Macro photography

One lunchtime a few weeks ago I went to a local park to experiment with macro photography. I spent about 20 minutes walking around the park failing to find anything worth photographing. Then a bird flew over a crapped all over my shirt.

I was starting to think someone was trying to tell me something. Eventually I found a suitable subject and put down my tripod (which I didn't use at any point) and reached to get my camera out. As I opened the bag my camera fell out and had the choice of tarmac path, stone wall or flower bed to fall on. Fortunately it landed on the flower bed and seems unscathed but I was panicing for a few minutes. I really shouldn't have left the office that lunchtime.

After all the trials and tribulations I started to take some shots. I also tried some in my garden on another occasion and the best of both sessions are shown below.

Happy New Year by the way

I forgot to wish everyone a happy new year.

One new year's resolution I have is to try and post more photos this year.

On Hogmannay I thought "maybe I could do a picture a day during 2009" but quickly realised this was unlikely to happen so I thought "well I could manage to choose 1 photo for each week", as sleep took hold I thought 1 photo a month was doable.

As 2009 dawned I came to the conclusion that I'll just stick to taking photos as and when I can.

All the best for 2009

First steps in night photography

So the other night I drove 10-15 miles into the Aberdeenshire countryside at night in temperatures of -8 degrees celsius (not the best conditions for location scouting) looking for a place with little light pollution and some nice foreground interest.

I eventually found a reasonable forest and after driving along the forest track to a sign which said 'no unauthorised access beyond this point' and reversing back down the icy track in the pitch darkness trying to avoid hitting anything or getting stuck in a ditch or damaging by beamer I decided to stop looking for the perfect spot and actually take some photos.

(I recently ordered an intervalometer to do some time lapse photography but this hadn't arrived by the time I was out and about.)

I am planning on doing 3 types of night photography (a) taking some shots with minimal light pollution and maximum visible stars (b) time lapse photography of the stars rotating about the pole star and (c) star trails.

The 2 shots I have attached to this post (the best of a patchy collection) show my first attempt at method (a) and also some light painting of my car.

My trip to Reykjavik

I had a company trip to Iceland and specifically Reykjavik last weekend.

Apart from almost falling off a cliff I had a really good time. It has been a while since I last drank until 3am so it took a few days to recover from the week. I also had to get up at 8:30am for a 12 hour bus trip the next morning.

I was in Iceland for 4 days in total including travelling days but the conditions were not great except for Saturday so I didn't take many photos.



My one and only HDR attempt during the weekend.

A view from the Blue Lagoon where hot mineral rich water is pumped up from underground into pools surrounded by lava fields.

This is the location where I nearly fell off the cliff. We travelled in 3 buses and on one bus the tour guide said no one was allowed to use the path towards the waterfall. The tour guide on my bus said it would be dependent upon weather conditions and then didn't mention it again. I walked along the path holding the top rope the entire time and I was wearing hiking boots but unfortunately my boots work well in all conditions except for compact snow where the hard soles have no contact on slippery hard surfaces. I slipped on my backside (bruising it) and my legs went underneath the rope fence. Luckily my top half stayed the right side of the fence and my camera (which was round my neck) remained intact. When I eventually got back to my feet I turned around and went back to the bus because I didn't want to push my luck anymore. I've had twinges in my neck all week but it seems to be getting much better now.

A stream full of freezing water and ice.

Another picturesque view.

More snow and steam.

Light painting - first attempt

I have been reading about the technique of light painting and Charlotte & Lewis were enjoying running round the house in the dark so I thought I would combine the 2 and try some shots.



Charlotte first

And then Lewis

I'll try some more with coloured lights and outside shots this weekend.

Face painting

Diane and the kids enjoyed face painting over the weekend.

And before you ask I am never getting my face painted, ever!

Leuchars Airshow 2008

Lewis and I went to Leuchars Airshow this year and met Ken and Malcolm there.

Here is a selection of shots from a very flat grey day weather wise.

Lots of the displays were cancelled as well but we did see the red arrows.