Water - Steven's efforts

I have a couple other ideas but just in case I don't get around to it here are a couple of water shots to keep you all going:

Lighthouse on the Rocks

f4.5 1/2000 ISO200

Washdown Area

(f8, HDR, ISO 200)

I know these two are fairly spurious links to water but what can I say, if it was straight forward it wouldn't be nearly as......as........shutterbug now would it.

The first is the lighthouse at Kiama and has water in the bottom corner.  The second is the showers on site at Sydney Airport in the "Aircraft Dump Bay" which is the lovely area where the airplane toilets are discharged into.  Imagine a GIANT public toilet and proportionally smelly.  This is one place you DON'T want to have a reason to use the emergency shower!!

Nick's weird take on water

I actually have another idea I want to try out for this month's homework, which I figure is actually the point of the whole exercise. However, I found myself shooting these the other day. The first is my vaguely customary B+W:

"what the hell is this?"

f2.8; 1/100; ISO1600; 24mm

Then I thought it looked better in colour, in a modern art kind of way. And less slimy, too:

"No seriously, what the hell is that?"

f3.2; 1/125; ISO1600; -1 step exposure; 40mm

The reflection of the light is intentionally placed where it is to contrast with the dark colours, but I feel it's a bit too bright. And the dark colours are not as dark on my laptop as on the back of my camera in bad light. I could gimp it, but I can't be bothered. Anyway, for all those who want to say I should lose the spot altogether, I couldn't get rid of it and still have the water showing up so clearly. So to speak :) And for the techies, the spot is a ceiling mounted 50W halogen.

Now, I also have a cool back-catalogue water photo which is on the other computer, so you'll have to wait for that, along with my intended homework exercise, until my next posting.

Minature / Small World - Richards Effort

Hi All,

Better late than never, so here is my attempt at last months "Miniature / Small world". Following Paul's non photoshop with water I thought I'd be brave and bare all! These are all straight out of camera, not even a watermark !



"Out the toy box"
16mm, 1/13sec, F5.6, Av
Manual Focus (measured)
Tripod (yes inside the box)
Off camera flash top right.



"Abseiling"
16mm, 1/5sec, F5.6, Av
Off camera flash top center, to help texture.



"Run"
50mm, f5.6, 2/5sec, Av
Total -2/3 ev.
Flash low left.



"Back Step"
50mm, f5.6, 2/5sec, Av
Total -1/3 ev.
Tripod
Flash high right -1ev.



"Long grass"
100mm Macro, f2.8, 2.5 sec, Av
Tripod
Flash top right



"Freedom"
50mm, f5.6, 25sec, Av, ISO 200.
(it was dark hence 25s & ISO200).
Tripod
Flash low right.


As always, comments, abuse and questions welcome.

Cheers,
Richard B.

WATER: Paul's first pass

I'll post more later this month, but here's a small taster from my back catalogue. No PhotoShop^TM.

Goslings

Nikon F80
Nikkor 28-200
Scanned from a negative, so no EXIF data

Spring is here. This springtime shot of a Canada goose and her brood of goslings was taken in May 2001. Say, "Aaah." Located at Crofton Pumping Station, near the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon canal, I remember being distinctly cold and damp. The overcast skies are why the water is that foreboding gumetal grey. There was no heating in the boat, nor running water.

Reflections of Doha

Nikon F80
Nikkor 28-200
Scanned from a negative, so no EXIF data

At the time, 2001, this was called the Doha Marriott Gulf Hotel. It's now simply the Marriott. I was on the roof of one building, and happened to spot the reflection of the rig support vessels moored nearby.

March - WATER

Hi All,

OOPS, poor form this month, myself included ! promise to try harder.

Anyway just clicked the button for this month and used the same as last time 4 and came up with WATER.
No shortage of that here at the moment so get snapping.



Cheers,
Richard B.

Miniature: Arachnophilia

Flower power

Nikon D70s
Sigma 50mm macro
F/6.7
1/350s

Just a shot to lure the readers of this august blog into a false sense of security. This is the flower that produces a curious green fruit; the fruit that Richard thinks is a tomato, but which isn't.

Ant on Deck

Nikon D70s
Sigma 50mm macro
F/4.8
1/250s

I only posted the least bad attempt because of the way the image so clearly illustrates the minimal depth of field available when getting really up close with a macro lens. The ant, which is horribly blurred and therefore not really appropriate for this blog, is one of the tiny termite-sized ones. It was running down the twig at an industrious nineteen to the dozen. I'm amazed I captured it at all.

Hairy Beast 01

Nikon D70s
Sigma 50mm macro
F/4.2
1/180s

Found in my bathroom, this is one of those tiny jumping spiders. I first encountered it on the window frame, so there's lots of natural light coming from the left side of the frame. As with all the spider shots, I used the technique of getting the eyes in focus. And with a spider, that leaves plenty of choice. This one is my favourite of the three.

Hairy Beast 02

Nikon D70s
Sigma 50mm macro
F/13
1/20s

The same spider got alarmed by my lens and moved on to the glass. So lit from beneath is perhaps a little unusual. To be honest, this is my least favourite of the three because the creature's head is so dark. I did try to burn it in (or is that dodge it in?) by lightening the head alone, but it just made the whole image look really weird. The picture makes the cut because the pedipalps and forelegs are pin-sharp, at least in the original.

Hairy Beast 03

Nikon D70s
Sigma 50mm macro
F/13
1/20s

Same as above, only approached from a slightly different angle. Inexplicably, the lighting is better on this picture compared with No.2 above. Check out the beast's red fangs: claws under the head and between the pedipalps. Aren't you glad that the whole creature is less than 10mm across, legs included?

Mini + Bump

Late again. Sorry. My excuse is the small business-pregnant wife combo. So here are my tenuous efforts.

1. Something about things going bump.

This is a really poor link, but one morning I woke up to a bit of fog and marvelled at the view. The smoky, can't-see-anything atmosphere was vaguely reminiscent of all those colour-by-numbers slasher films.

24mm, F/5, why is the text suddenly blue? 1/100, ISO-100.

I played around with curves to white this baby up.

Sarah, meanwhile, took some good photos of the fog a couple of days earlier and, without permission because she's out, I'll post my favourite:

38mm, F/13. 1/60, ISO-100, Canon 30D with 24-70 lens.

2. Something about small stuff

First up, something from my back catalogue:

5mm, F/5, 1/500, ISO-100. Trusty Panasonic with the Leica lens.

And next, something more recent. And for this I've gone back to my customary B&W.

24mm, F/4, 1/60, ISO-100, -0.7 step compensation. Cropped, nothing else done. Big arsed Canon 30-D with the 24-70 lens.