Tag: photography

August 12th – An run out after a busy day saw me investigating a few things I’d been meaning to locally. It was a bright but slightly hazy evening, and I took the opportunity to try some familiar zoom shots from near Fishpond Wood above Stonnall, and the perennial favourite Lichfield from the quarry gateway.

It was a bit too muzzy for Lichfield, but Wall came out beautifully, unlike the familiar towers of Shenstone. I suppose the mist and haze must have been sitting in a depression or hollow between us, unlike Wall.

Wonder what the science is here?

February 5th – Long exposure experiments I’m not entirely happy with, taken from the A5 bypass flyover at Jerry’s Lane, Packington and the Alan Woollatt bridge over the A38 at Thickbroom.

For some reason these aren’t as sharp as my earlier experiments and I’m not sure why. The wiggle of the road as it winds up Rock Hill was also not as evident as I would have hoped.

I need more practice, and maybe to read a manual or two…

January 3rd – I had to ip out to Screwfix at sunset, so again hopped on the canal. Nothing as interesting as the Goosanders, sadly, and having forgotten the camera, I chanced my arm with the phone at what was a pretty nice sunset.

Cameras on phones are getting better and better, despite the obvious limitations. I’m quite pleased with this.

December 12th – On the way back into Brownhills, the air was a little clearer, so I stopped on Anchor Bridge for a classic nighttime Brownhills photo.

As well as playing about with aperture settings of late, I’ve discovered exposure compensation. Must say I think the darker image is the better of the two.

One day I must read up on what all these adjustments actually do…

November 8th – Back to the Nikon S9900, and this is what I was after yesterday. I love the harsh way can be set to pick up on light sources. It doesn’t suit everything, but I think it works better on the bridge scene that the fuzz the Panasonic does. The light was completely different tonight, sadly, as I travelled home in steady rain – but I may flip back to this camera for a while and see how I get on…

November 3rd – I hadn’t been up on the old Clayhanger railway bridge for a wile, and thought I’d try some long exposure shots. Sadly, the traffic wasn’t heavy enough to make it work well, but I had fun playing around. 

I must get around to trying this somewhere busy, like the footbridge over Great Charles Street in Birmingham, or maybe Junction 9 of the M6 if I can find a good vantage point. 

November 3rd – Oh well, I guess it’s time to rediscover night photography again.

I came back to Brownhills, and realised I’d forgotten to make a call in Clayhanger, so looped around. The classic view of Silver Street and the canal is always nice at night, but I’m not sure the TZ-80 is as good in low light as the TZ-70 was, or maybe I have to tweak a few settings. I like night urban shots to be hard and crisp mostly, but I can’t quite get what I’m after with this camera yet.

It’s a shame, really; when I played with the Nikon 9900 it was a great camera for most stuff, but the lack of manual focus made it difficult for night use.

My ideal camera would have Panasonic build quality, a Sony interface and Nikon optics. I guess it’ll never happen, though…

ISeptember 22nd – It was a pleasant but slightly chilly evening as I slipped out for a test circuit of Brownhills after a little bike maintenance. I’d forgotten my camera when I went to work, and was still without it, so I gave the phone lens a polish and had a go.

Cameras on phones haven’t half come on in the past few years.

March 22nd – A cockup. I took loads of photos today on the way to work, not realising I had the camera set in some horrid artistic mode and they all came out as blurry rubbish.

The only pictures that came out reasonably where these, where I’d picked a different mode – and being handheld, neither are very good, sadly.

I had to call in to Walsall Wood on the way home, and hopped on the canal at Hollanders Bridge. The night-cap from there was  gorgeous, as were the lights of Barrow Close. I just wish I’d captured them better.

Ah well, another day.