Photography

When I first left school I trained to become a photographer and after 3 years  I decided it was not for me.

I have still had an interest in photography and I plan to start up again, so this is where my photos will be for everyone to see, lets hope they are OK.

Once in a blue moon

So for the second night on the trot the moon has been out and I have had the time to take some photos, tonight I thought I would add some filters to see if it would define the craters and ridges in more detail, still not too sure about it’s success.

11 September 2016 - 1

Luna photography – second attempt

So way back in 2014 I tried my hand at taking some photos of the moon take a looa at: Luna photography for an idea of what I was doing.

Tonight I thought I would give it a second attempt and I think the photos are much much better with quite a bit more detail to show.

To see a larger version of the image please click on the photo.

Hastings by night

Hastings by night

So some fun tonight in Hastings with long exposures.

I need to bring the time down quite a bit as they are a little too light in places and the images are suffering as a result, I will go back to the spot and play again in a few evenings times and hopefully the outcome will be better.

The nice thing about mistakes is the ability to learn a little more.

Water droplet 1'st session

Water droplet photography

So after an age I have been able to start with doing some water droplet photography, this is my first try and a few lessons learned.

Firstly the boring bits:

  • Shutter speed: 1/250
  • ISO: 400
  • F-Stop: f16
  • Camera: Cannon Eos 700D
  • Post editing
    • With the exception of cropping there was no post editing, so what you see if what you get.

 

Lessons learned

Focus:

I need to work on the focus a little more, the water is fine but the droplets are not as clear as they should be, perhaps I need to move the focus up a little.

Background:

While black is doing the job I may need to have a play with other colours but we will see for next time.

Lighting:

The lighting is not as simple as it appears to be, I need to work on that quire a bit.

 

Star trail photography

I have loved star trail photos for quite some time now so I thought I would have a play.

This image of from a set of images taken last night, not the best night for star trails as there was a almost full moon but I needed to try out the theory.

The image below is a composite image from 55 photos stitched together, each photo was taken with a Nikon D5100 using the inbuilt “interval timer shooting” option.

The camera was mounted on a tripod and set up to take images with the following settings.

F-stop : 5.6

Exposure time : 15 seconds

ISO Speed : 1600

Focal length : 22mm ( I was aiming for 20 but hay ho)

The images where then stacked using StarStaX a fantastic little freeware application.

This is the resulting image:

StarTrail-Try1

Now there is lots wrong with this image, there is too much light pollution from the street lamps but it was able to prove the concept.

The next time I do this there will be no moon in the sky and I will be in a more remote location without street lamps and with a bit of luck it will be a lot nicer.

 

Uncropped Luna Photo 2

Luna photography

I thought I would try my hand at Luna photography and after a little messing around with the settings I was able to get a few shots off.

The following are the four that I have selected out of the 9 in focus photos that I was able to take tonight.

Uncropped Luna Photo 2
Uncropped Luna Photo 1

ISO : 400
F-stop : F3.5
Focal length : 23mm
Flash : None
Shutter timing : 1/80 second.

 

Uncropped Luna Photo 3
Uncropped Luna Photo 2

ISO : 200
F-stop : F2.8
Focal length : 23mm
Flash : None
Shutter timing : 1/80 second.

Uncropped Luna Photo 1
Uncropped Luna Photo 3

ISO : 200
F-stop : F2.8
Focal length : 23mm
Flash : None
Shutter timing : 1/125 second.

Uncropped Luna Photo 4
Uncropped Luna Photo 4

ISO : 200
F-stop : F2.8
Focal length : 23mm
Flash : None
Shutter timing : 1/125second.

I then went on to crop with the, with different degrees of success, I think that cropped image 3 is the best one.

Cropped Luna Photo 1
Cropped Luna Photo 1
Cropped Luna Photo 2
Cropped Luna Photo 2
Cropped Luna Photo 3
Cropped Luna Photo 3

 

Fireworks 2014

Fireworks 2014

It has been a while since I had the time to play with the manual mode of a camera as as the local school was having a fireworks night in my back garden I thought I would have a play.

So I set my Nikon D5100 up on a tripod got out the IR shutter release and had a play.

The base settings are:

ISO : 100

F-stop : F11

Focal length : 18mm

Flash : None

Shutter timing : 1.9 – 5 seconds.

With the exception of some cropping I have not done any post editing at the moment, I plan this week to take one or two of the images and play with them in GIMP / Photoshop and see what I can do with them.

Scraping Back Time

Scraping Back Time

I have always liked the “Scraping Back Time” photos that I have seen around so I thought I would give it a go.

I am currently working in Guernsey one of the Channel Islands and the only part of the UK that was successfully occupied during the Second World War so I thought I would try to create one of the time images, I only have my phone with me for the of the modern image but it did quite a good job.

I need a better understanding of post image manipulation in GIMP / PhotoShop (I still have not decided what one to use) but this is the outcome, it could do with a little more of what is going on today in the image but it’s not too bad for a first try.

Scraping Back Time
Scraping Back Time

 

New image
New image

 

Old image
Old image

Note: I do not know who took the original photo of the march but if you do I would be happy to credit them.

Spitfire BM597

On 6th March 2011 I was treated to a flight in a helicopter while one of the few remaining spitfires fly around us, it has to be one on the most wonderful experiences I have had.

This is a set of photos from the day.