Category: Photography

Well last week I did say I was going to photograph the Daffodils. Well the blooms were not yet open but this weekend they were so, with the trusty Nikon D200, 100mm f/2.8 macro lens and the macro flash gear I spent some time trying to get some good shots.

Near the back door next to our poor dead bay leaf trees that have been killed by the hard winter were a likely bunch of Daffodils.

Setting up the tripod, nearly as low as it would go, I composed on the open flower.  I wanted a black background so I laid a black cloth behind.

The cloth together with a fairly high shutter speed to under-expose the background, this made the background a nice black.

 

With only one Daffodil in bloom, I then switched over to the bush that had lots of yellow flowers.

Once again I employed the black cloth and a high shutter speed to underexpose the background.

My attention was then next drawn to the bush next door which seemed to have an inordinate number of lady birds on it.

 

 

 

With so few flowers to chose from my last flower to photograph was the crocuses, a rather pretty purple.

A pleasant afternoon shooting.  Nothing to dramatic but good practice.

The lighting was nothing special just front lit via the macro flash.  Later in the month when we have more blooms to choose from I will definitely try something a little more challenging.

A few cut flowers, cut glass crystal vase and some studio lighting is in order

Well today I had another look at the Micro Four Thirds range.

I am still looking for that perfect travel camera, small pocketable and with high quality large sensor and interchangable lens.

I had a close look again at the Panasonic GF-1.  Not the GF-2 as I don’t feel thats as good ergonomically.

I am still very tempted but the lack of decent wide angles, still puts me off.  Its the x2 crop factor, I feel wide angle does not really start until you get to 24mm, and on micro four thirds thats 12mm.

There is currently not much to choose from in that range and what there is is very expensive.

Still I going to have to decided soon or if I do want a GF-1, it may have to be a second hand model as they are going fast.

 

While I have managed to get to the Lincoln Photography show twice now in the last three years it has been some time since I managed to visit some of the bigger shows.

This weekend the Focus on Imaging show starts.  I was hoping to get but due to my current ill health once again I will miss it.

If it is anything like the last time I managed to visit, it was a great day out and a chance to try out the latest equipment.

If you manage to get there have a great day out.

Well as you can see I managed to get the photo of the month.  The Snow Drops are coming out now and I have to admit it is hardly an original idea.

Equipment used was a Nikon D200 SLR, 105mm f/2.8 macro lens together with my Manfrotto Tripod and Arca Swiss head.

Snow Drops are not the easiest subject to capture.  The problem is getting low enough.  To get stunning photos of flowers you either need to shoot from the same level or for added impact shoot from below.

As Snow Drops are so small I scouted around trying to find a bunch on a slope.

So setting the tripod as low as it would go, with the help of the small slope I managed to get on the same level as the flowers.

The next problem was the wind.  I had my assistant holding my coat as a wind break and also with her free hand hold the base of the stem of the key flower I was trying to photograph.

If I was shoot this again, I would also take with me my Macro Flash equipment, I would then be able to use flash to freeze movement.

Well the first attempt to get some decent shots came close, but I felt I still needed to get some more material.  There was one idea in particular that I thought would work, but where to go.

How about a trip to our local National Trust Stately Home?

So we packed the car with the Medium Format Camera gear, tripod and once again the Nikon D200 with the Macro 105mm f/2.8 Lens, which is what I was intending to use to get ‘The Shot’ I had in my head.

The weather had potential, light rain, but very dark black skies.  There was a hint of potential sunshine breaking through later.

We arrived at Belton House near Grantham at lunch time, shortly after they had opened.  The hint of sunshine vanished so I left the Medium Format Gear in the boot of the car, but still took the D200.

Around the Italian garden I got a number of lovely shots as the sun once again appeared.

I also attempted the shot I had in my head as the ‘Photo of the Month’.  Did I succeed well as you can see above I did manage some excellent atmospheric photographs.

Tomorrow I’ll publish my Photo of the Month and you can judge for yourself.

Well with hospital and general ill health, no real photography had been done at all this month.

This simply would not do, so two quick photo trips were planned to try and get that ‘Photo of the Month’.

The first was a quick 30 minute excursion at lunch time on Friday, a quick walk around the Brayford Wharf area of Lincoln with my trusty Nikon D200 and a 105mm f/2.8 macro lens, trying to get that elusive ‘Photo of the Month’.

A few macro shots of flowers, some ants and the odd snap of the building work currently being undertaken were all I managed at first, but then I attempted to sneak up to some black headed gulls that were sat on the edge of the Brayford Pool.  I managed a few quick shots before they took off, and I nearly got my ‘Photo of the Month’ as it flew off, it was just slightly out of focus.

I also popped into one of the offices there and shot a few portraits of some of the more interesting characters.

The second, trip well, I’ll tell you all tomorrow.