Photography stuff

A friend and I took ourselves off on a photography course yesterday. We learnt "How to Photograph Dogs". You might think that is an easy thing to do and why on earth do I need to go on a course about it. Well let me tell you, it's not that easy.

The course was run by Nick Ridley, a well-known photographer of dogs here in the UK, and it was held in the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf HQ just outside High Wycombe. What an amazing place that is. Apart from the setting, I don't think I have ever been anywhere where the people were so incredibly friendly and welcoming. Perhaps it has something to do with working with the most amazing dogs. The work they do there is invaluable for the people who have need of their dogs.

But I digress. For all the photographs I've taken of my dogs, and there have been a few, I have failed miserably to capture any decent image of them moving. Very frustrating. Despite the weather conditions yesterday - it was seriously overcast and raining most of the time - by the end of the day I was able to capture images of dogs in motion. None of these are perfect by any means, they are not as pin sharp as they should be but at least I now have the necessary knowledge to put into practice on my own dogs. The weather also meant I was shooting at ISO 800 plus and the Nikon D70 I use does not, I have discovered, function at it's best at such speeds. The images were incredibly noisy and there has been some post-processing work to remove the noise.

And a few portraits too

I also now have some decisions to make about my camera. I love it and it's great to use but if I want to continue taking photographs of my dogs and other peoples, possibly to sell, I need to think about upgrading the camera. The problems with noise at high ISO speeds and woth only 3 frames per second, the D70 will be restricting. But, am I really going to be doing that much photography work that I can justify spending the best part of £1,000 on a Nikon D300?

Something to ponder.

Oops (Warning, photography bore!)

I went in to Jessops, a photography retailer, yesterday to buy a circular polariser for my camera.

Seems I also managed to walk out with a Sigma 50mm DG Macro lens.

I really don't know how that happened.

Wordless Wednesday

BIRDS OF PREY

WHEN!?

The sun is shining and I am not on duty. It is the perfect day to get out with my new lens and put it through it's paces. Except.......

The camera battery is flat as a pancake.

I can't find the charger.

Arrrgggghhhhhhhh!!

WHEN will I get myself organised? WHEN will there be the right place in my home for everything? WHEN will I find the magic "organisation" switch that must be somewhere in my brain? WHEN!!??

New toy!

I shall apologise in advance for being a bit of a camera nerd in this post. If you have no interest in photography whatsoever, you might want to go somewhere more interesting!

Last year I bought myself a second-hand Nikon D70. I already had a Pentax dSLR with a 18-55mm lens and a 50-200mm zoom and it suited me fine. I was happy with the pictures it took and how it felt in my hands. But the Nikon was one of those too good to be missed offers and it was a case of "want" rather than "need"! It came with a Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G ED lens which really is a stunning lens for general use and takes some cracking shots.

But the areas of photography that I most enjoy are candid and reportage, and for that you really need a zoom lens. I had tried out a friend's Canon 20D with a 70-300mm zoom.....and boy did I want the Nikon equivalent lens! I could have picked one up for about £70 but that was just a standard lens and I decided that, because of the weight of the lens, I needed to have VR on it - that's vibration reduction or image stabilisation - to help reduce any element of camera shake. Unfortunately that sent the price up to over £400, and I couldn't afford that.

Then two things happened. I got a Christmas bonus and I found the lens online at OneStop Digital at under £300. I'm cautious about buying expensive stuff online but quite a few people on the photography forum that I use, Pixalo, had used them and they came highly recommended. Dear reader, I crumbled and bought it. And it's arrived! I am now the proud owner of a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G IF-ED VR Lens. I want to go and play, but unfortunately the British weather doesn't and it is chucking it down with rain and blowing gale here.

Which is just an incy wincy bit frustrating.

Smiling Smugly

I have done something that I am incredibly proud of.

Unfortunately I can't tell you what it is until the 1st of February.

Sorry about that but I am so pleased with myself I had to tell someone!

Up above the streets and houses.......

.....or, more correctly, up above the Common.

On Tuesday afternoon, the sky turned that really foreboding black, pregnant with the rain that's about to burst forth............oh for heaven's sake, Angela, stop with all the dramatic stuff, you'll never be a writer....

What happened was this.....the sky went black, the sun was shining at the same time, there was a windmill and a rainbow to throw into the mix and, once stirred, you end up with something like this:



















Not too bad considering it was shot with work's little Olympus point and shoot as I didn't have my dSLR with me at the crucial moment and nature won't hang around for you to nip home and pick it up.

I haven't given you a cottage update for a while have I!? "No" you cry, "do tell what's occurring". Quite a lot actually. OH has been ploughing on with what he can before the plumbers arrive on 4th December. Walls have been stripped, filled, rubbed down and given a coat of undercoat to help keep the dust at bay. Fireplace has been made good and the mantle piece fixed into place - that's great that is, it's an old oak fence post that OH has cleaned up and oiled and fixed to the wall so it looks like it's hanging there! Aerial man is coming to put in a new aerial and aerial points next week. The kitchen has been paid for and should arrive on 13th December and the delivery of the sofas has been delayed to 8th December - which suits me just fine. Chimney sweep booked for 2nd December and the new wood-burning stove that arrived last week can then be fitted. So it's all moving on slowly and, fingers crossed, we will be installed in the New Year!