Category: Photography

Whilst many would say the BBC excels at historical costume dramas, I think its best at its factual programs.

Two of my favourites are Spring Watch for its great wildlife photography and StarGazing Live which is on this week.

While you may think this kind of photography is beyond most people, you may be surprised.  One thing that is easy and fun is capturing star trails.

Luna eclipses are also quite easy to photograph as can be seen by my effort at the top.  Tomorrow is a solar eclipse, one of the most spectacular events on Earth, I would not recommend trying to photography it or even to directly view it but it is an amazing thing to experience.

Where I am in the UK we will only get about 85% coverage, and i’ll also be stuck in the office but I hope to catch at least some of it.

As I mentioned yesterday, Sunday saw Chris and myself heading out to one of the local parks to practice our wildlife photography.

Chris has already blogged about it here.

As well as being a refresher for me and for Chris to start learning the ins and outs of his new Olympus equipment, it was fascinating to see the difference now in the plumage of many of the birds.

The sighs of spring are now well and truly here.  On Chris’s website you can see some shots of the herons building up their nests, and here in the top photograph, the typical Black-headed Gull that is often inland now still in its winter colouring.

With spring now less then two weeks a way, many of the gulls were now in their full spring/summer plumage as can be seen in the second shot.

 

While we were shooting we often get visited by pigeon’s and on our last visit even a brave squirrel, which Chris managed to get some great shots of.

This time we were visiting by an inquisitive Corvid.

I always find the Corvid family of birds a lovely sight and they all seem so very intelligent.

 

Yesterday I popped over to Hartsholme Park with Chris Bennett and we spend an hour or two practicing our wildlife photography.

If your after shooting subjects like birds in flight then you have to practice regularly.  One the joys of digital photography is that you can spend a few hours on a Sunday at a local park and shoot a few hundred frames.  Then review when you are at home and delete the mistakes.  This is something that in the film days would cost you a lot of money and is one of the great advantages of digital, you can learn a lot from the instant feed back.

 

http://www.photographyshow.com

 

We are now less then two weeks away from the NEC Photography Show 2015.  On the main stage the person I would be most interested to see is Don McCullin but unfortunately I will not be able to make it that day, so it will just be the main stands i’ll be visiting.

If you get the chance to listen to a top photographer, its often well worthwhile.  Last year it was Joe McNally and he was a great speaker.

At the show this year I’ll again be interested in the Epson products; last year I purchase a Epson wide carriage printer and came close to purchasing a Fuji X100s in black.  The Fuji would make a great compact but I am still not completely sold on the X-Trans sensor.

This year I am after a Epson scanner, I still have a lot of slides to scan and still shoot the odd film, 35mm in my Leica M4, 120 in my Hasselblad when I am not using my PhaseOne digital back, and of course 4 x 5 inch large format.

The cost of the scanner will soon be recouped as the cost of even basic scanning means, a considerable expense.

One the camera front there are a number of things I want to look at.  The latest Fuji X100T with its new in picture optical viewfinder is one.  I’ll also be looking at the Panasonic LX100, and as Leica will be there, their version of this camera.

It will also be good to try the Lecia X and the Leica T.  Neither of these cameras have a built in viewfinder but an optional evf instead which means they have a lot going against them in my view but the X could make a good travel camera and the T would work with all my existing Leica M lens so there is much positive as well.

Its been a very quiet year so far on the photography front so far this year.

Normally I work on my Lincoln Bailgate project at least once a month but not this year so far.

For me it’s been a combination of stuck at home and on the odd day I have been out, stopped by bad light.

So, if your having a bit of a drop in the amount of good photography you do?

Well indoor still life or macro is a good place to start. It can be a good lighting challenge and you can learn a lot.

This week Nikon announced the D7200, a nice upgrade but where is the D300 replacement.

For quite a while Canon was top of tree for DSLR’s.  Then Nikon got aggressive and released the D200, from then on they had hit after hit with the stunning D3 series and bettering the D200 with the D300 and D300s, fast responsive and with its crop factor great for sport and wildlife.

Since the full frame D4 and D800 people have been waiting for the D300 replacement but it has not arrived.

The D7000 series has been a great series of cameras and can be well recommended but they are not D300 replacements.

If you want to know more check out Chris’s blog and the usual review sites.