PLAYING WITH MY dSLR

Video Gadget 2

2010-01-09T20:03:00.002Z

Well lets see if it will add these videos now....

Ah it seems that it was just a moment so here is the final video... A group of more or less grown people hand jiving.

Video Gadget

2010-01-09T19:08:00.003Z

Hey all you followers out there, who may be wondering what I have eeen doing today... well we went to get breila her Xmas stuff - yes I know we are late but she is actually in this country on Wednesday. Anyway, we got a copy of Vogue because of the model on the cover (and the PVC clothes inside apparently) and decided to visit H&D in East Chaldon - not influenced at all by Lizzie being there. It was Lucia's birthday yesterday, so that gave me plenty of chances to play with my Veho Muvi a tiny spy cam which also records my trips to and from work. So here, in colour and glorious sound are a few video clips recorded today whilst in Frozen East Chaldon. Please note that these videos are heavily compressed from the original - 640x480 at 20fps isn't bad for something about the size of a small cigarette lighter.

The Muvi is a tiny camera so spying on people is easy....

Now we have Lucia's birthday cake

A rather 'Wicker Man' moment in the Churchyard

hmmm blogspot seems to be having a moment... I will post the other two clips in a while.

Gathering Storm

2009-12-26T19:12:00.001Z

Gathering Storm
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is what happens when you expose for the bright bits of a picture - you get underexposure elsewhere. In this instance it doesn't bother me - the cloud over Weymouth (right hand side of the picture) really was dark and the slight underexposure emphasises the menace. Shame about the stern of the tanker on the left of the picture though -perhaps I should crop it off then again I don't like doing that because the picture is the picture not something I have messed with.

Fingers Of God

2009-12-26T19:08:00.001Z

Fingers Of God
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is one of two pictures I want to waffle about from today's little trip to Ringstead. The weather, as mentioned on Flickr was Turneresque - lots of sky features and interesting interactions with the light and sea. The sun is, of course, over exposed, yet that is how it looks in many turner paintings (where there is sun). I suspect I should have set the shutter speed a bit lower to try to blur the water a little - I must get the camera off aperture priority once in a while - and for that matter get the 50mm off the front of the body as well.

Boxing day Walk

2009-12-26T18:59:00.002Z

Well today we went for a walk on the beach. It was a lovely autumnal afternoon with intense sun slotted between heavy rain showers. Typically it wasn't cold and we had a good time with Dan & Harriet.

On to the pictures - well I will blog in a bit about the ones on Flickr, however here is one that I didn't Flikr but will post here. Dan and Daughters.

2009-04-29T23:08:00.001+01:00

Finally - it is done. The green panel is quite uneven, however without the sun behind it I think it will be OK. The final intention is to hang the flag from the tent, although a pole may be in order - fresh cut each camp would be best, I guess, to save having to carry one around. I will leave it until tomorrow before thinking about fixing it - the patches where the yellow goes over the pencil need thought - if I fix the dye will it also fix the pencil? who knows... I guess I will find out

2009-04-29T23:04:00.002+01:00

Well here we are 2/3 done, just got the green to do next. The red is much more striking in real life than on the photo. The silk does relax somewhat when wet, so next time I think I will be stretching it tighter. The other issue I have is that an even colour is impossible to achieve without airbrushing the design - there is just too much space around to keep the ink even. Perhaps an airbrush is the next thing to get, though it will be even less authentic.

2009-04-29T23:00:00.002+01:00

Start with the light and work to the dark. I picked that up along the way somewhere, so yellow it is. Portcullis en Or where Or is yellow that is not too red or orange but fits with the artists palette. My eyes were playing silly tricks after painting this - ghost yellow portcullis shapes floating in front of my vison. The anti-dispersant works extremely well. I am so glad, because that means I won't be messing about with guta; I have a congenital shake so straight lines or even straightish lines are virtually impossible.

Anti-Dispersant II

2009-04-29T22:57:00.003+01:00

Well here is the anti-dispersant having been painted in a thin(ish) band over every junction of colour on the map. It is quite sticky but even so seems to go in to the cloth well. I just hope it performs for real as well as it did in the test.

Flag Painting

2009-04-29T22:48:00.003+01:00

This is the flag template, with the new portcullis taped to it. It just fits in the bathroom. I found earlier that I have made some mistakes when making the frame. Perhaps I should see Dan and see if we can Merso something more useful.

Here the silk is stretched over the frame, and lowered over the template for tracing. All edges where two colours meet need tracing in pencil. Hopefully it will wash out after ironing however I don't know. This is very much a Mk 1 flag and may not be good enough for use.

Anti-Dispersant

2009-04-22T20:11:00.003+01:00

Well, well, well. This picture, again nothing to do with my dSLR, shows the difference between silk treated with anti dispersant and plain silk. Can you guess which is which?

I put one drop of yellow paint on the silk on the left and one drop of anti-dispersant on the material on the right; the anti-dispersant I smeared out and made sure that the stuff was worked into the fabric - it didn't flow itself. The paint on the left cloth wicked out from the point of impact.

Once the anti-dispersant dried I dripped a single drop of paint onto the treated cloth. The dye just stayed in one place. I touched the bubble of paint with the other cloth - it wicked out immediately and made the second spot. It also spread the ink further on the treated cloth, however it still did not wick. Looks like I am on to a winner there. I will paint a strip of anti-dispersant along each line on the flag design, leaving the dye to wick across the vast open expanses of shimmering silk.

The progress of the flag is stalled as I reworked the portcullis but failed to measure it so the new pattern is too small. I cannot print out a new one at the correct size until friday so, medieval flag fans, you will have to wait for further progress till then.

And now for something completely different

2009-04-20T21:00:00.002+01:00

And now for something completely different
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is a filtered scan of a MF (6x6) picture I took as part of this thread on the Talk Photography BBS.

The picture was taken in early December last year, shortly after the pic in my photostream of the sun through a rock on Portland - here.

The camera in question was a Twin Lens Reflex made by Lubitel. Kev M from the TP forum describes it thus "Be warned, this is a mass produced russian camera dating from somewhere between 1955 and 1982. Don't get hung up on the focus, there are no garuntees with this thing. Think Holga and you'll be somewhere in the right area."

Personally I loved it. I took the time to read up about exposure - you know that thing the dSLR takes care of for you (and mostly gets almost right) - I found some universal exposure tables on the interweb which I used instead of a light meter and the result, after developing and scanning by another Talk Photography member, is the picture you now see. Not bad for guess work and hand held camera on slippery rocks.

I hear the siren call of MF or even LF photography but, similar to Odysseus, I am tied to the mast of all things digital for the moment... who knows what the future will bring.

Not my dSLR

2009-04-19T18:13:00.003+01:00

Well here is a departure for me. A post not about the dSLR at all, rather the new medieval project. My Burgundian tent is looking rather bare without decoration, so I am making semi authentic Tudor flag. Here is a photo of the pattern and the stretching frame. The silk is ready - almost, I haven't washed it yet - for stretching however I have no drawing pins (yet). The next stage is to trace the places where the colour meets in bleed resist so that one colour doesn't overrun the other and then paint away. There are only three colours, so it shouldn't be too tricky.

Spray

2009-02-16T21:14:00.001Z

Spray
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

I never thought I would say this, but I can now see why one may have use for a ND Grad filter!

The white sea here is not white because it was choppy, in fact quite the reverse, but because it is over exposed. With an ND Grad I could have exposed the rocks correctly and also the sea, retaining detail and reducing the glare. I suppose I could have used a circular polariser as well/instead because that is good for -1EV or there abouts.

So new shopping list! I will go for Cokin P-System filters owing to the price/performance issue I need the following:-

2 adapter rings, one 52mm for the nifty and one 58mm for both the telephoto and the kit 18-55mm
1 P system Filter holder
1 ND Grad 4 - good for a couple of stops of exposure.

The trouble with using this arrangement is that the slower shutter speed will increase the water blur, which in turn will prevent one from seeing the spiky effect as the water crashes (!) over the rocks.

Another suggestion has been that I take an equivalent picture but in landscape orientation. next time I get over to Kimmeridge I will try that as well - after all I have a tripod and I am not really afraid to use it!

Machine Elbow

2009-01-24T21:33:00.001Z

Machine Elbow
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

At long last I have found some more machinery to photograph. This is a fork loader, used by Wessex Water or their contractors whilst repairing what I guess is a sewerage pumping station at Osmington mills.

I love machines - I think too much watching Koyaanisqatsi, under the influence of certain substances, in my youth is responsible; though thinking back to age 3 or 4 I remember dragging my mother round Salisbury looking for "workems" and their associated machines.

The colours are good and strong - Auto Levels just emphasises the shininess which wasn't my impression of the image when I took it so yet again I post a picture with no post processing.

I should perhaps have made the silver coloured bolt head the focus of the picture, however hind sight is a wonderful thing and I like the picture as it stands.

Blue

2008-12-28T21:41:00.001Z

Blue
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Here is the first proper picture taken using the tripod and 3-way head I got for Christmas.

I quite like it - though it is not square, but that adds to the atmosphere I think.

I have a stop motion film to make tomorrow, with the younger daughter directing, so that will be fun. Hopefully we can use this rather eerie light for effect.

Stop Motion - Balls 1

2008-12-28T19:48:00.004Z

Well, now I have a tripod and a couple of lights, here is a simple stop motion tale of silver balls who escape from the pot and vanish off on adventures who knows where... we may catch up with them another day...

I find it a bit bizarre using a dSLR to produce stop motion video, but the wonders of modern software and computers mean that the process I last undertook in a dark, hot animation studio at the age of 14 can be relived in the comfort of my own kitchen, with beer available on tap.

Sunset

2008-12-06T19:46:00.001Z

Sunset
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

I really must get out more.

This was the best of 3 passable shots, selected from 80... my 'hit rate' has fallen from 30% to 3%!!!

I haven't been out with the camera much because walking and getting into awkward positions has been difficult with the last nagging bits of my ankle injury.

I think my new year's resolution must be to get out at least once a weekend with the camera, otherwise I will loose any learning I have done over the last year.

Legs

2008-11-07T22:14:00.001Z

Legs
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Ok,

well here is a picture of legs. Wrapped in fishnets. The composition of this picture is rather bad to be honest - I should have crouched lower on the floor and lost the heads of Claire and Sam who were modelling for the shot.

I did try flood filling the top of the photo with plain black but it just looks rubbish - so here is the picture to remind me that getting down on the floor sometimes means getting really low.

There are other, less discrete, pictures but they remain firmly in my archives.

Claire and Livi

2008-11-07T22:10:00.002Z

Claire and Livi
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Here is a candid portrait that I stumbled upon at a Halloween party this year.

If I run autolevels on it, everything goes over exposed and blown; I prefer the straight out of camera look to the composition. It also is slightly grainy - though the camera was (and still is) on ISO 100.

Had I really posed the shot, I would of course ensured that the dress label was hidden or removed and fixed any number of other things which aren't quite working.

However this is my favourite picture out of the many I have taken this year. OK Livi is squawking but that adds something I think.

On to the next post - more of Claire, I am afraid :)

Fence Post and Barbed Wire

2008-10-16T20:36:00.002+01:00

Sunset 03
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Here is one of a sequence of 5 photos I selected from 20 odd I took this evening at Falcon Barn.

I had to pay a visit so I took the camera just in case the sun played ball and lo! it did. The pre sunset pics were a bit bland, the after sunset though... well this picture gives you some idea.

There is a lot of black in the pic, however the colours more than make up for it i think.

Today I was mostly using the kit lens as well.... the nifty stayed in the bag; the 7-200mm came out a couple of times as well, though that was for hand held shots of a huge moon, which were too wobbly for words.

Hoodie

2008-10-11T16:12:00.001+01:00

Hoodie
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

My first Blog post for ages... I know, I should be out photographing stuff more. Wel lI have had an excuse this year - having severely sprained my ankle in June I haven't actually been able to walk around for long periods of time much. The ankle whilst much much better is not yet right, thanks for asking.

This pic looked a bit "bleh" when in colour, so I took out the red and blue channels, boosted the green a little then converted to grayscale. After tweaking the brightness and contrast a little I am happyish with the result - especially given this was taken on a sunny afternoon!

Weddings

2008-09-02T22:10:00.001+01:00

Order Of Service
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

A random staged shot for a blog entry, but this one is about my first (and possibly last) wedding shoot.

Oh my how many pictures did I take? 1779...

That is a large number but divide by 3 because for the majority I was bracketing exposure. This is because I am aware that the camera will guess about white, so sometimes you need +1EV and also sometimes it will burn out whites, so -1EV is called for.

Out of the 1779 pics I got about 247 which were worth giving the Bride - nothing special just all the pics on a CD (they just fit)

Then out of those 247 pics I picked the most "Ben" ones. - examine my Flickr stream to see what I mean here.

I now have to go through the 247 and do a bit of sharpening and auto levels then make another CD with the final results. Stck a nice label on it and job done.

I hope Hannah likes them, I certainly had a great time taking them.

Not a photography post

2008-06-18T10:39:00.007+01:00

I was pointed in the direction of Wordle by a Flickr contact and pasted the text of the front page of this blog (before I made this post) into the machine. A bit of Java later and....Here is the result

The Sands Of Time

2008-05-27T21:28:00.001+01:00

The Sands Of Time
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Another shallow depth of field photo produced by the 75-300mm lens. Jason's hand dripping a little of what sand there is on the beach. This is a candid - he was completely unaware that I was taking this picture.

Harriet in a see through dress

2008-05-27T21:25:00.001+01:00

Harriet in a see through dress
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

I had to blog this picture. It is my favourite one of Harriet so far which isn't a portrait. The reason it is over exposed is that I have been messing with the metering on the camera. I was spot metering this one on Harriet's dress... which being black rather than 18% grey meant that her bikini bottoms show through rather well.

Fern - why is it wet?

2008-05-27T21:23:00.001+01:00

Fern - why is it wet?
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This shows the shallow depth of field achievable with the telephoto lens. I could get used to this lens - thanks Dan and Harriet for the loan. If you are wondering why the fern is wet.... well I had been drinking beer all afternoon :)

Mouldy Nail

2008-05-27T21:20:00.001+01:00

Mouldy Nail
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Here is the most successful picture taken with a reversed nifty fifty and the 75-300mm Telephoto. The vignetting is due to the rather odd lens arrangement - it is like taking a picture through a cardboard tube. Giles has a mouldy toenail, so this is a close up picture of it. I think that a reversing ring is calling out to me... at least then I will be able to use both hands to hold the camera rather than using one to hold the nifty and the other to steer the camera.

Davide the Sicilian at sunset

2008-05-27T21:17:00.001+01:00

Davide the Sicilian at sunset
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Well, Davide loves having his picture taken, though Long Exposure shots seem to confuse him. Not everyone sat still for the required 4-10 seconds, but only Davide managed to move in such a way as to make a better picture than a straight portrait. Wonderful.

Loveday in the sea

2008-05-27T21:15:00.001+01:00

Loveday in the sea
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is Loveday Littman in the sea... She grew up with Dan and has just visited him and his family for the first time in 20 years. What a star (she is as well... Emmerdale, heartbeat, Corrie, Caberet, Return to Forbidden Planet, Mousetrap the list goes on and on)

She was swimming here in a bikini. Hmmm. I had suggested that a wet suit would be a bit soft and she believed me.

The afternoon after this photo was taken she walked up smugglers path, which considering that she is really not very good at all with heights, was a massive achievement.

I hope to see more of Loveday in Dorset and of course her dog Ash.

Gardening

2008-05-11T11:04:00.003+01:00

This movie is something I meant to do last week, before the bank holiday weekend.

I wanted to show just how much devastation I can wreak in my garden at one go. However I didn't get a round tuit, so here is the "Gardening II - after the disaster" movie. There is a bit of hanging up the washing as well as mowing the lawn action.

You will note that my garden is GM free - at least it is now I have pulled up the oil seed rape which got there somehow

Hope you like it. It is curiously empty to my mind, but then I am used to a bit of meaning. Perhaps I should go back to stop motion animation as I used to do on real film when I was 12...

B.

Quack

2008-04-07T19:26:00.003+01:00

Well here is the duck. I understand one is practically obliged to take a picture of a duck with one's camera gear, so here is my first attempt.
Lots of things wrong with the picture, however it was taken with a 70-300 telephoto lens whilst I was walking along to keep pace with the critter. I can't get over how much detail is picked up by digital cameras. In the full size version of this picture you can make out the structure of individual feathers.

Electricity

2008-04-07T19:24:00.001+01:00

Electricity
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is a "Ben" type picture. A harsh contrast between man and nature. The dendritic branches imitating lightning; lightning which is parcelled up and fed to peoples houses by the pylon behind.

Sun

2008-04-07T19:21:00.001+01:00

Sun
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This was taken on Friday 4th April as I sat in the mist waiting for the Water Board to turn up. They sent a man with a broken laptop, no local knowledge and a distinct lack of common sense to find the field in which I was sitting. Back to the picture - a classic expose/focus recompose shot.

I have another picture, of nearly the same scene, letting the camera work out the exposure but everything shows up too white and the mist is reduced in intensity. I like the under exposure of the trees and tree guards and the white dot which is the sun

Stuff

2008-04-07T19:18:00.001+01:00

Stuff
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is a picture of stuff at my parents house. You are looking at the inside of the front door. Really. My father is a master at saving things just in case and indeed of storing said items in a seemingly random way. I am sure he has a system there somewhere, but I am not sure if he can remember it these days.

Loads of Pictures on Flickr

2008-04-07T10:43:00.002+01:00

Well there will be some just not yet - possibly tonight.

I took lots and lots of pictures over the weekend, some of which are reasonable, some are good, others are pants. If I remember I will post the snap of a duck I took whilst walking along - even though I managed to crop bits of the animal the detail available in the feathers is nothing short of astounding - but then it was taken whilst I was walking along with the 70-300mm lens on the camera.

See you all later (all two of my readers that is!)

B.

Clearing Up

2008-03-25T21:11:00.003Z

Well, as I have been abandoned by the rest of the family this evening I thought I would complicate putting away the washing up. This video is partly there to satisfy Harriet's curiosity about the inside of my house.

All the frames were taken by the EOS30D. I did not have to rush back to the camera each time I moved something out of shot because I have a remote release, and an electronic pulse gizmo which work together to give the 30D time lapse capability. It was capturing 1 frame every 5 seconds or so, which I then doubled by copy and paste then renaming the files. I should have remembered to put the camera in small mode and JPG only of course, but I forgot.

The film is a little out of focus because the camera was perched on top of the fridge and I had to have the lens in MF which whilst not usually a problem is in this case because of where the camera was - if one leaves the lens on AF, the gizmo just makes it focus rather than release the shutter.

The animation was put together using a program called Super
I link to the software via a third party site because the owner makes it virtually impossible to download from his web page - possibly the most frustrating website on the web, excluding pr0n pop-ups/unders etc... Why people try to make things difficult for end users I don't know! That, and the unreliability of the downloads from the authors site discourage me from actually donating to the cause, so a bit of an own goal there.

Lighthouse Moon

2008-03-21T20:45:00.001Z

Lighthouse Moon
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

I had a lot of trouble getting the metering right for this picture. Several shots were exposed right for the lighthouse but, of course, the sky was burnt out.

The solution was remarkably simple.

Behind me was the sky lit by the afterglow of sunset. I Exposed the shot for that, spun round and released the shutter whilst aiming at the lighthouse.

An extreme expose/recompose motion, but remarkably effective - the lighthouse light and moon are both visible, the clouds have detail and the lighthouse itself actually looks red and white.

Well considering it was meant to be foul weather, we got away with wind and wind chill. Ambient temperature was 6C, with wind chill, much less.

Not really...

2008-03-21T08:47:00.002Z

The weather for photography. Oh well, I hope easter weekend will give me a chance to get some pics done. I may experiment with the timer box - take the camera to portland bill, set up and leave it to take a few pictures - perhaps blind chance will capture dramatic wave action? Somehow I doubt it, but it is worth a try I guess.

I have taken a few very disapointing shots; the concept was good but the ability lacked. AF on a pin head is kind of tricky and MF without a tripod at f1.8 is nearly impossible at 45cm because the DoF is about 2mm.

Oh well... off to do some house work and then offski for the day to do things with the only daughter in the house at the moment.

Tomorrow we need to be in Dorchester in the afternoon, so a damp trip to Thorncombe woods calls, providing it isn't raining.

More later, if I get any pictures.

Harbour

2008-03-02T20:01:00.001Z

Harbour
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

It seems that this is a 'good' picture. It was a longish exposure on a night when the air was nearly completely still and the tide was extremely high. I have added a border to make up the size, and will take it to get printed at Profolab at 12"x8"... Perhaps I will have to get a frame from somewhere as well if the picture is that good.

Beauty

2008-02-29T15:46:00.002Z

Well here we are, the second not really picture blog in a couple of days. never mind. I blame this post on Harriet because she reminded me just how paranoid she and her friend Lizzie get about ageing.

The daughter is, I assume, an attractive 17/18 Year old - I can't pass comment because I have never met the girl. H & L keep on about how they don't feel attractive/don't look pretty any more; in particular H tires to persuade Dan and myself to Photoshop pictures of her to remove the signs of age. We refuse, and tell her not to be so silly.

Anyway, to get back to the story, the daughter is no doubt pretty, pert and attractive in the way that young ladies are. I have no doubt she is causing problems for the male youth of her town with mutterings as she walks past - knowing the town I guess they may not mutter so much as shout out loud that they would rather like to get intimately acquainted with her in the way that uncouth youth are inclined to do.

I maintain that the prettiness/attractiveness doesn't go away with age; H & L maintain that neither of them are pretty any more.

As one ages, things change. There is nothing you can do about it so why bother? To my eyes someone who is relaxed about who they are is much more attractive then someone trying to be something they aren't. There is no way H or L will ever be 18 again, however what they are now is a pair of attractive, entertaining, women both of whom give the impression that they know what they are about. Are they less pretty than 10 years ago? I really wouldn't be able to say in Lizzie's case, but I have seen a photo or two of Harriet for times past and she looks just as pretty now as she did then. Different but just as pretty.

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder - so my ramblings on the subject are just that. An attempt, if, dear reader, you like, to pin down the butterflies holding on to my thoughts on the matter.

B.

Books

2008-02-28T11:42:00.003Z

March 19th 2008 is my wonderful father's 84th birthday. As a man who has everything and apparently likes nothing much any more it is quite hard to find suitable presents.

I thought long and hard, asked some advice and then decided that a hardback book of some of my better photographs would be a good idea.

Whilst self publishing is even more of a solipsism that this blog, I scuttled around a few publishing on demand type shops on the internet, and came across Blurb.

Blurb require the download of a rather idiosyncratic book composition programme which allows one to select predefined layouts - Page colour and contents can be chosen but page elements are laid out by blurb - look and feel can be altered but layout cannot.

I spent hours sorting out the format of the book; finally got a satisfactory layout of the dust jacket, spine, copyright page, introduction and even the contents, all of which are viewable on my Flickr page, and sent off the order.

10 Days later, a parcel dropped in to work with the two books exactly as I required them. Good quality - not glossy paper or very high specification printing but better than I could have done elsewhere.

I am one happy bunny. I am now off to create a Flickr set in my profile so that I know which pictures I have used before when I do the next book.

Bondage

2008-02-22T20:37:00.002Z

Bondage
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is a return to the more ben style of photo - artificial/natural brutality in juxtaposition.

I keep wondering what exactly is ben style - and this picture is it I think. Well an example of it anyway.

This week I have ordered a solipsist book - some of my pictures hardbound with a dust cover as well. One for me and one for my father who is 84 in march. Not many words but 30 odd of my best pictures.

When I get it (in a month or hopefully less) I will post and record my thoughts.

Sunset 2

2008-02-16T10:13:00.001Z

Sunset 2
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is attempt 3 at trying to get the sunset, light on the water and people actually doing something interesting.

I can't really say that I 'do' landscapes, but this pic is quite good I think - the cloud/atmosphere provided an ND Grad filter for me, although I could still have done with a tripod.

There was another tog on the beach, bt he was expecting a brilliant sunset to illuminate the snuff box cliff.... he was well out of luck. If he is there today he may get lucky but we shall see. Perhaps I will go back...

Floating Daffodils

2008-02-16T10:06:00.001Z

Floating Daffodils
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

At last I seem to be getting the hang of this shallow depth of field malarky. This was taken in the garden on a damp February morning - it was damp because of fog, rather than rain, which makes a change.
The focal plane is really shallow at this distance and f1.8 - tghe front two daffs are in focus, the back one is dropping out and the background of leaves and earth has dropped into bokeh quite nicely. No flash was used in the making of this shot.

Harriet Barber

2008-02-10T19:39:00.001Z

Harriet Barber
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Here is harriet being totally camera aware. Actually the shot I took after this and didn't put on Flickr is the one where she was aware of the camera. The main difference is you can see her almost looking at me even though she is taking a picture of something else in the photo I didn't post.

Regarding the lighing in this picture - todays sun was weird. Low and bright and very flat indeed possibly due to a significant amount of haze in the air left over from the morning fog.

Today I invented a new phrase to describe Harriet - not blonde, 'cos she is obviously a brunette, or air head because she isn't but butterfly head - her thoughts are carried around the inside of her skull by little butterflies flapping around. Sometimes they bash into her conscious mind and sometimes they wander past without interaction only to react at a later time or date - minutes or hours away. Harriet is now a butterfly head - at least in my mind anyway. YMMV.

Oom-pah-pah

2008-02-08T17:42:00.001Z

Oom-pah-pah
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Morgwen is pictured here in her costume for the Oom-Pah-Pah song in Oliver Tiwst.

I used no tripod, just lent against the fridge. The only Post Processing was an auto levels click in Digital Photo Professional - the software for processing RAW files on the CD supplied with the EOS30D.

I am coming around to seeing that RAW + Post Processing can be classed as photography if the touch is light enough.

I like this shot particularly because it illustrates the wonderful sharpness of focus of the "Nifty 50" and also the shallow depth of field achievable at wide apertures.

Is it a good photograph? well I think it is above average. The other two of her on my photostream (1 and 2) are not as good compositionally or just for the "je ne sais quois" not being quite there

Shadows

2008-02-06T21:29:00.001Z

Shadows
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Today Rhiannon and I went 'togging on the beach. We got there rather too early this time, for bright clouds anyway. However I managed to snap these fishermen, basking in the setting sun. Best viewed on a dark background, the pebbles have a nice golden tinge.

I took a shedload of pictures, of which only 6 made it to Flickr. I need more practice - luck for me this new fangled digital photography lark has happened along.

Sultry

2008-02-03T11:15:00.001Z

Sultry
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is yet another picture of Morgwen.

She was waiting for me to fix her laptop, and saw me getting the camera out of the bag. I set the aperture to 1.8 on the Nifty, as you do, set the focus and pressed the shutter release. Nothing happened.

I had left the camera in Timer mode! I moved the camera and then put it back when I realised what had happened. Morgwen raised her eyes to see what the flashing light was and at that moment the shutter released. Hmmm. The result was a really out of focus picture so this one is an attempt to recreate the effect. I think it works.

Learning moment - always put the camera away in single shot mode. Then when I am trying to grab an opportunity the picture will be there in .6s rather than 10.6s...

Reflection

2008-02-02T15:47:00.001Z

Reflection
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This shot is one of the best I have taken with the kit lens.
The 'mirror' is a faded perspex window on the front of the cab of a blue, tracked, crane.
The reflection is intentionally the only bit of the photo in focus and, as you can see from another Flickr picture in my photostream, the sky really did look like that.
The other reflection (just visible) is that of an aircraft hanger given over to light industrial use.
The crane controls are visible through the scene ad provide a moody backdrop and mechanical contrast to the image of the sun.

Causeway

2008-01-26T10:31:00.001Z

Causeway
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Actually this is to explain a new tag I have on some pictures. All this assumes one is using Firefox to browse Flickr... and that you have Greasemonkey installed. I installed this greasemonkey script, which changes the background of a flickr photo to a user selectable value. More later when I have explored it a bit.

Senility

2008-01-22T08:47:00.000Z

I forgot to mention, in my last post, that my good friend Harriet now has a blog to go with her Flickr account. I left a comment, but as comments have to be moderated (understandably) it hasn't appeared yet. Hopefully these links will help bump her blog up the google links page. We shall see.

B.

Changes

2008-01-22T07:55:00.001Z

Something one has to get used to when reading my blog is that it may well change its look and feel on a whim. There is no big reason for this, just that I like to play with the settings.

Like it or loathe it - let me know and I may pay attention!

The 10th Blog Post

2008-01-18T17:41:00.000Z

Well here we are, the 10th post in a fortnight. It is time for a question "When does a photograph stop being a photograph and become a digital image?"

What is the dictionary definition of a photo?

Chambers Online Reference gives

"photograph noun a permanent record of an image that has been produced on photosensitive film or paper by the process of photography."

Given that the photosensitive film or paper element is removed these days and replaced, largely, by a photosensitive silicon chip, does the definition hold any more?

Back in the day, one could see Snaps - taken by anyone on a box brownie or equivalent or perhaps portraits taken by a professional photographer or art, where liberties were taken with processing - cross processing in later years, but the fine art of dodge and burn applies equally well.

All of these, I would propose, were photographs. Honest images, produced from a film negative, plate or other sensitive medium.

These days we have Photoshop with which to tone blend, layer, merge, over or under expose, bend, twist, mash up, smooth, heal, dodge, burn, selectively colour and any other process imaginable - and some unimaginable in days of yore.

Does the output from the post processing workflow qualify as a photograph?

When hours spent at the PP desk, fiddling and tweaking, result in an image almost but not quite entirely unlike the original isn't the output more digital art than photography?

I am not decrying the skills or effort involved in producing the image, although effort involved alone doesn't always qualify an image as having any merit at all - I just want to get straight what is and what isn't a photograph!

With an artist, such as Harriet Barber, it is obvious that what she is producing are paintings - digression alert and, in my opinion good ones at that; your wallet has to be deep to afford a full size landscape, and if I had deep pockets I would have many more Harriet barber paintings than I do.

However with modern 'Photographers' much of their output, whilst artistic, is arguably not photography, rather something else - digital art perhaps? This is as true of "Page Three" type images as of classic landscape and waterfalls, evidence of this classification can be found on every 'photography' based website on the internet.

I dunno - it is a question that has been trundling through my head for a few months now. I am no closer to finding the answer, but as thoughts condense from the aether I will try and post them here.

Comment or not, the choice is yours - assuming anyone reads this drivel!

King's Street

2008-01-15T22:08:00.000Z

King's Street
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Well this was my first attempt at the incredibly popular digital past time of taking long exposure night shots of traffic.

There were several pictures in this sequence, some with no traffic (yes even in Weymouth!) some dominated by oncoming headlights and one with an invisible scooter!

I think next time I will try to take the camera out of the car and hence loose the excessive flare around the lamps; the suspension on the car was a bit wobbly so there may be some shake evident.

Big Mirror

2008-01-14T18:09:00.001Z

Big Mirror
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Well, the first mirror picture of me.

There are lots of problems posing and taking pictures in the mirror - notably finding the right bit of the image to focus on. If you point the camera straight at the mirror it will tend to focus on the reflection of the lens. With a wide open aperture this makes everything else of of focus.

Composition is another problem. Having to remember what is going to happen when the shutter release goes is part of the fun of photography.

Creation

2008-01-14T12:33:00.001Z

Creation
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is a picture of Harriet, painting on Ringstead beach. I like it for several reasons:

Bokeh
Composition
Subject
Lens

Addressing each one in turn:

Bokeh - this is good in this picture - the 'confusion' is arranged in a halo around the subject and because I had the lens on AF it wasn't going to go all hyperfocal on me either, leaving the foreground in the confused zone.

Composition - The rule of thirds - I actually did think about it when composing the shot, even though there was a strong to gale force wind blowing from the left of shot. Harriet is about 1/3 away from the right edge. Ideally the bottom of the shot should have been higher but that would lose some of the perspective and solitude present.

Subject - Harriet is always very intense about her work. The world outside of the task in hand is irrelevant - she even ignores the weather to a large extent. Harriet also doesn't really like people around her when working and is very camera aware so the long lens helps capture her at her best.

Lens - This day Dan lent me his 75-300mm EF lens. This is the first serious shot I took with it. I am surprised at its performance with respect to the bokeh, and also at my ability to keep a distinctly 'Ben' feel to the photo even though I am peering through the equivalent of a 480mm telescope!

One Candle

2008-01-11T19:27:00.001Z

One Candle
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Here is one candle, taken with the EOA30D and a Rowi table top tripod. I am amazed at how much clarity there is when you use a tripod; now I know what I have been missing all these years.

I did take some other pictures with two candles next to each other, but there was so much parallax that they are not worthy. I guess a T&S lens would have fixed it, but really I can't justify £700 for the Canon lens.

Important!

2008-01-11T14:53:00.001Z

Important!
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Ok, so why does a picture of a thong get so many views?

It is not as if it is being worn by a seductive beauty (though I can think of a few who would look nice in it!)

Technically this picture is not good - White Balance all to pot, DoF very shallow - mind you there isn't much detail on the scrap of material :)

I would have liked to get the Important! notice in focus as well as the thong itself, as it makes a statement about thongs and fluff... which reminds me I haven't cleaned the fluff filter since we got the machine. Doh!

Silly Hat

2008-01-10T23:04:00.001Z

Silly Hat
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

A silly hat made much more silly by playing with the colour curves in Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP). Posted really as an ironic comment on people who post process photographs to death.

Rain

2008-01-10T23:02:00.001Z

Rain
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

Nearly the first picture I took with the EOS30D and the Nifty Fifty lens. It was hard to persuade the machine to focus on the rain drops, I guess that is an improvement over point and shoot cameras which tend to focus on the nearest thing to the lens.

Any Port in a Storm?

2008-01-10T22:59:00.001Z

Any Port in a Storm?
Originally uploaded by Ben Mottram

This is the first photo I took with my Point and Guess Olympus C4040Z which had much merit. It inspired me to get a deviant art account, which has lain dormant for a while now because I can't be bothered to tweak photos to make them art - get them right in the camera.

The First Blog Post

2008-01-10T22:52:00.000Z

Well, they say that the first stoke on a canvas is the hardest, so here it is. I have decided to create a blog to act as an electronic diary for my photos, as posted on Flickr.

People can come here if they are interested to find out more about each picture they view; I hope visitors don't expect a work of literary genius; mind you going by the quality of my photos...