Nikon D200
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8
105mm, 1/125 Sec at f/5.6, ISO100
Post Processed in Adobe Lightroom V5.3
On a Mac MacBook Pro, OS-X 10.9.1
Working a location
One can sometimes find a number of potential shots close together.
The day after boxing day we both went for a walk round some local churches each armed with our favourite cameras, Caroline her Nikon D200 with a 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom and me with a Leica M8 and 35mm Summicron.
It was interesting how two people could come away with a dozen or more shots each all within a few meters of each other but have very different photographs.
If your shooting digital it sometimes is work taking a number of slightly different shots of the same object, developing an idea until you get the final image.
I feel that the location deserves more and I will be going back again to develop my ideas as I don’t yet feel I have captured the subject sufficiently well.
Thats another Christmas over – no photography
Well thats another Christmas over. We had a great Christmas here in the new home. Being in the countryside with lots of space meant we could hold dinner parties for close friends, and have a very quiet Christmas day with just ourselves and the parents; then on boxing day we had the wider family round, so we were surrounded by family, brothers and sisters, children and dogs.
A lovely Christmas and surprisingly no photography, well none until today. I did a quick studio test experimenting on what different apertures and depth of field from the Leica Summicron 35mm had on the skin of a model. I intend on getting hold of a Summilux 50mm and repeating the test. I have an image in my mind that I intend on creating next year which requires a certain amount of natural blur to soften the image, and I would like to get it in camera and not have to fake it in Photoshop.
I like the way Leica Summicron can render out of focus areas as in the example above of the stone door frame of Lincoln Cathedral, and the Summilux should be even better.
The hardest part of all of this is finding a mint condition Summilux 50mm, as new they are outside my budget.
Christmas Countdown – Find out how many days until Christmas 2014
So we are counting down again. How many days till Christmas?
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to you all and I hope Santa leaves you a good present under the tree.
The Night Before Christmas
On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.
I have posted this before but as it is Christmas Eve I thought I was worth posting again.
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,
There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.
The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,
In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.
With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,
My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.
When out in the yard there arose such a racket,
I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.
I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan
Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).
He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,
And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.
I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.
But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.
Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,
And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.
With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,
A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.
He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,
Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.
From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,
As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.
With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,
Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”
The Good Life – Bee Hives
One of the reasons for moving into the country side was to enable us to have Bees, Chickens, and to grow our own vegetables.
Today we made our first step as we purchased the parts necessary to build our bee hives.
Christmas is coming
Friday was our Christmas Lunch at work. So it was a very lazy final day. I am taking the week off, a first in many years.
Enjoy the Christmas Holiday, we have a little more shopping to do and family and friends coming round over the following days so no more photography until the new year, but I need to find a few spare hours as I have some final post processing to do.
What ever your religion or even none, enjoy the holiday.
Bodhi Day
December 8th – On Bodhi day some Buddhists celebrate Gautama’s attainment of enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, India.
Hanukkah
December 9th – Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and marks the restoration of the temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated at roughly the same time as Christmas, but there is no connection at all between the festivals.
Yule
December 21st – Yule is the time of the winter solstice, when the sun child is reborn, an image of the return of all new life born through the love of the Gods. Within the Northern Tradition Yule is regarded as the New Year.
Christmas
December 25th – The day when Western Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Oshogatsu
January 1st – Shinto New Year, one of the most popular occasions for shrine visits.
Guru Gobind Singh
January 5th – Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) was the tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus. He instituted the Five Ks and established the Order of the Khalsa.
Orthodox Christmas
January 7th – Most Orthodox churches use the Julian rather than the Gregorian version of the Western calendar. As a result, they celebrate Christmas 13 days later than other Christian churches.
Makar Sankranti
January 14th – Makar Sankranti is one of the most important festivals of the Hindu calendar and celebrates the sun’s journey into the northern hemisphere.
The New Mac Pro – Photographers and Video/Film Editors Dream Machine
It has been a long wait but finally Apple released the new Mac Pro today. Despite what people may tell you this is not a standard PC and no you cannot build one for $1000 despite what some people are claiming.
The high speed standard 265 GB SSD and processor come to more then that and then there is the EEC memory and the twin workstation class video cards. No this is a workstation and if you spec up a similar class of workstation from Dell or HP you will see that this is a well priced and well spec’ed machine.
Of course you may be asking will I be getting one. Well when I get round to next upgrading my cameras I will definitely need more horse power in the photography processing department.
So I see my future desktop needs either being met with a high spec MacBook Pro/Air or a maxed out Mac Mini. We will have to see what updates are planned. A Mac Mini is a little low spec’ed in the graphics department but processor and memory is a good choice. A high end MacBook Pro is close to the price of a low end Mac Pro so I will not say never.
Difficult choice, if only Apple would produce a Mac Mini with decent graphics.
Still until then i’ll keep looking at the Mac Pro and dreaming.
No Place Like … .. .
Saw this and thought it amusing. Apologies to all the none IT Geeks.
‘There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1’
Sorry but I liked it.