This is Moo, the unloved kitty who found a new home on Flickr.Via Flickr: This is my cat. I’ve deliberately not posted too many photos of her on Flickr, partly because she’s so cute that I fear someone may steal her, but mainly because on the Internet if you continually post pictures of your cat some people may think you are weird. We call her many names but at the moment she is Nana Moo. We rescued Moo from the RSPCA centre local to where we live, her previous owners had recently divorced and neither one wanted to keep her, so she was abandoned. She was 16 months old at the time and had already had a litter of kittens. We were told that she would find it hard to settle in a new home and that we shouldn’t expect too much physical attention as she was not used to human contact. That was 4 years ago last month. Now Moo is the most caring and inquisitive cat you could ask for, in her new home she has everything she could want and more, including her new baby brother, our son Tom.

This is Moo, the unloved kitty who found a new home on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This is my cat. I’ve deliberately not posted too many photos of her on Flickr, partly because she’s so cute that I fear someone may steal her, but mainly because on the Internet if you continually post pictures of your cat some people may think you are weird.
We call her many names but at the moment she is Nana Moo. We rescued Moo from the RSPCA centre local to where we live, her previous owners had recently divorced and neither one wanted to keep her, so she was abandoned. She was 16 months old at the time and had already had a litter of kittens. We were told that she would find it hard to settle in a new home and that we shouldn’t expect too much physical attention as she was not used to human contact.
That was 4 years ago last month. Now Moo is the most caring and inquisitive cat you could ask for, in her new home she has everything she could want and more, including her new baby brother, our son Tom.

2 Notes
Lily Dream on Flickr.Via Flickr: In between taking shots of my son at feeding time I was able to take a few photos of some lilies that I had bought my wife for Valentine’s day. I started off with my “nifty fifty” but then swapped over to a Helios-44M with a 20mm macro tube between the lens and the body. Wide open at f2 it was too shallow to get anything in focus at this range, so this was stopped down to f2.8 and it landed me the effect I was trying to achieve. Back on the computer very little post processing was required, just a slight adjustment to the white balance and tiny increase in definition was all it required. This is my favourite macro shot of the day, although if you take a quick glance through my photostream you will see a few more, including the first lily shot taken on the Canon lens.

Lily Dream on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
In between taking shots of my son at feeding time I was able to take a few photos of some lilies that I had bought my wife for Valentine’s day. I started off with my “nifty fifty” but then swapped over to a Helios-44M with a 20mm macro tube between the lens and the body. Wide open at f2 it was too shallow to get anything in focus at this range, so this was stopped down to f2.8 and it landed me the effect I was trying to achieve.
Back on the computer very little post processing was required, just a slight adjustment to the white balance and tiny increase in definition was all it required. This is my favourite macro shot of the day, although if you take a quick glance through my photostream you will see a few more, including the first lily shot taken on the Canon lens.

1 Notes
Sunburst through the trees on Flickr.Out on a walk recently I noticed the sun had dropped well under the tree line. I had read recently that you could acheive a “sunburst” type effect by stopping the aperture right down so I decided to give it a try. The end result was a little diffcult to guage at first, as reviewing the shot on camera it looked very underexposed. When I got back home though I managed to recover some of the detail in iPhoto and the end result seems to work out. Definitely not one of my best, but it’s all a learning curve and trying something new definitely seems to be the way forward.

Sunburst through the trees on Flickr.

Out on a walk recently I noticed the sun had dropped well under the tree line. I had read recently that you could acheive a “sunburst” type effect by stopping the aperture right down so I decided to give it a try.
The end result was a little diffcult to guage at first, as reviewing the shot on camera it looked very underexposed. When I got back home though I managed to recover some of the detail in iPhoto and the end result seems to work out.
Definitely not one of my best, but it’s all a learning curve and trying something new definitely seems to be the way forward.

It’s been a while since I shared one of my photos so today we have one I took recently at the Christening of my first niece. The day was unusually bright for a cold January afternoon and the light felt extremely harsh at the time. The original straight off the camera looked incredibly flat and the quality of the lens (18-55mm IS kit lens) was very apparent with very harsh edges of the building against the sky beyond. Luckily iPhoto stepped in to save the day and I managed to recover a lot more detail than I expected, bringing back some of the shadows and highlighting the detail in the stonework. It’s been a couple months now since I’ve had my SLR and I’m still finding my feet. I’ve yet to work out where my photography niche will be, and so recently I’ve been franticly trying everything I can think of including long exposure, macro, landscapes and portraits. I’ve still got a lot to try and I’m looking forward to trying out high-speed when the weather warms a little and I can get hold of some water bombs! Combe Martin Parish Church on Flickr.

It’s been a while since I shared one of my photos so today we have one I took recently at the Christening of my first niece.

The day was unusually bright for a cold January afternoon and the light felt extremely harsh at the time. The original straight off the camera looked incredibly flat and the quality of the lens (18-55mm IS kit lens) was very apparent with very harsh edges of the building against the sky beyond.

Luckily iPhoto stepped in to save the day and I managed to recover a lot more detail than I expected, bringing back some of the shadows and highlighting the detail in the stonework.

It’s been a couple months now since I’ve had my SLR and I’m still finding my feet. I’ve yet to work out where my photography niche will be, and so recently I’ve been franticly trying everything I can think of including long exposure, macro, landscapes and portraits. I’ve still got a lot to try and I’m looking forward to trying out high-speed when the weather warms a little and I can get hold of some water bombs!

Combe Martin Parish Church on Flickr.

Cherry Tree Bud on Flickr.Another of my recent photos today, this is the frozen bud of a cherry blossom tree in my front garden. It was taken two weeks ago after a particularly cold night, so cold that the spiders web attached to the tree had frozen over with ice crystals. This is the first time I’d been out in the garden with a macro lens, this particular shot was taken with my Canon 18-55mm IS kit lens with a +10 close up filter screwed on the front. Focussing was particularly difficult so I ended up setting the lens to manual then adjusted to the distance from the camera to the bud to get it nice and sharp. Since I took this shot I’ve now acquired some macro tubes for my m42 lenses so next time I’ll be trying these shots with one of my Helios lenses.

Cherry Tree Bud on Flickr.

Another of my recent photos today, this is the frozen bud of a cherry blossom tree in my front garden.

It was taken two weeks ago after a particularly cold night, so cold that the spiders web attached to the tree had frozen over with ice crystals.

This is the first time I’d been out in the garden with a macro lens, this particular shot was taken with my Canon 18-55mm IS kit lens with a +10 close up filter screwed on the front.

Focussing was particularly difficult so I ended up setting the lens to manual then adjusted to the distance from the camera to the bud to get it nice and sharp.

Since I took this shot I’ve now acquired some macro tubes for my m42 lenses so next time I’ll be trying these shots with one of my Helios lenses.

3 Notes
M5 J25 (Taunton) Northbound on Flickr. Today I’m sharing a much more recent photo, which at the time I wasn’t that fussed about but looking back I think it’s actually not bad. This is the first time I was out with a “proper” camera, my Canon 450D that I recently purchased. Taken from a small bridge over the South-bound carriageway I was here for about 20 minutes snapping on the way home from work. A good combination of low ISO and long shutter speed has left me with the motorway just lit enough to see the road markings and barriers, with a nice set of light trails over the top.

M5 J25 (Taunton) Northbound on Flickr.

Today I’m sharing a much more recent photo, which at the time I wasn’t that fussed about but looking back I think it’s actually not bad.

This is the first time I was out with a “proper” camera, my Canon 450D that I recently purchased. Taken from a small bridge over the South-bound carriageway I was here for about 20 minutes snapping on the way home from work.

A good combination of low ISO and long shutter speed has left me with the motorway just lit enough to see the road markings and barriers, with a nice set of light trails over the top.

3 Notes

5 steps to shooting with vintage lenses on your Canon digital SLR

This is the first article in a series I plan to write about digital photography with vintage lenses, so where better to start than a 5-step guide on how to get started?

Shortly after buying my Canon 450D I was keen to start expanding my lens collection, however my budget didn’t stretch to buying a bag full of prime lenses so I started looking in to the possibility of using older lenses. These older lenses were built way before the advent of auto-focus and apertures so there is a little bit more work involved but once you get the hang of them the quality of the results can be outstanding for the price.

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9 Notes
Frozen Spider’s Web on Flickr. This weekend we had our first hard frost of the year, which made a perfect reason for me to get outside and test out some of the news lenses I’ve acquired over the last week. This photo was taken with a Jupiter-37A which is a 135mm f3.5 on an M42 screw mount. This particular lens dates from around 1991 so it’s over 20 years old and yet to look at you could mistake it for brand new. I’m having great fun with my collection of vintage lenses and the Jupiter-37A is quickly becoming one of my favourite, with a beautifully engineered 12 blade aperture that closes down in a near perfect circle. Using these old lens with their manual focus and apertures has taught me much more in a few weeks about taking photos than years of digital AF point and shoot. I’m planning to share some of what I’ve learned later this week when I finish writing up my beginners guide to shooting with vintage lenses.

Frozen Spider’s Web on Flickr.

This weekend we had our first hard frost of the year, which made a perfect reason for me to get outside and test out some of the news lenses I’ve acquired over the last week.

This photo was taken with a Jupiter-37A which is a 135mm f3.5 on an M42 screw mount. This particular lens dates from around 1991 so it’s over 20 years old and yet to look at you could mistake it for brand new.

I’m having great fun with my collection of vintage lenses and the Jupiter-37A is quickly becoming one of my favourite, with a beautifully engineered 12 blade aperture that closes down in a near perfect circle.

Using these old lens with their manual focus and apertures has taught me much more in a few weeks about taking photos than years of digital AF point and shoot. I’m planning to share some of what I’ve learned later this week when I finish writing up my beginners guide to shooting with vintage lenses.

18 Notes
The Moon on Flickr.Finally a photo that is almost in focus, at least to the point of being acceptable. The next time I try I shall have to set up the tripod and use a shutter release so I can increase the exposure time slightly and lower the ISO.

The Moon on Flickr.

Finally a photo that is almost in focus, at least to the point of being acceptable. The next time I try I shall have to set up the tripod and use a shutter release so I can increase the exposure time slightly and lower the ISO.

12 Notes
Helios Test Shot on Flickr.Via Flickr: Helios 44M 2/58 lens. Handheld @ f4 on my Canon 450D. I really cannot believe the sharpness of this lens, it’s the first manual focus I’ve bought and I’m so impressed. This particular lens is older than I am! They really don’t make them like they used to.

Helios Test Shot on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Helios 44M 2/58 lens. Handheld @ f4 on my Canon 450D.

I really cannot believe the sharpness of this lens, it’s the first manual focus I’ve bought and I’m so impressed. This particular lens is older than I am! They really don’t make them like they used to.

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