Inbetween times - part 2

The strange hiatus continued after my previous post. I continued to be stuck for places to go and things to photograph. As a result I carried on my adventures with artificial light to occupy my time and mind while work was slow through lack of materials. I got so slick at the flower photography, on both black and white backgrounds, that I began to lose interest in that. I mostly concentrated on the black backgrounds and developed my technique somewhat courtesy of some retail therapy. 

 

 

My local wanderings weren't proving very productive, but noticing that the old café on the bypass had had some work started on it I took an evening drive to have a look. That was worth the minimal effort.

 

 

Then, at long last, it was Showtime! Taking no chances I'd booked a ticket for the Royal Lancashire Show on-line (along with a couple more tickets for upcoming shows) just in case there would be none available on the gate.

 

 

Naturally I made sure I'd booked for the day the Lonks would be on show. While I hung around those most of the time I did wander a bit and grab a few shots of other breeds.

 

Although there had been some rain the day before I went to the show it stayed dry but overcast and very warm. By the following weekend the weather had turned wet and the Garstang show saw me and my gear dripping, but still warm!

At both shows the variety of sheep breeds being exhibited was broader than I've seen in past years with a few new ones being shown. One such being the Clun Forest.

This made the Any Other Native Breed class large and varied!

However, the numbers of Lonks and Gritstones was down.

The following week there was a sheepdog trial in the Lakes which I had to miss as the long awaited materials had started to arrive and work needed to be caught up on. The weather continued to be changeable. There seemed to be rain every day, but there were some short sunny spells during which I managed to get out locally. Unfortunately without out much focus and hence without much success.

Yesterday there was a small sheep show, stick show and sheepdog trial in Barbon. The forecast was iffy and as I'd been feeling a bit lost with the sheep show photography I was in two minds about going. It was the prospect of catching up on a lot of work when even more materials arrived on Thursday which convinced me to take a chance. the further north I got the wetter it got. It wasn't as bad as it had been at Garstang, the rain was light and showery, but I still didn't feel at all motivated. I had intended to use just the 50mm and 28mm lenses, but bottled it and took a couple of zooms along for the ride. It wasn't long before one of them was welded to my camera.

In truth I got a little bored of photographing the sheep show and wandered off well before all the classes had been judged. If there had been Lonks I'd have no doubt stuck around. I had a look at the sticks, but they don't move much and I think it's things happening that I like to photograph.

The sheepdogs were moving well enough, but the sheep were recalcitrant and of the four runs I watched no sheep were penned. I wandered back to the sheep pens where everything was done and dusted, everyone in the luncheon tent and the sheep all alone.

All in all a frustrating and disheartening couple of months which has mainly resulted in my wondering what the bloody point is of taking any of these photographs. Particularly in the case of the ones which are not much different to ones I've taken many times before. I suppose some might say they do this in an attempt to make better versions of existing pictures, and I have said it myself. There comes a point, though, when it's very much marginal gains - and there is no such thing as the perfect picture.

Having paid for tickets in advance I'll be going to the shows they are booked for. Whether I'll get anything out of my visits - in terms of enjoyment and photographs - remains to be seen. If not  that could be my lot with sheep. It's not as if the sheep showing world is lacking photographers to record it!

Don't give up the day job

It was the big day today. The day when I had to take the 'official' photographs of prize winning poultry. Thank goodness I wasn't charging. Then again, if I had been doing it for money I might have taken more time and care over the job.

I suppose that for a first attempt it wasn't too bad, but the law of Sod dictated that the one bird which I messed up most with, for no reason I can fathom, was the overall champion. Why the judge had to pick a white call duck I really don't know. The only thing worse than all white or all black birds/animals to photograph are black and white creatures. So it could have been worse.

My improvised lighting worked as well as I could have hoped for. I knew the light wouldn't be soft enough and not being dimmable was  hindrance, but the basic idea was sound. Two lights on the background and flash on the camera. Then crop and edit the hell out of the files on the computer!

The 'studio' set-up could have been larger for some of the bigger fowl though...

The platform could be both wider and deeper, and the background taller. Being able to get the bird further away from the wall would help, and a higher background would be better for tall birds. Still, I work with what I'm given. There's no option. In a fortnight I have another 'gig', this time with no permanent 'studio' to use. I can't wait.

One of my more successful results

The down time was spent mostly drinking tea and eating. I did get one or two new pictures. Nothing startling but some ideas to work with next time.

Hoping to prove that my lighting set up would work with any camera that had a built in flash I had taken my fishing compact along. It's been playing up a bit recently, a bit temperamental. When I tried demonstrating it the flash it wouldn't play ball. It worked perfectly when I'd tried it a few minutes earlier. That bloody Sod and his law.

Because I have pretty much photographed myself out at these shows I played around using the compact to shoot some video. At first glance it looks quite good. But then I'm no expert and am just amazed that I managed anything watchable at all. If I can get my ancient PC to edit the clips I'll upload them.

I also played around using the compact as a stills camera with surprisng results. For someone like me the increased depth of field small sensor cameras turn out is a bonus rather than a hindrance. It's the noise being quite bad at anything over ISO 400 that I find frustrating, but at web sizes, and probably 5 x 7 inch print size, pictures look fine.

The biggest drawback with the compact is focus speed and shutter lag. Drives me mad and I can't think why it has to be that way. Probably just a consequence of tech that's a few years old. I'm considering selling my 'toy' cameras (I've been using them again of late and hating the experience). I might use the cash released to buy a more up to date small sensor compact with a fast zoom lens. Or I might not.

More from the day here.

---

Flatfish time again

Having a natural break from a project sees me floundering again. I have three ideas, one of which I'm playing around with, but I can't find a good way 'in' to any of them yet. When I get free time I still get drawn back to the bloody beach. Today, however, put an end to that on a sunny weekend. The road was chock-a-block  and no fun at all. As a result it's been a week of unconnected pictures. Which I don't find very satisfying.

Things got so frustrating that I set up a 'studio' in my garage and set about photographing some of the objects I've picked up off the beach over the last few years. I was going to get clever with the lighting but found that the strip lights and window light gave an effect which I preferred. I might have another go to correct the things I don't like.

Firstly I'd light the background (a wrinkled old sheet), secondly I'd make sure the 'horizon' fell in the same place in each frame, thirdly I'd manage the depth of field better to keep the background equally out of focus in each frame.

Naturally enough I made a grid of twelve of the pictures.

I chose to use my 'toy' camera for this as it gives more depth of field than a DSLR. I'm not sure that was a wise choice. The fold down screen helped, but my DSLR has one of those. Being able to select different aspect ratios is one of the things I like about toy cameras. The square format was what I wanted for these pics and it's much easier to frame things right when the picture on the screen is already cropped than trying to guess.

After some discussion on Talk Photography about these pics I am going to collect more bottles. I have a few more than the two in the grid already.

Another benefit of toy cameras is for shooting in black and white. The viewfinder looks like a tiny black and white telly! I still prefer to use colour, but I am getting an irrational urge to do a short project in black and white. Sometimes it seems appropriate for certain images. But I'm not sure I could sustain it for a prolonged period.

Some pictures are almost monochrome when processed in colour.

It comes down to tools for the job. The toy camera has one really useful function for taking candid photographs. A truly silent mode. The only sound is that of the aperture blades closing and opening. With the screen flipped down and the camera at waist level it's surprising how close you can get with a wide angle lens! There's always a price to pay with anything, it seems. The price with the electronic shutter is that under fluorescent light it gives horizontal bands on the pictures.

Shooting at waist level gives a different look to the world, no matter what is being photographed. And I'm quite struck with the novelty of the square format at the moment. I just can't find a project to use them for. As soon as I go back to a real camera, however, that big, clear viewfinder and the subtlety of the tonal gradations in the files makes me wonder why I bother with anything else. No doubt my ideal camera will be made when I'm to decrepit to use the thing.

---