Got me a new camera!

Finally pulled the plug on a new camera and boy am I glad that I did! Went with the Nikon D7000 and let me tell you, it's is a significant step up from my old D40. Of course with a raft of new features it also comes with a pretty substantial manual and I'm still working my way through the 330 pages of it (all English). The feature I am loving most at the moment is the internal focusing motor in the body meaning that I'm getting so much more use out of my 50mm f/1.4 and my new 105mm f/2.8.

Hopefully I should be able to get some more stuff up in the coming days as I've been a bit slack lately. Anyway here's what I've got so far:

First up was taken with my 105mm micro at ISO 100, 105mm, f/11, 1/250 sec

Dandelion seeds

Second with my 50mm 1.4 at ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.4, 1/5000 sec

Cathy

Finally, this one at ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.4, 1/1600 sec

Phil

Phew.. 16mp files take a lot longer to upload than 6mp!

A couple more nice weather pics

I've got quite a lot to do at the moment so the photography and updating of this blog is sort of taking a back seat, nevertheless I've got a couple of quick ones here. The first is a shot of some stacked boats down at the (slightly dilapidated) river near my home town taken at ISO 200, 55 mm, f/9, 1/400 sec. Bit of a strange crop this one, but I like it.

Punting on the river

Here is a shot of possibly my favourite flower (I bet most people don't have a favourite flower) the oddly checkered patterend Snake's Head Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris). Just taken in the garden with my 55-200mm Nikon at ISO 200, 105 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec.

Snake's head fritillary

Spring is sprung...

Well it's really starting to feel like the weather is changing for the better here now which means I can get outside more often and take some photos! Just got back from a trip 'up North' where I went to a town with possibly the best name ever.... Ashby de la Zouch. As such I've got a couple from the castle there and one to illustrate the new found nice weather of the British Isles ;)

I don't know if it's a British obsession but I find something really pleasing about wandering round partially destroyed castles. I always find it incredible that people managed to build these huge structures by hand with none of the machinery we use today. ISO 200, 24 mm, f/7.1, 1/250 sec

Destroyed royalist castle

This is maybe not the most intersting image in the world but I really like the way the light falls across the stone. I think you get a real sense of the texture of the wall and how old it is. ISO 200, 26 mm, f/6.3, 1/250 sec

Small window within castle

It's a real cliché but I guess that's for a reason, there are few plants that more illustrate the move from the depth of winter to the first warm days of spring than the old Narcissus (still remember some of my degree!).  ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2, 1/4000 sec

Daffodil!

New Super-Wide Lens!

I've been out the last couple of days trying out my new Sigma 10-20 mm f3.5/4 which I just bought second-hand on eBay. I've been noticing that I often take photos at the widest end of my lenses so I though I'd pick up an ultra wide and this Sigma certainly is that. It's amazing how much you can get into a shot and it does take a bit of getting used to when composing because of that. It is a lovely lens though and one of the nicest I own in my modest collection (certainly the most expensive) although the first thing I noticed about it was how heavy it was; it does feel a bit unbalanced on my little D40 (hopefully this wont be an issue once I get my new body :) ).

Oh and I seem to have some sort of brain malfunction at the moment where I can't look at what my ISO is before I start shooting so I have another load at 800 :-(

I decided my fat arse needed some exercise to I had a walk up to the highest peak in South Wales, I lost 3 sherpas but I think it was worth it... I think this one shows off just how much of your surroundings you can get in an image and this isn't even at 10 mm (I was trying out a polarising filter that came with the lens but you could see it in the corners at anything wider than 12 mm). ISO 800, 12 mm, f/4.5, 1/1000 sec.

River at Pont ar Daf

This is testament to me actually making it to the top! It wasn't really the best weather/time of day for taking photos and I hadn't really dressed for the occasion. Note to self: a hoodie and a t-shirt are not that windproof. Anyway ISO 800, 10 mm, f/16, 1/320 sec.

Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du

Finally I put a quick panorama together, I didn't really put that much thought into this when I was shooting so there's a little too much sky for me. The three shots were all taken with the same settings ISO 800, 10 mm, f/16, 1/320 sec.

Panorama of Beacons

Wow it's been sunny!

Ok, managed to get out in some nice weather today and take some snaps for the blog. I've also been keeping an eye out for local landscape photo ops for a small competition that is running. It's basically just a little thing comp to find photos to put in a calendar but it would be pretty cool if I can find something worthy of sending in. Unfortunately I was expecting a delivery which hasn't turned up yet to help me take some shots for it :(. I've ordered a set of Cokin pro neutral density graduated filters (what a mouthful!.........that's what she said (sorry)) which I can't wait to have a go with. Anyway here's what I managed:

I just love this old, rusted sign up in the mountains. I realised once I'd got back that I had left my ISO at 800 all day.... Still there doesn't seem to be too much noise, just have to make sure I check what settings I'm shooting with next time! ISO 800, 18 mm, f/20, 1/320 sec.

Keep out

Shot a small reservoir with incredibly blue water, I did a bit of adjusting in lightroom but nothing to the colour of the water. The reservoir itself seems to be fairly abandoned being surrounded by derelict buildings and extensive warning signs (there were about 15 reasons on one sign not to go near the water!). ISO 800(....), 18 mm, f.20, 1/500 sec.

Blue Lagoon

Ok, this one was actually taken at a party the other night, I actually took loads of pictures of the fire. There's something about it that I just find fascinating. This was my favourite of the bunch though with a fast shutter speed that really froze the fire along with the sparks above it. ISO 200, 18 mm, f/3.5, 1/500 sec.

Burn baby burn

Whoops....

Wow left this way too long to update :( The weather's been really rubbish here for what feels like months now (I guess that's what you get for living in the wonderful UK!). Anyway these pictures are actually a bit of a cheat because I took them a few months ago but I'm just not getting anything worthy of going up at the moment. It sort of defeats the point of the blog but hopefully I should get a few tonight at a friend's party so should update in the next couple of days.

Quick shot looking up at a tree growing up through an overpass in Vienna (amazing city well worth a trip), maybe would've been better with a wider angle but I don't have anything wider than my 18-55. ISO 200, 18mm, f/10, 1/400 sec.

Tree in overpass

This is a photo of the sunset over some common land near my house. It was actually taken when we had that volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokullin (how would you even attempt to say that?!) in Iceland that shut down flights across Europe. We got some really nice sunsets from the ash cloud although I'm not sure this image really show it off to it's best. Anyway, ISO 200, 55mm, f/11, 1/500 sec.

Sunset over Mynydd Illytydd

Finally a shot during all the snow we had in the UK. Not much to say about this one, I quite like the deep blue of the sky and the contrast with the red berries. ISO 200, 40mm, f/5, 1/800 sec.

Snow berries

Rubbish weather so this is all I've got for ya

The weather here (Wales) is awful at the moment and I really can't be bothered to go out in it so not taken any pics for a couple of days. Going to have a real push to get some done next week so watch this space.

Been having a bit of a play with some different techniques recently so I've got some examples of long and slow shutter speeds this week. The fast shutter speed shots of coffee/milk were taken with my trusty D40 (I've got my eye on what's coming as a replacement for the D300s at the moment) and SB900. The slow speed shots are with the little infra-red remote you can get for the D40. Just stick the camera in bulb mode then it's one click to open the shutter and one to close.

Anyway, here are the photographs:

Ok, kicking off with a fast shutter speed capture of milk falling into coffee. This was done with my speedlight in it's little stand on top of a book to the left of the shot through a beauty dish, the camera in my right hand and dripping milk in with my left hand. Taken at: ISO 200, 55mm, f/36, 1/500 sec.

High speed milk into coffee

 This was one of my first experiments with light painting using my camera remote and a small torch we had in the house and taken in my back garden. It's so hard to draw without being able to see what you've done! Hopefully with a bit more practice I'll be able to create a more compelling image. ISO 200, 18mm, f/8, 24 sec.

Experimenting with light painting

 Finally a long exposure of the pole star. I think this would be a more interesting image with some foreground or something to give it scale and ground it. It was soooo cold outside though so I only managed a few shots before I had to get back in my car and warm up a bit. I was encouraged by these early shots so I think I'll try and do some more stuff like this in the future. ISO 200, 18mm, f/4, 790 secs (just over 13 mins).

Long exposure of pole star