Tag Archives: irishblogs

Five more common digital photography mistakes

Jim posted his 5 most common digital photography mistakes and I knew I could come up with a further five, so here goes:

  1. I’m not ready!
    How many times have I missed a shot because my camera was at home or in the bag? Lens covers can be a nuisance too.
  2. Leaving the camera in timer mode.
    I can’t remember how many times I’ve left the timer mode on after taking a self portrait, a group shot or a long exposure shot.
  3. Flash photography in AV mode
    This usually happens when I’ve come from an area where flash photography is not allowed and I’ve shot in AV mode because of the low light conditions. Canon cameras expose for existing light in AV mode so you get a long exposure with a flash. Jim already covered not changing ISO rating, a related topic.
  4. Help! My flash is dead!
    I have a fancy pants Canon 580EX flash. When I bring it out at public gatherings people look at me as if I’m a pro, and they ask what newspaper I’m with. It really shatters the illusion when the batteries are dead.
  5. Deleting or formatting camera media before everything is copied off.
    It has happened a few times. Out in the field I’ll review my images, and sometimes delete ones I don’t want. Sometimes my finger nudges the next photo button and I delete the wrong image.

Not all strictly digital photography mistakes but I make them all the time. It’s a wonder I have any photos to show here at all. What’s your number one annoyance about digital cameras?

PS. Thanks Jacinta for reviewing this post! (via Photographyvoter.com)

The hat and the smoke


The hat and the smoke

I made this image of the guy in the hat on Patrick’s Street last February and I knew I had a great street shot. I have no idea what those people in the car are doing but they left shortly after.

Link love: Donal has a great portrait of some of the kids from his trip to Lesotho.

Aperture ƒ/4.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/400s

Flickr Blog now hosted to WordPress.com

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, the Flickr Blog is now hosted at WordPress.com! If you’re logged into the site you’ll see the familiar blue admin bar at the top of the page.

The latest post has some great shots of the STS-117 Atlantis launch. Better move your feed reader to the new feed!

Pedestrians this way


Pedestrians this way

Walking through a building site can be a hazardous task, especially when it’s one of the main streets of a city. Thankfully there are signs to lead the way through the maze of construction equipment, pot holes, broken paving and pipes. And then you get to the construction site.

Image made in February this year on the Grand Parade, Cork. Things have improved since.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

In Summary, 11th June 2007

A few links you will find useful and interesting as we start another week.

Orange stripes and white clouds


Orange stripes and white clouds

The orange stripes of the road lead off into the Conor Pass, north of Dingle in Co. Kerry. This was taken in September last year and they did a great job of improving the road.

The cloud you see is fog that literally rolled in off the hills. One moment there was a beautiful view down into the Pass and the next we were surrounded by a white wall of wet.

Aperture ƒ/14
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/400s

St. Patrick’s Day Photographers


St. Patrick’s Day Photographers

I’ve noticed more and more people with cameras at major public events. St. Patrick’s Day is no exception and I made this shot as we walked toward St. Patrick’s Street in Cork, unfortunately too late for the parade, but we had enjoyed a good meal so I wasn’t too bothered!

How many photographers can you see in this image? I count seven, maybe eight.

I can’t remember how I got this effect. Normally I’ll make a .xcf copy of the image but it’s not there this time. Ooops.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Grand Parade on the Lee


Grand Parade on the Lee

This is the Grand Parade in Cork, from across the River Lee on Sullivan’s Quay. It was the graffiti on the river wall, “Tek”, that prompted me to shoot this image and I like how it came out.

It does lose something in this resized version because of the distant detail but it’s going to be a while before everyone has 20″ monitors and even longer before I put full size images on display for public consumption.

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 20mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/160s

Door 1234


Door 1234

I spotted this doorway just down the street from here while wandering around Killarney, Co. Kerry.

1234 – I had to snap it.

Other Photos: Setting Sun, Day 12, The House On Burnaby: Black & White, Gazania, Alkos, I Ran the Cork City Marathon Today

Aperture ƒ/5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/50s

Children at play


Children at play

A sign in Fermoy, Co. Cork warns motorists to watch out for kids playing on the road.

I’ve seen so many people speed through built up areas these signs mean absolutely nothing to them.

Technique:
1. Original image was flat and plain. Background sky was monotonous so I ran it through auto-levels which brought out the colours.

2. Then I duplicated that layer and blurred it using Gaussian Blur with a radius of 25px (original image is 3504px wide). By adding a layer mask I was able to rub out some of the blurred layer to expose the sharp original below. Opacity was set to 41% to reduce the blur effect.

3. Finally an overlay layer was added and circular gradients drawn on with a low opacity. This darkens the sky and sign slightly in patches.

All manipulation done in the GIMP but will work just as well in Photoshop or other application.

Was that useful? Want more?

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Light trails on Oliver Plunkett Street


Light trails on Oliver Plunkett Street

Light trails from a passing car leave their mark on this long exposure shot of Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork.

Can you see pink lights on the vertical poles standing at the edge of the pavement? On my Linux box they’re clear as day but I can’t see them at all in Preview on the Macbook.

The lights were designed and made by MAAS here in Cork and the colour changes slowly from blues to purples to pinks to yellow and to any other colour. It’s quite a sight to see the colour change when standing at one end of this long straight street!

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 8s

The Gallery ICA launched on Friday

Haydn’s Gallery ICA launched with a party on Friday night. I wasn’t there but Haydn blogged it yesterday. Did you make it to the party Ryan? Jacinta and I were minding the baby and didn’t budge out of the house.

Haydn and myself have gone through a large part of my photo archive and we’ve selected 10 images I’ll be making limited edition fine-art prints from to display in the gallery. That was almost 2 months ago, but with the birth of my son Adam, other priorities came first.

Now I have to decide:

  • What size should the prints be?
  • Where do I get them printed?
  • Where do I get them framed?
  • Price? There will only ever be 10 prints of each image. The cost of a print must cover the expenses incurred in creating it. That includes the above printing and framing costs, time and effort, gallery costs such as insurance, running expenses, and more. I used to think that charging €400 for a painting was exorbitant but the costs quickly mount up. Pricing must reflect the exclusive nature of the print. This print could take pride of place in a living room for years to come. A small price to pay.

I’m heading to San Francisco at the end of July for WordCamp but hopefully my prints will be on display in the gallery long before then.

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