Prolimit C3 Boots Size EUR42 UK 8
Prolimit Chill Vest Hooded EUR48 UK S
Prolimit Q-Glove X Stretch

Wetsuit and boots have been worn ONCE. All other items have NEVER been worn.

RRP approx £450
Looking for £250 

FOR SALE
Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens
In immaculate condition. Has had a filter attached from new, which will be included in the sale.
Comes with protective carry case, front and rear lens caps and lens hood. I do not have the original box, but I don't see that as a negative.
RRP is £1940, although they are around £1250 new at the moment.
Looking for £900.

Click here to see the Canon website page for this lens.
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/EF_Lenses/Telephoto_Zoom/EF_100-400mm_f4.5-5.6L_IS_USM/ 

I had a bit of time off last weekend and decided to use a couple of days to get some self portraits with the mountain bike. Matt Hardy ( http://www.matthardyphotography.co.uk/) and I went down to the New Forest and found a spot where we thought we could get some good images. We came back with some images that we were happy with and we plan to do a few more shoots in the New Forest. It's not as easy as it seems, we have a huge forest right on our doorstep but most of it is off limits to mountain bikes. The trail network that they do have in place are all gravel tracks, it's not really mountain biking at all but aimed at families to be able to ride in the forest. We should be able to find a few spots that are okay to ride in and will yield some interesting shots, it's just a case of looking.

In the evening we went to Christchurch Harbour to catch the sunset, although we got there a bit late and only managed a few shots before the sun sunk below the horizon. I tried a few different things for this sunset and came away with this image.

The day after I went down to Watchmoor Wood in Verwood. There is a skills area in Watchmoor Wood, which includes some North Shore sections and a pump track. The lighting was good and I ended up with some shots that I am very pleased with. I shall definitely be revisiting this location for some different shots. 

To see all of the images from the two days riding please go to the shoots' album.

I have avoided writing a blog lately for a few reasons. The first being that I have been very busy over the Christmas period, meaning that I haven't had the opportunity to do much photography. Secondly, the images I have managed to shoot have generally been for Christmas presents, and I didn't want to risk an intended recipient stumbling across my site and seeing their presents in advance.

First off, I photographed a pair of whippets for a local school. All the teachers chipped in to buy this as a present for a teacher who was retiring after a number of years at the school. So I met up with the wife of the teacher at a local park and spent an hour or so with the dogs. Trying to get the pair of them running together was next to impossible so we ended up opting for two individual shots.

Next up was a shoot for my sister of my niece. Little Lilly was actually very cooperative and we ended up with some lovely images of her, which look even better printed out and framed (I will not post the images here as my sister does not wish to have images of her daugh

So that's what I've been up to over the Christmas period. I hope you all had a good Christmas and that 2012 brings you all that you hope for.

I have a slackline photo shoot planned for tonight, and I'm hoping that should yield some good images, I will keep you posted.

Last but not least, I have finished putting together a slide show of my favourite Sport shots from 2011.
Head over to the Video page to view it. If you want to see it in HD (which I wholeheartedly recommend) then click the link below the video to go to my Vimeo account where you can watch the show in HD.

Until next time.......

Last Sunday, the 27th, I was down at Longmoor Military Camp with R and R Photos shooting the Hellrunner Down South event. This event is a running event with a difference. The 10km course is not just a simple run, but also sees competitors running over sand dunes, wading through a bog and a muddy pool before crossing the finish line, often with a muddy tidemark halfway up their torso.
I was stationed on the finish line for this event, and below are a few of the photos I shot.

I have also just accepted a commission for Friday 9th December to photograph a pair of whippets. I am very much looking forward to this shoot and just hope I can do these magnificent dogs justice. Images should be up shortly after the shoot.

Today I shot the Salisbury Saxon CX on behalf of RandR Photos. Shooting conditions were tricky because of a thick morning mist. As images are uploaded to the RandR site unedited I feel they look a bit 'washy', but edited they actually came out alright.

The location that I chose to shoot at looked quite good when I first got there, so whilst I set up my gear I took the opportunity to get a couple of shots at full resolution (the images shot for RandR are shot lower than full).

This evening I drove down to Mudeford Quay and spent an hour or so down there with Danni. Played a bit on the longboard, and also took the opportunity to shoot the fantastic sunset we had this evening.

Well I finally got the chance to try out my Prolimit wetsuit, and it works lovely. British winter (although still not really that cold) and I was in the water for about an hour and didn't feel cold in the slightest.
No really good shots to speak of. We went late, hoping for some nice late light, and got cloud instead. That's the way these things go I guess. We'll hopefully be back out a week on Sunday for a reshoot, fingers crossed for some nice early side lighting.

Here's a quick edit Matt Hardy put together from the shoreline.
To see more of Matt's work visit his website.

With Christmas fast approaching I thought it time to offer you guys a bit of a discount on photographic prints.
From now until Christmas Eve all prints are on a 3 for 2 offer, that's right, order 3 prints and get the cheapest item ABSOLUTELY FREE!
Prints may be chosen from this site or from any of the following:

Jonathan Carre on Deviantart
Jonathan Carre on Flickr

To order just drop me an email with the references for the images you would like and I will get straight back to you with a price. To view image prices please refer to the Prices page. If you have any questions or queries then, as always, just drop me an email and I'll be happy to help.

To ensure delivery in time for Christmas I would recommend ordering by the 30th November, but the offer will run until Christmas Eve for anybody that doesn't mind receiving items after Christmas Day.

Don't forget that I also offer photo shoots, specialising in outdoor action portraits, so if you have a loved one who enjoys their outdoor pursuits why not buy them a session? Or if you fancy a fun family shoot at a location of your choice that can also be arranged, just drop me an email to discuss your individual requirements.

Or if you're looking for something different why not browse my range of novelty t-shirts or extreme sports based t-shirts. These can be purchased directly from either of the Redbubble stores that the links take you to.