A Day at Whisby Nature Reserve


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Monday morning found us at the Lincolnshire Whisby Nature Reserve.

While Caroline concentrated on Macro work, and the multitude of insects and mushrooms that seemed to be around, I concentrated on the birds.

The first lake had mainly black headed gull’s including some engaging in courtship and mating. We also spotted a Coote, Moorhen and a Canadian Goose.

Moving on we slowly walked round the “Coote” footpath, we did not see any Cootes on that lake, but we did spot a Great Crested Grebe sat on the nest, and a very attentive Canadian Goose on patrol, his partner was sat on the nest on the small island.

On the third lake we came to, we hid in the hide watching the action. On the shore was a large crow poking his nose into everyones business. The Coote took exception and chased him off. He then made the mistake flying to close to the Gulls and got dive bombed. We also spotted which we think was a Golden Eye, but I’ll have to check with my Photography Buddy Chris to make sure on Tuesday when we meet up.

All in all, a good day and finished off with a Kangaroo burger and chips in the visitors centre.

The Future of Camera’s

With the rise of high quality camera’s in phones, now able to replace your typical compact.  The rapid adoption of Micro Four Thirds, many are asking where the future of camera’s is heading.

Many are now proposing that basically the camera will be a lens with a sensor built in rather then a traditional body were currently used to.

These idea’s look amazing but I am not sure they are really practical.  I have major issues with the ergonomics of most cameras these days.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663674/wvil-a-glimpse-at-the-future-of-photography-after-cameras-die-video

Large UDMA Compact Flash Cards in Older Camera’s

If your anything like me then you make your camera’s last.  Back in the film days, I bought high end secondhand SLR’s, saving my money towards good glass.  I expected them to last at least ten years.

Now with digital SLR’s the manufacturers seem to push you to upgrade every couple of years.

With the high cost of digital SLR’s I expect to get a minimum of 5 years out of them.

As technology moves on Compact Flash cards get bigger and faster.  The latest cards include UDMA high speed technology, and have capacities reaching 64GB.

The question that often arises is do the newer cards work in older camera’s.

Well I thought I would buy some new cards this week for an upcoming trip.

A bit of research seemed to indicate that cards up to 16GB would work in my five year old Nikon D200’s, if I had the latest firmware but I could find nothing about the speed or if they supported UDMA (they don’t I have since found).

I keep my firmware up to date, but I decided to get some 8GB cards.  Having lots of small cards is always better then a few large cards.  I have only had a card corrupt on me once, and I only lost the last few images, but its not a risk I want to take.

Well today they arrived, and I am pleased to report they work.

Incase your wondering, the Nikon D200’s are running firmware, A2.01 and B2.01 and the cards were SanDisk Extreme 8GB 400x UDMA.

Studio Fashion Shoot

Black and white studio photograph of a blonde model in a strapless wedding dress.

Today was my studio fashion style shoot with the lovely Charlotte who I have not worked with for ages.  She was as professional and as pretty as I remember.

We kept things simple just two sets, only a couple lighting variations, but lots of clothes changes.

Camera equipment was simple as well, just a pair of Nikon D200’s and Nikkor, 105mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8.

The above shot was taken at the end of the last session, a single Elinchrom RX600 fronted by a large rectangle softbox.  A Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, wide open was used.  Focusing on the lead eye has with the lens wide open has given the photo a lovely soft feel.

Photosmith Price announced

The Adobe Lightroom companion application, PhotoSmith announced pricing details the other day.

A very reasonable $17.99/£10.99 which if it lives up to the promise is well worthwhile.

Off now to check my camera gear and batteries as I have a fashion shoot tomorrow in the studio.

Bought the Hype – we have an iPad

Well yes for you Apple/iPad nay Sayers, we bought the hype, been deceived by the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field; we now have an iPad.

We took delivery yesterday together with the camera connection. So far it’s lot of fun. Our favourite apps are:

Comics – fun
Evernote – productivity
FTP On The Go – productivity
iBooks – reference and fun
iSsh – productivity
WordPress – productivity and using it on the iPad now to write this
NYTimes – information
Flipboard – information
Pulse -information
WeatherPro – information
Wikihood – information

As we play and use it for real work I’ll recommend some apps that we enjoy.

Posted from our iPad, using WordPress

Photosmith on its way soon

Well for those iPad and Adobe Lightroom users, the iPad mobile companion app has now reached version 1.0 and has been sent to Apple for approval.

Hopefully Photosmith will be with us soon.

http://blog.photosmithapp.com/

Fashion Shoot – initial preparation

Well, we have had Landscapes, birds and wildlife, and of course flowers.  Now its time to get back into the studio and shoot a little fashion and glamour.

Studio is booked as is the model, so just sorting out the details; ideas, poses and of course the clothes.

Hope to post some pictures from the shoot next Monday or Tuesday, as there will be a lot of post production to finish them off.