Traquair Wedding

Nikon D700 + 600mm f4

Panasonic G1

The new Panasonic G1 uses a Micro-4/3rds sensor to make a tiny SLR camera.

Full-time Live View both for LCD and LVF
Advanced AF featuring iA (Intelligent Auto) Mode such as AF Tracking
4/3-type 12-megapixel Live MOS sensor and Venus Engine HD
Bundled with LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./MEGA O.I.S.
Dust reduction system - Supersonic Wave Filter

Velvia 50

Glamaig Panorama

Shot on 35mm Velvia 50 with my Nikon F100, 28mm lens
and a polariser filter. I think the range of tones is far better
than that possible with a digital camera.

Portrait Photography

Bruach Na Frith View

The power of Fuji Velvia, when I visited The Isle of Skye in May I shot a few rolls of Velvia, which I have just had scanned. The colours are far superior to digital pictures I took at the same time. the pictures were shot on a Nikon F100 picked up for £130, brand new, from Jessops when bosses there decided film was dead.

Sport

An Image for practice editing on my Digital Beginner's Course

Photography Courses

My latest photography courses start this week, with digital beginners on Wednesday evening and Introduction to Digital SLRs on Saturday morning.

To get into the swing of things students on Saturday - who are probably not looking at the blog yet will have a fun quiz to complete.

It might be inconvenient if anyone turns up with a full-frame camera.

Last September I had a student with a Canon 500mm f4 (£3K+)

Left is the quiz for Wednesday's digital beginner's course.

Nikon D90

The first digital SLR with movie mode hits the shelves on Friday September 19th. Nikon's D90 uses the same 12.3 Megapixel CMOS sensor as the D300 and offers very low noise up to ISO 3200.
At Calumet it will be £695 body only.
It might be an ideal second camera for pressmen who need to take the occasional video clip.
Best movie resolution is HD720p (1280 x 720 pixels), sadly autofocus will not operate but it will be possible to use the full range of Nikon Lenses.

North-west Highlands

We have just spent nine days touring in the North-

west of Scotland. This was one of the few sunsets we saw, at Achmelvich Beach near Lochinver.

Another guest took the same photo on his Olympus point and shoot digital but got quite a washed out result. 

I explained that my first shot was on program mode and then I used the exposure info gained to fine tune this picture on manual.

1/400th f8, Iso 200 and 200mm lens.

A handy seat carved into the bedrock

A handy rock seat above the sea looking to Ullapool

Cul Mhor, Cul Beag & Stac Pollaidh

Cul Mhor, Cul Beag & Stac Pollaidh photographed with Nikon D2X.

Heather heart

Heather heart spotted near Achiniver Scottish Youth Hostel which had closed by 2020.

Achmelvich Portrait

At 10.44am Wednesday August 27 2008, the youth hostel warden at Achmelvich was handed a heavy Nikon D2X with an 17-35mm lens. This is the portrait he took. The seasonal hostel and bay are in the background. It was also Geraldine's birthday.

Frog found near Lochiniver

Achmelvich Beach

Achmelvich beach just after midday on Monday August 25 2008. Photographed with a Nikon D2X + 18-200mm lens.

Heathery haven

Insects buzzed round Geraldine on this heathery trail near Lochiniver.

He drives it like he's stolen it............

He drives it like he's stolen it............
Originally uploaded by photobymarkdavey

The commentator at the Bo'Ness Hillclimb Revival meeting on Sunday 8th August 2008 made this comment to account for this driver's dash in his MKVI Bentley.
I used a Nikon D700 with 70-300mm VR lens and panned at 1/60th, due to the position I was standing it required just the right squeeze on the shutter button before the car went into the shadow of a tree.

Available Light Photography

Michael Freeman has been authoring photography books for at least two decades. This is an update of his volume on low-light imaging for film with chapters on techniques such as high dynamic range (HDR) digital photography.
For a full review see:
http://www.twipphoto.com/

Eurofighter 2

No Adobe Photoshop effects here. Straight out of the camera just as it appeared.
Nikon D300 + 180mm/2.8

Aerial Crossover

A lucky snap at East Fortune Airshow on Saturday 25th July. Wingwalkers are on the top wing of these biplanes which enthralled the crowds.
In this picture a wingwalker's hand is visible just above the propellor. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Taken with the Nikon D300 using a 180mm lens + 2x converter, Iso 400 manually focused. Not bad really! Even if I say so myself. The contrast was really tricky as the clouds were very low.

Canon 1000D

Latest digital SLR from Canon is the 1000D hoping to capture
the beginner market like its film namesake did nearly two decades ago.
The camera is the smallest and lightest Canon digital SLR ever and
features:
10.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor
EOS intergrated cleaning system
7-point wide-area AF system with f/5.6 cross-type centre point.
Up to 3.5 frames per second
2.5" LCD with Live view shooting DIGIC III image processor
Compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards
Compact and lightweight body
Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software
Fully compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX series Speedlites. It is £579.99, with the the 18-55mm lens + a 4GB SD card at www.calumetphoto.co.uk

Eye-fi (spy)

Now for sometihing a bit light-hearted.
Thieves in an american restaurant stole a woman's camera. Little did they realise it was loaded with one of the new Eye-fi SD cards. These cards are enabled to wirelessly transmit pictures to your computer or via a web based storage server.
The thieves were walking past a wi-fi hotspot with the camera switched on. The camera automatically uploaded the pictures one of which featureed the clueless trio. At home the woman turned on her file manager on the computer and recognised one of the restaurant staff in one of the beamed in photos.
The staff were sacked but the woman decided that was punishment enough and did not press charges.

SB900 Flash

Yesterday Nikon announced a new top-of-the-range flash the SB900.

Now setting the gun to master or remote firing is simple with a switch on the body instead of the SB800s complicated menu driven control.

It has three illumination patterns: - Centre-weighted, Even and Standard and it covers a auto zoom range of 17-200mm. Advanced features include a booster circuit that enables high-speed recycling using four AA-type batteries and a built-in thermal protection system to warn of excessive heat build up. It automatically detects the presence of a fluorescent or incandescent color filter and transmit this information to the attached camera’s white balance setting.

Nikon D700

Nikon's second full frame FX format camera will be the D700 which is
expected in Calumet on July 25th. It will use the same 12.1 mega-pixel
sensor as the D3 but cost about a grand less at £1999.00 when it is
launched.
Full Specs below:
12.1 megapixel FX (full-frame) CMOS sensor with high signal-to-noise ratio, wide dynamic range, and built-in self-cleaning sensor unit that minimizes dust.
ISO 200 – 6400: extendable up to 25600 (equivalent) and down to ISO 100 (equivalent).
5fps continuous shooting (8fps with optional MB-D10 battery pack with lithium-ion battery EN-EL4a or 8 AA batteries).
EXPEED image processing engine with 14-bit A/D conversion and 16-bit image processing for superb detail and tonal gradation.
Advanced Scene Recognition System combines the camera’s metering and AF sensors for precise exposures and sharply defined images.
Multi-CAM3500FX 51-point AF system. Individually selectable or configurable in 9-point, 21-point and 51-point coverage settings.
Picture Controls streamline in-camera image processing by enabling the pre-set customization of image parameters such as sharpening, contrast, brightness, hue and saturation in various color modes.
920,000 dot 3-inch VGA LCD monitor with wide, 170-degree viewing angle.
Live View with Autofocus enables composition of images by use of the LCD monitor. Two modes are supported: Handheld or Tripod.
DX Crop Mode can be automatically enabled when a DX format lens is attached.
Quick response: approx. 40 ms shutter-lag.
Active D-Lighting enables superior high-contrast images by automatically applying tone compensation at the moment of capture.
Intuitive ergonomics with optimized button placement for fast and comfortable handling.
Durable Magnesium alloy body: moisture and dust resistant.

Adobe Photoshop Elements

Having a bit of a play with remove colour in Adobe Photoshop Elements following a session of Black and White with my Thursday evening class. So here is Belinda Swift on the Isle of Skye with her ordnance survey map.
If you have not tried this feature, first using the lasso tool create a selection around the part of your photo which is to remain in colour. Go to select>inverse to select the rest of the image and then enhance>adjust colour>remove colour - hey presto it is done.

Skye 3

Glamaig with a capping cloud - the only cloud visible for
miles!

Skye 2

Cooling my feet after a hard day's walking on the Isle of Skye, May 2008.

Skye

Ruth Beach of the Austrian Alpine Club taking picture near the summit of Bruach Na Frith, Black Cuillins, Skye, on May 29th 2008.

Sealion at Edinburgh Zoo

Playing with the Nikon D3 at the zoo at the end of May. Went to sealion feeding and got some great pictures with the animal's whiskers.

Spring Blossoms with Canon A620

Thief

I stopped off for a coffee at Caffe Nero in Lothian Road Edinburgh on the way to work yesterday. My new Dawes Galaxy was locked to the railings outside. As I chatted to my friend Faye. I spotted a man, dressed in a suit for work, casually lift my Tour de France drinking bottle from the cage on my bike and walk off with it.
I gave chase and caught him about 40m up the road. I grabbed him by collar spun him round and took the bottle off him, the lid burst open and a spray of Lucozade Sport went over his suit.
Why would anyonme risk a criminal record or worse a beating up for a £4 plastic bottle? especially someone who dresses in a suit for work. Perhaps it was a dare and on his desk at work he has other "trophies" lifted on his journey in each day............................

Misty Meldons

Using the Nikon D3 this evening at 8.30pm on Iso 3200, hanheld 1/125th f2.8 et voila!

Nikon D3

Misty Hills near Peebles taken this evening with the Nikon D3 which I have on loan from my work at www.calumetphoto.co.uk Was trying out the Iso 1600 and using an old series E manual focus 28mm lens. This is a cropped portion of the larger picture which can be seen at: www.redbubble.com photobymdavey.

Spring,Snow & Sunshine

View from Tweed Bridge to the south on Sunday 6th April. The daffodils are out but it is still cold and quite wintry.

The picture was taken with the new Nikon D300 (12 MegaPixel) and an old manual focus 28mm/2.8 lens + polariser. The picture style was changed in the menu to vivid which roughly recreates the colour of a slide film, hence the green, green grass and orangey tree tops.

Chamonix Skiing

Yours truly on the descent from Grands Montets to Argentiere. Picture snapped with my pocket 4 Mega-pixel Nikon by a kind Swedish man. The snow that day (my last) was excellent as it had been snowing for a night and a day!
My knee just about survived the trip but was aching a bit after this run.
Now back to cycling and have managed to cycle 18 miles a day for the last three weeks. Begining to feel moderately fit again after the December accident. Doubt that I will do any time trials until June as I'd be too slow.
We have a pair of Nikon D3s in at work, one in rental and one in demonstration stock. Last weekend I was using the D300 and now looking forward to testing out its big brother.
One of the students on my course recommended www.redbubble.com as a good photo site. She has managed to sell a couple of her prints through redbubble-not bad going from a 5 Megapixel compact. It is smaller but more friendly than www.flickr.com which regular reader's will know I have been using for about three months.

fascism too

fascism too
Originally uploaded by illegalphotos

i'm sorry sir but that tie is suspicious and may contain a camera.

Sports Action

Nightime + Fill Flash

1/2 sec f2.8 + fill flash Canon Compact digital

Character study - Martin Breeze by Tim Breeze

Calumet says howdy

Calumet says howdy
Originally uploaded by Joey Harrison

Geese reflections

Geese reflections
Originally uploaded by muppet number1

Really neat reflection taken with a Sony Ericcsson phone should provide some inspiration............

Raspberries

Raspberries
Originally uploaded by Jess Cartwright

Edinburgh based Jess Cartwright said:

"Part of a mini series for my friend Martina, who has been determinedly dropping hints about that empty wall over her dinner table, where “something red” and “maybe a set of food photos?” would look really good…"

Taken with a 13mm extension tube behind an 18-55 mm lens.

Luckily it fits the theme for my class perfectly

Cooking & Cameras

Next week's picture project for my Wednesday evening class is Pancake Day, I may extend it to food in general.

Hopefully this handout will provide some inspiration. Regular readers of these pages will have spotted this handout previously.

Exposure

2008 Britian Today

2008 Britian Today
Originally uploaded by bokmunc

Uptown on the 29 again.

Uptown on the 29 again.
Originally uploaded by jimbodownie

Contre jour lighting combined with expression

CoEx Building and the street traffic

CoEx Building and the street traffic
Originally uploaded by lyh1

Lyh1 who took this neat reflection picture said:

"Sort of like a mirror reflecting the light, this is one of my favourite photo."

Panasonic compact camera.