Know Your Camera (Guernsey style)

Just starting to work through some of the pictures I took during my recent trip to Guernsey.  Much of the time was spent giving workshops, including the first full day when Ann and I ran a Know Your Camera day for beginners.  As part of that day I took a series of images to illustrate certain points, and I thought it was worth reproducing them here.

The first set shows just how much latitude is available in a RAW file.  I shot the same scene ranging from two stops underexposed to two stops overexposed, and then hit the "Auto" button on each within the RAW converter.  Apart from a small amount of shadow noise in the underexposed shots and a slight colour shift in the overexposed shots, there was precious little to choose between them.  In all cases the image on the left is the equivalent JPEG straight out of the camera, and the image on the right is the automatic conversion.  Talk about RAW being the ultimate Get out of jail free card...

Another sequence attempted to demonstrate the difference between images which are unsharp due to poor focusing and those where there had been camera movement - usually because of too slow a shutter speed.  It's amazing how many people cannot distinguish between the two when shown a picture which is "soft".

The final illustration was to show the effects of Image Stabilisation.  In the example below, the same shot was taken hand-held at 1/15s with a 200mm lens, with and without IS.  The left hand image, without Image Stabilisation, unsurprisingly shows large amounts of camera shake - despite attempting to hold the lens as still as possible.  The right hand image shows the effect of the turning on Image Stabilisation on the lens - absolutely astonishing, as the image was critically sharp even at 100%.  The manufacturers claim 4 stops for the modern IS systems, and my rough experiment seems to back this up.

Ferry to Guernsey

The last three weeks have been manic, preparing for an RPS Distinctions Advisory Day and then running a week of photographic workshops with Ann Miles in Guernsey.  Ann has been much more organised than me, having already posted lots of Guernsey pictures on her blog.  I'm only just starting to catch up, so here are a few images from our journey across from Poole to St Peter Port on the Condor Ferry, taken on Wednesday 22nd May.

Looking at Herm - a small island off the East coast of Guernsey which we would be visiting the following week.

As always, a large cruise ship was anchored between Herm and St Peter Port, presumably awaiting the hundreds of tourists which it had disgorged earlier in the day.

Coming into the harbour at St Peter Port.

It was such a shock to see the sun after weeks of dull grey weather in the UK, but it was still pretty cold and windy.

After unpacking and eating a wonderful dinner of bouillabaisse (the seafood on Guernsey is to die for) we braced ourselves for the first workshop the following day.

Fowlmere

I spent most of the Bank Holiday weekend at home doing paperwork, but Harriet and I managed to get out to Fowlmere for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon.  It was dull and cloudy, and - apart from the highlight of seeing a Crane flying high overhead - there wasn't a great deal to report.

The only birds within capture distance were Greylag Geese.

This pair had just been cleared for take-off.

They might be common as muck, but they're still magnificent birds.

Bristol Miscellany

A few pictures taken in and around Bristol during my last visit.  First, an instantly forgettable service station on the M5 with the worst so-called Wi-Fi hotspot I've ever come across.

Two wheels good; four wheels bad?

Finally, two pictures taken on Clifton Down, looking towards the Bristol Channel and the Clifton Gorge.

Dyrham (interior)

I still have to pinch myself when entering a National Trust property as a reminder that photography is not only allowed but actively encouraged nowadays.  Not that it's easy, of course, with bans on tripods and flash still in place, and lots of "do not touch" notices everywhere.  These pictures were taken using the same technique as Blickling Hall and Tyntesfield: hand-held 3-shot HDR sequences at ISO3200.  Some of the rooms in Dyrham were very dark, and these posed quite a challenge (as did the dozens of visitors who were taking advantage of the NT's Free Weekend policy).

The dog - plus the archway and corridor behind it - in the library picture are actually examples of trompe l'oeil in that they are painted onto the wall but made to look three-dimensional.

Dyrham (outside)

On a grey, overcast (and, frankly, rather chilly) day, I went with Frances and Christopher to Dyrham Park, a National Trust property in Gloucestershire not far from Bath.  It happened to be Free Entry weekend, so there were lots of people there.  Some hardy souls were even having picnics on the lawn, but rather them than me given the conditions.

It was also Frances & Christopher's first anniversary, so many congratulations to them.  Is it really a year since the wedding?