Reworking…Again
I´m waiting for my new computer to come some time next week, so in the meantime i´m making room for a bigger monitor etc. i´m enjoying some moving stuff around and looking at 4 year-old photos and reworking them because now i know how to use the software!!! The new comp is geared to Media/Photography-so easy supports,PS,Lightroom,NIK,Topaz,etc and with a TB Disc space i can keep my catalogue on board- and in the cloud!!.
Love that googl+ “my drive” though-have´nt tried skydrive yet and in anycase with Dropbox and google drive don´t actually need more cloudspace.This is detail of the glass front the Oceanagraphic Institute, in Valencia,Spain.
As i recall i took it on a day out to Valencia with the family-about 2010 and i had an old Canon 400D at the time. Nice to be able to go back in time-at least visually and make things look better-does´nt actually accurately work with memories though-they tend to be more radical than they were at the time :).
Oh, happy day-last session of chemotherapy today (If all passes good the next couple of weeks) I hope. Everybody have a great weekend and don´t forget: We none of us know how long we got here, so make every single day count-it´s the key to lifelong happiness ;))
This was a rework using PS Elements,LR4,Silver Efex Pro,
Weekly Photo Challenge : Eerie
When i saw the photo challenge for today i just could´nt resist it, i´ve been hoping to get this photostory off my chest for a year or so now. I never told anyone about this for fear that everyone might think me being overly theatrical! But this is true!
We came down to this Cala in Almeria about a year ago, we met some friends down there you know the type of thing-campers on the beach,live free or die type of holiday. Several camper trucks and us in a little igloo tent on the beach. At about midnight everyone was asleep after a real good Barbie and singing around the campfire, i thought no-one around so good opportunity for a long exposure shot. So tripod up 5D mounted and ready to go. I had a remote trigger which after 5 seconds just keeps the shutter open until you press it again to close it. OK so far so good ,just check my phone-(no coverage here) look up when the weirdest looking guy i´ve ever seen walks right in front of camera, does´nt say nothing just passes by, no acknowledgement, does´nt even look in my direction,no “good evening” or “good night” or even the usual thing people do, which is stopping in front of camera and asking “oh are you taking photographs?” Of course being a long exposure people walking in front of camera is´nt a problem but i thought that was a bit weird and downright rude of him not to reciprocate my greetings,but hey some people are like that,i looked down for a minute to turn off the remote , when i looked up, he´d disappeared, he was either a night swimmer or a spook.I looked for him out to sea but could,nt see anyone out there so i decided to pack up my gear go back to the tent and think about it all the nekt day. I´ve seen plenty spooky and ghostly things around old abandoned buildings with lots of history and the like, can´t say i´ve ever been frightened of the supernatural but i can´t say i´ve ever seen anything spooky on a beach before J
|Canon EOS 5D MKII|f/22|109 sec|ISO-125|Hoya ND4|Tamron 28-75@28mm.|
A Desert Flower……Up Close And Personal
I reckon you can never have too much practice if you want to get better at something….so at the risk of becoming a little bit boring for some, here’s a new macro – it’s a flower from a little cactus we’ve had for years.
I only really get one go at this one, because it flowers for one day and then disappears ´til next year, not exactly the best crop i’ve ever done, but what the hell i’m posting it anyway!
This again was taken with my trusty old backup, My Canon 50D and Canon EF-S, 2.8 60mm Macro.
For those Canon non FF users (eg: 60D,7D Etc.) it´s worth, in my opinion to have this lens.
Very versatile-costs around the same as a 50mm EF 1.4 (not to be confused with the crappy plastic build EF 1.8)! I often use it while doing head shots (can´t get too close in with headshots with this one though-or you better get yourself a copy of Portrait Professional-because you´ll be there for two weeks with the healing brush tool)! 🙂 But used as you would the 50m- you´ll see some great results-what you´d expect from fixed lens of course!
Canon 50D|f/3.2|1/5000 sec|ISO-100|EF-S 60mm Macro|subject distance: 2.6 cm|Tri mounted|
One Of A Bunch
My wife Silvia thought she’d brighten the house up a little, after the long hot,dry, summer. I like these daisies for their simple colours…..and a chance for a little macro practice.
The season is on the change here in Spain…when the exotic flowers and insects come out to play, so I must make the best of it until the end of May next year when the summer comes around again. J
|Canon EOS 50D|f/32|30 sec|ISO-200|Canon EF-S 60mm Macro|
Happy Little Elf
Amazing what you can find knocking around the house…….don’t know where we got this from,but I found him at the base of a Yucca plant…..guess my wife would know something about it!!!! 🙂
Canon EOS 5D MKII|f/4|1/50 sec|ISO-400|Tamron 28-75@56mm
Skyline….Or why i love my Sigma DG 4-5.6 70-300 mm
Well , after 6 weeks of recuperation (but not quite rejuvenation) I think i´m well on the way to being back to my old self – a 6 km walk in the mountains today… took it really slow and no problems from my recent Lung operation- i´d almost forgotten how much I need to be here amongst the stark beauty and solitude of the mountains around my village.
Yesterday we went to the Col De Rates about 10km from here, and we went to a restaurant way up in the mountains, it serves authentic Spanish,German and Austrian food – so I had Wild Boar Gulasch – a firm favorite of mine ( apologies to those that may be Vegetarians-it really is a rare treat for me) :). While up there I thought i´d try out my Sigma (i´m carrying just one lens these days- it forces me to think about what i´m doing, rather than going thru several lens changes until I get the best result).
I love this lens, as a portrait lens ( I have found it invaluable for weddings) and as close-up lens it is great for nature, vis-à-vis floral, wildlife, macro-ish capture.( Minimum focal length is 1.5 m, so you don´t scare the little critters off) and with price of 100 pounds Sterling a ( few years ago) it´s all good in my opinion. Sigma seem to be really innovative for lens technology – these days, so I guess i´ll be upgrading to a newer version soon, lens manufacturers take note !!! is Image Stabilization really essential? Why not use a Monopod or Tripod?….sorted 🙂 This is shot of my daughter – one thing though if you´re going to use re-chargeable batteries in you´re flash unit, make sure they´re not 5 years old – 9 year olds tend to get bored of waiting if they´ve got to wait for more than 5 minutes until the flash is ready- had to abort that operation as Sophie was getting hungry – OK, then just a quick shot- no flash then we´re off to the restaurant ,OK, Sophie! 🙂 :).
|EOS 5D MKII|f/7.1|1/2000 sec|ISO-250|133 mm |Handheld|No Flash|
|EOS 5D MKII|f/2.8|1/2500 sec|75 mm|Handheld|no Flash|
Marina De Denia, Provincia De Alicante,Spain
Another one from the same night of the fairground.
|Canon 5D MKII|f/2.8|1/1600 sec|ISO-400|Tamron 28-75@28mm|
All The Fun Of The Fair at 6400……….PS (Pre- Surgery , Not Photoshop).
Well, just got back from the hospital-home sweet home, as the saying goes. Though i have to say, i feel like i ´ve been trampled by raging bull! But everything went well,tumor out and that´s the the main thing and last of the surgery ( i hope) save a couple of days of Radio therapy and of course the dreaded Chemotherapy – i can call myself an out-patient – no plastic wristbands with a barcode 🙂
I took this at a the fair in Denia the night before i went into hospital- a little treat for my daughter. This shot is well, virtually out of the can,although i did use the quick selection tool to darken the shadows a tad. I liked the silhouettes against the evening sky – it seemed more relevant to me to get the detail in the sky rather than the human activity so i deliberately under-exposed 🙂
|Canon 5D MKII|f/2.8|ISO-400|Tamron 28-75 @28mm|No Flash|
Continuing A Theme…..Interiors with a Canon 50D
Leading on from my last post, it seems there are things all around if you look hard enough for them. I´ve never noticed this view of my hallway from our dining table before – but it must have always been here at this time of the day ,as this hallway has been this way for several years now and the summers – well there always here at this time of the year!
It seems so obvious to me now and I really should know better than leave a 50mm or 60mm lens out of my bag for so much time-i´m usually going for Landscapes so never think it´s going to be worth it to lug it up a mountain, because I probably won´t use it. But i´m really enjoying keeping it down to one lens and work around that. If i´m with my 50D, the 60mm does the trick, if i´m with my 5D MKII then the Tamron 28-75mm and my Canon 50mm f 1.8 will suffice , it´s the plastic version, so weighs nothing, absolutely shitty build, a bit like a plastic toy, I dropped it on the floor once – it all came apart, snapped it together like Lego and it works – amazingly (manual focus only)!
The other reason for keeping my lenses to a minimum is actually for very practical physical reasons, please don´t get me wrong dear reader, i´m not looking for sympathy or pity, but i´m about to go in for surgery to have about 1/3 of my right lung (including tumor) removed. So there´ll be at least six weeks recovery time when I can´t lug a lot of camera equipment around with me like I used to-not least in the short term anyway (I plan to be as strong as an Ox eventually) 🙂 Admittedly I can get to those Landscapes mostly with the car but sometimes you just have to use the trail – I just hope I don´t have to buy a new Carbon Fibre Manfrotto !!!! 😦
So it´ll be good practice for me to get my choice of lens right the first time and what the heck I can always return another day if I don´t get it right the first time. So it´s a smaller pack and just basic camera essentials for me for awhile – a remote trigger, an off-camera flash, a filter or two and look for a nice flat surface to put the camera on – instead of the Manfrotto and oh yes, a little more steady hand and People/Urban, photography for a while, if I can do that without pissing too many people off that is, some folks just scowl at you when you photograph them – never take oneself too seriously is my motto!!! 🙂
|Canon 50D|f/8|1/30 sec|ISO-400|Canon 60mm Macro|
Photographic Inspiration……..Closer To Home With The 50D
Well, sometimes in life we just have to accept our temporary fate and make the best of it. At the moment I just can´t get out and about with the camera – i´m up 6:00am every morning, the only time to do chores etc. Before the unyielding heat of the day – so i´m having to look a little closer to home for photographic inspiration…… but it is there, just got to look for it. 🙂
Silvii and Sophie had be tidying up the outside (street side) of the house ready for the “Fiestas” coming up very soon. The whole street has been feverishly painting facades and making the plants and plant boxes all spic and span. So with a couple of strategically placed petals next to the candlestick….. bingo, something half-way pleasing on the eye…at least for me that is 🙂
This one maybe a candidate for a new gift card that I sell in my wife´s gift shop….think i´ll give it a go and see what happens. This was taken with my trusty old 50D and Canon EF-S 60mm Macro.
|Canon 50D|f/2.8| 1/20 sec |ISO-400| Canon EF-S 60mm Macro|
Adrian Harvey 