Slugs on the Refrigerator

Mud and Sticks

On Morning

When first breakfast occurs at a time in the morning beginning with 4, second breakfast is required. 

A New Toy

The venue for my mother's wedding was dark.  As I shoot with what is essentially an entry-level DSLR, low light situations are difficult to get clear images without a ton of noise.  A flash was needed, but pictures with flashes tend to be wiped out and red-eyed messes.  So a bit of imporvisation was required and I ended up sticking a train ticket infront of my flash, I'm nothing if not resourceful.

Living where I do, I have to deal with low-light photography 98% of the time, but I often end up with very grainy photos.  While these aren't necessarily a problem on the blog, it can be a real pain when I try and get them printed. As I tried to edit the pictures from the wedding, I sought some help online and I stumbled upon a nifty little gadget that seems to bridge a gap until I can afford a speedlite (or a camera that handles low light situations better).  Enter Dr Kobre's Lightscoop.

 

Its essentially a piece of plastic with a mirror on it.  It cost £15 from amazon.com and is an interesting piece of kit.  It fits over the pop up flash of a DSLR camera and bounces the flash up and out so that you don't get the over-exposed washed out photos a flash gives:

 

Or the graininess of dark photos:

But rather, an evenly lit shot:

 

It comes out a bit yellow for my liking, but you can always adjust the tint in almost any free photo editing software. It does, however let you take pictures in lower light at lower ISOs reducing the noise

(notice the dribble on Kev's head in the last one. Nice)

Here are some other comparison shots:

 

For the natural light shots in this post, I had to bump the iso all the way up to 1600 to let in enough light. If I were to try and lighten them much or get them printed much bigger than the 640 pixel width I use for the blog, you would see a fair bit of grain in the shadows, even with editing them in Lightroom. When I look back at the lightscoop pictures, they seem a bit soft and slightly out of focus, but I am not sure if that is the scoop or the settings...they were all at iso 400 - f4.0 - 1/60sec, as I found the recommended settings far too bright.

I guess my verdict is that natural is best, but until I can afford an external fash or move to somewhere that doesn't rain 360 days a year, its nice not to have an alternative when it gets too dark.

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I ordered my Lightscoop through Amazon.com.  However, the lightscoop link above does send to the UK. 

Wordless Wednesday: Changelings

 

 

External Validation

Last night, I walked home from the train station with an enormous skip in my step and small tears in my eyes.  Silly probably.  The magic that is a smart phone meant that as I was wrangling the two kiddos off the train, an email popped into my phone informing me the above photo is going to be in the 2011 Ideal Homes Calendar.

Its a small thing.  Just a wee competition that a blog reader, Mairi, had sent me.  I submitted my photo and stood back and waited. I didn't have any hope at all that I would make it through.  I watched as other photos rolled in...amazing views of lochs and mountains, stunning seascapes, snow-covered hillsides, gorgeous old buildings.  Even at the end of the public voting, coming in 8th of almost 300 didn't fill me with much hope.  My photo was of my neighbour's laundry...but I was wrong.

Its the first time in a long while that I've had a success that is mine.  In the world of small children, the sucesses that are celebrated are often those that actually have very little to do with me; a baby's first crawl, a boy's first soccer lesson. So much of motherhood is about facilitating other people's triumphs and fading quietly to the back.  It can get lonely back there.

This success is mine and I am so pleased and proud...but to say that my children had nothing to do with it is not entirely true.  

On that particular day, Georgia was inconsolable and wouldn't sleep.  I'd taken her out for a walk in the fields in her pushchair with the camera.  As we headed back, still not asleep, I stopped and caught a glimpse of the man's laundry against the hills.  Snap. 

And the rest is an Ideal Homes calendar.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mairi, for letting me know!!

 

Edited to say: Just heard back from the competition organisers.  It'll be the month of February and apparently they loved my photo and I was just pipped to the post!!!  Wow oh wow!! 

Swing, Swang, Swung

 

Photos taken with my super duper lovely brand new 85mm f1.8 lens. Its nice.

Jen & Col's Wedding

Well, the bride and groom have now seen the photos and have given me permission to share my favourites.  

It was such a lovely day and I get to remember it every time I look at the photos.

The rest of the set is available here. 

From a photographic perspective, I learned a lot.  I know that I need a lot more disc space than I anticipate I will.  I need to work on my low-light photography, as a great many of the ceremony pics were blurry.  I think using my tripod and remote would have helped.  With regards to editing, I need to learn a bit more about black and white processing.  Each one has a slightly different tinge...something I only noticed once the photos were up in Flickr and the disks were handed over.  

Overall, I must say I am unashamedly proud of the pictures I took.  They captured the day. They are good...some are even beautiful.  And on top of all of that, I am just an amateur with a pretty cheap camera.  

Not Enough

There weren't enough for dinner, so we did what any normal people would do, ate them straight from the pod.  She just watched. 

Going, Going, Gone

Friday I'm in Love

With:

- My new old veg rack found in a moment of thrifting bliss

- The way pears look in my fruit bowl

- Roasted veg

- A pile of fabric that's going to be something...

Have a lovely weekend. I know I have mentioned it before, but if you haven't already, please make a donation to support the Hadrian's Walkers who head out to walk the bredth of Britain in support of parents who have lost children.

Happy 4th of July!!