The Blog is moving to Reikan Photography...

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So far, my blog has been hosted with Blogger (this site), but I've decided to move to a Wordpress blog.  There are a few reasons for this, the main one being that by hosting the blog myself it allows me complete control over the look and feel (but also the responsibility for backups etc!).

Don't get me wrong, I've been very happy with Blogger - in fact, I've got quite cross with Wordpress recently as the formatting was causing me all sorts of trouble!  But it does seem that Wordpress has a lot more options and capability, and I'd like to get some experience in both using a different engine and hosting it myself.

So, you can continue to follow my exploits at http://www.reikanphotography.co.uk/blog.  That is, as long as I haven't broken anything :)  All the posts I've done to date will be there (the import utility is great).

Ireland 2010 Days 4 & 5 - Clare and the Cliff of Moher

The next part of photos and journal from our family trip to Ireland, this bit is mainly about our visit to County Clare and the Cliffs of Moher.  It started as part of a bigger post, but I kept adding more information about the places we visited, so I've left it as just these 2 days...

Sunset at Beal, County Kerry, Ireland

Sunrise at Hengistbury Head (...and a bit of afternoon too)

It's been a while since I dragged myself out of bed stupidly early to go out with a camera and tripod and photograph something, but it's such a beautiful time of day and it's getting slightly more sensibly timed so I decided to this morning.  Sunrise was at 0615, so I set my alarm for 0500 and got going very quickly (without even a cup of coffee!), driving from home to Hengistbury Head.

Hengistbury Head Beach Huts

Ireland 2010 Days 1-3 - Travelling, Ballybunion and the Dingle Peninsula

This next set of posts on the blog are going to be a dump of my favourite pictures from our holiday to both sides of Ireland in August 2010.  We went for a week in Ballybunion (County Kerry) and then a week in Enniscorthy (County Wexford).  This is a kind-of photo journal of the holiday, so lots of various pictures and some waffling too :)

Harry - Excited before we left, he wrote "Holiday Ireland - Yahoo!" on his hand!

Hampshire and Dorset Fields (and a Bridge!)

It was ridiculously hot on this particular day (at least for the UK) - a little over 30 degrees at lunch time when I decided to drive out to Beech Hill and take some shots in the fields around that area.  There were lots of wheat fields, and the sky was nice - blue with enough clouds to give some interest:

Hampshire Field

Milton Abbas, Hilton and Bulbarrow

I may have already mentioned this (ahem), but I did a 100 mile cycle ride for "charidy" in early July which involved cycling through lots of Dorset (you can read about it here if you've really got nothing better to do).  While doing it, I saw some absolutely beautiful areas, a lot of which I'd never visited before despite living less than about 20 miles from most of the places.  So, I decided to drive back out to some parts of the route one evening and get some shots.

Dorset Field Sunset

Sunset at Tarrant Keyneston

On this particular evening, I wanted to try and capture something in or around Wimborne.  The sky wasn't looking too promising - there was a lot of cloud near the horizon which tends to mean that as the sun gets close to setting it is obscured and the lighting goes very dull and uninteresting.  But I have learnt a few things over the years, and knowing that (a) conditions change, (b) I love being outside with the camera, and (c) if you don't try you won't get anything got me out!

Tarrant Keyneston Sunset I

Sandbanks Bay and Poole Park

The weather has been fantastic recently in the UK for landscape photography.  The sky is generally a cheerful blue with a few wispy clouds to give some interest, and the sunsets are fairly colourful.  I've been getting out a fair bit recently in the evenings - sunset is around 21:15 so to be out with the camera at least an hour either side of that give an opportunity to capture a wide range of lighting conditions in the shots.

Holes Bay Boat

An Evening in Hamworthy

This is another journal style post about an evening out a few weeks ago to take sunset landscape shots.  The original intention was to go to the beach somewhere between Sandbanks and Bournemouth as I wanted some sea, sand and beach hut shots, but a quick play with The Photographers Ephemeris (a brilliant and free tool: http://stephentrainor.com/tools) showed that the sun would be setting behind the cliffs and I think the beach would just be in the shadow long before sunset.  So when I went out with a friend on this evening, we headed towards Hamworthy to see what we could find.

Sundown at Hamworthy

Shots from Goodwood

Thanks to Lotus, I got some free tickets to the first Moving Motor Show at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 1st this year.  I've never been to Goodwood FoS before, and although the Moving Motor Show day was geared towards manufacturers exhibiting products and using the track for test drives, it was a great day with so much to see.

Back to Landscapes

Although I've had an interest in photography for more than 10 years, it didn't really get serious until I bought my first DSLR in early 2007.  Since then, I've tried many different types of photography and over the last few months have spent quite a bit of time shooting people and trying to get a feel for using shallow DoF in images.  Recently, though, with the beautiful weather in the UK and late sunset times, I've been out with tripod, graduated ND filters and remote release - back to what is probably my favourite type of photography.

Coffe Arithmetic

A bit of maths with coffee:

Lasers

I have always had a keen interest in lasers - to be honest with light in general, but the purity and brilliance of laser light holds something special.  My uncle (who is no longer with us) spent years working with lasers for all sorts of reasons - everything from a few milliwatt (Helium Neon) up to 2W Argon Ion lasers which on one occasion led to him accidentally cutting his tie in half! - and I spent a lot of time learning from him.

I've owned quite a few lasers - I was gifted a 2mW HeNe laser first off, and I've had quite a few standard laser pointers (all red diode lasers).  But in the last few days I've finally got hold of a couple of diode lasers that are a bit different from the norm - a 20mW green, and a 205mW red one.

7D Macro - Summary after several shoots

I've spent several hours out now taking macro shots with the Canon 100mm f2.8 (non-L) lens on my 7D, and I wanted to showcase my favourite images and give a bit of technical detail about how I've taken them.

Macro shots - Insects with the 7D

I went for a wander at lunch time today with my 7D, Canon 100mm f2.8 macro and 430EX.  Most of the shots were taken with the flash mounted on the camera, but a few were with the 7D acting as flash master and the 430EX in slave mode, hand held in various positions.  I'm pretty pleased with the results - I don't have a lot of time tonight so I'll just put a dump of the pictures (all were Manual mode, 1/125s, various apertures, but most at f/11, with some down as low as f/2.8):

52 Weeks - Week 6: "Flowers"

This week has been all about photographing flowers, and to try and avoid another post with the excuse that I was too busy, I have made a bit of an effort here!  Unfortunately, it's been more in the taking and processing of images than the pruning, so there may be a bit of an overdose, but hey, at least it's better than the last couple of weeks.

Latte and Espresso

Time for a couple of coffee drinks!  My wife loves a nice Latte, and I like Espresso.  I had the camera handy and took a few shots of preparing the drinks:

Pamphill Bluebells

Pamphill has a "secret" woods which springs up with thousands of bluebells in April/May time.  I went along a couple of weeks ago and only a few were flowering, so I had hoped to get back last week during some lovely weather.  As usual, things got in the way, but I did manage to get out and take a few shots under a fairly overcast sky.  All shots are taken with 5Dmk2, 17-40, Hi-Tech 0.6ND grad, tripod, mirror lockup and remote shutter.

52 Weeks - Week 5: "Chocolate"

My Wife has been setting my weekly photo topics generally, and she's just figured out that it might be in her interest to suggest things she likes - like Chocolate!  Unfortunately, for the 3rd week in a row I've not really had the time that I would have liked to spend on the photos, so here's a few picked out for the theme of Chocolate:

(5Dmk2, Sigma 50mm f1.4 at f1.4m 1/500s at ISO 400)

52 Weeks - Week 4: "Morning"

Once again, I was desperately busy this week and capturing shots for my topic wasn't really much of an option.  I've picked a few out from the week that work for Morning:

(Canon 7D, Canon 70-200 f4L IS at 111mm, f4, ISO 160)

52 Weeks - Week 3: "Happiness"

This weeks challenge was Happiness.  Unfortunately, I had a somewhat mad week and didn't really have much of a chance to focus on the topic, so I've picked out a few shots from the week that sort-of represent happiness.

(7D, Sigma 120-400OS at 400mm, 1/800s at f8, ISO 100)

Birds and Squirrels with the 7D and 120-400OS

Yesterday and today I went a wandering with the 7D and the 120-400OS.  I won't use this lens below f8 as it's too soft, so for an effective focal length of over 600mm (on the cropped sensor of the 7D) you need good light to use it.  Recently, we've been having some decent weather, so I've been trying it out properly...

(7D, Sigma 120-400OS at 400mm, f8, 1/640s, ISO 400, distance:6.52m)

My First Goose Egg!

I was given half a dozen chicken eggs and a goose egg today.  The goose egg is a pretty impressive thing - it must be 3 times the size of a normal chicken egg!  I thought it would make a good subject for a bit of food photography:

(5D2, Sigma 50mm f1.4 at f2, 1/250s, ISO 100)

Volcanic Sunset? - Timelapse

So, the big eruption under the glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull region of Iceland (yes, I did copy-and-paste that jumble of letters!) is still pumping plumes of ash miles high, which due to the prevailing winds is drifted over old 'Blighty and grounding all the planes.  Those boffin sorts predicted "an apocalyptic sunset", so I'm guessing that everyone with a camera went out trying to capture something representative...

52 Weeks - Week 2: "Rainbow"

My second week of the "Photo a Week" year was themed "Rainbow".  I'd had a very busy week, and wheras I normally take pictures every day, I had about 4 days this week without picking up a camera.  I had a couple of ideas for the theme in my head, but it took until Sunday evening (the last day) to actually get the shots.  Here's one of them:

(7D, 24-70L at 32mm, f2.8, 1/125s, ISO100)

52 Weeks - Week 1: "Rain"

Recently, I've been watching several people doing their 365's - this is where you take at least 1 picture every day, usually with a theme.  I really like the idea of doing something like that, but we're already a good 90 days into the year as I write this and I didn't really want to wait for next year.  Anyway, on thinking about it, I decided I'd rather take a bit of time thinking about a theme and see what I could do over a few days, so I've decided to do 52 themes - one a week, ending on a Sunday.  My wife is setting the themes, and this first week's topic is "rain".

Inspiration? The Shower...

Not what you think.  I was wondering what could be done with a shower, a bath, a wireless slave flash and a camera.  As it happens, you can make a very wet flash, but luckily that didn't happen until I'd nearly finished (and don't worry, no flashes were harmed in the making of this... well, post)...

(5D2, 24-70L at 24mm, f2.8, 1/100s, ISO100)

Hi-Tech ND Grad Filters (from Formatt)

A while back I bought myself a Lee Filter kit which comprised of a filter holder with an expandable bellows hood.  I also bought a single 0.6ND (2 stop) soft ND grad, and after a bit of faffing a 77mm wide-angle adapter ring.  The cost for this lot: slightly under £200!  Seriously - it's some injection moulded plastic, a bit of machined metal and some carefully crafted polymer without a colour cast.  While I knew this was good stuff, I did believe it was a bit pricey.  So, to get some more filters (a single 0.6ND grad doesn't cut it for all situations), I bought some HiTech filters from Formatt...

5D2 Sensor Cleaning (Scaaaary!)

I've had my 5D2 for 7 months now and while I don't just change lenses every 5 seconds, I don't hesitate to change if them if I need to - dust is a part of life with a DSLR and you just have to learn to deal with it.  Even so, I took a quick test shot at f22 to see what the state of the sensor was, and was quite suprised at how much "stuff" was all over it, so I dug out a few tools and got to work...

New Streetlights in Corfe Mullen

This is a slightly nerdy post, but they've just put new streetlights up (or rather, replaced the old ones) around where I live.  I went out in the rain tonight to take a few pics to capture the differences before they replace the lot and I completely forget what they used to be like!

Sigma 50mm f1.4 - First Shots

My Sigma 50mm f1.4 turned up on Wednesday and I've spent a short time walking around trying to get some shots that get the best out of it.  This lens - like all very wide aperture lenses - has it's limitations, but if you work within those you can have a lot of fun - I'm certainly enjoying it so far!

Wimborne / New Forest Morning (and landscape shooting tips)

A poem:

It was a cold and frosty morning,
and the sun was shining bright,
when I went a wandering and nearly caught frostbite!

Yes, it was very, very cold this morning: -3.5C when I got back into my car in Wimborne after wandeing around in a field with my 5D2, tripod etc.  This post shows some results and has some comments about things I've learnt/am learning about shooting like this.

5 minutes with the 50

I've read loads of posts/articles recently about people making very good use of both shallow DoF and 50mm (standard) lenses.  I was sitting around this evening after a hard day at work, about to chill with the piano for 5 minutes, when I read an article on my phone about 80 inspirational shots with a 50, and I thought I'd have a quick go and see what I could do...

Broadstone War Memorial - A Photographic Study

The war memorial in Broadstone has stood for 90 years, and when first erected it had stunning views over Poole Harbour.  There has been an ongoing campaign by Broadstone's Residents Association to have the vegetation around the war memorial thinned to restore the view, so it's been a topic of a few news stories recently.  Having seen it on a couple of occasions but never really studied it, I thought I'd take the opportunity to spend a short time taking some photos of the memorial and surrounding area as they currently stand, with a view to updating once the work is complete.

More Birds with the 7D - Spring is here!

This isn't going to be a long post - I just wanted to shout about the 7D again!  I'm really, really happy with this camera - the AF is the best I've used by a long shot (I'm comparing it to a 40D as the next best), and the IQ is great considering the density of the sensor - leading to very usable shots, e.g:

Birds with the 7D

This is a quick summary of the 7D and Sigma 120-400OS at lunch time today, taking my 1 year old son for a walk around the local pond to feed the ducks (and seagulls, intimidating geese etc!)

Length vs Quality - Canon 70-200 f4L IS vs Sigma 120-400OS

A few months back I bought myself a Sigma 120-400OS lens - previously, my longest lens was the Canon 70-200 f4L IS, and having gone to a full-frame camera I realised that 200mm was not actually that long.  I was offered an excellent price on the Sigma, which meant the Canon equivalents were coming on for 4 times the price, so in the interest of testing out, I opted for the Sigma.

Early Morning Shoot - Eye Bridge and Broadstone

Dawn and dusk are widely regarded as the best times to shoot - when the sun is just below the horizon the sky is filled with colour, with beautiful detail in the clouds, and just above the horizon it casts long shadows and light everything with a golden light.  Unless it's raining, which it usually is in Britain.  So I thought I'd take advantage of the current nice weather we're having at the moment and get out in the freezing cold to take some pictures.

 

A week in Devon

I've just been off for a week away with the family in Devon.  I went armed with 2 DSLRs and 5 lenses, but was also reminded that this is a family holiday, so I did my best not to let the photography take over!

Night Time at Knowlton

Knowlton Church is a 14th Century ruin of a church which was built in the centre of a pagan earth circle dating from the Bronze Age.  After my accidental success with capturing the band of the Milky Way while in Devon last week, I wanted to get out and try again with some proper technique.  So, 3 of us armed with camera's, tripods and torches travelled up around 8pm on a Friday evening.

Macro playtime with the 7D

I haven't done much macro work recently, and was wondering what the 18MP of the 7D will make of  my 100mm f2.8 macro lens.  I was planning on heading out to the garden to capture something interesting, but as it decided to rain I've picked a few indoor things to shoot...

My Journey - Equipment - Part 3

Better quality "Standard" zoom - Sigma 17-70

Skip forward a whole month (!) to October 2007, and this was the point I took the step to upgrade the kit zoom lens (the 18-55 non-IS which is known for not being the sharpest of lenses).  After much thinking about it, I decided on the Sigma 17-70 which started at f2.8 at 17mm (although only to about 20mm).

7D - A brief landscape test...

The 7D is obviously known for sports and nature photography with it's 8fps and decent AF system, but I also own a 5D2 and I wanted to check out the quality of the 7D with it's packed 18MP APS-C sensor for landscape work.

My Journey - Equipment - Part 2

Those first months


So, I had my first DSLR, and it was absolutely fantastic - little did I know just how addicted to this whole game I was going to get!  I got it with the kit 18-55 lens (non IS - this was before the IS version came out), and I got the non-APO Sigma 70-300 lens too so I had something to get some distance with - I was trying to have the same functionality that I would have had with the S7000 I was coming from.

Canon 7D - First few hours

It was a bit spur of the moment to actually get out and buy the 7D (I've been thinking about it for a while!), but with a little help from the tax man, a cashback website and selling my 40D I can just about justify it!  Here are my thoughts after using it for a few hours...

My Journey - Equipment - Part 1

I wanted to put some details down about where I came from photographically, and why I made the choices that I made in purchasing various bits of kit - bodies, lenses etc.

Time Lapse Photography (Part 2)

I've had my first few attempts with the timed remote, so here are the results and a discussion about things learnt so far...

Starlings over Poole

I was out shopping over the weekend, and there was a "swarm" of Starlings ducking and diving around over Poole.  I had my 5D2 with me, so I took some shots and video...

Time Lapse Photography (Part 1)

I've been reading a lot recently about time lapse photography, so I finally got around to getting myself a timed remote release.  I'll discuss this in two parts - part one (this part) will be about the remote release itself, setting up, ideas and things I've thought of about time-lapse, and the next part will be about the results.

10 Stop ND - Sloooooow Photography

Some time ago, I bought myself a 10 stop ND filter.  For those who don't know, this is a filter which is equivalent to a 10 stop attenuation of the light level - in usage terms this means the shutter speed needs to be around 1000 times longer than if the filter is not fitted.

Welcome!

When I launched the Reikan Photography (RP) website, I wanted something that was easy to maintain and could, in time, offer some of my experiences, tips and techniques, comments on news etc.