Fee Easton Blography

Pools Of Sorrow

2011-11-08T11:43:00.003Z

Pools Of Sorrow, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Dark Angel Strikes Again

2011-11-08T11:43:00.001Z

Dark Angel Strikes Again, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Whitby Pier and Staithes

2011-09-08T21:37:00.000+01:00

Gulls

2011-07-13T08:20:00.000+01:00

D700 and Sigma 70-300mm tracking the birds as they flew past

Catterick

2011-07-13T08:12:00.001+01:00

A recent visit to Catterick races using D700 and Sigma 70-300mm lens.. Used the continuous focus to track the horses as they raced.. trying to keep focus on the horses eye.. Not as easy as you think...

Back to Staithes (again)

2011-07-13T08:08:00.001+01:00

Just a few snaps of my recent visit to the coast... D700 and various lenses... slow shutter speed on the last shot.. sunset very disappointing..

Sam

2011-07-13T08:02:00.001+01:00

Couple of snaps of my son Sam off to his school end of year 5 ball. GCSEs finished... party time!

Stand Out In The Crowd

2011-06-28T15:55:00.002+01:00

Stand Out In The Crowd, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Went out and shot a few poppies before it was too late... D700 and Sigma 20mm wide angle

Back to Staithes

2011-06-14T00:31:00.001+01:00

Yeah I like Staithes... alot.... here are a few more pics from Staithes and surrounding area...using D700, sigma 20mm and nikon 28-105mm. Could have done with taking my tripod and ND filter for the waves... but didn't...

Staithes

2011-06-06T07:05:00.001+01:00

Had a trip to the coast... Here are a few shots from Staithes and surrounding area.. beautiful place to visit..

Day At The Races

2011-06-06T06:57:00.000+01:00

Had an evening at Ripon Races.. Just a few snapshots...

2011-05-17T11:57:00.000+01:00

Another One Stop Poetry challenge using some of my photos.. Thanks to Adam Dustus for being a kind soul and liking my photography.. link to the challenge is here:One Stop Poetry

Link to Dustus blog The Dustus Blog

Close Ups

2011-05-15T00:14:00.000+01:00

Some close-up shots from my day out today using the D700 and Nikon 28-105mm on macro mode.. All hand held on a breezy day...

In Love Again

2011-05-03T14:59:00.000+01:00

A beautiful poem inspired by my photo 'Bluebells & Blossom' by Adam Dustus

Please click on this link to view...
In Love Again by Adam Dustus

Back to Thorp Perrow

2011-04-24T19:22:00.001+01:00

Went back to Thorp Perrow back again as I bought a season ticket.... took my lovely photo friend with me so we could shoot the birds of prey together... again using the D700, Sigma 70-300mm for the birds and for the landscapes a combination of the Sigma 20mm and my Nikon 28-105mm walkaround lens... Managed to get a few shots of the barn owl that I missed earlier in the week. The barn owl is fast and small, very hard to capture.. Here are the results of the day

Richmond Sunset

2011-04-23T20:37:00.001+01:00

Popped to visit a friend in Richmond... Took a few snaps of Milly and Boris again... also snapped a few sunset shots on my way home..

Thorp Perrow

2011-04-22T12:20:00.001+01:00

So I went back to Thorp Perrow with my camera.. to be honest it was far too sunny and bright for photos but did the best that I could given the circumstances... Here are a few shots of the day... Using various lenses (70-300 for the owl) and the D700. I used my 'action' settings bank that I had previously set up on the owl using shutter priority and auto ISO and tracked the owl as it flew.. a feature that I love with the D700, though not perfect it's not bad....

Milly

2011-04-03T22:12:00.002+01:00

Milly, originally uploaded by fee easton.

a friends lil doggy .....

Medical Photos

2011-03-28T21:22:00.000+01:00

Forgot to mention, on Thursday I took some medical photos of dental implant surgery for work. Two hours of shooting 250 photos (far too many). My arms were killing me holding the camera all that time. Was works Canon with ring flash.. Was most gorey but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would love to do the same again. You don't see the blood when you are concentration on getting sharp focused shots... Can't post any pics as they are for work and private.. And they are on works camera of course....

Work Photos

2011-03-23T00:17:00.006Z

kim, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Did some very rushed photos for the work website and to hopefully hang around the surgery... Rushed to take them and rushed to process them... Used D700 and Samyang 85mm with lumiquest diffuser on SB-800. This is just a small selection of the days shots. Portraits aren't my thing really but was good practice for me all the same...

One Stop Poetry

2011-03-15T01:57:00.001Z

Got a super feature here on the One Stop Poetry website... Poets using my photos as inspiration to write.. Felt honoured and so pleased to have been recognised

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/03/sunday-photography-interview-fee-easton-poetry-challenge.html

Exposure Leeds

2011-03-06T16:08:00.002Z

Haven't been very active photographically.. too many things going on in my personal life.. But, went on a portrait workshop with a couple of friends for a bit of a social outing.. was good fun!! Met some lovely peeps, here are some of the shots of the day.. nothing serious or outstanding.. just a bit of fun.

Johnny Got A Boom Boom - Imelda May

2011-02-11T19:24:00.000Z

Thorp Perrow Arboretum

2011-01-20T23:06:00.002Z

Rushes, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Took a trip to Thorp Perrow, was dead quiet but beautiful day.. took 20mm Sigma, 70-300mm Sigma and 28-100 Nikon. Wasn't so impressed with my birds of prey shots but they only flew the two birds as was winter session... Here are a few shots of the day.. couple of Barn Owl shots and a couple of landscapes (coming soon)...

Ripley Castle

2011-01-18T21:41:00.005Z

Ripley Castle, originally uploaded by fee easton.

First sunny day in weeks... cold but beautiful... Went out with the D700, 20mm Sigma with polariser... on my own.. not a soul around...

Twosome

2011-01-09T19:18:00.002Z

Twosome, originally uploaded by fee easton.

A cold day out at Swinston Reservoir followed by pub lunch.. Was bloody freezing... Still feeling a bit rough so didn't walk too far....

Love This So Much....

2010-12-28T21:26:00.000Z

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Plompton Rocks in winter

2010-12-16T23:50:00.000Z

Went to Plomton Rocks for first time in the winter... lake was frozen solid.. beautiful though.. just had D300 and Sigma 18-200mm OS walk a round lens.. A few shots of the day:

North Point's iBand

2010-12-13T23:33:00.001Z

Really worth a look, bloody brilliant!

Hackfall

2010-11-29T19:44:00.002Z

Went back to Hackfall yesterday... When I left home there was a lovely scenic sprinkling of snow on the ground... but when I left to come home.... YIKES!! A few photos of the day, taken with D300 and Sigma 28-200mm OS walkaround lens... Couldn't be arsed to carry anything else...

Morning Walk

2010-11-26T21:52:00.001Z

Well went out for my usual walk.. started throwing my camera over my shoulder 'just in case' and so glad I did this morning.. We've had a wee bit of snow.. enough to make the Deer Park look scenic and seasonal.. The light was fantastic and all the deer were out to play. I had decided to stick my long lens on (sigma 70-300mm) as most of the time that is what I seem to need up there for the deer. Well my lucky day, saw a heron too and the church looked fab. Here are a few of my favs from the morning...

Even more from my lil friend Danbo!

2010-11-17T12:26:00.001Z

Ok, played around with lighting and borrowed a plasma ball.

The Great Escape

Electric Love

Cup of Love

Staithes

2010-11-17T12:07:00.003Z

Staithes, originally uploaded by fee easton.

A couple of shots from the pretty and quaint fishing village not so far away from me in North Yorkshire. I processed these in Photoshop, goodness knows what I did to them but.....

More from my lil friend Danbo!

2010-11-11T20:00:00.002Z

Maestro Please!, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Maestro Please!

Paper Dreams

I got a Danbo yay!!

2010-10-26T12:28:00.002+01:00

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Santa's Little Helper

Yeah I know... a bit soft in the head for my age... but I'm gonna be having fun with this little fella'. Watch this space... He even has a friend to play with.... !! Info on Danbo here: http://www.danboardfigure.com/?page_id=2

This Danbo has been on order for weeks... is really hard to get hold of... and I'm also after the larger size Danbo...imports from Japan..

Thorp Perrow Arboretum

2010-10-18T17:23:00.000+01:00

So I went to Thorp Perrow Arboretum with a few fellow photographers yesterday, what a beautiful day and a beautiful place to go for a walk. Autumn colours everywhere... 100 acre woods, a small animal area and a hawk display. Great day out and great for getting the camera out. Here are a few photos of the day, may add some more later. Used the D700 and the Sigma 70-30mm zoom and tried to track the birds as they flew. Did a better job than the last time I tried...

Fountain's Abbey Floodlit

2010-10-12T20:05:00.004+01:00

Went to Fountain's Abbey the other day with a couple of flickr friends. Made a lovely change to be with like minded people doing what I enjoy doing best (photography! what did you think I meant?)
Through October, the abbey is to be floodlit every Saturday evening, will perhaps go back again for a few more shots. Haven't seen so many photographers in one place in a long time. Took my Samyang fisheye and D300 out with me for something slightly different. Samyang 8mm F3.5

Last of the Bales

2010-09-18T12:48:00.002+01:00

Last of the Bales, originally uploaded by fee easton.

This was taken in a field near to where I live... HDR using approximately 6 different exposures to capture all the detail in the lights and shadows. Used Photomatix software to merge, fine tuned in Photoshop.. Yes, I did try to compose the shot, wasn't just a 'willy nilly' snapshot.. Was a beautiful evening, could have stayed out all night..

Leaning

2010-09-07T15:39:00.002+01:00

Leaning, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Went to a beautiful place called Hackfall in Yorkshire recently, this is a shot of Sam in the doorway of one of the old buildings there. Other shots are just various from Hackfall and Malham Tarn.

Brighton

2010-08-26T19:30:00.003+01:00

A few shots I took when down to visit my parents near Brighton. Weather was gloomy and my dad was taken ill while I was down so not the best of visits! All taken with the 20mm wide angle and D700.

The Reason I Keep A Compact Camera In My Handbag

2010-08-15T21:23:00.004+01:00

The Reason I Keep A Compact Camera In My Handbag 3, originally uploaded by fee easton.

The title says it all.... You never know when you might want one!

School Holidays

2010-07-26T19:03:00.001+01:00

So it's school hols and I have been playing with my sons Lego!! Wanted to practise getting nice sharp macro/close ups as that seems to be my downfall. This time I used tripod (naturally), self timer and mirror up with a time delay to ensure the camera was dead still. Here are the results, used various lenses.

Honourary Winner Macro Contest

2010-07-18T23:02:00.001+01:00

Well I might as well blow my own trumpet... I got honourary winner in the macro competition on ViewBug. Unfortunately 'honourary' didn't win me the cash prize but was the first contest I entered on that site so mustn't grumble eh?! This was the photo in question:

http://blog.viewbug.com/2010/07/14/jamman89-wins-250-macro-photo-contest/

Macro

2010-07-17T21:48:00.008+01:00

Sunny

Lady

Caffeine High

Hubble Bubble, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Had some macro fun today using my D300 and Tamron 80-210mm with extension tube to get me nice and close. Experimented with oil and water with food colouring in it... Not as sharp as I would have liked but that's life! Played a bit with lego.. have seen lego used in macro shots before, quite effective so might have another go at that.

Self Portraits

2010-07-16T21:22:00.004+01:00

Out of the Box, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Did a few self portraits, again, testing out my new flash equipment. Had fun doing these!

Edinburgh Fringe

2010-07-08T20:13:00.003+01:00

Mermaid, originally uploaded by fee easton.

A couple of photos from last years Fringe Festival. Just been going through them and decided to process a few that I wasn't going to bother with.

Lindsay B&W

2010-06-27T14:15:00.003+01:00

Lindsay B&W, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Testing out my portaflash again whilst Lindsay was home for the weekend, makes a welcome change from my usual model Sam...

2010-06-23T22:18:00.001+01:00

Hipstamatic iPhone photog togs

Sam

2010-06-20T19:38:00.002+01:00

Sam, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Testing out my portaflash studio lights on poor Sam again. What a handsome model he makes!

Daisy Daisy

2010-06-11T21:51:00.002+01:00

Daisy Daisy, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Testing my new Fuji FinePix F200EXR out. tiny daisies in my garden on macro mode. Converted to black and white and painted the yellow through from the layer below in CS4. Is great little camera, tiny too!

2010-06-11T12:35:00.001+01:00

http://ping.fm/3GkXO

Downward Spiral

2010-06-10T00:12:00.003+01:00

Downward Spiral, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Took this the other week when I went to the village of West Tanfield to the Marmion Tower. Was a hot day so a relief to go into the tower. Cranked the ISO up to 1000 on this shot so is a bit noisy but was very dark in there.

2010-06-07T20:48:00.001+01:00

Testing Pingle for iPhone

Sam

2010-05-26T22:56:00.007+01:00

Sam, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Bought some inexpensive second hand lighting equipment today, was just checking that it all worked using my professional model Sam!! Had a bit of a fiddle getting the portaflash to sync with the camera, was using my pop up flash to trigger main flash but the camera flash was giving a double pulse of flash, one small one to determine the exposure and then a second main flash, so the off camera flash was firing a fraction of a second too soon. So I put the camera pop-up into manual mode on the weakest setting and hey presto it worked! still a bit of experimenting to do when I have time.

Work Experience

2010-05-23T20:06:00.003+01:00

Work Experience, originally uploaded by fee easton.

My smart boy ready for his first day at work experience at my old office. Hair styled by Fee Easton celebrity hair stylist.... Using the Samyang 85mm (and yes he does look pissed off)

Chocolate Box

2010-05-21T14:39:00.001+01:00

Chocolate Box, originally uploaded by fee easton.

This is what I would call a 'Chocolate Box' scene.... The village of West Tanfield very close to where I live. Was a hot summers day today, light a bit harsh but just had to get out with camera. Lens was my 'walkabout' Sigma 18-200 OS.

Sam

2010-05-18T22:57:00.004+01:00

Sam, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Well I bought the Samyang 85mm F1.4 lens for portraits. Is a fairly unknown brand from Poland but is pretty damned good: Samyang 85 mm f/1.4 Aspherical IF I also have the fisheye lens which I'm also very impressed with: Samyang 8mm f/3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fish-eye Both of these lenses are relatively inexpensive and certainly impressive for the money....

Will experiment a bit more when I have more time and upload my results. This photo was literally a quick snap of Sam taken in our kitchen.

More Bunny Love

2010-05-16T18:08:00.001+01:00

More Bunny Love, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Yep, as the title says, more bunny love!

Bunny Love

2010-05-16T17:33:00.003+01:00

Bunny Love, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Well my daughter Lindsay came home this weekend with her new pet bunny... took this with the 50mm 1.8 so as to avoid using the flash on the poor wee thing... Raised the ISO too to about 500. Thought this suited black and white, though the colour version was rather nice too.

St Marys B&W

2010-05-11T23:02:00.001+01:00

St Marys B&W, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Another of my favourite views, St Marys Church at Studley Royal Deer Park. Thought a black and white conversion (PS) suited this photo better than colour.. I never tire of my walks around here..

Blue Belle

2010-05-11T22:57:00.001+01:00

Blue Belle, originally uploaded by fee easton.

And just to prove there were indeed bluebells out at Plompton!

Jetty

2010-05-11T22:56:00.002+01:00

Jetty, originally uploaded by fee easton.

The adorable Sam with the unusual rock formations in the background at Plompton Rocks.

Tadpole Hunting

2010-05-11T22:55:00.001+01:00

Tadpole Hunting, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Went back to Plompton Rocks for the bluebells again this year, lucky with the weather and bluebells out in full! As usual... took Sam along to be my model, he was as patient as ever! Did a bit of tadpole fishing along the way..

Smiler

2010-04-16T20:22:00.004+01:00

Smiler, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Went out to Castle Howard yesterday. Weather was cold and dull so not so good for photography. Sooooooo... took some of my fav subject!! Using Nikon D300 and my 'walk around' lens the sigma 18-200mm OS.

Knaresborough

2010-04-16T19:53:00.003+01:00

Knaresborough 2, originally uploaded by fee easton.

Was like a summers day today, grabbed the G10 and went for a 'snapping' session in Knaresborough, this is the classic view of the bridge from across at the castle.

Long Time No Blog..

2010-04-05T18:00:00.009+01:00

Ok, due to personal circumstances and getting a new job my photography has gone out of the window for a while... apart from a few snaps here and there. Got back to doing what I love best and took some shots inside our local Cathedral in Ripon yesterday. Due to the fact it is so beautiful inside with lots of dark corners and lights shining through the stained glass windows, I thought the best way to tackle the extremes would be to take some shots at different exposures and create some HDR (high dynamic range) photographs.

I used my sigma 10-20mm wide angle at 10mm to get as much of the Cathedral in shot as possible, taking in the ornate ceiling where there is so much detail and colour

I used Photomatix software to merge the 7 or 8 exposures into one photograph. Finished off by touching up and finalising the pictures in CS4.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 09

2009-08-23T21:09:00.006+01:00

Well the Edinburgh Fringe was as exciting as expected! So much to see and do.... Spent most of my time walking up and down the Royal Mile taking photos of the street performers. Took so many photos, I didn't know which to upload but here are a few of my favs. Took my 18-200mm OS sigma lens for this as it is the most useful lens I have for walking around with all day. Unfortunately I popped into a church, cranked the ISO up and forgot to reset it again for a full days photography, oops!

Saw a few UK celebrities, photos to follow when I get time to go through them all. Peter Duncan from Blue Peter was very jolly and very chatty!!

Celebrated my birthday this week too, happy birthday to me!

The Lakes

2009-08-16T12:27:00.007+01:00

Spent a few days in the Lake District in Windereme. Wow! So beautiful. This was our first visit, even though we don't live too far away but it's just finding the time to do it. So many photographic opportunities. These are a few photos of the days we were there. I have been asked if these photos are HDR photography which I do from time to time. I found that by using curves in the right way, you can recreate that sort of pseudo HDR look and that is what I have done in all my recent photos. Yes, I am sure they are overdone for some peoples tastes, but that is the joy of having your own opinion!!

Tried a bit of fast jet shooting in Thirlmere but as you can see the lack of fast jet shots here that it wasn't too successful. Will have another go later in the year.

Off to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Monday so watch this space for some interesting people shots!

Schmap Leeds Guide

2009-08-08T23:19:00.003+01:00

Just a quickie to say that this image from Newby Hall has been added to the Schmap Leeds Guide. I added the Schmap widget to this blog.

Sunderland Airshow

2009-07-26T20:51:00.007+01:00

Went to the Sunderland airshow on Saturday..... heaving with people but it was such a lovely day. Ideal weather for the display, fluffy clouds, clear, dry, perfect! Here are a few sample shots of the day. The display was held over the sea so it was difficult to get any close up shots and my lens is only a 70-300mm which is pretty soft on the long end. Decided my next lens has to be a 400mm prime lens but I don't think I will be getting it anytime soon....

No mishaps at this years show, the last one I went to was in Lowestoft when the Harrier crashed into the sea which was a little surprising to say the least! Fortunately the pilot was ok.

The Red Arrows as always were the stars of the show! Jas Hawker in his final year as Red Leader.

Whitby & Robin Hoods Bay

2009-07-16T15:26:00.005+01:00

Had a great day out at Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay. The last time we were there, Sam was sick alllll night in the bed and breakfast we stayed in. He had food poisoning from the evening meal in the local fish restaurant.... What a disaster it was!! This visit was much more pleasant, sunny day, fish and chips out on a stone wall!! Got some great shots, these are a few examples of the day. I pushed the processing up in PS quite high, lots of contrast, lots of saturation etc!! Used the sigma 10-20mm lens for most of the shots.

Snaps

2009-07-13T17:15:00.005+01:00

Took a few snaps whilst out on my power walk this morning using my 'point and shoot'. England is sooo beautiful in the summer when the weather is lovely!!

First photo was with a little bit of selective colour, taken at Studley Roger, second was in Studley Royal grounds and the third was in the village of Studley Roger again, North Yorkshire.

Vista problems and cures

2009-07-10T15:30:00.007+01:00

Well I just had to blog about the problems that I have had with Vista Ultimate on my laptop and Vista Home on my husband's laptop. Both new laptops with the same problems. Of course to add confusion to the equation, I bought a new wifi router too!! I figure somebody will appreciate reading my findings and save them the headache that I have had.

Problem 1: Internet cuts out about every half hour. I could still read emails in Outlook, use MSN, download torrents etc.... but no browsing using Firefox 3.5 or IE 8. On closing the browser, I found that it was still showing in the system processes and would not shut down however hard I tried. Restart of the router didn't help because it wasn't an internet problem. A complete restart of laptop was the only cure... and it seemed to take ages to shut down, to the point I thought it had frozen (but it hadn't). As I say, this problem was on 2 brand new laptops and to a certain degree affecting my son's Vista laptop too.

Problem 2: Thumbnails and other images not showing on certain web pages, namely ebay, deviantart and this blog!! Again on both laptops but seemed worse using firefox.

Now, when I got these laptops I uninstalled Mcafee from Mark's laptop and Eset NOD32 Antivirus from mine. I then installed AVG and Zone alarm to both. What I have discovered are various problems. Firstly, I needed to use the Mcafee and Eset removal tools to eliminate all traces of the programs, and check the registry was completely clear. This alone could cause problems with any newly installed antivirus software. Secondly, I found that Zone Alarm and probably AVG just don't run too well with Vista. On many, many hours of research, I decided to uninstall both, clear the registry again and install Avira Antivirus and Outpost Firewall. Lo and behold, problem 1 is solved instantly. Not one cut-off since I did these things.

Problem 2 of not seeing images, I found out that some routers have a setting called 'SYN Flood protection that stops DOS attacks. For technical reasons that I don't really understand, some sites, including Firefox and Google Maps have concurrent connections to a single server and can cause these false DOS attack alarms and therefore affect your routers connection to these sites. On investigation you will see messages like this in your routers status page:

02/02/2008 20:12:34 **SYN Flood to Host** 192.168.2.101, 3350->> 66.165.186.98, 80 (from WAN Outbound)

Many routers have the following option:
"Maximum incomplete TCP/UDP sessions number from same host"
Commonly the default value is 10. People report that changing it to 30 or 50 solves problems.

I took the advice above and changed my TCP/UDP setting to 50 and that has solved problem number 2.

It has taken me about 3 days of research to find the underlying problems because these problems can be caused by many different reasons, so it was a case of elimination. I'm damn sure I won't be the only person experiencing all this and I do hope that I have helped somebody and saved them the trauma of trying to find answers!!

Now my internet is super fast with my new SMC N router with no cut outs and I am really happy with Vista after being a bit unsure at first.

New Laptop

2009-07-06T16:13:00.007+01:00

For the past week I have been configuring my new laptop. Installing Photoshop (CS4) and all the plugins etc takes ages! Just when I think I have it all finished I remember something else that has to go on... Then to find all my serial numbers! If only I was organised...

Anyway here is the spec:
Specifications

Intel® Core™2 Extreme X9100 3.06GH
Intel® Centrino® 2 PM45
4096MB DDR3 1066MHz
640GB SATA2 7200rpm in RAID 0
nVidia® GeForce® 9800M GTS

Graphics/Video Memory
1GB GDDR3

17" Widescreen Ultrabright™ WXGA+
9-Cell 7800mAh Lithium-ion
Intel® Wireless Wi-Fi Link 802.11a/g/n
1.3 Megapixel Webcam
High Definition Audio
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
3 x USB 2.0 Ports
VGA Connector
RJ-45 LAN Connector
RJ-11 Modem Port
Headphone / SPDIF Audio Out
Microphone
Kensington Lock Slot
AC Adapter Connector
eSATA Port
v1.3 HDMI Connector

5-in-1 Memory Card Reader
Memory Stick®
Memory Stick Pro®
Multimedia Card™
Secure Digital™
XD

Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP2
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
Cyberlink PowerDVD

Anyway, it's really fast in photoshop!! Tasks that used to take me ages take seconds now. I also have a labelflash drive that prints directly onto the dvd from the drive but I haven't tried that out yet.

I even have a couple of computer games which I didn't bother with before as the old laptop ran too slowly. Let's hope the new one doesn't get laggy with time but at the moment using it is bliss!!

Castle Howard & Harlow Carr Gardens

2009-06-16T19:01:00.006+01:00

School closed because of swine flu so Sam and I enjoyed a couple of days out to local gardens. Castle Howard just outside of York which has lovely grounds to walk in and Harlow Carr Gardens, just outside of Harrogate. Here are the best shots of the 2 days, the first 2 from Castle Howard, the second 2 from Harlow Carr, all using the sigma 10-20mm lens:

Castle Howard

Harlow Carr

Self Portrait

2009-06-07T14:18:00.012+01:00

Well I have been practising self portrait photography whilst the weather has been awful. I wanted a low key look (I feel like I'm hiding that way) so used a black background with a second flash with a red gel on directed at it. I had the flashes on separate groups so as to be able to adjust the strength independently from each other. I used my SB-800 as the main flash to the models left (me). I tried different diffusers for the main flash but found my lumiquest 80-20 with the white reflector inserted gave me the right look. I used Sam as my model to set-up and get the focus right to start with then left it in manual mode. I also used my infra-red remote so as not to have to keep getting up and down! Obviously had to wear something suitable and put some make-up on a little heavier than I would normally wear, I think wearing a hat makes the photo more interesting. My husband asked why I don't smile in my photos but it is difficult not looking like a grinning idiot when I'm taking photos of myself. The miserable look is better, believe me! I found it difficult getting the shadows right with the low-key look. I still have the shadows a little too dark on my face but there you go! The last photo was heavily photoshopped to hide my lines, pores and creases!! The first photo is a crop of the second.

And on a completely different subject Mark (hubby) has completed his Airbus conversion course which has taken him away from home for the past couple of months. Normality reigns at last!

UPDATE: I removed my self portraits as I don't like them!! :O

Fountain's Abbey and Studley Royal

2009-06-04T20:53:00.004+01:00

Have been busy digging the garden over and planting up whilst the weather has been lovely so not been out much taking photographs.... Went to Fountain's Abbey today for a walk and took my camera for a few snaps! All photos below are using the sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens again. The first and third are of Studley Royal Lake and the second is in Fountain's Abbey grounds itself down by the river. Was a fairly dull day.... Not impressed with many of my photos today...... Oh well!! There's always tomorrow.....

Dandelion Wishes

2009-05-26T17:50:00.009+01:00

Went to my friends house for lunch in her garden yesterday and took some photos of her and her son. Took some lovely natural portraits of him blowing dandelion fairies. Was very pleased with the outcome, even though children are relatively easy to take good portraits of compared to us adults who get self concious in front of the camera...

Settings were around F4.5 and 1/1000th second. I had forgotten to check my ISO before I started (again) and wasn't til I got home I realised I'd left it on 500. Fortunately the D300 can cope well with that and the pictures weren't too noisy. Here are some samples of the day:

Ripley Castle

2009-05-24T22:23:00.014+01:00

Well today is the first chance I had to try out my new Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens. Gosh it was exciting!! And what a gloooooorious day it was too, had to be the hottest day of the year so far. Sam went off for the afternoon with his friends so I sauntered around the beautiful Ripley Castle grounds. The lake looked stunning with the castle reflected in it. Although Ripley village was heaving with people (as it's bank holiday weekend) the castle itself wasn't too bad, and the other side of the lake was virtually empty. I sat and watched the fish jumping out of the water and if you look at the first shot below, you can just make out a fish just leaping out of the lake. I enhanced the colour of the photos with a filter as it was just a tad too sunny for a decent photo today. All in all I was pretty pleased with what I came home with for my first taster of wide angle!! Here are a few sample shots of the day. All pretty much on the widest end of the lens and aperture at around F18 to F22 to get as much of the view in focus as possible. ISO around the 200 mark.

Edinburgh Botanical Gardens

2009-05-22T13:37:00.009+01:00

Had a flying visit to Edinburgh this week! Visited the Botanics but the weather was a bit showery unfortunately. Here are a couple of shots I managed to get!

Shutter Speed: 1/15 second, F Number: F/5.6, Focal Length: 34 mm, ISO Speed: 200

Shutter Speed: 1/20 second, F Number: F/5.6, Focal Length: 57 mm, ISO Speed: 200

Shutter Speed: 1/160 second, F Number: F/5.6, Focal Length: 17 mm, ISO Speed: 640

Newby Hall

2009-05-15T13:19:00.011+01:00

Dull day yesterday but warm so took a visit to our local stately home, Newby Hall. The most beautiful gardens with exotic ponds, formal gardens and wooded walks. All the spring flowers are out and the beautiful hanging laburnum and wisteria are hanging in the archways. Here are a few sample shots of the day. I wanted to travel light so just took my manfrotto monopod (which extends automatically by just pressing the handle). It's so much lighter and smaller than the tripod but gives so much more stability than just 'hand-held'.

Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
F Number: F/4.8
Focal Length: 68 mm
ISO Speed: 640

Shutter Speed: 1/1000 second
F Number: F/4.8
Focal Length: 68 mm
ISO Speed: 640

Shutter Speed: 1/100 second
F Number: F/4.8
Focal Length: 68 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Shutter Speed: 1/800 second
F Number: F/4.8
Focal Length: 68 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Ripon Cathedral View

2009-05-04T21:41:00.002+01:00

Ripon Cathedral View, originally uploaded by Bootcoot.

Testing! This is a test post to see if this goes to my blog automatically (emailed via flickr).
View of Ripon Cathedral from my bedroom window.

Return to Harlow Carr Gardens

2009-05-03T23:54:00.008+01:00

Went back to Harlow Carr Gardens. Had a lovely spot of lunch in Betty's Tea Rooms which is rather expensive but rather nice! For those of you that don't know, Betty's is a quaint, old fashioned tea rooms where everything is served 'properly'. The waitresses wear black skirts and little white pinnys and caps. It doesn't matter which Betty's you go to or when you go, you always have to queue, it is that popular, especially with tourists. Anyway, down to business, after lunch Sam and I went into the gardens for a walk. Unfortunately, the minute we stepped into the garden, the sun went in and the rain came out. Here are my humble offerings of the day.

This is a view of the potting shed. Had to crank up the ISO to 1600 as it was so dark and also hand held. The noise isn't too bad at all, that is the joy of using the D300!

This is a view of one of the ponds, using a narrow depth of field, focusing on the tulips: Shutter Speed: 1/80 second
F Number: F/5.0
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Bluebells

2009-04-25T21:47:00.009+01:00

Well the bluebells are out at last!! Definitely slower to come out up in the North of England...

I used the 'Simplify' plug-in on these 2 photos, I think I rather like it!

Falconry Centre

2009-04-19T19:46:00.007+01:00

Well, went to the Falconry Centre in Thirsk on Friday. Was a lovely warm day and thought it would be a nice thing to do with Sam before he went back to school on Monday. Took some shots of the Great Grey Owl and the White Tailed Sea Eagle. Truly beautiful birds. Cranked the ISO up to 320 to increase the shutter speed as these birds move FAST! Didn't do too bad a job considering I haven't tried getting shots like this before now. Got a lot of out of focus shots too but I intend to go back next week having learned from my mistakes.

Plumpton Rocks... The Return

2009-03-29T22:42:00.005+01:00

Went to Plumpton Rocks again to catch the bluebells. Problem is, I was about 2 weeks too early! Soooo... I took some photos of my little flower instead!

Water Droplets

2009-03-21T21:42:00.003Z

I followed a tutorial in a magazine the other day using m&ms', a cd cover, black cloth and a syringe. This is the resulting photo. I used my manual tamron 90mm macro lens to create this. I found an F stop off 22 created a wider depth of field and helped keep the bubbles and reflection in sharper focus. I did enjoy this project and will be trying out some more similar shots soon!

Plumpton Rocks

2009-03-16T20:33:00.006Z

Beautiful day yesterday. Went to Plumpton Rocks for a walk, haven't been before. There is going to be a carpet of bluebells in a couple of weeks time, need to return, was just a tad too early!! Sam enjoyed climbing on the rocks but got fed up with me keep trying to take his photo. Anyway, saw a few cute little toads (I'm not a scardy cat) and took some snaps. Here are the days endeavors!

On the Mend

2009-03-10T20:56:00.003Z

Well I am well on the road to recovery after my spinal operation. Went for a 3 mile walk yesterday and another one today. Still need to take it easy for the next 6 weeks but I feel great. Spring is coming and the weather has been fab here in Ripon for the past couple of days. Daffodils are emerging and the snowdrops are out. Just took these 2 snaps whilst out today, fiddled around with them in photoshop.

Rievaulx Terrace

2009-03-02T14:47:00.005Z

Went for a wander around Rievaulx Terrace on Sunday. It's part of the National Trust so didn't have to pay to get in. I have to say that I wouldn't have been too impressed if I had to pay as there isn't too much there to see! It would have cost me £15 for 2 adults and one child without my NT card.... Beautiful views of Rievaulx Abbey from the Terrace and we did have a lovely girl give us a tour and a talk. Will go back later in the year when there are some leaves on the trees as I am sure it is beautiful then.

Frustration...

2009-02-24T19:53:00.005Z

I haven't been out and about recently due to the fact I have a slipped disc. Surgery will take place next Wednesday so hopefully I will have a speedy recovery and be able to GET BACK OUT THERE again. Feel completely frustrated at not being able to walk far...

I took this shot of a derelict window as the three little tulips attracted me to it. The window was so run down and full of cob-webs but the flowers seem to be waving to me although my husband thinks that they look like little penises.......!!??

This shot is just a bit of colour after all the snow and cold weather we have had. This picture of snowdrops and other yellow flower things (keen gardener I am not) is proof that Spring is on it's way!!!

Winner

2009-02-08T12:08:00.005Z

I got out of bed this morning, logged on to my laptop to check new posts on the forum I belong to, to find that I had won the monthly competition with this picture!! I know it's not a big deal.... but it is a very big deal to me. I also won a camera bag that holds a camera plus and extra long lens which is cool. But for me it's not what you win, it's the fact that other people voted my picture as the best!!

I processed this picture by converting to black and white in CS4 and adding some noise and a slight vignette to darken the whole look. I used a narrow depth of field to focus on Sam's face and blur the background (Castle Howard). I wanted the viewer to focus initially on Sam but then wander to the back of the picture and wonder about the beautiful building behind him.

Ripon Cathedral HDR

2009-02-07T20:14:00.004Z

Today I went out to try and get some shots for a competition about our local town. Amongst my shots, I took some of Ripon Cathedral. Ripon Cathedral to me is the focal point of our town and draws many tourists to help with the local economy. As you can see it is being renovated which is all for the good of the town. Shot this with one raw image and converted into 4 different images of different exposures. Merged and converted to HDR with Photomatix software. Touched up with PS CS4.

XDA Orbit

2009-02-07T16:50:00.005Z

I just had to blog about my new (second hand) xda orbit. I just LOVE it. Things I can do with the Orbit: Tomtom, memory map, twitter, messenger, radio, take photos, email & all the normal things a phone can do, watch movies, play games and LOTS OF OTHER THINGS. Now I know that other people are saying "I have an iphone that does all that" but I got this for a pittance and I happen to like windows as I can hack into it easily to make changes. I went out today using the GPS with memory map and it was brilliant. It mapped the route I took which I can then transfer to memory map on my computer at home. It logged my whole 3.87 mile walk which isn't bad considering I have a slipped disc!!!

Macro

2009-02-05T17:06:00.006Z

I received my 1:1 extension tube to go with the Tamron SP 90mm that I have. Will spend a bit of time on the weekend to see just how good it is. Was pretty impressed with this lens without the tube so this should be interesting. I bought a couple of inexpensive manual lenses on ebay but they are brilliant little lenses and meter on the D300 no problem. I tend to fiddle around with the focus anyway so I don't mind that they are manual. Funny being able to express my thoughts here. Normally it is all in my head as I don't have any friends that are interested in photography in particular. I don't want to bore anyone but I can bore myself stupid on here instead. Will post any decent macro piccies here.

I changed the style and font of the blog. Think it is just about how I want to keep it now.....

My First Blog

2009-02-04T22:50:00.011Z

Well it seems to me that everyone and their dog has a blog so I thought it was about time I started one. Of course my main interest is photography so that will be the main subject of my posts. I am a Nikon fan and own a D300 with various lenses. I will start off with some of my recent photos. Having had quite a lot of snow recently, it was good to get out and get some shots of Fountain's Abbey in North Yorkshire. Fountain's Abbey is run by the National Trust so I go there often as I have an annual membership.

This is my favourite view of the abbey taking in the little waterfall and looking back towards the abbey.

This shot just takes in the curve of one of the beautiful lakes and I was lucky enough to catch a swan in the shot.

This is just a shot of the berries using a narrow depth of field.

These were all hand held as unfortunately I forgot to bring the quick release plate with me to fit on my tripod, it was still attached to my battery pack which was still at home...

My aim is to try and take photographs at least three days a week either indoors or out. I try to use new techniques often with my photography and with the post processing.