Simplicity...

Canon 400D,70-200mm,f4,1/125,ISO100

This is one of the first images I took with the 70-200mm. It's the first L range lens that I've bought, and I'd have to say for the build and sharpness, it's worth the money. This image was taken just after a short shower, hand held at f4 and racked out to 200mm. The compression of the 200mm along with the bland back ground and large f stop gave this wonderful soft background which makes the daisy really pop.

Such a simple image but works well.

The Inlet...

Canon 400D,10-20mm,f22,225',ISO100

Well it's taken a while for me to decide on buying a 10 stop filter. But after the first use I was happy with parting with the money (plus I found step up filter adapters so this will fit all my lenses). After setting up the shot and calculating the exposure time of 3min 45sec (not an exact science as the light changes quite a bit in 3 min) you pretty much sit and wait and pray. As this was my first try I wasn't expecting to much, but I do like the effect and am hoping to apply it to a more urban scene. Overall a good buy, as long as you like the effect.

Evening Harvest...

Canon 400D,10-20mm,f18,1/250,ISO100

With the long awaited summer storms finally here, I thought I'd set out and try and capture the feeling. Great sky's on their own don't really cut if for me and I was looking for a foreground subject. Luckily I found some classic bales of hay to help with the summer feeling (however I've noticed a lack of round bails recently, I'll have to look for other subjects). I was using a "still borrowed" 10-20mm lens, which at 10 is very, very wide and I usually stay away from that end due to the exaggerated elongation of the image (as in the foreground to background appears to be further away). But with large round bails the subjects stay at a reasonable size throughout the image. 

I do like the slight tilt of the left bail and with the wide angled lens I was able to include the one on the right as well. The sky turned out really well, unfortunately the sky really lit up about 30 min after this image was taken but then maybe I wouldn't have been able to capture the detail and tones in the foreground. 

Overall I'm happy with the image, the tones and subjects really work for that late evening summer feeling.

OxEye...

Canon400D,28-135mm,f5.6,1/200,ISO100

I really like the simplicity of this image, with the strong clean colours contrasting with the background of a meadow full of oxeyed daisy's. It took some time for the wind to calm down enough for the image to be nice and sharp, but with the overcast sky bringing out the colours it was worth the waiting.

It's a classic shot with the rules of third being applied (although I rarely comply to composition rules, if it looks good then it's a good image) and the nice shallow depth of field being held within the center of the flower really helps the yellow to pop out in this image.

Not really used to all this colour, must be all that time spent on mono images.

Rock Pool...

Canon 400D,10-20mm, f22,1/5',ISO100

Taken whilst on a trip to weston-super-mare at about 0500. The idea  was to capture the movement of the sea, but without a ND filter I had to resort to an early morning and hoping for the best. The lens was borrowed from a friend so I kept my distance from splashing sea water and focused on a small rock pool with  the tide running in either sides. I tried my best to capture the contrast between the sea and rocks. The longer exposure help in that respect. I also manage to retain the horizon line without it being blown out.

So over all, a ND filter would have been ideal, however I happy with the result. A blue tint was added in post processing to add a feel of the location.

Asking Hands...

Canon 400D,28-135mm,f8,1/5',ISO100

After being inspired by some low light photography images, I thought I'd try some myself. The idea was to bring out the texture in the hands (mine actually) and a begging style would work best as I actually wanted to add some grain to the image and I thought that this pose as apposed to a praying pose would benefit best.

It was taken on self timer with my hands on a dark blanket and then lit by a single light (an LED bike light with a toilet roll snout). I like the way that it's really brought out the detail in the hands and adds to the feeling of "need" to the image with a nice balance of highlighted and hidden details. It's definitely a technique I'd use again.

A River Runs...

Canon 400D,10-20mm,f22,5',ISO100

I found this stream by accident, after looking at a small pond that I saw on "Google Earth", I heard running water and followed the river down until I came across this bridge. Thinking that the bridge would make a nice frame around the running water, added to that the rocks which break up the flow nicely. I set my tripod as close to the river as possible. I used the river bank as a leading line up towards the bridge and left enough head room above the bridge to add some interest as to the destination. 

All that and I only ended up with one wet foot, when getting as close to the river as possible ended up as getting as close with one foot in the river (maybe I should buy some wellies).