photographs

Here are some of my first attempts.




And the following I cropped afterwards, taking advantage of the high resolution.



This is our friendly blackbird. He likes me to throw out raisins for him. When I'm in the garden he hides in the bushes and sings very quietly. The first time I heard it I couldn't work it out, but then I spied him warbling 'under his breath'.


And of course there had to be one...

Have you quite finished?

Today:3/10, medium high
Yesterday: 3-4/10, medium

the camera

Well, my new camera arrived yesterday. The cheapest way was to order it from Amazon so I've been waiting patiently (!?!) for it to arrive. As I've mentioned before I've been saving up for a DSLR using money from birthday and Christmas... After all my rambles about getting a Canon 450D, I haven't. I have a Sony Alpha A350 and it's luvverly.
I'd narrowed it down to three possibilities (the Alpha, the Canon and an Olympus model) but this one just ticked a few more boxes for me. It's heavier than the other two, but I am used to the substantial weight of our old Olympus SLR so this doesn't particularly bother me. Sometimes I find if it is too light, steady shooting is harder. Perhaps that's just me. It has image stabilisation built into the body of the camera and a tilting Live-View LCD screen which I've already found useful (you can tilt it out up to 90 degrees in either direction, so can hold the camera high up / low down and still be able to see without craning your neck).

Today we woke up to a very fine layer of snow, which gave me a good opportunity to take some close-up shots. I've been using the Auto setting as I'm still getting to grips with all that it can do, although I've done a bit of playing on the Manual. I'm impressed with how well it focuses on what I want it to, even if it is the smallest object in the frame. (Have not got around to installing software yet, so will show you some samples later - I'm aware of the height of the ironing pile!)

Since I rarely get around to scanning in pictures from my old SLR (and by the time I get the photos developed the event would be long gone), the pictures on this blog have been from the Canon Powershot that Andy bought some years back - 2.0 megapixels. The Alpha, in comparison, has 14.2 megapixels and so the detail of the images are in a completely different realm - allowing me to crop images and still have them sharp and high quality when enlarged.

I had to take a photo of it with the Powershot, of course. Shockingly, they haven't designed cameras that can take photos of themselves...

Today:4/10, medium
Yesterday: 3/10, high

more camera talk...

...Sorry for those not interested in this stuff!

How exciting to get advice!! I'm seriously researching the Canon 450D (aka Digital Rebel) since although I've worked out I can't use the lenses I've got, I may at least be able to pick up second hand auto focus lenses...I'd like to feel I had some 'affordable' options after I've bought the camera itself (and that won't be until after Christmas - somehow I don't think my birthday money will cover it!!)

My current SLR is an Olympus OM-2n...generously passed on to me by my father in law - but obviously the lenses are all manual lenses, because of the age (and they are not all the same make). It is a good camera though - and he gave me two extra lenses, plus a 2x magnifier, so really I was very fortunate to have such an enthusiast for a father in law!! I do have a motordrive, but I confess to not making much use of it - the camera is quite heavy and when the two are combined it makes quite a weighty object. I don't mind it when taking the pictures - but carrying it around can be quite tiring, especially with my problem shoulders.

It can be quite hilarious when we go out, because I have the camera bag, usually with spare film, batteries, telephoto lens and 2x magnifier inside, plus the camera, which is soon draped around my neck separately, and usually my binoculars, and sometimes a normal bag (wallet, keys, sunglasses). The tangle when I need to switch from camera to binoculars must look quite entertaining from a distance. Thankfully, Andy usually carries the tripod, as it doubles up for use with his spotterscope. If I carry it, every time I need to change something everything has to halt for me to sort myself out. I do, occasionally, carry a rucksack, but inevitably everything ends up round my neck anyway, as when I'm photo-mood I spot opportunities every 30 seconds (not great for a peaceful walk).

I'm thinking of searching for some kind of belt to store lenses in - they must do something like that surely? No doubt it will result in different forms of hilarity, but at least my shoulders and neck will get a bit of relief...

cakes, cameras, cards, and a bit about books & the weather...

Friday's little gathering seemed to go well. There were 11 of us in all - sadly Sarah was not well enough to come. It was lovely to see Rachel, however. Her archaeological dig was rained off on the Friday afternoon so she curled up on our sofa and read her book - with me joining her in between preparations! M surprised me by bringing a beautiful birthday cake she had made, as you can see, with the help of her 3 year old daughter. Rachel bought me an absolutely gorgeous orchid for my birthday present, which I am now trying to work out how to care for properly in our (somewhat cool) house - I have put it in the spare bedroom as that is likely to be the warmest. I don't know much about caring for orchids - any tips?

I've asked for money for my birthday, towards a digital SLR. Have been trying to do some research but it is difficult to know where to start. I want to get something good, versatile and something I can be happy with for a long time to come. Again, any tips? I'd love something I could use with the old lenses from my film SLR but I'm not sure which cameras take what and scrambling around on Google takes ages...

Andy keeps squirrelling away my birthday cards as soon as they drop through the letter box! I'm afraid I adore receiving birthday cards. I am terribly, terribly sad, because I even count them (sigh). That is my confession for today (!) Seriously, though, the wonderful thing about birthday cards is that they tell a story, of where you are, what new friends you have made, who you've lost - and maybe regained - touch with.

My back aches, which is aggravating. Pfft! I have just finished reading Bram Stoker's Dracula which completely absorbed me the last couple of days - not the subject matter per se, although of course suspense is what is aimed for, but the style of writing. It got to the stage where I was annoyed that I had to stop reading because my eyes were hurting. I did the same thing with the Lord of the Rings once, reading the trilogy in three days flat - yeech!! I was a student on holiday; I had time for such things! Was weird 'waking up' to normality after I'd finished that, if I remember rightly.

Anyway.

A welcome respite from the rain today. The news from Northumberland and other areas, particularly poor Tewkesbury, which was completely flooded only 14 months ago and is suffering the same again, is appalling. I can't imagine losing every thing, attempting to recover, only for the same thing to happen all over again. They are saying that more rain comes in tomorrow...all over the world, the weather rampages...

Today: 4.5/10, medium