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.