I know you can do all this with Photoshop and Gimp. I also know it turns out better. But since I don't know how to do it with Photoshop or Gimp and since I'm so fed up with last weekends pictures, I did this with Picasa and thought the result looked cheesy.

So I had to share.



Meanwhile, I'm patiently waiting for Queens to announce their evening course schedule to see i there is a decent photography course on. I've found one in Lurgan, but want to keep my options open in case Belfast suits.

 So, anyone interested in joining me for a few weeks fun in Photoshop?

 Oh, and for those that want to know - the image had a sepia filter applied to it. It then had 5 film grain filters to give it that really old look. Cheesy huh?

As I've mentioned, Saturday and Sunday were pretty unsuccessful in terms of photographs and learning anything useful.

Still, I thought I'd share some of the shots this week. If you have opinions about what went wrong, or advice on how to make better use fo things, please let me know!

I could get into a diatribe on the decline of fishing within Ireland and how generations of fishing heritage are being lost because of over fishing and EU bureaucracy....

Instead, I thought I'd share a good example of how not to park your boat.



(1/100, f/5.6, metering - matrix, focal length - 18.0mm, 04/08/07 16:05)

Personally, I think the image is too dull. I'd prefer the shadows under the boat to be less black, allowing some of the detail and the rust to be visible. In retrospect I should have got lower and been looking up at the boat to make it more expressive. As usual the image has been quite heavily cropped and had minor tweaks from Picasa to make it presentable.

One good thing to come out of the weekend was finally getting to put my camera bag through some proper carry time. Previously, I'd never carried it for more than 20 minutes at a time so I was reluctant to say it was a bag or a bag of sh...

On Saturday, that all changed.

But first, the bag itself!

The Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW

Manufactured by Lowepro, the Lowepro Slingshot 100 Shoulder Bag is their entry level sling bag.

This came as an upgrade option for the camera kit I purchased, and at the time I was nervous about it, but though it looked a little more sturdy than the standard Jessops bag.

According to Lowepro, it's possible to store a "Digital SLR with attached lens; 1 - 2 extra lenses and personal accessories". Mine currently holds a Digital SLR with 18 - 55 lens, a 55 - 200 lens, a flash gun, a UV filter, a polarizing filter, a Cokin filter kit (with filter box), all the manuals, the extra lens caps, a sun doofer for the end of a lens, that sandisk card holder I mentioned last week, a spare battery, a sink, 2 towels and an emergency 4 star Radisson SAS hotel*.

Now before I begin, let me just point out I'm a big bloke. not big as in a little tall, or a little overweight. I mean big as in I have my own gravity well - small objects keep sticking to me! "Where I walk, I blot out the sun", that sort of size. 

So anyway, Saturday saw me on an open boat (yes, the one in the picture from last week) and out for the day to Inishfree. Not the island from the poem, the one in the Atlantic, the one which if you miss the next stop is some island with a big copper woman with a book and a torch on it.  I had the bag in it's backpack position and was pleased to see that not only did the straps fit me (with some slack) but also that it was incredibly comfortable to wear. It felt light and I wasn't restricted in any way.

Upon beaching on Inishfree, a single click of a strap and the bag shifted from my back to my side, with the camera in a handy position to just lift out as needed. All the kit I needed was easy to get whilst still feeling secure. Watching other people on the island looking for a dry, clean spot to start rooting in their bags I was left feeling all superior - Well done Lowepro!

The handy little extras on their bag where great too. The screen cloth attached in the bag was a life saver for dealing with pesky rain drops and the water proof cover meant the kit all arrived back to base dry and snug - unlike its owner.

By my reckoning, I had the bag on my person for maybe 5 hours on Saturday. not once did I find it a burden. I was so impressed and comfortable with the bag that I ended up out walking on Sunday again to see if I could steal something from the weekends shooting.

To be honest, with the amount of kit I'd bought I was contemplating a new camera bag in the very near future. Now, I think I'll keep the 100 AW and maybe just buy something to keep the bits I don't need on a day out and about.

 I don't plan on rating kit on this site, but if you're looking for a cheap camera bag and don't have a lot of kit to haul, this one might be for you.

* OK, so I was exaggerating about the sink, towels and hotel.

Well, I got back from Donegal.

I had the camera out both days.

I got zip.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

OK, I took maybe 100 photographs. Mostly repetition of the same couple of scenes and people to see what slight (and sometimes quite drastic) settings changes would do. I uploaded them tonight and there isn't a single photo I looked at and went wow.

As I've said before, you'll see more tripe here than treacle, so I'll post some of the better ones over the next few days. I'll also provide some commentary on what I was trying to do at the time.

If I'd thought I could just pick this up before the weekend, my mind is set on needing a course now.

No pictures to post today. Probably just as well.

Thought I'd try to formalise my plans for the weekend instead.

As I mentioned, I'm off to Donegal again and (assuming the weather is OK and the missus lets me out) I'm going to try to have a play with the following things.

1. Aperture priority on the camera


2. Shooting in RAW mode (apparently it's not anything to do with the way you cook steak...)


3. Composition - I'm going to try to actively follow a magazine article I read


4. Polarizing lens - Yup, part of that buying frenzy

It'll probably be another week of waste paper not wallpaper. but sure, what else are you going to do?

Any last minute words of advice, please share?

Learning To Snap

Last of last weekends shots (and just in time too since I'm off to Donegal again this weekend)

A few posts back I mentioned taking photos when the tide was coming in? Well, yeah. this was that shot.

Camera was still on "world of automatic" and as I've posted these images this week it's the one thing that has frustrated me. I need to start stepping up and seeing what these other buttons do.

If anyone can recommend a decent "Idiot" book or can advise on a course in the Belfast/Northern Ireland area please do so...

 

(1/250, f/87.1, metering - matrix, focal length - 85.0mm, 04/08/07 16:05)

(Yes, the ocean is at a funny angle. I just noticed that too.)

Another shot from last weekend.

To be honest there will be a lot of shots of Donegal appearing on this blog. I've family up there and I tend to spend a lot of time there.

Have camera, will snap

No real deep insights or comments about this for you. If you know Donegal, this is on the road between Dungloe and Doochary. The continued urbanisation of Donegal is a growing problem.



(1/200, f/8.0, metering - matrix, focal length - 18.0mm, 05/08/07 19:05)

I like this shot, but it suffers from a mistake I make a lot. If I'd stepped maybe two steps to the right it I think it would have been much better. Aside from the 47 billion options and widgets and doofers and stuff that you can do between picking the camera up and setting it down, there seems to be a whole bit about what you look at as well.

I read a good article on this in Digital SLR Photography last month and, assuming the opportunity presents itself, I'm going to try and play with this at the weekend.

Oh, and as you can see. Saturdays grey skies turned out just peachy on Sunday.

Learning To Snap

Since it's lunch time and I've got five minutes, I thought I'd post another from last weekend in Donegal.

Again, it was taken on the dull overcast Saturday but strangely it doesn't seem to hurt this one too much.

This was the first time I used the Tamron 55 - 200 lens that came with my camera kit. The picture was taken at full zoom and then cropped and tweaked using Picasa to make it a little less mweh and a little more hmmm....

It was still taken using one of the vast range of automatic settings on the 400D.



(1/500, f/10.0, metering - matrix, focal length - 161.0mm, 04/08/07 12:32)

Learning To Snap

I think I mentioned the other day that I ended up in Donegal at the weekend. Well, it was my first real opportunity to get out for an hour with my shiny new camera and see if I could point it at things and make it work.

To my mind, the aim of the day was to get out and point the camera at objects, to get comfortable with it in my hands and using viewfinders and things again. I didn't intend to make use of the manual settings on the camera (I'll start looking at Aperture and Shutter priorities soon I guess).

Anyway, I went back to Cloughglass Beach since it's close and I'd visited it a lot.

The August summer weather was what you expect, dull grey, rainy.

The sky was an almost solid grey, but it had a moody feel to it - I have no idea how to get that into a picture. Maybe someone with more experience will happen in here and tell me the secret? My own overriding impression of the day was that if the sky is like that again I'm not going to expect to get much from it.

Other lessons I learned...

1. The tide is coming in means THE TIDE IS COMING IN. Thou shalt get wet feet if you stand there too long


2. Carrying a tripod is not fun. Using it may be, but carrying the bugger is a pain in the bum


3. Think about what you need in your camera bag before you go - AKA- There probably isn't a plug on the beach, so you didn't need to bring your battery charger

As this blog grows I'll probably post more turkey giblets than turkey dinners on this site. Here's one (you can decide which) from Cloughglass Beach.



(1/800, f/4.0, metering - matrix, focal length - 18.0mm, 04/08/07 15:56)

Learning To Snap

I have no idea what other people are using to view image libraries. I'm sure there are some great tools out there, but when I first got a digital camera a friend recommended Picasa as a neat utility that did what I needed.

It provides a nice interface for scanning your images and number of functions including basic contrast, brightness and cropping. Most importantly when you're a camera noob like me it has a patented(?) Google-esk button 'I'm Feeling Lucky' which makes the changes it thinks the images need.

As a camera noob it's been my stalwart photo utility since the E550 came to live with me.

Lately I've been playing with Gimp, but thats on my list of things I need to learn so it'll be a while before I feel qualified to say anything about it other than "The name keeps making me snigger"

Almost forgot. Both Picasa and Gimp are free under their various license models.

During my purchasing frenzy over the last few weeks, I pciked up a Sandisk Large Memory Card Case. It arrived int he post today and after a bit of playing with it I thought I'd post  my initial impressions...

Capable of holding up to 4 memory cards of different shapes and styles (good for me who uses Xd and CF), the case is quite robust and looks likely to survive a decent amount of pounding. The inside of the case is a snazzy red rubber mold which holds all the cards I've tried quite well.

I have only two concerns.

Firstly, it stinks. Yes, stinks as in smells funny. When open there is a funny rubbery plastic smell - it reminds me of a musty wetsuit to be honest. All I can hope is it passes.

Secondly, the latches to secure the case closed look flimsy. Really flimsy. Now I know I didn't buy some secure case which would take a professional burgler three weeks and an arc welder to break into, but these look like they're going to break before I ever get around to using my spare CF card. After 30 minutes of use they are already beginning to show that familiar white line on the hinge thats common to plastic attrition.

Still, at less than £3 from Amazon I expect it'll survive long enough.

Learning To Snap

Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm a closet gadget freak.

"If you don't have the toys, you ain't got the talent"

 I know I'm deluded.

 I asked a few people what they regarded as the minimum kit for starting digital photography. I got a combination of answers, which boiled down to two basic stand points.

1. Decent camera, good fixed lens, tripod, flash gun, remote


2. Decent camera

Who's right?

Well it's too early for me to tell, and it's probably always going to be a matter of opinion I guess. I went with option 1 to feed my need for the shiny.

 But, I can tell you one thing.

As I slogged across a beach in the rain at the weekend with my camera bag with extra lens, charger, manuals, flash gun, etc etc etc and then a second bag with a tripod in it, I grew to appreciate the simple practicality of option 2.

... Of course maybe I just need a bigger better bag...

These were some of my favourite shots with the Fuji E550 and I guess they formed the kernel that made me what to know more about taking decent photographs.

I tend to spend a lot of time in Donegal. If you've never been I have to recommend it - good food, good pubs and great scenery. Regardless of the time of year, it's always breathtaking (though as I found last weekend, not very photogenic with grey skies).

Anyway, I took a lot of photos one weekend while playing with my little E550 and these are some that I really liked. Typically everything was done by the camera and that's what was so frustrating. That's what started the drive towards spending money on a dSLR and this site and stuff.

I'm sure these could be better, I'm keen to hear your thoughts and comments on these and any other image I post here.

Cloughglass Beach



Cruit Island



 





Learning To Snap

Some notes about the images that appear here.

Unless stated otherwise, all images presented on this blog are copyright Paul Kavanagh. If you do wish to make use of an image, please let me know.  Providing it's for personal use I'll typically be more than happy for someone to make use of them (there are better out there though!).

All  other images on this blog are copyright their respective owners and were possible/practical permission has been requested to make use of them.

Please feel free to post comments if you have any. All I'd ask is that you're pleasant, and don't just type "you suck" over and over. In fact, if you have advice about improving the images or about techniques which have helped you, please share!

One other thing to note. The images here are all scaled and have had their quality recduced to make them more web friendly. A friend has loaned me the web space to alllow me to host them outside this blog and I don't want to repay him by hosting 200 10Meg images...

When I first started shopping for a digital camera and ended up buying my E550, there were two sites I found invaluable.

DPReview gave fantastic information about all the cameras in the market, ranging from my little point and click through to the market leading pro DSLR's of the day. I used this site again when buying my 400D and was glad its only got better with age.

If you've ended up here and are thinking about buying a camera, then go there next.

I first came across Chromasia via an article in the Financial Times I think. the daily pictures are amazing. Of all the sites on the web, of all the pictures out there, David Nightingale is the person who drove me to do this. I've never spoken tot he man, never exchanged an email, never posted comments on his site, but I think his work is fantastic and if I ever get to be half as good I'll be happy. 

Learning To Snap

That's basically what my wife said when I arrived home with a brand new shiny camera.

After months of reading, debating, panicking, planning, surfing the web for the best deal, some general humming (with an occasional ha). I baulked, walked into town and handed my credit card over in Jessops, said the immortal words "I am a camera noob, make it hurt"

Credit to them, they were very helpful, appeared knowledgeable (like I would know!) and got me a camera and some toys with little or no fuss.

So, I'm now the proud owner of a Canon EOS 400D, flash gun thingy, kit lens, Tamron 55 - 200mm lens and some other stuff like batteries and memory cards. I'd lay it all out and take a photo, but I'm shy.

So, here's one from dpreview



We've been together now for a few weeks and it's safe to say love may be blooming.

Learning To Snap