Harry's Blog

I was reading an online photography resource that suggested one way of improving one's skills is to post an end of year look at what I consider to be my best photos of the last year. And then in a year's time I can compare my shots from the following year.

Picking the best shots is tricky because I know that I'm likely to want to pick the ones I think other people might think are the best, rather than the ones I like the most. But I'm going to have a go at picking my own personal favourites of the past year. So here we go, starting at the beginning of the 2008.

I wonder if the pictures do get better as the year goes on?

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I decided to have a go at making my own diffuser for the Canon 430EX flash from a plastic milk carton.

I didn't do anything particularly skilful other than cut the top and handle off the carton, then slipped it over the flash and held it in place with an elastic band.

Here's my hi-tech diffuser:

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We had a lovely morning in Richmond Park. The twins really enjoyed the freedom to toddle at will and we loved the freedom, fresh air and joy of being together as a family.

It was very windy in West Bay in Dorset at the weekend. We took the twins for a walk there in the evening with my in-laws and the weather was biting cold. And as it was a walk out with the family I only took my walkaround lens (Sigma 18-200mm DC OS) and one ND Grad filter. But I reckon the following handheld landscapes still aren't too bad and capture some of the drama of the weather...

A few weeks ago I bough a Canon EOS 5 via Ebay. This is the first 35mm SLR I've ever owned. And this morning I got back my first roll of film.

While some of the pictures were very blown out due to my inexperience with slide film I did get some really great shots. Certainly I feel that the camera was £30 well spent.

You can view some more of my efforts on film in this Flickr set.

Not far from where we live is Rectory Park and Northala Fields. At Northala several dramatic mounds have been created as part of the park and one features a spiral path up to the top. From here some dramatic views of West London can be found.

You can see Wembley Stadium's arch, the buildings of the M4 Corridor, aircraft coming in to land at London Heathrow and the buildings at the heart of London.

You'll find the images over on my Flickr page.

I'm in mourning today. My beloved Canon EOS 40D is going in for repair. It's not a big repair. Truth be told I'm not entirely convinced that the little bit of foam that needs replacing even does anything. But if I'm going to sell the camera in the future when it's time to upgrade¹ I'll need to make sure it's got all its bits and pieces.

So this morning I removed the tripod mount, the memory card and the battery. I even removed the strap. She's all bare and unloved, stripped down to just the basics for her journey to Canon for some 2mm foam to be glued inside it.

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I went for a walk along the canal a couple of days ago. It was a pleasant trip and I took some pictures I'm rather fond of, the above being the best.

But there was one aspect of the journey that wasn't so fun. That is the way that people looked at me for carrying a decent camera.

For those of you wondering, the Canon EOS 40D is not, I repeat not, a device for taking pictures of your children's genitalia through their clothes.

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After months of noodling around, reading books and magazines and worrying about how things are supposed to work, rather than how I want them to...I've finally hit on a method of manual exposure photography that works for me.

So I thought I would share it with you.

But first a little lesson about the use of histograms on the current range of Canon DSLR cameras. I'm going to assume you are shooting in RAW because...well why wouldn't you?

Remember your camera doesn't store an equal amount of detail in its entire range. The bulk of the variations of tone are at the top lighter end. So while you may have 4096 shades at the highlight end, you may only have 128 at the shadow end. So it makes more sense to expose as much of your image towards the right of the histogram and bring back some of those shadows towards the left in post-processing.

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I do believe I'm finally getting the hang of this photography lark.

I'm certainly happier with the pictures that I've taken over recent weeks than any I've taken before.

The big change I think is decided how I want to take pictures rather than worrying how my camera seems to want to take them, or how I should use it. The camera is just a tool rather than the arbiter of what makes a good photograph.

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I love photography. It's been a hobby of mine for just over a year and I finally feel like I'm starting to get to grips with it. Give me half an hour on my own with a beautiful landscape and all my gear I reckon I can knock out some great images.

But that's not often how I take pictures. Normally I'm out for a walk with my beloved wife and children, hurriedly taking snaps of the scenery then running to catch up.

Hence my Flickr portfolio was full of mostly rubbish. I know a lot of my pictures aren't that great and it's because I wasn't being serious about my hobby. And of course the other side of the coin is that I'm not spending quality time with my family while out and about.

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Several weeks ago I visit Paris for business. I took quite a few photos. But as is often the case I wasn't overly pleased with them initially. A few weeks distance and a little more editing and I've got some pictures I really like.

You can see the rest of this set over at my Flickr page.