It may be slightly cliche as a landscape but it's still a spectacular view we have and if/when we leave this building we'll certainly miss it.
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| Nikon D700, 85mm, f/9.0, 3s |
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
An evening landscape
I took this a while back on my D700 but never got to post it.
It may be slightly cliche as a landscape but it's still a spectacular view we have and if/when we leave this building we'll certainly miss it.
It may be slightly cliche as a landscape but it's still a spectacular view we have and if/when we leave this building we'll certainly miss it.
Monday, 28 April 2014
Night vision
This is a bit of a rushed post, as I am still recovering from a cold that I caught during my trip to Kos.
Having taken over 200 images on my Df, I have learned quite a lot about this camera.
One thing that I am comfortable to let it do is to use high ISOs that would previously been unusable on the D700.
For all shots, in-camera noise reduction was turned OFF.
I'm no expert in removal of noise in post-processing but this was handled for me by Topaz DeNoise 5.
The first shot was totally usable in colour but since the lighting was a very uninteresting sodium streetlamp, I decided it was better in B&W. Even at pixel-peeping levels the noise is very "organic" or film-like and pleasant.
The second photo of the cat was taken by the bottom steps of our hotel.
I'm not sure if I achieved critical focus but you might imagine how dark it was by looking at the size of the pupils of the cat's eyes. If that was a lens, it would be at f/1.0 :-)
Again, better in B&W as the red carpet was a bit distracting but fairly usable in colour?
Being Greece, cats are abound and seem to proliferate at night. Most of them scuttle around the bins or between cars but some prefer to do as humans do, hoping that they are out of sight.
Here again it was extremely dark and both the camera and I had trouble focusing.
I think the cat detected me but was a bit spooked by not knowing what I was up to!
Again I think the noise is OK, especially for web upload.
Having taken over 200 images on my Df, I have learned quite a lot about this camera.
One thing that I am comfortable to let it do is to use high ISOs that would previously been unusable on the D700.
For all shots, in-camera noise reduction was turned OFF.
I'm no expert in removal of noise in post-processing but this was handled for me by Topaz DeNoise 5.
The first shot was totally usable in colour but since the lighting was a very uninteresting sodium streetlamp, I decided it was better in B&W. Even at pixel-peeping levels the noise is very "organic" or film-like and pleasant.
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO16000 |
The second photo of the cat was taken by the bottom steps of our hotel.
I'm not sure if I achieved critical focus but you might imagine how dark it was by looking at the size of the pupils of the cat's eyes. If that was a lens, it would be at f/1.0 :-)
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO20000 |
Again, better in B&W as the red carpet was a bit distracting but fairly usable in colour?
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO20000 |
Being Greece, cats are abound and seem to proliferate at night. Most of them scuttle around the bins or between cars but some prefer to do as humans do, hoping that they are out of sight.
Here again it was extremely dark and both the camera and I had trouble focusing.
I think the cat detected me but was a bit spooked by not knowing what I was up to!
Again I think the noise is OK, especially for web upload.
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO57470 |
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Kos
I haven't been blogging recently since I've been on a mini vacation to the Greek Island of Kos. Normally known as a British, teen holidaymakers' party island...we decided to try it out in the off-season for some hiking, sightseeing and the hope of finding some good food!
We weren't disappointed!
I did think about processing some of the RAWs in-camera and transmitting them to the phone but we're not at the hotel for long, either rushing to get out or collapsing with exhaustion after a long day. I've also had a bad cold since day2 so taking photos has been my limit.
Some photos are in square format as I took them that way for Instagram.
Saturday, 19 April 2014
British muscle
Over in the USA, this might be a Ford Gran Torino, which is great to look at, although I can't say that I've driven one.
Perhaps in the UK (where the equivalent is never seemingly as cool as in the US) it would be a Ford Cortina. By the looks of this, according to Wikipedia, this is a Mark III (1970-1976).
This one was parked in Greenwich while we were (guess what?) flat-hunting.
It seemed to be in decent shape, at least from the outside and although I wouldn't call it a muscle-car, it has its charms.
Perhaps in the UK (where the equivalent is never seemingly as cool as in the US) it would be a Ford Cortina. By the looks of this, according to Wikipedia, this is a Mark III (1970-1976).
This one was parked in Greenwich while we were (guess what?) flat-hunting.
It seemed to be in decent shape, at least from the outside and although I wouldn't call it a muscle-car, it has its charms.
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| Nikon Df, 50mm f/2.2, 1/3200s, ISO100 |
More floor planning
However this Easter we're very busy for various reasons.
Alex's sister is visiting and we're in the midst of looking for potential properties.
In the meantime my personal agenda is to take more photos whilst trying to participate in the above activities.
Whilst Alex and Chloe (her Architect-turned-movie set-designer friend) were busy discussing floor plans, I got away on my own with the Df.
These were of a structure near Great Portland Street.
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/80s, ISO125 |
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/80s, ISO100 |
Friday, 18 April 2014
Girders and garters
Ok not quite garters but I couldn't think of another caption for my second photo starting with "G".
We were up on the roof terrace of our soon-to-be ex-home, enjoying the early evening sun, the views and some ice cream (I think it was a pot of fudge and another one of strawberry).
Unfortunately the ice-cream disappeared faster than I could take a photo but I managed to find other things instead.
These were taken by my newly-acquired (and inexpensive) 50mm f/1.8G (which seems to get better reviews than the f/1.4G). It makes for a very light and sufficiently small combination with my Df that allows me to carry it every day.
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, ISO100, f/2.5, 1/2500s |
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| Nikon Df, 50mm, ISO100, f/2.5, 1/2000s |
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
A different perspective
Flat hunting by itself can be quite stressful but for me it's (of course) an opportunity to see new places and new things that can become a subject of my photos.
We're mostly looking in places where most other people look, namely convenient, not far from civilisation, a bit of greenery, not too expensive but not dangerous.
The first place we saw may have fit the bill, except for being ex-local authority, meaning that there is a mixture of people from those that have, to have nots. There's are also potential difficulties associated with selling ex-council housing, so we decided to give this one a miss.
The second one was more in line with what we were looking for. The interior needs refurbishing but the basics seem solid and the area is slightly more residential.
We're mostly looking in places where most other people look, namely convenient, not far from civilisation, a bit of greenery, not too expensive but not dangerous.
The first place we saw may have fit the bill, except for being ex-local authority, meaning that there is a mixture of people from those that have, to have nots. There's are also potential difficulties associated with selling ex-council housing, so we decided to give this one a miss.
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| Nikon Df, 24mm, ISO100, f/3.5, 1/200s |
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| Nikon Df, 24mm, ISO 280, f/2.2, 1/30s |
The second one was more in line with what we were looking for. The interior needs refurbishing but the basics seem solid and the area is slightly more residential.
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| Nikon Df, 24mm, ISO 100, f/2.0, 1/500s |
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| Nikon Df, 24mm, ISO100, f/2.0, 1/500s |
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