Merry Christmas!

 

A rapid post just to wish everyone a happy, merry, cheerful and peaceful Christmas.

I thought I'd go with some full on cheesy Robins in the snow to go with the season.

Here's hoping for some snow at some point over the next few months so I can top up on some frosty winter-scapes.

 

The blog may be slow, but I have been out a few times between decorating, working late, Christmas shopping and generally being lazy.  I still have some photos from Scotland and Amsterdam to post as well as some fairly cool urban graffiti and a failed trip to shoot the Geminid meteor shower, which turned into a pretty extreme sub zero hill top long exposure session .. all will appear at some point - possibly all in a rush while I have time off over the next couple of weeks.

 

 

Scotland 3

 

 

Fluffed up Robin
ISO1250, 400mm, f/8, 1/320s, -0.6ev

Heron - Japanese style .. but on Arran
ISO125, 420mm, f/8, 1/500s

Dreamy Waterfall
ISO100, 100mm, f/29, 2s, +0.3ev, 8ND filter, tripod, cable release

Sunray lit lighthouse in the mist
Taken in misty conditions, a ray of Sun hit the lighthouse and the distance haze adds very subtle layers to the backdrop. 
ISO100, 320mm, f/5.6, 1/1000s, -0.3ev, cropped

Jack Daniels bourbon barrels at a Scottish whisky distillery
ISO100, 27mm, f/14, 1/40s, -0.6ev

Scotland Panoramic

 

Five panoramic photos from our Scotland tour.

 

#1 is Langdale valley in England on the way up.  Riding through the lakes on a motorcycle on a sunny day is fantastic, we were tempted to just stay .. and if the midges were too annoying in Scotland, three weeks in the Lake district was a very satisfactory plan B!  With a bit of a mechanical glitch on the way through, it almost happened too..

 

 

#2 is a sunset at Loch Morlich in the Cairngorms.  Sunlight setting the mountains alight over a perfectly still lake on yet another glorious day.  Midges turned out to be ok and not too much of a bother .. and were soon forgotten with a couple of beers in the near by ski chalet style bar anyway.

 

#3 is the Harry Potter train viaduct at Glenfinnan, complete with steam train.  As you can see, the weather in Scotland really is terrible in September!  We sunbathed for a bit and had a picnic while we waited for the train.  Not a bad spot!

 

#4 the mainland from the Isle of Skye.  Another sunset taken with my 100-400mm from across the channel between Skye and Scotland main.  We crossed on the last ferry with a fellow motorcyclist from South Africa and were running late, the advantage of which is that we were still riding when the Sun set catching the far mountains.  The distance haze adding a surreal tone to the image that I like.

#5 is a double rainbow on Skye.  We had our only half day of rain on Skye that day, which made for a great excuse to spend a half day at the Talisker distillery!  Happy days.

Wasting time!

 

Well.. it's been a while!  Since I last posted I've toured Scotland on my motorcycle, got a place on the 2015 London Marathon, turned 40 years old, spent 4 days in Amsterdam, passed my PADI Open Water scuba diver certification and luckily enough I took some photos along the way! 

 

Here are some landscapes and scenic photos I took around Scotland to get us going ...

 

 

 

Some maps & tokens and our tour sticker as a reminder of our trip. 
Note: The inner tube is just in case I forget that I had a rear wheel blow out on a 50mph corner along the way!  

Just one of the roads that made riding 800 miles to get there absolutely worth it
ISO100, 135mm, f/5, 1/640s, -0.7ev

Glen Coe
ISO100, 16mm, f/22, 1/30s, -1.7ev, circular polariser, tripod, cable release, ND8 filter, levels, curves

Glen Coe
ISO100, 16mm, f/22, composite of bracketed exposures, circular polariser, tripod, cable release, ND8 filter, levels, curves 

Fairy glade
ISO100, 35mm, f/16, 5s, circular polariser, ND8 filter, tripod, cable release, levels, blur 

Rustic highland bridge
ISO100, 18mm, f/22, 1/2s, -2ev, circular polariser, ND8 filter, tripod, cables release, levels, curves



The very cool old bridge at Carrbridge
ISO100, 35mm, f/22, 1s, circular polariser, ND8 filter, tripod, cable release, levels, curves



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

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

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!

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

Nocturnal Nimbus

There isn't much I like better than a storm and we've had a couple of beauties last Thursday/Friday.

Unfortunately the car is off the road at the moment, so I couldn't venture out (motorcycles and apocalyptic rain storms don't mix), so here are some photos I took out of a window.

 

Top image is a composite of lightning strikes I captured with the camera facing NW and just let to run while I enjoyed the show.

 

The best individual shot is the bottom image - a lightning giant descended to wreak havoc.

 

Composite of 4 shots



Ribbon lightning colouring the sky and causing lens flare

The Lightning Giant
ISO1600, 27mm, f/5.6, 30sec, +1ev, tripod, shutter release, noise reduction

Summer

 

Not been around a lot with the camera as I am spending a lot of my wasted time this summer building a workshop and learning to Scuba dive .. you know just the usual stuff!  :o)

 

A bit of a mini collection of some shots that celebrate the Sun we've been getting though.  I have been very happy with how the Sigma 105mm macro lens has been working with my 5D3 since I setup the micro focus adjustment, loving that feature.  The new flash has been a revelation too, suddenly having much more control than my old 420EX has turned a flash gun and wireless remote set into a standard part of my carry bag kit now.

 

Plenty of photos still to process, so even if I'm not getting out and about I should be posting a bunch more stuff here soon(ish).

 

 

 

Meadow Brown (?) in the setting Sun
ISO320, 400mm, 1/320s, f/5.6, -0.7ev, crop, noise reduction

Pushing up the daisies
ISO100, 20mm, 1/250s, f/13, -0.7ev, circular polariser

Damselfly in flight
ISO100, 105mm, 1/640s, f/8, -0.3ev, cropped

Female Banded Demoiselle damselfly glinting in the Sun
ISO100, 105mm, 1/500s, f/7.1, -0.7ev, cropped 

Daisies and barbed wire at Sunset
ISO200, 190mm, 1/160s, f/8, -0.7ev

Little Owls

 

Little Owls and screechy owlet.  These guys hunt through the daylight and aren't as timid as most owls, so not quite so difficult to photograph.  Spent a couple of evenings by their barn and managed to get a couple of shots in some pleasant setting Sunlight.  It's just great to watch them and hear the owlet screeching for more food!

 

 

The Devils Den

 

Two composite images of The Devils Den near Fyfield downs.  Originally the entrance stones to a large Neolithic burial chamber, they were rebuilt into standing stones in the 1920s. As usual the good old Christians were the ones who named it, with their penchant for naming pagan icons as demonic.  Apparently if you fill a hollow in the cap stone with water a demon will come in the night and drink it.  Far from frightening me into Christianity I think it sounds cool and tempted to test the theory .. with my camera at the ready of course!

 

 

Slightly iffy quantity of dynamic range, but I wanted a quite unreal, overly dramatic feeling.  Shot using bracketing and overlaid in photoshop .. in my opinion a better option than using my graduated ND filter for object poking above the horizon.  I always hate the fade to black that objects do beneath ND grads, to me they are more fake looking, even if they are "captured in camera".

Wiltshire wildlife

 

Some critter pics from a wander in North Wiltshire..  a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Gorse bush, Hares in a stubble field and a rabble of fox cubs playing in the twilight (@ISO4000).

 

 

Excuses

Yet again it's been a while since I posted up anything.  Since my last post I've been on holiday to Cyprus and photographed two weddings, so needless to say I have A LOT of image processing to do ... as in 1000+ images to sift, clean, craft, arrange and share to happy couples. 

Really proud to have made it to double figures (10 weddings) just on word of mouth and people liking our photography!  Definitely getting better at most elements with every one, but always watching and learning from online videos such as this one from Mel DeGiocomo... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igaFDx83uc8

Hopefully get some time to process a blog photo tonight before carrying on with the wedding photos .. promises, promises!

Like buses...

Another recommended iPlayer programme from the Beeb, this time about Tim Hetherington (Wikipedia, Gallery) .. war/human rights photographer and director of Restrepo (which I also recommend if you haven't seen it).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03zq89v/

Amazing man and very interesting documentary.