Royal snow ball

Royal snow ball
Originally uploaded by david roessli

A Neat nightime photography taken by Flikr member David Roessli on 12th December.

His Exif data tells us it was taken on a Ricoh GR a rather smart pocket camera. It must have been set on Program mode as the ISO 154 1/3rd sec f2.4.

Flash Meter

Calumet has brought out its own flash and ambient lightmeter(£119.99). A nice electronic job made in Germany it will rival the Sekonic L308 BII. The following is the blurb from the Calumet site:

The DFM 3 Digital Flashmeter measures ambient light and flash readings with precision digital accuracy for perfect exposures. Its digital LCD provides readings in tenth of stops while its analog contrast display provides readings in half stops simultaneously. The DFM 3 is capable of incident and reflective readings and its unique swivel head makes it easy to adapt the meter to both modes. Other features include the ability to take flash readings with and without a sync cord, storage of settings and readings and programmable exposure correction.
The DFM 3’s swivel head can rotate through 180°. This feature allows the photographer to read the values measured in the display, while the measuring head is directed towards the subject or light source.

Bicycle Accident

There have been no new photo posts since Tuesday 4th December as I am housebound after falling off my bicycle .

Pencils

Nikon D2x + 90mm/2.5 Tamron daylight Iso 100

Christmas Lights

Beinn Ghlas to Ben Lawers

Ben Lawers seen from the Looking back to Beinn Ghlas
north ridge of Beinn Ghlas from Ben Lawers (1214m)

Meall nan Tarmachan

Snow

Sparkling smooth snow blanketed Ben Lawers in Tayside today. Yesterday evening I noticed that the Highlands were forcast to get a clear sunny 23rd November. I set the alarm for 6.15am, actually normal getting up time for cycling to work.

Peebles cars were plastered in ice but nothing like the summits in Tayside where in places the snow was 18 inches deep. As I struggled into my boots outside the Ben Lawers visitor centre I realised I'd left the ice axe behind but luckily had my crampons which made descending much easier. Although I hooked a point in one place and slammed knees first onto a thick sheet of ice, Not pleasant especially on my bad knee. I met a diverse range of fellow mountaineers, two guys from Carlisle one of whom assured me he did not have flu but had taken a genuine days holiday when he saw the forecast.
I should have cleaned the Nikon D2X sensor as all my pictures have an irritating spot of dust!

Shopping

With 32 shopping days left to Christmas some visited the market for cheap fruit while those on the right hunted for Christmas cards. At the Sense Scotland charity shop (centre) an assistant arranges a window display of puzzles. Although still in November Peebles has its first late shopping this evening.

istockphoto.com

Submitted another three images to http://www.istockphoto.com/ this evening. Perhaps they will be more successful than my first three submission attempts! For last week's attempt I did not shoot the pictures specially which probably explains the failure.

Not sure how many goes I'll get before I'm rejected finally.

Holly Berries

Make Your own Christmas Card with my holly berries.
Double click to download.

Muhammed Ali's Fist

DOUBLE CLICK ON IMAGE TO BRING IT UP IN A BROSWER THE fIST IS THEN ACTUAL SIZE COMPARE YOURS!

The Autumn Years

Autumn Colours

Photo One Iso 100, (Side of the Road) 1/250th f8 Nikon D2x
Photo 2 on a bank of the Tweed berries lit by off camera flash Vivitar 283 set to f4, aperture f22 on camera, 1/4 sec Nikon D2x.
Photo3 Iso 800, 1/125 f4 metered off the fire on spot-metering
Photo Four Iso 800 1/30th f5.6

Showjumping

I spent the weekend with my sister & niece Anna. Here she is taking a jump on her pony Todd at a show near Mundole.

Exposure information: Iso 400, WB Cloudy, 1/2000th at f2.8 180mm lens (on Nikon D2x)

Rear Curtain sync + panning

Double click on image to enlarge:

Flash freezes water

This exposure was taken on Fuji Iso 800 film at an indoor pool with the Nikon F90 + 180/2.8 lens wide open. The exposure was 1/500th f2.8 with a burst of flash from the SB26, the camera and flash have a special mode allowing synchronisation at all speeds.
It is the flash which has frozen the water streaming off the swimmer's arm.
I have published this picture a few times but it is now hidden in archives.

Shutter Speeds

The shutter speed dial from my old Nikon FE. In the Auto position the camera is in aperture priority mode. It is up to the photographer to select apertures the cameras set the shutter speed for what it thinks will be correct exposure.

In manual mode the speeds which can be chosen are from 1/1000th sec to 1/2 second (The White Numbers). The orange numbers are slow speeds from 1 second to 8 seconds. M90 is a mechanical speed (No electronic shutter) and B is bulb for exposures longer than 8 seconds. In most digital SLRs the speeds are displayed on an LCD and inside the viewfinder on the information bar.


This image from inside the camera's viewfinder display shows:

From left: Metering option of matrix, 60 which represents 1/60th second shutter speed, f2.8 the set aperture.

The scale from + to - with zero in the centre shows slight over-exposure.

The number in brackets is the frames remaining.

Calumet adds Flash value

Just £5.86 buys this wonderful PC adapter for any SLR which does not have a sync cord socket for flash. It undercuts the opposition such as Jessops by at least £3.
It is one of a slew of flash related products which my employers have launched this month. Others include a radio flash trigger for £59.99 nearly 1/4 the price of its nearest competitor.
There's also a radio shutter release and cable shutter releases.

Camera quiz

Beginners on my Wednesday evening course will be
presented with this graphic and a short quiz.

Apertures

My first ever Border's College SLR course begins on Saturday 22nd September.
Students will be given this graphic and an exercise to produce a picture showing the effect of focusing on a foreground object with the widest aperture set & f8 or f11.

Nikon P50

Divide the P5000 by 100 and you have Nikon's latest pocket marvel the P50. It has a 28mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle lens, AA batteries so is truly go-anywhere, optical viewfinder, manual mode, Iso 64-2000, 8.2 Mega Pixels and vibration reduction (VR). So pretty much everything needed on a compact.
I'll have to give up recommending the P5000 and move to this newer model.
Have yet to try it out......................

phunkt.com

Taken by Keith Valentine at last year's World Mountain Biking championships in Fort William. I hope he's not going to charge me for this bit of free publicity for his website at:

www.phunkt.com

This year's gallery will be live in a few days. Keith uses the Canon EOS 5D.

Paparazzi

Frontpage focus: A few of New York paparazzi
Leigh Green's splashes. Leigh says:

"My life is pretty good but it is tough out here & there are so many photographers now.Fortunately most are morons so I do alright but if the numbers keepincreasing like a bad virus I do not know for how much longer."

Most of his competition would not have been

through the tough training of Paul Delmar on

the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) course at Sheffield.

New York Paparazzi

Former Stradbrooke snapper Leigh Green has gone a long way in 12 years. He now snaps stars in the Big Apple its got to be better than being an embed in Iraq. This is the route to photographic hall of fame chosen byDan Chung, a contemporary of ours on the NCTJ course at Sheffield.
He was Guardian Photographer of the Year.
Sometimes I get the odd hankering but as I cycle home from work at Calumet, unless it is raining particularly heavily, on balance I'm happy with my lot. I leave at 5.30pm that's it. Still enjoy photography as my regular readers will note.
Leigh tells on his website of a dodge used recently to capture celeb pics at a wedding which was guarded by ex-Israeli security. He and a fellow photographer rubbed suntan lotion into each other's backs and pretended to be gay, the guards ignored them hey presto pics in the bag.

Panning for speed

Cameron Balfour in Peebles Cycling Club's 14.5 mile time trial on Wednesday evening. Tech notes:
1/30th f11 panned of course with rear curtain flash -4 stops on manual adapter, Iso 200 Camera Nikon D100 28mm lens Vivitar 283 flash.

Photojournalists v Reporters (with compacts)

There is currently a dialogue in the British Journal of Photography based on the old kernal of multi-skilling. Nick Hart has contributed to this argument with the following letter:

"I've been a journalist, staff and freelance, here and abroad, for over 30 years. I've always thought it mad that reporters could not take pictures, particularly mug shots of people they were interviewing, if they had the skills, which modern equipment has made much less demanding. I suspect that photographers are in such a lather (about the Drogheda Agreement) because they know that while most writers could easily master a modern digital camera, and take good pictures, most press photographers are not 'photojournalists' but stupid, unprincipled, oppournist snappers who can't string a sentance together."

Let alone copy out his ridiculous letter word for word and reproduce it on their blog.

As you can imagine I have replied to this letter, next installment coming soon........

Garden Photographer of the Year Competition

Garden Photographer of The Year 2008
This year’s competition is now open, with thousands of pounds worth of prizes up for grabs.A panel of high-profile industry professionals, including Clive Nichols andAndrew Lawson, will judge the competition and the top 100 photographs willbe exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London from May toSeptember 2008.Closing date for submissions: 31st January 2008.For entry details visit www.gpoty.org (http://www.gpoty.org/) .

Pentax K100D Super

Pentax's latest digital SLR offering is an update of the K100D. At £389.00 it is good value for body integral shake reduction and built in dust removal.
However, it still only sports 6.1 mega pixels whith Nikon for £10 (after Nikon's cashback offer) more the D40X has 10 mega Pixels and is considerably lighter.
Unlike the Nikon though it is possible to use any K-mount lens. Since the end of cameras like the ME Super K-mount lenses are cheap as chips.

Canon 1Ds MKIII

Photo review sites and Canon photographers have more to look forward to than just the much vaunted Canon EOS 1D MkIII.

Today a 21 Mega Pixel 1Ds MKIII is announced. Possibly a camera to rival the Dalsa chipped "medium format" digital SLRs.

For further information and a preview of the main features see: http://dpreview.com/

At the same time Canon announced an update of the venerable (in digital terms) 30D. The new 40D will have a 10 mega pixel chip. A new 14mm f2.8 wide lens is announced. Finally in an attempt to remain at the top of the quality compact market the firm announced the G9 with 12.2 mega pixels and raw shooting.

Roast Beef

Simple roast beef, parsnips and potatoes which was our Sunday dinner.
This post is prompted by a local restaurant menu which we picked up on Saturday evening.
On it are such well known delicacies as Oxtail gateau, I used to think it was good in a stew. Wild turbot fillet with pistachio crust, I genuinely did not know that farmed turbot was an option. There was also plenty of jus available with Scotish beef fillet main course, what's wrong with gravy?
In deserts was crispy shredded dough with smooth rhubarb compote, if that was not enough in the same dish it's possible to enjoy the flavour of Perth strawberries and raspberry thyme sorbet. A nice bit of strawberries and sorbet would do!

Sean Bean

So snapper's spelling is not as good as hack's cropping or something like that in the latest National Union of Journalists'multi-skilling spat.
Sure anyone can take a good snap with a pocket digital. However, to get great snaps as many students from my courses will testify takes more skill if only in "managing" the subject to capture the a perfect pic.
Back in the days when I worked for a newspaper I knew what picture I wanted and how to capture it. Notice the little sparkle in Sean Bean's eyes from fill-in flash. What's that I hear most reporter's saying - that's what seperates "stupid, unprincipalled, opportunist snappers" (according to Nick Hart in the British Journal of Photography) from top photographers.

Singer Sewing Machine

Put our old singer sewing machine on ebay today.
No special photographic techniques but did do a cutout using Adobe Photoshop Elements.
It is in full working order and comes with full instructions, accessories and power cables

Tour de France

A small collage of more than 75 images I snapped during the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs Elysee, nearly two weeks ago. Despite the tour being besmirched by drug allegations and some truths no-one really cared by the time the caravan cruised into Paris.

Paris Advertising

This is a selection of some of the advertising hoardings dotted around France's capital. The board for Paris Plage (Seine Sands) is to remind the populace who have not escaped to the beach for August that sand, showers and beach games are available alongside the river.

Ben Starav Scottish Highlands

Ben Starav by Martin Breeze on his new Pentax K100D 6 megapixel, with body integral anti-shake.

Mount Elbrus summit

SECOND of seven summits: George Atkinson, 13, of Manor Drive, Surbiton, Surrey stands proudly on Mount Elbrus, more than 2,000 ft higher than the top of Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe. On Elbrus he was accompanied by his father Mark, 48, who failed 300ft below the top due to altitude sickness.
George aims to conquer the world's seven highest summits before the age of 21. The record is currently held by British climber Jake Meyer who climbed all seven by the age of 21.

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Cameratiks & Camerabase

This is the logo for Cameratiks & Camerabase located at:

122, Morningside Rd, Edinburgh, EH10 4BX.

Opening HoursMonday - Friday: 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The knowledgeable staff Nigel on the front counter and Patrick in repairs offer great service and can fix most broken cameras and lenses. My Nikon 180mm f2.8 would not focus and made horrible gritty noises - the repair cost £56.00 much better than £350+ for a good used one.

Cafe Louis Philippe, Paris, France

Yellow Jersey

Yellow Jersey: Contador in the middle of the peloton as it hurtles around the Champs Elysee cobbles in Paris last Sunday, looking like a shoal of tropical fish. For the technically minded: Manual mode 1/60th sec f9 105mm lens + fill-in flash from Vivitar 283 manual adapter -3 stops

Tour de France

CONTADOR conquered the Champs Elysee cobbles to finish winner of this troubled Tour de France yesterday. I was right there on the barriers watching not ligging as a press man but part of the spectacle. We shared our space with a six strong American family from Los Angeles. Sure the word drugs was mentioned but this magnificant avenue was en fete.
As a cyclist it was stunning to watch the riders circle the cobbles six times at speeds in excess of 30mph and always packed in a bunch. Photography from behind the barrier was a real challenge but I managed a few shots of which I am proud and will now try to post from my hotel in the Boulevard Raspail. However using a french language keyboard is complicated when used to qwerty.
It proved too complicated to add images..............

Eizo Colour Edge

If you are in the market for a new Monitor at Calumet Photographic we have this
model on display: (All EIZO monitors have 5 year warranty)

Ideal for soft proofing, the CG211 offers 12-bit hardware calibration and uniform brightness and color across the screen. It also comes with unique usability features like hardware-based support for portrait mode with both Mac and Windows PCs.
• 1600 x 1200 native resolution
• 500:1 contrast ratio
• 225 cd/m2 brightness
• 170° viewing angles
• Digital/analog inputs

Stobo 10

Rain, Rain, Rain

This summer, the jetstream is flowing further south allowing low pressure systems to sweep straight over the centre of the country. High pressure systems over Europe and the Atlantic have been weak............ Hence all the rain down south(not a link just a nice wet colour), here in Scotland it is normal, but today is nicer.
Pressure chart: 4/07/07. Source: Met Office

Digital v Film

THE SIMPLE sensitivity solution seems to give digital an edge. It is great being able to switch Iso (film speed) at the flick of a button rather than rewinding and reloading films. Viewing a slide show of our old transparencies on Monday night made me wish I had taken film on a recent trip to Paris and had put up with this inconvenience.
I could have even coped with hand searches of my luggage to avoid putting film through the x-ray at the airport. The colours are so much more vivid than those possible on a computer. Digital has its day when time is short.
However, last night at the Peebles time trial shooting digital allowed me to fit in an Indian meal as well as send the pictures off to my "editor" who compiles the weekly report for the local rag. With film I would have had to do the final wash with meths before scanning the pictures and the nearest I'd have got to the Indian would have been a carry-out. In this situation digital is a no brainer.

Caterpillar

Nikon D100, 90mm f2.5 macro + 2x Converter Iso 400 no flash