Guess the ISO

Just an observation. This is a shot I took of some new boots for my fishing blog - although I ended up using one taken with the X10...

Good as the compact is, there are still some things that DSLRs excels at.

I didn't realise the ISO setting until I came to edit the photo as I had it on auto. The lower picture is a 100% crop - with no sharpening.

The ISO? 7200.

---

Tree fellers

I'd gone out looking for a couple of bitterns that have arrived at the nature reserve I worked at in the '80s but hadn't taken a lens along suitable for photographing them. I was hoping to get some shots of the bird watchers. As it happened the bitterns hadn't been seen this morning, and it was a dull day making it too dark in the hide for any available light shooting. There were, however, some volunteers on a chainsaw course and I got chatting to their instructor, Colin.

I was hoping to get some tree felling pictures, but there was more log cutting going on. The one tree I did see felled got stuck, rather spoiling the effect!

Even in the shade of the pines the D90 coped pretty well considering the slow zoom I had attached. It's a a pain to use compared to the D3s though. I also got a shot with the X10. A shot that seems a little 'flat' compared to the shots from the DSLR.

Given that there wasn't much going on and it was just on lunchtime I got mostly pictures of men standing around in a wood. At least they were wearing bright colours to stand out from the trees.  Some winter sun slanting through the branches would have given the shots a lift. C'est la vie.

---

Mist

This is probably less than two hundred yards from home. I can't see the need to travel the world to find pictures. They're all around if you look with an open mind.

---

Owl mania

When word gets out there's a rare or photogenic bird around 'wildlife photographers' descend en masse at the location these days in a photographic twitch! I'd found out, accidentally via the web, that some short eared owls had been showing about five miles from home so I thought I'd go and see what the score was.

I hadn't taken my long lens because my primary intention on heading out with the camera was to get some misty landscapes, but the mist had cleared a little too much, and I had also had it half in mind to shoot any photographers I might spot.

Sure enough there were seven or eight people around, most with cameras and long lenses. Why they were all stood out in the open and not making use of available cover I don't know. Still, the owls showed. And the frenzy commenced. So I snapped the snappers!

Spot the shorty

Quick, there it goes!

The big advantage of the X10 is that I can sling it round my neck while carting a DSLR around and hardly know it's there. As I had the 70-200 attached to my full frame body, which I find suits my way of seeing landscapes in the flatlands, this gave me a good coverage of focal lengths.

Although I still can't take to the 4:3 'compact' format for landscape orientation shots, I find it works well used vertically. 3:2 can be a little narrow in this orientation.

I'm getting more into manipulating images to get a look I like. This is partly because the raw files from the X10 can be kind of 'flat'. Partly because I'm finding my way around Lightroom more.  I think I might be overcooking things a little in my new found enthusiasm. However, this has made me realise how much work people do to the images we are accustomed to seeing.

Contrarily, when it comes to landscapes, as a subject, I find myself drawn to the 5:4 format. Maybe it's time to start taking this landscape lark more seriously and take a tripod along. I still can't help thinking that a DSLR isn't the best tool for the job.

I must ease off on the neutral grad in Lightroom

---

Minimalism

An even more minimalist, and unintentional, companion piece to an earlier picture.

---