I am loving using my recent Christmas / Birthday amalgamation purchase of the Sigma 120-400mm Lens.
I had intended it as a coverall for use with wildlife that seem always out of reach and more importantly as an additional landscape lens for detail and its fantastic ability to compress depth accompanied by its interesting depth of field.
The image above was done on Loch Ard with the lens at 148mm, iso 100, 1/20 sec at f6.3 , on the tripod with the shutter release and the stabilisation on both the lens and camera turned off.
I am still in the process of experimenting with the capabilities of this lovely piece of glass. This link on prophotoresource.com gives you the lowdown on long lens landscape photography and some fine examples of the capabilities and uses.
Welcome, or welcome back to my new upgraded, updated and thanks to a couple of friends, uploaded wordpress website. The new format and inclusion of a commercial aspect to the site means that I can bring print making in house to ensure consistency and quality. as I develop this option, i will add additional offerings. The website is truly a moving object and continually being added to so please link or RSS to this blog and recent images for updates.
In the meantime, a couple of thank you messages to Shahbaz Majeed, my web designer/builder, and an exceptional photographer in his own right… winner of the British Rail Category of ‘Take a View’ Landscape Photographer Of The Year 2012 and a man with the ability to translate html and javascript into english for a numpty like me. (If you want to see how a photographer and web designer combine their talent check out his website)
Also a thank you to my good friend David Gordon, who seems to be learning code very fast due to my incompetence… a photojournalist of note and a councillor in the making…
A Happy New Year to all that read this and all the friends that I have made in the last year through our love of photography…
I have additional reason to celebrate the new year this year with the publication of one of my images in the Outdoor Photography Magazines annual competition to find their ‘Outdoor Photography Photographer of the Year’.
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Another year over, it has been a pretty bland year from the point of view that the weather has been pretty poor on the whole with the best days seeming to be on the days that I have to earn a living… here are a few missed images from the end of the year, whist i await the new build of my site which will incorporate a ‘recent images’ gallery,for an up to date portfolio… and hopefully, at last, a corporate section… I am, as ever, indebted to my friend Shahbaz Majeed for his design and support of the site through hacking etc… and my many friends on google+, flickr, P4M, 500PX… and many more sites for the support and advice throughout the year… Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012!!
A few images from a reasonably successful few (rare) days shooting in various parts of the Trossachs and Argyll… I love this time of year and these images, I feel, convey the change and the unique colours of this area at the change between Autumn and winter…
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Firstly, and in the most humble way possible, i am honoured to have been invited to participate in the online magazine Great British Landscapes, as a featured Photographer,
In my humble opinion, the most comprehensive collection of information, online video tutorials and feedback that you can get about British landscape photography… well worth the subscription fee, and even more so now that it has an article about me (that was the humble bit)
But all joking aside, when i received the Call from Tim Parkin, the co-owner of the site with Joe Cornish, (two of the foremost landscape photographer around)… to say I was delighted would be an understatement.
Following a telephone interview with Tim, he sent me the prompt questions, and i completed, what has to be, the most extensive biography about myself that i have written.
If you are interested about where, when, why and how… come on over to the site and have a read (the featured photographer section is free) and feel the quality of the work that is on offer in this great publication.
Secondly, and equally important is the yearly recognition and angst, that is, the ‘Take a View’ Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards.
Unfortunately, once again, despite two images shortlisted , I failed to win… however, i wanted to give a mention to two friends and fellow photographers who managed to get into this illustrious publication.
I met Angus Clyne for the first time a few weeks back on a chance encounter in the forests of The Hermitage, near Dunkeld… Angus is a genuinely nice guy, and an amazing Artist, whether it be photography or woodturning, the artistic temperament oozes out of him… With River Tay (Below), he managed to get runner-up – Classic view.
I have known Shahbaz Majeed for a couple of years now and his photography talent is only matched by his ability to build websites (including this one).
A genuinely humble photographer, i was delighted to see that he was rewarded with the Network Rail ‘Lines in the Landscape’ Award with his image of the Tay Rail Bridge (below)
Congratulations to Robert Fulton on winning this years accolade, and good to see Scotland represented so well in this years competition winners… I am sure there are others in the ‘commended’ section that I have missed as i have not seen the full list , but i am delighted to see these guys mentioned!
Well done Guys… I will keep trying… maybe next year!!
Angus Clyne: Kercock Bothy, The River Tay
Shahbaz Majeed: Tay Rail Bridge
Another selection of my previous HDR archive images , with hindsight and a couple more years of experience in processing…
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It has been a good week for my ego… with three stand out events that have made me smile and enhanced my photographic footprint on the Web…
Firstly, I have managed to get the number one spot in 500px website, I am delighted as these are a stunning collection of images from all over the world and this is a great honour… (click on image for link)
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I am in the process of updating the archives of some of my favourite images processed in HDR, in order to take a fresh, non HDR, look at them.
I have got to say, some images take the improvement in my processing with ease, but a few look better in the previous HDR cloak… I think these are the ones that i have done recently and have a more subtle HDR processed touch…
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The beauty of my new Pentax K5 is the backwards compatibility of the lenses… I managed to get a Pentax SMC 50mm f1.4 for £60, second hand from FFordes of Beauly… It takes a bit of learning and searching online to get the hang of manually setting it up, but it is cracking little lens… and a lot cheaper than a new 50mm f1.2…
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Loving my new Lens
May 6th, 2012 -
Upgraded, updated and (just about) uploa
May 4th, 2012 -
A (very) Happy New Year
January 7th, 2012 -
End of another year…
December 24th, 2011 -
Scottish Autumn Gold…
November 8th, 2011
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