What Planet?

Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 1 sec, f/10, ISO 200
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Here's another shot from my trip to the Lake District a few days ago. I was a little slow in PP'ing them as I wasn't inspired much by my efforts. This one was definitely one of the better shots.

It's another infra red shot to add to the collection. When I look at this shot it reminds me of a scene out of a sci-fi movie...

Calendar Girl

Nikon D70 @ 50mm, 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200
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A romantic stroll round Strathclyde park at sunset was rudely interrupted by a certain photography obsessed boyfriend wanting a few pictures :)

I wanted to give this an FHM glamour feel to it i.e. that airbrushed look. I really like the warm tones and the shade of the blue water in the background. My girlfriend doesn't like her pose, but I disagree :) I look at this picture and think she's actually looking at me now. She's just about to tell me something...

Lake District

Nikon D70 @ 24mm, 1/60 sec, f/16, ISO 200
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So me and Stu (Stu and I) have been waiting for good weather to take a trip down to the Lake District. Obviously we would be bombarded with stunning photographic opportunities. Well no actually. It was ruuuubish... seriously.

Perhaps it was just because we didn't know the right spots to go to. Having said that we did try Ullswater, Aira Force, Derwent Water, Buttermere and Crummock Water. Or maybe it's because we're spoiled by the likes of Glencoe and the Trossachs.

Anyway, this is a panorama of Derwent Water. I stitched 5 images together using PTAssembler. I think it's time to fix my computer... it crashed about 5 times trying to put this shot together. Very frustrating

Cleanliness...

Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 1/30 sec, f/3.5, ISO 800
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Cleanliness is next to Godliness ;o)

Hotel at Night

Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 30 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200
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Ok, last one from the ball. I managed to sneak out for a while and get a shot of the hotel (Seamill Hydro) from the bottom of the garden.

Smiling Happy

Nikon D70 @ 31mm, 1/40 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400
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Another shot from last night. Louise (left), my girlfriend Jennifer (right) and a very understandably happy lecturer, Dr. Whitelaw.

Belle of the Ball

Nikon D70 @ 22mm, 1/30 sec, f/3.8, ISO 200
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Well, it was my girlfriend's grad ball tonight... the main reason I bought the SB-800. And I have to say, it performed very well - I definitely feel better at having spent so much money on it!

This shot was taken after the meal, just as the sun had gone down. Love the results.

Dark Daylight

Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 1/500 sec, f/13, ISO 200
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This is a technique I've seen described as dark daylight. Basically, you underexpose the scene by 2 or 3 stops, and then use a flash to properly expose the subject. My usual model was happy to pose out in the garden just after she had put the washing up - doesn't she look proud?

I had the SB-800 set up on a tripod to the right of the camera (the wireless feature is awesome), and undexposed the scene by about 2 stops.

Pretty pleased with the results. Even more pleased with the new flash.

Edit

As promised, some more details about the set up.

1. Shooting in manual and using matrix metering, the camera gave me a reading of 1/500 sec at f/5.6.

2. I wanted to underexpose the scene by 2 stops. Since 1/500 sec is the fastest the D70 can sync at, I adjusted the aperture to f/13.

3. I set the SB-800 up on a tripod to the right of the camera, at about 45 degrees to the camera axis, and a few inches above the subjects eye level. The flash head was at 90 degrees and aimed directly at the subject.

4. To set the SB-800 to work wirelessly you need to do the following:

i. On the D70 set CSM 19 to Commander and then TTL. This means that only the SB-800 will participate in the lighting.

ii. Set the SB-800 to remote and set the channel to 3 and the group to A.

5. The flash compensation was set at -1/3 on the D70.

6. Because the subject was not in the centre of the frame I had to set CSM 15 to FV lock. This allowed me to put the subject in the centre of the frame and press the AE-L/AF-L button to set the correct output level for the flash. I could then recompose the shot with the subject always being properly exposed.

7. And there we have it. The background is underexposed by 2 stops, but the flash makes sure that the subject is properly exposed.

Up Close and Personal

Fuji S7000 @ 210mm, 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 200
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I bought an SB-800 flash yesterday - man did that thing hurt my wallet. It's mainly for my D70, but i really like the fact that i can use it on my s7000 as well. I'm still at the stage where i'm in absolute awe of what it can do. The fact that i can bounce it (the light) off the ceiling and create natural looking light is awesome.

Anyway, i've tried a few reverse macro shots with my s7000 before, but the poor lighting in my room always made it difficult. So now i can be as shaky as i want, and still get sharp results.

I did try focusing on the tip but it didn't look as good - the narrow DOF meant that most of the shot was completely blurred. I'll definitely be trying a few more shots like this - it's amazing the detail that can be captured that the human eye can't see.

Technical details: Fuji s7000 @ 210mm, 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO 200 + reversed 50mm, f/1.8 + SB-800 with diffuser dome, bounced off the ceiling.

Obvious

Nikon D70 @ 50mm, 1/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600
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Yip.

Chasing Sunsets

Nikon D70 @ 38mm, 1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200
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I looked out of my window tonight and saw an incredible sky. It had been cloudy all day, but the sun was setting and was now beneath this band of clouds. Pretty spectacular stuff, so I grabbed my gear and drove down to an area beside the Clyde which was reasonably scenic. After a quick run down a shady worn path the inevitable happened - the sun had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

I waited about for a while to see if anything else was going to happen, but it didn't really. This was probably the best of the bunch. A little PP to empasize the sunset.

Weatherman Stu

Nikon D70 @ 25mm, 1/60 sec, f/13, ISO 200
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And then the Lord Stu said: "Let there be... umm... rainbows!"

Another shot taken from our trip to the Trossachs (sorry, being a little lazy here!)

one four seven

Nikon D70 @ 50mm, 1/30 sec, f/3.5, ISO 800
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This was taken just before my friend's 147 attempt. Unfortunately he couldn't pot that first red, but it was a good try nonetheless.

I wasn't expecting much from these (camera) shots in such dark conditions and handheld, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Here's a link to a few other shots taken tonight.

Loch Arklet

Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 1/10 sec, f/22, ISO 200
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Another shot from yesterday, taken at Loch Arklet once the rain had passed.

Hole in the Sky

Nikon D70 @ 70mm, 125 sec, f/8, ISO 200
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I'm on a bit of a landscape bender at the moment. Today's trip was to the Trossachs. Started off at Loch Ard, then Loch Chon, and finally ended up here, at Loch Arklet. We started getting some shots, but the weather turned for the worse and so we retreated to the car. It was very changeable weather, so we thought we could just sit it out in the car. While we were waiting, there was a break in the clouds, and the mountains in the distance were bathed in sunlight. Not a bad shot taken from out of the window in a car!

Big Bro

Nikon S1 @ 6mm, 2 sec, f/3, ISO 200
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I love the way slow synch flash shots come out in these situations. This one is probably more tame than most. I was out in town celebrating my 22nd... key-rist, I feel old. The last few years have just flown by. Where did they go??

River Clyde at Night

Nikon D70 @ 48mm, 13 sec, f/8, ISO 200
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On my way home I saw that the moon was very striking against a clear night sky. I tried to think of a nice vantage point I could go to, to get a nice shot. The only place I could think of was down by the River Clyde, at Erskine Golf Club. It was pitch black, 12.30am and I was all alone. So, I quickly assembled my tripod in the car, set my camera to the right settings, unlocked my door, ran out, grabbed a few shots, then quickly drove off. A little paranoid? Heh, exciting stuff.

Perfectly Still

Nikon D70 @ 38mm, 15 sec, f/29, ISO 200
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Another shot from Monday's outing to Glencoe. This time from Loch na h-Achlaise. This shot is actually IR, but I love the way the colours look as though they could be real.

Loch Tulla

Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 1/50 sec, f/22, ISO 200
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Ok, so I'm cheating with this one - it was actually taken yesterday. We found these cool trees just beside Loch Tulla, and got some nice shots from a variety of angles. I probably prefer this one the best because of the strong silhouette and the starburst effect on the sun.

Rannoch Moor

Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 2 sec, f/16, ISO 200
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Well, it's been a while since I updated this blog, but I hope it was worth the wait. Anyway, I went back up to Glencoe today and the weather was much better. In fact, it was the complete opposite of what it was yesterday - totally clear blue skies. That's Scottish weather for you I suppose. I came back with quite a few photos that I like, and the rest of the gallery can be found here.

This shot was one of the last of the day, just as the sun was going down on Rannoch Moor.

Loch na h-Achlaise

Nikon D70 @ 60mm, 1/10 sec, f/18, ISO 200
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Took a trip up to the Glencoe area today with the world famous Stuwee. The skies were completely overcast so it was difficult shooting conditions. We were hoping that the sun would make an appearance at some point, but it stayed away. We ended up stopping at Loch na h-Achlaise, probably the most photographed place in Scotland. This was probably the best shot of the day, taken moments before we got p***ed on.

On a funnier note, Stu fell into the loch at one point and got his poor little feet soaked. To make up for this he -- very skillfully and timed to perfection I might add -- completely drenched a little boy walking quite happily and peacefully along the pavement by driving his car through a large puddle on the road. Straight out of a comedy sketch. He even turned around and went crying to his mummy (the little boy that is)

Shame on you Stu! I didn't have my camera ready!!

edit: I'll be updating soon - just not had much time recently!

Back Garden Fun

All Nikon D70 @ 50mm, either f/1.8 or f/2.8, ISO 200
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I didn't get much photography done while I was away for a few days there. So as you can imagine, I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms and so had to get some shots today. It was overcast, late in the day, and i didn't have the car, so i decided just to go exploring in my back garden.

I've been doing quite a bit of landscape photography recently where beautiful scenes are usually obvious to spot. So i thought it would be a nice change to try and find the extra in the ordinary things. It's not to everyone's taste but i usually find the results pretty interesting.

I'm also not a big fan of flower photography, so i always find that a challenge when giving it a try. I saw a post on dpreview recently where the poster talked about 'designing the background'. So in some of these shots i was concentrating as much on the background as the plant itself.

It was a good hour i spent in the garden and a few more on PP, so it helped eleviate the boredom of a rather slow day. I liked the way the images came out and thought they would look good in a montage.

The individual photos can be found here.