Family, Photography and other misc news
Film: Loading a camera.
A bit of a lost art now a days. Most 35mm SLR users have now switched to digital, and most of the last 35mm SLR’s were auto loading. For users of medium format, large format camera’s, film is still the medium of choice.
For Hasselblad users of the V system, loading a film for the first time can be tricky so heres a very useful youtube video to help you out.
Sunday night was Superbowl night.
You might find it odd but as a British person I hate football, or soccer as it is called in the rest of the world. I do enjoy Tennis, Rugby and American Football.
Unfortunately I had an early meeting on Monday, so decided record the Superbowl. I had to spend today avoiding the news but managed, and now as I type this the half time show is on my TV.
Its not looking good for Pittsburgh as I watch, while enjoying a beer but they ended the first half with their first touch down, lets home for a close game in the second half. Its 21 – 10 with Green Bay winning. Time to open another beer!
An early start and I was at the location for just before dawn where I met Chris. Chris being the wildlife photographer while I am more a people and landscape photographer.
We set ourselves up near the lake and waited for the early morning sun to appear.
As far as the weather it started fine but a gentle drizzle soon started.
There was continuous over cast cloud overhead, and good light never appeared, so it was a no go for landscape photography.
As we setup a Heron appeared and settled on its nest on the island in the middle of the lake. More birds gradually appeared but with the heavy cloud cover the sun did little to improve the light levels.
With the cameras set to high ISO (ASA) we practiced our photography but with little hope.
A few Cormorants flew in as did some Canadian Geese, to join the Ducks and Cootes already on the lake.
We spend an hour photographing the wildlife before the rain started to get a little too heavy even for our weather sealed professional lens and bodies so we packed a way and headed for the nearest Starbucks to warm ourselves up with hot coffee.
A shame we did not get any good shots but wildlife photography is difficult and one should always practice when one can. You will never get that award winning shot if you stay home in your nice warm bed. At least thats what I keep telling myself.
If you want to see some better shots check out Chris photos from last week. His shots from this morning are here.
Its a long day, today.
The day started with some corporate photography.
Not always the easiest subject. It was an award presentation. As usual the room was less then idea, the presentation took place with a glass wall behind, so I had to ask them to move slightly to make the best of it.
I have yet to back up the photos, complete the editing and photoshop the final selects which are due to the customer on Monday.
Not only that, I have a wildlife and landscape shoot tomorrow at Dawn. Oh hard is the life of a photographer.
Looking forward to getting home and at least getting a little sleep. I love landscape photography but my downfall is always the early starts.
No real post tonight, but please check out the picture of the month Categories as I have been playing catch up and posted a few of my older photos from last year. Have a look and enjoy.
I would not class the BMW R1200GS as a tourer but it does make a very good one, in fact better then most so called tourers. I also have not really considered the weather protection it offers. The standard GS has that large screen and slightly bulbous tank but thats hardly a full fairing.
Today I dropped off the GS at the local BMW dealer for its 18000 mile service and a new rear tire. In return they have lent me the F800GS, a baby GS if you will, which has a bikini faring. The difference in the weather protection on the two bikes was like night and day.
I had felt warm and cosseted on the big GS, but wind and cold soon had be shivering on the ride home on the little GS.
It really has re-enforced for me what a truly great bike the big R1200GS is. Comfort is right up there with the best, and for someone like me who rides nearly every day no matter what the weather this is important.
If your after a small fun motorcycle give the F800GS a try, its a fun bike but not one for winter!
http://www.brown-family.org.uk/photo/index.htm
Nikon D200 SLR
Nikor 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5
29mm, 1/80 Sec at f/8, ISO100
Processed in Adobe Lightroom V3.3
On a Mac MacBook Pro, OS-X 10.6.6
Congratulations to Sofia on her fourth birthday. We had a little party and family get together. Oh and lots of cake, jelly and trifle.
Well today Friday was our last day.
On the Wednesday, we took a trip up to a region of North Yorkshire popular with a number of famous Landscape Photographers, near Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale. I have to admit whilst not travelling too far I managed to get a number of pictures I am pleased with. We also visited the oldest sweet shop in England.
Thursday was a trip to Scarborough, I got some good shots of Scarborough Castle.
Today, Friday, was our final day, so we decided on one more castle to visit. The morning was spent walking around Helmsley Castle. With the low winter sun, illuminating the castle it was well worthwhile carrying around the medium format kit, tripod and Digital SLR.
Carrying all of this around really makes me think about getting a high quality large sensor compact camera. Then when I want to haul around medium or large format equipment, i’ll just use the compact for reference shots with potential.
Afterwards we treated ourselves to a cafe latte and a slice of quiche, wow the slice of quiche was huge. If you ever in Helmsley try the Castlegate Cafe.
Of course did we get any good pictures in this week? Well I certainly found some great locations, well worth going back to, but you will have to wait for my picture of the month.
I would say that the light improved as the week went on and as the light improved so did the pictures.
Something all photographers worry about.
Most photographer’s solution to this perceived problem is to spend lots of money.
Lets get back to the basics.
First Hand Holding.
Support the camera with your left hand, cradle it and take the weight. Hold the grip with you right hand.
Firing the Shutter.
Don’t just jab at it, press gently, both the depress and the release should be gentle. Camera movement can be introduced at this point.
If necessary use your motor drive. Shoot a batch of three pictures using it. Your first shot might be blurred but the second is likely to be sharp. Release after the third shot.
What is your shutter speed? It should be at least the reciprocal of the focal length.
If your focal length is 50mm shoot at 1/60 of a second at least. If shooting with a 200mm lens use 1/250 etc.
If your hand holding technique is particularly bad double up, for a 50mm lens use 1/125.
Understand VR.
Use it at slow shutter speeds but once your speed climbs above 1/500 – 1/1000 of a second turn it off, above 1/1000 it can actually make your pictures worse.
Subject movement.
Don’t forget subject movement, use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze any movement in the scene.
Tripod’s.
Well i’ll mention those next month, but check out www.cbphotoblog.com and www.bythom.com
Lastly something that I am particularly bad at. When you use a large aperture then focus is critical. I hate to think how many killer shots I have just missed because my model is out of focus, when using the f/1.4 – f/2.8 range.