Ians Ramblings

Well, I’ve not bought a new lens for donkeys, so I thought I would go and get a basic 50mm prime, the F1.8 D Nikon. Really glad I did too, it’s such an easy quick lens to use, I’ve found it to be exceptionally sharp so far and great fun to play around with the kind of depth of field it’s capable of.

I took this while out and about on my old bike near Calke Abbey just as a test really. Looking forward to using it this weekend if I can get over to a Tudor mansion I have been meaning to visit for a while.

I took this to just play with the depth of field and see how the light reflecting on the water would look in the bokeh.

I also found a great write up on it on the Ken Rockwell site, if anyone reading this is interested in getting a 50mm prime for their Nikon.

Had a great time over at Belton House near Grantham today trying out the manual features on my new camera. It’s the most friendly National Trust property I have ever been to and the rest have been friendly so certainly saying something.

Really lovely stately home, gorgeous formal gardens and capability brown style complete with woods and deer park.

Stag in the woods

Once I had sifted through my images I tried out a little plugin for Photoshop called ReDynaMix which allowed me to HDR some of my images, so I thought I would share one example.

HDR Belton House

Now following the great Magnum Photos on Twitter. Always have been an admirer of the work their photographers do, amazing stuff. I came across this slide show of some of their black and whites, some which appear in the Magnum Magnum book I have, but I thought the video was very powerful, so here it is.

Inspiring as always, every time I look at their site or read the book I have, it encourages me to take more photos.