Advancement, Through Technology…

On 14 November 2008, I took delivery of the stunning Nikon 24-70mm f 2.8 professional lens. I happened to have a car service scheduled, and I spent an hour taking pictures inside the Audi dealership in GREAT light – and produced the most amazingly sharp images, even at slow shutter speeds (the one below is, unbelievably, just 1/50 secs and ISO 800):

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm f 2.8 lens at 24mm, 1/50 secs at f 5, ISO 800, hand held no flash.

Just a jaw-dropping result at a high ISO, slow-ish shutter speed, and this is more or less straight out of the camera. It’s an incredible lens, on an incredible camera. It looks like an HDR image, but believe me it’s not – just a superb combination and some great light (look at that back left alloy wheel…).

Sorry for all the superlatives but, my God, some of this modern technology is awesome.

The Lights Fantastic

Late November 2008, late Sunday night drive back home from Marie’s parents’ place in Barnsley. Marie drove, Devon snoozed, I kept the conversation going and played around shooting car light trails:

Nikon D300, Nikon 50mm f 1.8 prime lens, 3-second exposure at f 11, ISO 400, hand held no flash, through the windscreen somewhere on the A1 southbound. Experimental. Release the shutter, then rotate the camera in circles … push it forwards and backwards to create the 3D effect, or just let the cars come towards you … lovely depth to this one, I shot around 30 different exposures.

Here’s another nice crisp one:

Nikon D300, Nikon 50mm f 1.8 prime lens, 5-second exposure at f 14, ISO 400, hand held no flash. Great fun to try this out, you have no idea what’s going to happen. Sometimes, you just have to play with colours…

Neither of the two images above have been altered in post production apart from a tiny bit of sharpening.

Coming to rescue Leeds United

Christmas Eve 2008. Our boy Devon wanted to show off his footy skills to me. Although he knows the words to Marching On Together – the Leeds United song – he’s not convinced they’re the team for him. Despite my mantras “Champions League Semi Final” and “Team Of The Millennium” (we were on top of the Premiership on Jan 1st, 2000), something inside him prevents him from committing fully to a team that a) struggles to draw against Hereford in League One and b) plays at Elland Road which is 100 miles away and hardly ever on the telly.

Instead, he wavers between not caring about football, and working on his “skills” – which these days are much more important to kids than passing, tackling, being in the right position and shooting at goal. Here’s Dev after a failed ball-balancing trick:

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm f 2.8 lens at 24mm, 1/2000 sec at f 5.6, ISO 320, hand held no flash. Mucked around with it in Lightroom, heavily cropped because the sky to the top left was overexposed, and yes it’s a fine example of an overcooked picture. Interesting pose, though, and very spontaneous.

I was enjoying myself with the new Nikon 24-70mm f 2.8 professional lens, it really is a beauty. Gives you such a feeling of confidence, it’s hefty, big, you can feel how well-made it is, and it’s so easy to take a tack-sharp picture. I love it.

Here’s Devon in full-on skills mode:

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm f 2.8 lens at 24mm, 1/1000 sec at f 4, ISO 250, hand held no flash. Note ‘Santa Stop Here’ sign (he did), and elegant dangly ‘ice effect’ fairy lights, positioned by yours truly and among the best on view in our immediate vicinity. Hardly Deck The Halls, but we made an effort, and it was a fantastic Christmas. One week after I took this picture, we found out that Marie was pregnant, and that Devon, our footballer, would become a big brother…

Sun’s Back Out, Camera’s Back From Nikon

So I went nearly five weeks without my camera – by the end I was caressing my lenses, re-arranging the straps on my camera bag, feverishly posting on message boards – anything to have a bit of camera action while the people at Nikon (actually H.Lehman in Stoke on Trent) fixed my faulty pop-up flash, and re-calibrated the focus.

My wife is sick at the moment, struck down by hyperemesis (ie: permanent, severe all-day morning sickness – yes she’s pregnant), so this is not the time for long, ambitious photo shoots. I struck out for the back end of the garden, instead, and to test whether Nikon had really fixed the focus, here’s our little camper van at the top of our back steps:

 Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70 mm f2.8 lens at 48mm, f 8, ISO 200, hand held no flash. Blue and green colour channels boosted slightly in Lightroom, sharpened a fraction in Paint Shop Pro. We both have a mild thing for VW camper vans, this one’s pottery, sadly there’s no real one in the driveway yet. One day maybe. Seems the D300 is back on form, although the camera man is a bit rusty…

She’ll Do Anything, My Mother In Law

Bev Oakley, mother of my beloved, isn’t what you’d call the shy and retiring type.

 

Nikon D300, Nikon 18-200mm VR lens at 75mm, 1/800 sec at f 5.0, ISO 200, hand held no flash.

This photo isn’t so flattering to Bev, who is actually a lot better looking than that. It gives us all a viewing angle which was previously only available to her husband John. The pic was taken at Skeggy (Skegness to posh people), a seaside town on the north Lincolnshire coast which gets a bad press, but which is actually one of Britain’s great fun places to be. I may have to delete this one when Bev sees it, so get it quick…

Here’s Bev looking a bit more serene…

Nikon D300, Nikon 50mm f 1.8 prime lens, 1/125 sec at f 1.8, ISO 200, hand held no flash. Slightly sharpened in Paint Shop Pro, and yes I know the highlights are blown to bits by the sunny window on the right hand side, but who’s bothered?