Tag: Pontycymer

A Black & White Day……..

There is something about Black & White photographs that draw the viewer into the shot, I don’t really know what it is but I find that if I look at my own pictures in both Black & White and colour most often than not the B&W version seems to have more about it.

Maybe its because I am not distracted by so many colourful elements that it gives me more time to really look at the composition and lighting and my mind and eyes are not competing with each other so find what the photograph is all about.

Here is a selection of fairly ordinary shots from a few of my local walks that seemed to have much more about them in B&W if I had not gone back and looked through my Aperture library for this exercise they may have never seen the light of day here on my blog.

Comments are very welcome………..

A Break in the Weather…….

At last on the day before I am due to go back to work there seems to be a break in the incessant rain we have been having here in the South Wales Valleys.

I decided to just set out with the Olympus E-PL1 just in case I got caught in a downpour.

All of the shots here are using the ‘Art’ filter… Pinhole, as I shoot Raw all the time selecting the Art Filter writes a Jpeg with the selected effect and an untouched Raw file incase the effect was not successful.

I really like what the Pinhole filter does to the images even though you do lose some of the detail and sharpness.

click on an image to view………

No Rugby today again……….

For the second week running Pontycymer RFC’s games have been called off so no rugby for me  😦

I decided to take the camera setup for rugby on a little walk as it was not raining and see what I could get that was a little slower paced.

The gate copes very well with the sheep but is not so great with the other local wildlife…..lol

I also tried out a new photography app for my iPhone called “Streemate” and will be posting up some of the shots I took later on.

Nikon D7000,  Nikon 80-200mm f2.8  iso400 @f2.8

click on image to view larger…….

 

 

Along the cycle path……

Taken a little further down the cycle track near Pontyrhyl new stone walls erected with what looks like railway tracks(not 100% certain) with embossed writing referring to the Garw valley ( I am going to find out the actual story about this monument).

Nikon D7000,  Tamron 17-50mm f2.8      1/60sec  f5  iso 400

click on image to view larger…….

Got a new Toy……….

I managed to get a Sigma 30mm f1.4 today and boy do I love this lens already.

I already have the Nikon 35mm f1.8 which is a great little lens but this one is something else, just as a little test I went out for a walk and shot everything wide open  which was a challenge because of the bright sunlight

but the shots were great, the focus was spot on and the bokeh was lush. All the above shots were shot Raw with the Nikon D7000 @ f1.4 no post processing just exported to jpeg from Aperture.

Comments welcomed

click on each individual image to view larger……….

Olympus E-PL1

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I have been using my new Olympus E-PL1 camera and playing about with the various Art Filters, and must say I am very impressed at what this little camera produces.

I especially like the Gritty B&W filter best.

The quality of the Raw files it produces with the 14-42mm lens is excellent. It has the added bonus of being able to use various other manufacturers lenses with the appropriate adapter.

I can’t wait to try out some of my Nikon primes. I thoroughly recommend this camera especially at the price it is at the moment £279 here in the UK.

Link to the camera….  http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77124/show.html

This is an example of what the Raw file produces…….

1/250sec @f4  iso 100

Try in the corner………….

A shot from tonight’s match. We don’t have floodlights up here in Pontycymer so this was shot at 5000 iso at f2.8 on a Nikon D7000.

With a little bit of noise reduction it holds up pretty well.

Nikon D7000,  Nikkor 80-200 f2.8      1/800sec  f2.8  iso 5000

click on image to view larger…….