1/8th, 1/15th, 1/30th, 1/60th, Shutter Speeds etc

I've had a number of requests for help with shooting moving subjects. One thing that may well not help is an image stabilising lens. Sure you can hand-hold at two shutter speeds lower, but if the subject is moving it might be blurred.
In addition any lens which is IS or VR but does not have a wide maximum aperture will further hinder the ability to set fast shutter speeds - film or digital.

(For those less technical double-click on the image to view it full size)

Caricature

Here's Looking at You Pal: Nilesh Ladwa displays
a caricature drawn during Valeant Pharmaceuticals
"Christmas" party at the Elvetham Hall Hotel,
Hampshire, on Saturday night.

Half Moon

Equipment used Nikon D100, 2 x (Two times) converter Nikon TC 200 manual,
180mm/2.8 lens, Manfrotto Tripod, Iso 400, 1/60th f8 spot metered. Not a perfect picture but ok for Max's art school project. Taken at 11.25pm from the backyard in Peebles, Scottish Borders.

Frosty Mornings

Cold clear or frosty foggy mornings allow us
to see common sights such as these Rowan
berries in an unusual way.
Taken on 4 Megapixel Nikon at 1/33rd
f5.6 It is always worth carrying your
camera.
Which one to take?
Yesterday an optician asked me how I choose between an SLR and compact camera.
If I'm going for a walk in the hills and it's
foggy or raining then I take the compact.
If it's sunny when I start I take a bigger
camera. This usually works out.
Once in "film days" I had a Zeiss Ikonta 2.25 sq inch folding camera with me as I left Pen-y-Pass car park below Snowdon in North Wales, the air was thick with fog.
"You'll not need a camera today," said one joker as he marched past.
By the time we reached summit of Crib Goch (3,000ft+) we were above the cloud.
There was a perfect inversion with sun above and peaks jutting out of a cloud sea. I had the last laugh as the joker asked me to take a picture of him and his mates from Barclay's Bank. I agreed for a princely fee.

Not Out Yet

Alpha Male: Another "Steptoe" look-a-like (see January Archive), Alec Morrison is sought after in our shop for his photographic knowledge.
But you'd better hurry as he's just seven months from retirement.
If he'd not already bought a Minolta 5D the Sony Alpha 100 in Alec's right-hand would be snapping up scenes around his Fife stomping ground.

Sunday Hours

Double click on the picture to enlarge it in your browser

Lunch Quewe

Hay here's lunch, sheep quewe in the snow for a munch today near Peebles. A variation on one of my Christmas shots of animals feeding.

A Note on Technique:
Shot at Iso 400, with a 180mm (270mm on APS sized digital sensor). Handheld at 1/800th f2.8.

The use of a wide aperture makes the sheep at the front sharp but throws those behind out of focus. This, combined with the compressing of distance caused by using a telephoto lens, helps to further the eye's impression of a line of sheep.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

Students from my courses who have bought or plan to buy Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 should see this week's Amateur Photographer. There is a very full review from pages 19-26 by Angela Nicholson.

Kodak T-Max 100 vanishes

T-Max 100 was never popular with college students, now Ilford Delta seems to be the only choice at the shop under the big blue banner. However, as I said on Sunday about Fuji film it is still available so why alienate all those who want to buy it and force them to go elsewhere?
Perhaps some of the Christmas shortfall in DSLRs (blamed on Nikon and Canon) could have been made up with all the film sales we lost because we did not have the stock.
As I have stated before, it annoys me to work in a photography shop which wins awards for service but have to shop with a competitor on-line to buy consumables. Not because film is cheaper there just it is there!

Wild Flowers

Spring might be just around the corner judging by the temperatures this week. So here are some nice French flowers:





I don't know about drag and drop in New Blogger but I'm finding it a right pain with photos just as I did before. I struggle with the code but am slowly learning how to get spaces between my pictures.