I was just looking through some of my old photos, sorting out my computer and all that, and I just realised that I’m a pretty good photographer… it’s when I found these in a folder labelled ‘eBay’…

If you think otherwise, then please let me know, but I reckon these are pretty bloody good photos. Ok, they’re not of beautiful landscapes, but as ‘product shots’, especially ones done with no studio… well, like I say… I think they’re pretty good.

I will put my trumpet away now and get back to sorting my photos.

While in Dartmoor, I managed to drown my camera on day one. I had my small rucksack, not the waterproof one, and coupled with torrential rain the result was my camera swimming in a couple of inches of water at the bottom of the pack.

Now, I’m not talking about the big posh camera, but the little one which I don’t mind taking anywhere and dropping and … drowning. Well, I guess I did mind it drowning, but not as much as if I’d killed the 20D.

So anyway, at lunch-time today I bought a new little camera… this one will not be suffering the same fate, as you can see from the cleaning instructions:

I don’t know if it’s just paranoia, but I’m really uncomfortable with the idea of submerging a camera in a bucket of water.

It does state that I can take it to three metres for an hour if I like. But I still don’t really believe it.

Ok… I’ve put some of my photos up from the Ireland trip…

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I learnt a techinque today for post-processing photos, and gives a real ‘pro studio’ look. It’s slightly over-emphasised in the following shot because I’m still feeling my feet with it, but for a taster, compare the tree and river shot from Saturday before and after:

Click on each for the full size version.

I can see how it might not be to some people’s taste, but subtly applied it gives a beautiful glow and softness without compromising realism. It works beautifully on people, too. I’ll play a bit more…

Another early morning photo trip with UKCodeMonkey. After the mist had burned off a little, there was a lovely soft orange sun casting a beautiful quality of light on us…

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UKCM spotted some frogspawn, so I set the 10mm lens to work. I think some passers-by though I was a bit odd down in the hollow, dunking my camera in the water (almost)…

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A nice clear blue sky was visible one way, for one of those grand Bradgate vistas which we all know and love…

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I had fun, again with the 10mm lens, kneeling on wobbly stones with my tripod in the water. I think if I can obtain some neutral density filters to allow a nice long shutter speed, it’ll be well worth revisiting and working on this shot…

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Twice we saw ducks in trees. I never knew ducks sat in trees. But they do. I have to warn you that displacedanimals.com may be coming soon to document ducks in trees, goats on buckets tubs and all other such phenomena…

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And finally, since it’s a deer park, some deer. Something weird happened with the light here - we were shooting straight into the sun, so I think the contrast went horrible. But it’s the first time I’ve caught them crossing the river, so in it goes for now until I manage a better shot…

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Up at the crack of sparrows this morning for a wander and photoshoot with UKCodeMonkey. Not great weather for it - if the sun had just burned through the mist a little, there could have been some really atmospheric shots, but as it was it remained rather dull and grey. Still - we were there early enough to see lots of dears.

I was playing with the wide-angle lens - I love taking the ‘wrong’ lens out with me sometimes… I was telling UKCM how I’d once spent a day in beautiful wide-angle landscape country and purposefully taken a fixed 135mm lens to see what would happen. Today it was the opposite… no chance of capturing wildlife, so I had to look at the bigger picture.

The first one which struck me as worthy of processing was this one:

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But it’s not really about the photography… a 2-hour walk and chat in peaceful surroundings does wonders for the spirit!

A great gallery… street photography at its best…

14 Degrees Celsius, taken around Frankfurt by Günter Eh

I just posted this advice on another site, but thought I’d share here… it’s worked quite well for me for nearly all consumer electronic goods in the past…

Q: Which digital SLR camera should I buy?

A1: The Simple Answer

The best one you can afford without too much financial hardship.

A2: The More Involved Answer

Really… they’re all pretty good – you’ll often see bias between Canon or Nikon, but I’d recommend, you get an idea of a budget, and a wishlist of features together. Check out prices of relevant cameras on the ‘net.

Then take that info (budget in your head, features written down) to a shop and hold their cameras. Look for one that feels right in your hands. Can you reach the controls? Does it do everything you want it to do? (They mostly will – as I said… they’re all pretty good).

Don’t let the shop assistant pressurise you, and go away for a coffee while you decide.

While you’re sipping your coffee, work out whether you want to pay the extra to have it from the shop (with local advice and service if anything goes wrong) or whether you’d prefer the discount of the net.

Buy your camera.

Enjoy!

Took this a couple of weeks ago, just got round to putting it here. I think the tree could be more prominent, but it was on private land and I was stuck behind a fence.

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My first real attempt to create a black and white image properly - using techniques of dodging and burning to change the balance of tone across various parts of the picture.

Look! A goat in a bucket tub!

And for any photographers out there, the site I got the picture from (right here) has an excellent, good value, royalty-free picture purchasing mechanism. I think I might be picking up some hints from it.