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Hobby photographer

Strawberry Milkshake

still life, studio

Something I always wanted to try and finally decided to make a go of it…. A high speed photo of an object falling into a liquid. I decided a strawberry into milk would make a suitable subject and it fitted well with a task I had been set to capture something that suited the title “bon appetit”. My setup was basic with my  two Metz flash heads set at 1/32 an 1/64 power and placed diagonally at 45 degrees from the camera (one bottom left the other top right. As this was my first try at such a thing I simply left the heads unmodified but believe a diffuser would have been to my advantage to try to remove some of the shadows. I dropped that strawberry into the milk so many times the poor fruit started to become strawberry jam. It was not easy to synchronize the shot and hitting the milk. More often that not it was too early but mostly just too late. Also it does splash a bit. Next time I’ll wrap some cling-film around my flash head bodies. Anyway, here are some results….

Studies

urban

Here are a few studies I’ve been working on.

Prague Panoramas

Panorama, Travel

Here are a couple of hand-held panoramas I shot in Prague.

Some minor pre-preparation in Lightroom then sent to Photoshop for stitching. A little cloning at the edges.

Prague

Travel

Just back from a week visit to Prague. Nice, compact city with loads to see (and loads of tourists). Great photo opportunities even if you’re walking around as a snap-happy tourist. Anyway, this posting is a “work in progress” and I’ll upload bit by bit some of the shots I liked the most.

My Garden

Flowers, Gardens

I guess you don’t have to go too far to take a photo if you have a garden, the sun is shining and you have a few willing plants to act as models. Don’t ask me what this plant is called but it certainly appeared happy to have its photo taken.

Mass shoot

portrait, street photos

Had a great chance for a fun shoot of lots of different people this weekend. The weather was the best we’ve had all year and my photoclub (Images Internation Photo Club) met at the Westbroekpark in The Hague to simply have an excuse to take shots of everyone and see what could be done. Some of us tried to use our 50mm fixed focus lenses with the aperture wide open to get some practice with shallow depth of field. I did too, but noticed with my Canon at least, the 50mm F1.8 is very slow to focus in comparison to a USM motor in a better lens. Still, it’s all good practice. Thus the park probably had around 50000€ of photo equipment if you add everyone’s kit bags together. What we are going to do with all the photos is not yet clear. Watch this space. For the time being, I had a go at using CS4’s photomerge function. It does work but it’s not quite as “straight out of the box” as it looks. Those who hate panoramas please look away now…..

Anyone for Tea

Flowers, Gardens, still life

Went to the Keukenhof this weekend.

If you’ve never been then it’s well worth battling the crowds for. I didn’t go to take photographs per se but I took my camera anyway. Who wouldn’t.

Th weather was cold but sunny. The longish winter we have had did mean that the amazing bulb displays were a little behind schedule. However the pavilions were magnificent. Displays of orchids or flower arranging or just gazillions of tulips were very spectacular (as were the prices in the restaurant).

Instead of row upon row of flower photos I have chosen just one. Taken with natural light in the flower art pavilion, the lighting was rather subdues and as my camera was hand held I upped the ISO and took a good stance. Back home, the arrangement and colours really spoke to me as a sort of abstract collage. I decided to try something new and exported the adjusted shot to Photoshop as a smart object. This allows the RAW file to be adjusted at any time. I then duplicated this, resulting in two smart objects. I then blended using differing blend modes and double clicked on the duplicate smart object layer to allow me to adjust exposure (just like HDR). Here’s the result. I could have started masking etc., to enhance certain parts of the photo. Maybe I will do that later and make a large print of it.

The Hague

street photos

The weather was better than predicted but nevertheless it was dull and rather cold. Still, I did promise to go into The Hague to let my wife practice with the Canon G10. It is a bit like trying to teach your wife to drive. One mention of “aperture priority” and I get the evil eye. Still between the clouds and the coffee and cake we both managed to snap a shot or two. Here’s my effort for the day.

Hi ISO

Low light

Yesterday attempted some stage photography using stage lighting and a high ISO setting.

Here’s the situation. I’m asked to take some photographs during a performance. I am stuck at the back of the hall along with other visitors who cannot get a seat. I decide that the best approach is to use my long-lens (Canon EF 70-300mm IS USM) on my Canon 5D and dial in a high ISO. I used 6400 as my ISO setting as this allowed sensible shutter speeds. As is typical, the stage lighting was up and down like a fiddler’s elbow. My camera and lens did a great job with auto focus.

At the interval, I noticed a guy with a Nikon camera the size of a small family car. I had a chat with him. He was using ISO 800 with a speedlight. His photos looked sharp so I went to get my own Metz flash. I had no success with it. I learned a good lession. Prepare your batteries, learn to use your equipment in the dark.

Nevertheless, on the whole I was happy with the camera performance. A tele-zoom with a bigger aperture would have been nice though. Of course, I will practice with the flash so that I can use it in the dark.