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Photography

Backdrops

IMG_20140217_205750I got bored one evening and decided to see what I could do with a home-made backdrop. In this instance it was a cream coloured fleece blanket (that isnt completely clean…)

Having draped the blanker over the head rest of my bed I put something on it and set up the camera and tripod. I was looking for a white background however as you can see, the lighting isn’t great.

Whats worse is how the camera took the white balance.

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As you can see – its not exactly white. This isn’t a problem though. My 600D has an option in the menu for me to set a custom white balance. When selected it asked me to choose an image, so i did. It seems that it then took the majority colour in the image and treats it as white. (I was not shooting RAW for this as I was playing, so I couldn’t really colour correct in post-processing)

All the following pictures had a nice fluffy white background 🙂

The only thing I did wrong here was used Aperture Priority – The camera kept changing the shutter speed based on what it thinks is a correct exposure. This means that some of the images are a tad darker than others. Where it is correct though; It works.

Some examples below. Note the darker ones 🙁 – Manual all the way if you can!

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LAGC 2014 - Dreamcast
Cosplay, Event

LAGC Feb 2014

In my teens I was quite heavily into Japanese Anime. I liked the story lines, I liked the animation style and as a young teen, I liked the characters (Either badass robots, or Skimpily dressed women). As an extension of this interest and through the power of the Internet I soon learned about Anime Conventions which celebrate this culture and also a phenomenon called Cosplay.

The first time I saw photos of Cosplay, I was absolutely flabbergasted as to how intricate some of the costumes are, fully appreciating the amount of work that has been poured into them and to this day, I am still amazed. So, naturally, when an invitation to attend LAGC was extended to me, I went right for it.

I’m shy by nature so after we had arrived and settled in, I was admiring the costumes, but was too shy to ask people for photos. I’ve also read a lot on the internet that you should always ask someone before you take their picture, its only polite. Following the etiquette left me Photo-less for a good portion of the event, however, there were lots of inanimate objects to shoot. Two of my favorite images are Sonic below, and the Dreamcast I managed to snap.

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Time-Lapse

First Time-lapse

So, having replaced my EOS 600D that was recently stolen, I decided to have a play with it and make a time-lapse video.

Initially I started under the assumption that if I set my camera to continuous shooting and set the self-timer delay to 10 seconds, using a remote release held down I could just leave it do its thing. Turns out this wasn’t the case. After the first image, the camera just doesn’t do anything until you release the shutter, at which point it shows you the preview of the image you have just taken.

I was quite disappointed, but as the light and clouds were awesome out of my window I decided to do some manual work! I basically sat there for an hour pressing the shutter approx every 10 seconds.

This was all done in Aperture Priority mode so the shutter speed changed over time as it tried to get a correct exposure. This is the reason the buildings become more visible later in the video.

Ignoring the jump in the middle where I cleaned the window, I think it turned out OK. To be nice and smooth I’d need to sit there for longer, or increase the frequency of captures – Both options aren’t practical with doing this manually 🙁

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Equipment

I’m Back!

After the unfortunate events of last month I have finally managed to scrape together enough cash to replace my camera. As it was only the 55-250 that was taken, I opted to just get a new 600D body – I can live without the long tele for now.

After the brief playing I did manage to get before it was taken it was clear I wanted a “Fast Lens” so went for what is colloquially known as a “Nifty Fifty” – Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II.

I must remember to get insurance this time around!

General

Spanner in the works

So, I have only had my camera about three weeks and I am still learning how to use it. Much to my own excitement I decided to go try to do some night time photography. In hindsight, doing this at 4am on a Sunday morning was a bad idea. I got mugged.

The two guys that approached me took my camera and my phone. I suspect they didn’t really resort to violence because I had my tripod out and extended but at the time I certainly wasn’t going to risk picking a fight with them.

Guess this means no touristy photos on my upcoming trip to Dublin. Looks like for the time being my Photography is on hiatus 🙁

P.S – I hadn’t insured it yet…

Equipment

The Journey Begins

I have always enjoyed photography – even from an early age. My Dad enjoyed it; as did one of our families close friends. You could say I grew up around it.

With my recent new Job, I have met people that are also into photography that I see on a regular basis. Being surrounded by these new faces has inspired me to take the plunge and buy myself a DSLR. I opted for the Canon EOS 600D with its kit lens – EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II.

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