Down by the river in Windsor the ground was littered with autumn leaves and served as a perfect foreground for someone else’s castle..
That was a great idea of Matt’s to head down that direction!
| Aperture | ƒ/22 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 15s |
The sun sets early in Breckenridge Colorado, well slightly earlier than in Ireland anyway. Myself and Anthony were working on one part of our secret project, and Mike Adams was working on the other bit, when Michael Koenig jumped up and went outside on to the balcony. I looked up and saw gorgeous red clouds and followed him with my camera. This is the result.
Tall evergreen trees outside the house, and snow capped mountains on the horizon. The sun set behind them in a blazing ball of glorious colour. Beautiful.
| Aperture | ƒ/4.5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/50s |
Floods, hailstones, cold. Another typical Irish summer but thankfully it’s nice ad bright here in Blarney. Here’s a shot I took down at Allihies in West Cork back in April. It’d be perfect if the flowers were more in focus but I still love it.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
Pretty yellow flowers bloom in late April in the grounds of the Westlodge Hotel we stayed in while on holiday in Bantry. Spring was late coming to these gardens so it was nice to see a splash of colour!
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 13mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Biosphere 2 lies in the dusty hot desert in Arizona. It was originally designed as a self contained “world” where scientists stayed for an extended period of time. After going through the tour, there’s no way I’d volunteer to spend my time inside. It must have been very difficult being cooped up in one building. The Wikipedia page on the project has a lot more detail about what went on there.
Anyway, the building is very striking to look at, especially as the day was fine and interesting clouds added to the scene.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
There are so many places to visit in West Cork. Here’s a few of them. We didn’t visit Dursey Island but the beach at Allihies is lovely!
| Aperture | ƒ/10 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
I’m loath to post photos from the same location day after day but I may as well call this “Conor Pass Week” and get the rest of them out of the dark where they’ve languished since 2006.
After the reaction to yesterday’s Conor Pass photo hopefully you’ll like this one too.
I have another 2 or 3 taken at the same time. The day was perfect for photography, the light was strong and to the side, there was an interesting sky and of course the scenery is beautiful. That was a very successful trip!
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
Fishing boats crowd the harbour in Ballycotton on a warm August afternoon.
This was taken in 2006, when I think I shot the rest of my Ballycotton images. I love the imposing clouds and the leading lines of the bows.
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
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 |
David (I think, there’s no author information on the post) of Digital Photography School has rediscovered his wide angle lens! He has a few examples, and the kids shots are particularly good. The two at the bottom of the page aren’t anything to write home about however. I’d have got closer in on the violin player to exaggerate the size of his elbow and arm.
Of course, I’m very keen on my own Sigma 10-20 wide-angle lens too. It’s great for street shots for two reasons:
There’s one bad thing about wide angle for street shooting, you have to get really close to get a frame filling shot. That person five feet away from you is going to be swallowed up by their surroundings. Get in close, they won’t hurt you! *gulp*
I had a great time at WordCamp this year, and I have a feeling you’ll see more wide angle shooting by a few people who were there!
What do you do with yours?
I splashed out on Monday afternoon on a Sigma 10-20mm F4.0-5.6 EX DC HSM in O’Leary’s Camera World. Prices are good at around 499 Euro, comparing well with those I found at Pixmania and elsewhere online. Sigma are based in Bandon, Co. Cork and I guess that helps to keep distribution costs down.
First impressions? It’s wide! It’s also distorted but that’s to be expected. Chromatic aberration is kept to a minimum although I haven’t looked too closely for it. It produces nice crisp images and saturated colours!
While walking around town I found that 10mm is almost too wide. I can be almost on top of my subject before shooting which can be a little nerve wrecking considering the loud click of the 20D! I have captured some great street shots with it already, some of which I’ll post over the next few days.
I couldn’t find many reviews but a number of print magazines have reviewed it and given it glowing recommendations. This thread by Jamison Wexler points to a gallery of example images. This picture reminds me that it’s great for taking self portraits when you really don’t want to ask someone to take the photo!
Now, if only my Sigma 18-200mm was a real 18-200..
While on holiday in Lanzarote I found a shop that sold this lens for 389 Euro. The shop is Visanta and is listed as the main Sigma dealer in the Canarys. You can’t trust all the small electronic shops selling fakes, but Visanta are ok. There are dodgy looking guys hanging about outside the tourist traps but Visanta staff were very helpful and professional.
Unfortunately they didn’t have the lens in stock. Of course, if you buy over there, you should declare it when you get home. The islands are a duty free zone but you’re only allowed to bring home goods below a certain value without paying that duty AFAIR.
