I took this a while back when I was at my parents in law. The shot itself is (like most of the shots I take) nothing special and wasn't even going to get posted until I started playing with Gimp again.

Here's the original (or at least the post Picasa size reduced original)



(1/500, f/5, aperture priority, focal length - 39mm, 01/09/07 14:00, ISO - 100)

Just a picture of Sam, the wifes family dog. Nothing overly great about the picture, though I like the depth of field for the bushes in the background.

I loaded it into Gimp and was messing about with the clone tool to see if I could remove the pole (a washing line if you must know) and was quite impressed with the result. Then (because they mentioned it in a magazine) I found the burn tool and did some work on the rocks to make them a little darker.

I like the result. I'm not sure I like it more than the original (minus the pole* obviously) . What do you think?



Yes, I've noticed it too. The land seems to be sloping from left to right. Honestly I can't remember if the ground did this but I have a feeling its me still not holding the camera straight and level.

* For the record I have nothing against poles. I know some nice poles. I also like pillars, stacks and columns. In fact, you could say I'm a fan of all vertical based structural implements.

Soemthing odd just happened and I appear to have lost my title background image.

Same for everyone else?

I've mentioned I own a polarizing lens.

Someone mentioned it was good for taking the glare out of water as well as giving the sky a funky colour and I want to try this, but here's my question.

Are you ready for it?

My lens has a little white line which (I assume) is for me to aim at the sun to get best results. So what way do I point it when taking pictures of water? At the sun or at the water?

Colour me confused.

I've always had a thing for dragons. not those poncy "I can talk and I can do magic" nonsense dragons, but for the flame spouting, knight chomping, damsel distressing dragons certain patron saints got off having a go at.

So, needless to say the 20" high dragon that has prize of place on my window ledge at home was always going to get a look in here.



(1/25, f/5, metering - matrix, focal length - 171mm, 13/09/07 18:43, ISO - 400)

This picture was taken using the external flash gun thing that came with my camera kit. The flash was adjusted to bounce off the (white) ceiling and diffused slightly. The colour range of the photo was then tweaked in GIMP (I'd tell you the exact changes, but to be honest I was messing about and suddenly stopped and went "Woah!"*)

When you look at the picture you'll probably see a lot of shadow or something (Shake?) to the right side of the dragon. Not sure what caused it. To be honest only noticed it as I was putting the picture up.

I'll try to find out what I changed in GIMP. I'll also be back to take more photo's of the beast.

One other thing of note with this shot. In order to try to get more light through the camera I upped the ISO from it's default 100 to a rather sturdy 400. This helped reduce a lot of shake that I was getting (course, I could have just got out the tripod).

*Whilst many people have noted that Keanu Reeves and myself have a lot in common in terms of looks and snazzy 'Point Break' style lingo, I prefer to consider myself more in keeping with his "Ted" days. That and we look, sound and probably weigh nothing alike.

First. Sorry for the long radio silence. I took a few weeks off work, and spent them doing duck all. No, really. I demolished some stuff, I played some games I even slept a little. But the one thing I wanted to do was snap and the one thing I didn't do was snap.

Except for one day in Donegal (Nope, still not being sponsored by the Donegal Tourist Board!).

It was kind of a family weekend, so a lot of family shots, which means you won't see 'em here - sorry.

That said.....

I own a polarizing lens. So I took it out to take this shot. Here's kind of a before and after (or my attempt at one).







Ignore the digger. It was a picture I took for my mother in law as she's about to lose this view in favour of someones house. (Remember what I said about over population in Donegal?).

I don't think I was using the polarizing lens quite right. The left hand side of the sky looks great, but it fades out as you move right.  If you've an idea where I'm going wrong, let me know!

Yeah, I been busy.

Ironically I took some time off work to  do some stuff, including camera things....

And the one thing I haven't done? Yup, the camera things....

That said, I was away at the weekend and did get it out (so to speak) so I'll try to post something tomorrow.

Geoff asked me a question the other day and I thought I should share the answer.

What'd he ask I hear you cry.

He asked why there were no pictures of people on this blog.

 Well....

 The simple answer is I don't want to put pictures of people online without their explicit permission. To date the only people I've even tried to take a proper photograph of have been my wife and baba, and to be honest they appear in most of the E550 pictures I've taken of people as well. Anyway, given the nature of the web and the fact that once a picture is online it's in the public domain forever we're both reluctant to put pictures of the baba online where anyone can find them. So, that leaves the missus or me....

 She said no. I didn't argue.

That leaves me.  Maybe VanGough(?) did self portraits, but not me. No siree.

 So, until one of you lot volunteer or I convince the wife that paying for a model is all about photography and not being a letch, all you're likely to see here is pictures of things and places.

Hope you all understand.

Thought it was time for another piece of kit review.It's well known that low light needs either a bright flash or a longer exposure (either a wider aperture or a longer shutter speed). What I only discovered recently is that landscape shots can also benefit from it. those shots where the water looks like mist or the grasses have that ethereal (cool word) quality are all taken with longer exposure times.As a reformed Sabutamol addict (puff free for 2 years now), I've got this fantastic hand tremor (OK, it might be natural - Sabutamol could have nothing to do with it. Please don't sue me!) . Anyway, the tremor means a lot of my pictures are more blurry than I'd like. I'd thought the tripod I borrowed would help with this and it does to a degree.However, that moment when you push the button on the camera still can cause a shake - even on the tripod. so I bought me one of these....Canon RC-1 Remote Controller

The Canon RC-1 is a simple remote control for the Canon camera (it works for the 440D - no idea about yours). Incredibly simple to use, it allows pictures to be taken from a range of about 10 feet in front of the camera, though not really from behind (OK, no comments about taking it from behind you freaks).It comes with a handy strap clip to keep with your camera. This seems pretty robust and secure - certainly mine hasn't fallen off in the last few weeks.I have only one negative about what is otherwise a tasty bit of kit. When you change the camera to remote, it doesn't change back between sessions - Pain in the bot....erm...neck when you only use the remote occasionally like me. Anyway, at less than £20, it's worth the pennies in my opinion.

http://learningtosnap.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/background.jpg

"I'm leaving,

    on a jet plane..."

Actually more like they're arriving on a jet plane, but still...



(1/320, f/11, metering - matrix, focal length - 55.0mm, 19/08/07 13:03)

This turned out much more sinister than I'd planned. I liked the sight of the plane escaping the clouds, the silhouette was just an added bonus.

I'd thrown the camera in the boot of the car because we were out with the "new shoes" and ended up at my brothers house. He's a fantastic view from his back garden and I'd snuck out to take a few shots. The airplane shot turned out much better than any of the landscape ones. :(

The original was a lot more wishy washy than this, but I felt this looked much better. Comments, as always, are welcome!

The plane is on final approach to Belfast International.

Welcome to Northern Ireland.