Patricia Beck

A relaxed moment during the Daniele Mabe shoot, Isle of Syke, Scotland.

North Cup Burgie

Anna Davey on Wispa rockets across the water during the cross-country.
Photo notes: Nikon D700 + 85mm/1.8 ISO400, 1/1000th f4 + Flash from Vivitar 283 which seems to sync ok even when camera is set to Auto FP which takes the sync speed to any speed. I always understood that this mode only worked with Nikon guns.

Short Duration Flash - A Practical Application in Sport

My regular readers will remember the notes on this photograph, a few things came together.
As I arrived at the pool sunlight was burning through the window behind the lanes of swimmers, creating great out of focus highlights (bokeh). The sunlight also helped to highlight the water streaming off her arm and disguises the fact that I used flash.

I'd recently started at the Sevenoaks Chronicle(1996) and they'd given me a kit which included an Nikon F90 camera and SB26 flash - I'd wanted to get my hands on kit like this since reading about in magazines three years previously.
The flash allowed the photographer to get synchronisation at speeds faster than the usual sync speed of 1/250th, Nikon call it AutoFP. This has another effect it cuts down duration and distance over which it will fire. It is the short duration of the flash which has frozen the water pouring off Laura Tingley's arm. 1/500th would not have frozen it in midair.
I used manual focus and prefocused at a point in the water, (I didn't really trust AF), the settings were ISO 800 film, 1/500th sec f2.8 + flash. It was slightly overexposed on the colour neg. I only had about 10 minutes as it was part of a triathlon and I had other parts of the event to photograph.
On camera flash is essential for pictures such as this, in a live event it would be impractical to use a large device and powerpack.

Not Long till The cycling Season

A Time Triallist warming up at the Peebles Cycling Club Open 10 miles in 2009. Taken on a Nikon D3X fresh out of the box that night, beforethe night was out it had been for a slide down the tarmac but survived virtually unscathed!
ISO 400, 1/15th f16

Flash and The Social Photographer

Fill-flash

Confetti

Orlaith & Davie Elebert Wedding June 2010

Fuschia

Pretty simple really ISO 400, 1/160th f8 on Tamron 90mm macro lens, + fill-in flash from Vivitar 283 and variopower manual adapter - 5 stops, with stofen diffuser.

Tamron 90mm Macro

Bee my Snail
While a bee collects pollen from a strawberry plant a snail devours our clematis. Both shots with a Tamron 90mm f2.5 manual focus macro lens. The bee, which is really sharp on its wings was hand-held.
Set-up for the snail was more complicated. Iso 400, 1/4 sec at f16 with fill-in flash off camera from the side and Stofen diffuser, camera on a tripod and fired with self-timer. There's some luminence from the flash but it was just a quick 10 minutes, I am no Heather Angel.

Roses

A bit of photography from my garden, two roses and below a Japanese Primula and Geum. All taken on manual mode, 1/160th f8/11 with a dash of flash from a (1970s) Vivitar 283 + manual adapter set to -5 stops + Stofen diffuser.