Marks Wasted Time: August 2014

Monday, August 25, 2014

August Bank Holiday

Two shots summing up the seemingly abrupt transition from summer into autumn in traditional British style. I am still holding out for a late summer flourish though, since I have a tour of Scotland starting next weekend ... fingers crossed.

Deck chairs in the rain
ISO200, 120mm, f/5, 1/100s, -0.3ev

Cloud formation
ISO100, 150mm, f/5, 1/200s, -0.7ev, cropped

Thursday, August 21, 2014

A bit of wild variety

Hares playing high speed kiss chase
ISO160, 400mm, 1/320s, f/9, -0.7ev, cropped

Curious seal checking me out on the Pembrokeshire coast
ISO400, 400mm, f/18, 1/400s, -0.7ev (aperture was set for landscape)

Fluffy intelligent critters or filthy vermin? Rat along the River Avon
ISO200, 365mm, f/5.6, 1/400s, -0.7ev, cropped

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

More Summer

Two things I don't do often .. crop square and use fill flash on macro shots, both in one blog post!

Top shot is another composite of two exposures shot with bracketing - loving so many of the elements in this image - the benefits of still images allowing for the viewer (including me) to soak up all the details and subtle sunlit details.

The second is just a shot of a bee in the garden on an overcast day using my semi-swanky new flash.. So much nicer than the old Canon flash that did a good job of putting me off of using it much!

If you can't afford high end Canon, I heartily encourage buying high end Yongnuo over a low end Canon, even if they don't end up lasting as long.

Treelined Sunset
ISO8000 (?!?), 18mm, f/11, composite of two bracketed exposures
Cropped, noise reduction

Natural colour popping
ISO400, 105mm, f/9, 1/200s, flash!

Friday, August 01, 2014

Cyprus Photos

Some photos from our trip to Cyprus earlier in the year. No Chameleons unfortunately - despite hunting everywhere we went! Still some nice shots (IIDSSM) even though it was mainly a family wedding holiday.

Crested Lark
ISO100, 400mm, f/8, 1/320s

Swallowtail butterfly
ISO100, 400mm, f/8, 1/400s

Greek Marsh Frog
ISO100, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, -1ev, cropped

West coast Cyprus Sunset
ISO100, 33mm, f/14, composite of bracketed exposures, circular polariser

Spiny Lizard
ISO100, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, -1ev, cropped, rotated

Tomb of the Kings at the Kato Paphos UNESCO site
ISO100, 16mm, f/10, mono HDR composite of 3 bracketed exposures

Whos wasted time?

My name is Mark Coombes, I live in the South of England, near the City of Bath. I'm 42 and have a deep passion for all things photographic. I always had some artistic talent, but never had the patience for most art forms, so digital photography suits me down to the ground.

I was given a Canon 1000F for my 18th birthday with some old Sigma lenses, but really only got serious in 2006 when I bought a 350D. My equipment went from 17-85mm, 100-300mm IS and Sigma 105mm Macro, to a 16-35mm II L and 100-400mm L thanks to some serious saving and in 2010 I upgraded to a Canon 50D, before finally investing in a Canon 5D mark III in 2013. Since then I've added various flashes, flash modifiers, filters, polarisers, tripods and a Canon 135mm f/2 lens.

I tend to photograph anything and everything that I find photogenic, combined with my passion for adventure and exploration most of my photos are happy coincidences, rather than the odd planned or staged effort. If I was to pick one specific area to specialise in it would be wildlife photography, especially now I'm getting out for less sunrise landscapes. Only time will tell where it leads and if anything productive ever comes out of it, or if I am just wasting time..