Category Archives: Fun Shots

Fun Shots, Photo-Technique

The River Crossing

The River Crossing’ – a sculpture by Jane Hart, manufactured as part of a set by Danbury Mint in the 1990’s. 

Photo made under studio flash, – two reflector umbrellas, placed directly above the item. Camera was a Nikon Df, with a Tampon 28-70mm f/2.8 portrait lens. Because this lens has a shallow depth of field, (it’s designed to be a portrait lens). I selected a tiny aperture, just f/22 with a focal length of 70mm, to produce sharpness throughout the image. For reciprocity,  that required an ISO of 1600.  

The shutter speed under studio flash is of little importance,  for the flash duration more or less determines the exposure time, 

(…so long as it’s under 1/250th sec – or the shutter will be faster than the flash and will obscure part of the image, and to slow a shutter speed will admit ambient light, which can be useful when using flash outdoors, or for fill-in, but not usually in studio, where the flash would usually be the only source of light).  

So shutter speed for this image was 1/125th sec.

Co. Down, Fun Shots, Streetscapes

Old Doors

On Wednesday 27th October (It’s 2023) the good citizens of Norn Iron were introduced to Big Aggie, or, more formally, Storm Agnes, the remnants of a gale blowing across the Atlantic, or somewhere! We were, apparently, spared the worst of it; that privilege was granted, so they say, to the people of the south west of England, but we did have lashing rain and some wind. Anyway, I was in Comber that day, with the Fujifilm X-T30 resting in the car seat beside me, and I had the photo-itch. (You know that urge you get to make a photo of something – anything…) but there was no way I was getting out of the car in THAT rain.

So, I was looking something, something that would appeal to me as an image, that I could shoot from the comfort of the driver’s seat! (Yes, I know, a total lack of dedication.. A REAL photographer would stand in the rain, la de da de da…)

I was to meet someone in Killinchy Street, – and I just happened to park opposite this…

Killinchy Street, Comber. F=40mm, f/5.6 @ 1/100th sec on ISO640

I lifted the camera, and – there it is! My photo-itch was scratched! Later, on Flickr, the image was elevated to ‘explore’ status, – something I was really chuffed about!