You Can't Go Back

On The Way To Mertola, originally uploaded by Louis Dobson (formerly acampm1).

Well, not twice. A long Winter and wet Spring produced a flood of Spring flowers here that were quickly over. I passed them one day, no suitable camera, came back a week later, took this. It's good (well, it was certainly popular on Flickr, if that's the same thing), but it would have been better with better skies.

By the time I got back again with a fine sky, the flowers were over.

DoF is an issue here. There was no way I could hope to have everything in focus, so I've let the closest flowers go soft. 25mm f8, which would be 50mm f16 on FF. Perhaps I should have gone f2.8, to make it look more deliberate.

Worth thinking about, because we will try this again next year.

Splash! Gin And Tonic

Splash! Gin And Tonic, originally uploaded by acampm1.

Ready for the weekend?

I've been feeling my way around my off camera remote controlled Metz 50AF flashes. There are two, behind decanters in the background, to freeze the splash.

After that it was just a question of chucking lemon slices at a glass of tonic until I got a good splash.

A startburst effect has been added in post processing to get a nice Christmas feel.

Marainha Dawn Dec 2012

Marainha Dawn Dec 2012, originally uploaded by acampm1.

You need a lot of planning for this sort of thing. I use TPE on Android, which told me that the sun was going to rise far enough around to the right to run along the beach - normally the beach is in shadow at dawn. There's a huge cliff behind me to reflect light onto the sand. Then I needed a day with a high tide at dawn. And finally I needed the weather...

Wet Feet, Leaky Wellies

Wet Feet, Leaky Wellies, originally uploaded by acampm1.

A cautionary tale of equipment failure - all very well making sure you have working cards and batteries, there is nothing more annoying than wellie failure.

Less facetiously, this is a shot about dedication. I was up in the hills walking the dogs when I say how the clouds were shaping up on the coast - three quarters of an hour later the dogs were back home, disgruntled, and I was at the coast with a camera.

You have to be prepared to drop things...

Talking of dropping things, what's happened to my ten stop ND? Grrr, more money.

Done with my lovely OM-D and the Panny 7-14.

Testing out the OM-D IBIS

Testing out the OM-D IBIS, originally uploaded by acampm1.

So what do I think of Oly's OM-D E-M5? I love it! Small, pretty, brillisnt IQ and a pleasure to use. The big surprise is the IBIS. I've always considered lens stabilisation only useful for telephotos, and the in body system useless with anything - but Oly have truly changed the deal. This shot is with the equivalent of a 50mm lens, at one sixth of a second, standing in moving water....

The Portable Kit

The portable kit., originally uploaded by acampm1.

Ok, so for serious work I have the big, heavy, full frame Nikon D3. Which is in turn slowly being edged out by the tiny GH2. But here we have everything you need for serious photography, provided the subject isn't running around too fast. Olympus E-PM1, 12mm f2, and 45mm f1.8. Takes up three pockets, and I can convert myself from biker to photographer in moments. Really very highly recommended!

Commuting Again

Commuting Again, originally uploaded by acampm1.

Ever find a photo you have no recollection of taking? As far as I know, I've never seen this photo before in my life. I think it is rather good.