More bunnies to hug

So there I was in Dubai Mall. For once, camera in hand. Ironically, the shop was not "Lapin" (which is French for rabbit as any fule kno), but about two doors down. No grief; indeed actual approval from the nice lady in the shop, to take photos.

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 80mm
1/30s & F/5.6
ISO Auto 1600

Shot with available light, this cute stuffed rabbit is poking out of a carrier bag as if it's about to be taken home and hugged by a small child. I wanted to blur the otherwise possible distraction in background, and I think I achieved this. The subject is a bit central, but a crop to put the rabbit to the left would have lost great chunks of carrier bag, and the subject would have been looking out of frame if it had been too far to the right. So bullseye it is. Tweaks are limited to cropping and just a little colour enhancement.

The light streaming in from the shop front looks, and indeed is, natural daylight.


Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 170mm
1/30s & F/5.6
ISO Auto 1400

This one is hopefully reminiscent of the shelf in a nursery. The huggable stuffed bunny is next to something "ABC"; as indicative of childhood as anything else available. I did not set anything up, which is why the irritating picture frame is in shot. Post-processing is limited to cropping, abut of colour palette enhancement and a small rotation.

The light is almost all artificial tungsten shop lights.


Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 112mm
1/30s & F/5.6
ISO Auto 560

This luminous rabbit should be suitably disturbing for small children.

Illuminated by tungsten house lights plus lit from within.

With all the shots, I used ISO Auto to control shutter speed to 1/30s in order to hand-hold the camera. This avoids both camera shake and the tripod police.

Paul's LETTERS

I've been in Blighty for a week. At least, that was the plan. The unexpected extension to my stay because of a volcanic eruption has been a mixed blessing. I've found time to produce a couple of offerings on this month's subject, and these are produced below for your comment and criticism.

Rural Letter Box

Nikon D70s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 200mm
F/8
1/125s

Spring in England. I framed the little letter box with daffodils and trees, using reduced depth of field to avoid the bright yellow flowers from distracting too much from the main subject.

A piece of Victoriana

Nikon D70s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 62mm
F/5
1/180s

One of the remaining Victorian post boxes. Also note the Ordnance Survey benchmark on the brickwork below the box itself. This is located on a quiet corner in Plympton, just down the road from where I went to school all those aeons ago. The picture is tightly cropped to eliminate distracting plastic bag rubbish and hideous garden gnomes in the garden to the left.

Baby on board

Nikon D70s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 26mm
F/4
1/20s

I borrowed the scenery from some good friends. Photographers with young families will find this scene all too familiar. Hand-held at 1/20s to exploit natural light (aren't VR lenses great?) and a low child's-eye-view.

War Cry

Nikon D70s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 120mm
F/5.6
1/125s

Lots of letters here. There's the print in the paramilitary publication, and also the hoarding advertising the computer games shop where the soldier is standing.

It can be difficult to get long shots like these in a busy pedestrian precinct. Enormous numbers of shoppers conspire to walk in front of the camera at the very moment the shutter button is pressed. This is the only one where I was able to crop out all pedestrian clutter.

Bookshop

Nikon D70s
Nikkor 18-200 @ 112mm
F/5.6
1/125s

Lots of books, which of course contain millions of letters, in Waterstone's bookshop. I should have liked to true-up the vertical on the left-hand side as it's an architectural detail, but unfortunately I'm away from home and without Photoshop. A slightly wider version caught the sky that was a boring flat grey rather than glorious blue. Hence this close-cropped image.