#179 Two Years Apart…

Quite a lot usually happens in 2 years. Luckily for me, this didn’t. Going back to the same place on Grimsay, North Uist and being able to take the same picture, only better. It was always my intention if I went back to try and get this picture again of the light trails of cars going over the causeway from Grimsay to North Uist and I think I have a winner in what is going to go onto the canvas I still have yet to get printed up. The original one from 2009 was blurry and was from the first couple of months with my A200 DSLR. Now in 2011, having had the camera for a good few years, I knew it better and how to work it better (along with editing photos in photoshop), and it is much crisper. It is sharper, has better colours and even has a sheep on it! The same principle was used as the first one, layering the images up instead of one continuous shot, this was because of the sheer lack of cars going across the causeway at 11 o’clock at night.

I could see cars in the distance exiting Balivanich on Benbecula, crossing the causeway to Grimsay and I would get excited thinking this would be another one only for it to turn off before.

The original from 2009:

The 2011 version:

#175 Just showing it off…

There is no other reason for this post apart to show off this photo. Yes I took it in February whilst out on a wander, and only got around to doing something with it (apart from one other thing which I uploaded a while ago), but I just find this S60 to be a gorgeous looking thing. And the number plate tells the truth about the car… it’s hot, though the weather was freezing cold.

#169 I still need some baffles…

The impending electronics drive is soon to start as soon as a soldering iron with a fine tip makes its way to me. Practicing PicAXE programming is the order of the day when it gets underway. One thing I would need for all this prototyping is wire, and to save it from getting tangled up in a big mess I made this… and I say made, all I did was make some holes in the plastic bit of this coffee jar and there you go, a wire dispenser.

The only thing I might end up doing is to make some baffles or rearrange the way in which the wire is wound just to keep them separate and not get tangled up, but for the time being it is very simple and works. What more do I need.

#145 A Makeshift Studio

A few days ago, I started to dabble in making a makeshift light box to take pictures in of small objects. To do this I used the tutorial I found or was forwarded to a while ago (I’ll post link later when I’m back on my iMac). The result was relatively good if a bit small. All of the paper I had, no matter which sketchbook I tore pages out of to get paper to make it, none of which was sturdy enough to make it stand on its own, reinforcing it with cardboard strips did help but I was then left with the problem of it being really wonky and hardly big enough to fit anything decent inside to take photographs of. Another additional problem was that I couldn’t get my camera in at a decent angle for some things I was wanting to take a photo of.

This image below is what I ended up with and just look at how shoddy it looks:

That was Saturday. Last night I gave the whole lightbox/mini studio thing another shot and I took a different approach. I was thinking bigger this time. Remembering I had a sketchbook of A2 layout paper I started taking a few pages out of it and got to work. I took some blu-tac and put some on the sides of the paper and put it 20cm above the surface of my desk, letting the rest of the paper drape down and onto the desk. This left a short portion of white on the desk which would have been obvious on the photos, so I overlapped another piece of layout paper onto the one I had already positioned. Excellent. This sorted out the background for the photos, but the next bridge to cross was lighting.

With the first iteration of the light box I made, the built in roof helped with the diffusing of the light, avoiding the obvious reflections and the horrible direct light the desk lamp would have given. This version did not have a ‘roof’ so I had to improvise some what. I remembered something I had read somewhere on the internet, of someone at a motorshow and they had their DSLR with them. They wanted to avoid harsh highlights and shadows gotten from the use of the flash so they taped a piece of tracing paper or something close to tracing paper onto the flash of the camera which apparently helped them out massively with producing better shots. So what I did was I cut down a piece of layout paper (since I didn’t have my smaller layout pad to hand) and some more blu-tac and loosely wrapped the paper around the shade of the desk lamp (doable because it was an anglepoise style lamp) and attached using the blu-tac. Wrapping it round loosely meant air could get in and circulate so the paper would not get so hot which could cause a fire. That was something that was mentioned by the photographer talked about above at the motorshow who said that after constant use of the paper on the flash, a burning smell occurred which meant he had to stop and change paper every so often.

The final change I made was to change the light bulb in my lamp. The one that I use in it has a warm white light. Very yellow. The one I changed it to in order to take the pictures, and the one I got with the lamp when I bought it was a very white light, quite cold and clinical. It was, going by the white balance preset in Aperture 3 afterwards, quite close to daylight in a way.

And that was that. I could angle the light where I wanted it, and switching between my 50mm prime and my 18-55mm lenses I was able to produce some quite good photographs of model cars, my new Mr Jones Watch and a few other things. I spent roughly 3 hours taking photos last night which I was quite happy to do as I hadn’t taken so many for quite a while.

Here is the updated light box/studio

The changes for next time? I think next time I am going to make a few more changes to this. The first one is that I am probably going to buy a large A0(ish) piece of paper to use. The larger space would be useful for taking larger objects, or being more adventurous with smaller ones. I was limited a few times when taking some pictures that I ended up seeing the edge of the paper. Use a tripod. I spent most of the time resting the camera on the desk and taking pictures that way. It became a bit of a problem when trying to take shots from above, especially when the shutter speed was quite low for some of the pictures. Make a better or bigger light diffuser to cover the light and possibly position it a little further away from the bulb itself. There was a number of times when I saw the light reflection and I know it could have been done a bit better. The final one is probably the use of some helping hands, either the small crocodile clip style or just getting someone in to give me a hand, but trying to hold up a piece of kappa board as a reflector, adjust the light and hold on to the camera at the same time did get a bit tricky at times, which did end up with some blurry images.

Apart from that, it ended up quite well. Over 300 photos were taken, that being an average of about 100 an hour for those of you who didn’t want to work that one out. And the quality was astonishingly good for something made in under five minutes. Some of the photos of model cars looked just as realistic as full size car images.

Here are some examples of the photographs taken using the makeshift studio:

#126 New Glass

Finally, after a few months of avoiding using one of my lenses for my DSLR, because it was broken, I have replaced it.

Way back in November or December, whenever we had the thundersnow (I survived Dundee thunder-snowstorm 2010 haha) my basic kit lens for my Sony A200 effectively gave up. The autofocus stopped working which meant when I was using that lens on my camera, it would make funny noises whenever I switched it on and off. Eventually, as in a week or so ago it just jammed completely leaving it effectively as an 18mm prime lens. Not very convenient since I had spent most of the winter with just my 50mm prime on the camera instead

After a trip to the shop where the camera was bought not long after the lens gave up I was told to look on eBay or similar for an alternative as it would be cheaper than repairing it. I only just took up that advice and went hunting. Originally I tried looking for a like for like replacement, an 18-70mm zoom lens. After looking at ones which essentially had the same problem I had with mine, I settled for a tidy looking, used 18-55mm zoom lens which arrived the next day.

It is good to have a small zoom lens again. There have been a few times where I have needed one recently but had to make do with my 50mm. And because it cost very little, if it does break (which I’m hoping it doesn’t) it won’t cost much to replace.

#40 More Camera Lust? Oh my!

Ok, what is it with me and cameras? I wish I knew. There is just something so lovely and utilitarian about them. The feel. The fact you are holding them and holding them up to your face in order to make them work properly. The sound. The sweet click which varies depending on which camera you are using, varying depending on if it is a film camera or a digital camera.

I think I have mentioned this before, but my earliest memory of using a camera is using my dad’s old Olympus OM-10, which he still has and uses.

Moving on to the main focus of this post. Sony have just released information about some of their concept cameras they are working on. Being relatively new in the DSLR game after buying the remnants of Konica Minolta, Sony, at the PMA International Convention have just announced a series of Micro Four-Thirds cameras, aiming to get into that market whilst it is still young. The camera’s they have previewed are essentially compact digital cameras with the ability for the user to change the lens on them, making them much more functional, and usable. Maybe not so much for the casual camera user who only wants a point and shoot, but this very much appeals to me, who likes to be able to have greater control of what I take.

Is this wanting feeling got something to do with the fact that I am a Sony fan? Yes. Does it have something to do with the fact that I have a Sony A200 DSLR? Yes. Is this a very mediocre way in which to end this probably decent post? Yes.

Goodnight.

Snap happy…

Ok, time for something a little diverted from the field of design, but it is something which I enjoy doing very much, I can spend many an hour doing this and not get bored. What is it? Photography.

Ever since I was very small, I enjoyed playing with camera’s and taking pictures. Some of my earliest memories of using a camera was was using Dad’s Olympus OM10 film SLR camera (which incidentally he still has and is contemplating giving it to me sometime). Getting my first camera was a great moment too, albeit it was effectively a point and shoot camera when I was about 6, and it was used until I was almost 10. After that when I needed one it was just a disposable one until the time came for the first digital camera. This was a major turning point because I could take pictures of everything and everyone and not have to wait until they were developed to see them. It was great. A couple of compact cameras later, growing in price and functionality, I decided in April this year to bite the bullet and get my first DSLR. After many weeks of thought, I went out there to the shops, still without the faintest idea of what one I was wanting to buy. The shop we went to was the same one in which my dad had bought his first proper camera about 30 years before, so I was very excited and he was quite nostalgic.

Having tried many different cameras, Canon’s, Nikon’s, Pentax’s etc, I settled on Sony, mainly because it fitted in my hands well and it had a good weight to it. Camera purists would say I was an idiot for going for a Sony because they are ‘new’ to the field, but in fact they did buy out Konica Minolta’s camera operations a few years before so the quality and functionality of them was right up there from the start. Also, due to picking Sony, I have been informed that they will be the company of choice for my camera and camera needs for essentially the rest of my life. Not a problem for me as I quite like Sony, having had many of their products over the years from a number of walkmans (cassette and CD), a Playstation (1, 2 and 3), a television or two, and a fantastic pair of earphones (though not as good as my newly purchased B&O’s)

Along with the camera and the standard 18-55mm lens, I got a 55-270mm lens and a carrying bag. Awesome!

Since this most recent purchase I do feel as though my photography has come on leaps and bounds because I am more free with the settings of the camera, am able to do what I want to do with it more. With the compact camera’s before it, I was pushing to the limit and in many cases beyond. Just now, I am only using probably about 30-40%, and I can’t wait to see what my photo’s are like when I am using the camera at 110%. In the 7 or 8 months since I bought the camera, I have taken about 10,000 photographs, some good, some pretty shoddy. But my love affair with the camera and the act of photography is growing and growing, and my ideas are becoming more and more ambitious.

Some of my favourite kinds of photographs are panorama’s and light trails. Panorama’s because they require either the use of a tripod, or the ability to swivel very steadily whilst holding the camera making sure it is not moved vertically or angularly from the previous position. The overall result is usually phenomenal even without post processing. Light trails are something which are great fun to do, and something I have only been able to achieve since purchasing the DSLR, the only problem is that it would be so much easier if I had an external shutter control so I could take pictures on the bulb setting, but this is on my purchase list along with a polarising filter. My favourite light trails photograph has to be from July when I was on holiday in Uist, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, the camera was set up on the tripod and I was standing in my room with the velux window wide open, cold air pouring in the window waiting for cars to pass, and because it was 11 o’clock at night, on an island 70 miles long and only with a population of circa 4000, they didn’t pass too often. I had to make do with talking to a friend on msn on my iPhone to pass the time, which did make the arduous task of this much more enjoyable.

If you would like to see some of my work please visit my flickr photostream or my DeviantART where I upload some of my better pieces of work, also all the photographs used to illustrate posts here have been taken by myself, except for the one of the Eigenharp.

Flickr

DeviantART

Some examples and a small description of each.

1. My most recent shot, taken today (31st October 2009), playing around with long shutter speeds.

2. Coming back from the Mcrae Forest Stages, thought it looked good in the mirror so I took a picture.

3. On holiday, playing with long shutter speeds with cars going across the causeway between Grimsay and North Uist.

4. Panorama of Dundee taken from the Law. Taken in December 2008 with my Fujifilm F480.

5. Probably my favourite photo I have taken. My sister’s hamster in the grass at home in the garden.