A couple of shots from Jersey - it's hardly stopped raining yet, which is somewhat limiting!

The weekend brought the last wedding of the year, and a particularly challenging one being lit by candle light! We had a fantastic day the day after though, to get some daylight shots in. Ripley Castle really is a fantastic wedding venue - inside and out. It was also another chance to put the Sony NEX 7 through it's paces. My backup Canon 5D just couldn't manage a higher enough ISO to shoot in the ceremony. The little Sony may not quite match my 5D II in low light (and few camera can), but it totally out-shone the older 5D, and would have put most crop-sensor DSLRs to shame. The 10 frame a second come in handy at times too.

York Floods

Had a few spare minutes, so popped down to the Ouse to check out the flooding. Probably the worst I've seen for a couple of years.

November Workshop

It was a worrying start to today's workshop - thick fog. Given that I tell people you can take good photos in an conditions, I though I should put my money where my mouth is. A quick trip to the M&S cafe - normally an excellent place to view the Minster, at least gave me a decent rooftop shot, No sign of the Minster though...

Dalby Forrest

A ride at Dalby Forrest today gave me a chance to try out the Sony a bit more. It's nice having something light to carry round. You can certainly feel a 5D and 24-105 in your rucksack! It was a nice sunny / misty day, which is great for photo opportunities. I converted both to B&W in NIK Silver effects too, to increase atmosphere.

Fashion Shoot

Holly got her new coat today, which gave a great opportunity for an impromptu visit to the woods.

Sony NEX-7

Just treated myself to Sony's NEX-7. The spec on paper is seriously impressive for a small camera. Not just the 24MP, but the dynamic range and max ISO are the same as my 5DII. I doubt it will handle s well, but it's far more portable. The pull out sreen will be useful, as will the 10 fps. I'll write a review when I've had more of a play.

Fireworks

I've been asked several times recently how to photograph fire works. To put it simply - with difficulty! I wanted to keep some ambient light on these shots, to include the people etc in the shots. That' meant bumping the ISO up to around 5k

Had a great lesson in York today with Gill. It was amazingly busy in town for November - pretty chilly too! A perfect time for Autumn photos - especially playing with the low light - as below.

Silver Effects Pro

I've always been a fan of black and white photography, ever since I received my first camera, a B&W 110mm camera you built from a kit - some 31 years ago!

More recently I've been experimenting with the various ways to convert to B&W. I downloaded a trial of Nik software's Silver Effects Pro, and I 'm slightly addicted. I may have to look for a support group...


If you're not familiar with it, basically it allows a wide range of adjustments, and some presets (as well as more you can download). It also replicates many film types and darkroom techniques. Ideally for me, as I don't particulary like spending ages editing a photo.

Anyway, here are a few I've been playing with.

Silver Effects does, for reason's I can't figure out, have the ability to make images actually look silver, rather than grey. In the shot above, increasing the Structure really brings out the clouds, which makes the shot I think.

York Hospital

Something a little different today, shooting York Hospital Trust's consultant away day. The stage looked great - though it gave me some white balance issues! I'll need to upgrade to Lightroom 4 I think, which allows localized WB adjustment. Long awaited!