Stuff from the last few weeks

[vix]

Haven't posted in a while, here's a few shots:

Couple of drift shots from Snetterton with my new lens. Realised I had the metering set wrong so they came out quite dark and had to be tweaked!

This one I thought worked quite well dark:

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallsmoke1.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallnissan2.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smalldrift6.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smalldrift5.jpg

Last weekend we stayed in a hotel in Doncaster near Robin Hood airport. I woke up earlier than Phil and decided to go walkies:

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallwebs.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smalljet2.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smalljet.jpg

[Mark]

So you managed to take photos of an airport without being arrested. ;)

I didn't notice the spider web until second time around either. :o

[Will]

Like the 1st pic lots! :cool:

[Knipples]

Sideways car!!! :D

[vix]

Thanks everyone :)

Mark - it felt strange as I'm used to military bases where you will get stopped, but I was literally sticking the lens through the fence!

Will - glad you like it, sometimes I think it works, sometimes I think it looks like I got the settings wrong!

Marie - I took some drift shots last year but they were nowhere near as good. I can't beleieve the element of sideways they produced this year!

[Kitten]

Love the 1st one.

[vix]

Thanks Kitten! I better start liking it then!

[Kitten]

It's one of those shots that 'professionals' would rip to bits with technical stuff, but that just *works*. So I think it's ace and it's good a really good feel about it.

(that's not a criticism by the way, I think you get my point).

[vix]

Yeah I see you point. It wasn't meant to turn out like that but it does work :)

[vix]

Some more I've taken recently - still coming out too dark on the camera, even using pre set settings - at a complete loss what to do!!

However it does mean that shots taken on a rather grey and bleak day can be tweaked to look rather interesting:

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallbeach.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallturbines2.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallturbines.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallglass2.jpg

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallglass.jpg

[Tysonator]

Vix, what lens are you using ?

[vix]

The latest were with the kit lens. I bet it's me being an idiot but I just can't see what I'm doing wrong :/

[Jonny69]

I don't know. Mine does the same and it drives me mad.

[vix]

Never mind, I'm trying my best :/

Today's walk:

Tower:

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smalltower.jpg

Thick ice:

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallice.jpg

Snow ponies:

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallhorses.jpg

Phil on a bike we found - which I then rescued!

http://www.finkydink.co.uk/albums/userpics/smallphilbike.jpg

[Jonny69]

Jealous about the bike find...

http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showpost.php?p=357490&postcount=139

[Tak]

Love the ponies; they look like book ends :D

[vix]

They reminded me of book ends too Sam!

Jonny, thought of you when I rescued the bike (now in my shed!) it's an Eighteen, haven't got a clue what to do with it but thought it needed a home!

[Jonny69]

You can both wield a grinder and weld. Modify it!

If you can't face keeping it I'll give it a good home :)

[Kitten]

Love the ponies, the first one of the beach and the one where the light is coming down in rays over the water. Beautiful.

[vix]

Thanks :)

I've sent the snowy pics to the local rag today - try and get in print!!!

[Tysonator]

The kit lens is slow, as the F stop is 3.5 to 5.6, it does not stay at F3.5 all through the focal lenght, hence the blur shots !

[Kitten]

^ I thought she was bothered about the dark/light setting rather than blur?

[Matblack]

These do look underexposed to me, what camera is it? Looks like it could do with having a extra 1/2 stop dialed in as standard or shoot RAW and adjust in Lightroom

MB

[vix]

It's a 400D.

I am just going to have to compensate I think and stick an extra 1/2 stop in as you say.

I also really should start shooting RAW!

[Matblack]

I wouldn't shoot in any other format, I'd rather use a larger card and get the flexibility of RAW. RAW + Lightroom will allow you to recover and rejuvinate pictures you thought were lost and I found that I worked harder to get the shot right because even though I could recover the poorer shots a good shot can be taken to the next level in Lightroom.

If you look at this shot for example

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5161/5221043862_718dba1d08_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/matblack72/5221043862/)
IMG_5002-Edit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/matblack72/5221043862/) by Matb1ack (http://www.flickr.com/people/matblack72/), on Flickr

I did some tweaks which would have worked as well without shooting in RAW and I don't believe I'd have got the detail if I'd shot this in JPEG :)

Some tiny touches in CS5 too but nothing drastic, if you like I can post a few before and after shots to show you the difference that RAW + Lightroom can give, bear in mind I'm no expert at either photography or photo manipulation, nor do I have a hint of an artistic eye :)

MB

[Matblack]

Here you can see the lift that I gave to this shot :)

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3986/capturelrt.jpg

and some of the adjustments including a +1.35 exposure boost which had no negative effects on the result, with JPEG that would probably have meant a loss of quality :)

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2685/captureyl.jpg

MB

[Kitten]

always shoot in RAW if you can Vix. Take the jump, it's worth it :)