Night Time shooting - Starry skys

This is not an easy image to capture. A slight bit of movement over the exposure time and the objects become blurry, that and the problem that you are technically trying to focus on something that is millions of miles away...all hindrances to good quality pictures.

these ones came out ok though. So have a look:

The lens collection - slowly building

I'm experimenting with different styles of photography, but I am certainly on a budget. I enjoy taking pictures...but I am not about to go and spend half my income on lenses and camera parts to carry on doing it. I am a 2nd hand man, with an eye for a bargain I like to think.

So with that in mind I picked up some nice manual focus and aperture lenses to get the effects I am after.
Here they are as they stand right now:

from left to right: Canon Ef 28-80mm, (front) Helios-44 58mm f2 prime, (back) Sirius 70-300mm f.4.0-5.6, (front) Pentacon 50mm f1.8 prime, (back) Prinzgalaxy 135mm f3.5 Prime, (front) 0.46x Wide converter on 58-46mm step down ring, (back) Macro extension tubes (non focus).

That is the extent of the collection right now. But I am looking to add a Canon telephoto lens instead of the Sirius.

Day 37 - More HDR

Thought I would delve into a little more HDR while I was in Manchester.
Got this one off the apartment balcony.

Thought this came out particularly well to be honest.

Day 36 - A Leaf, Aloof!

This carefree leaf caught my eye, and i fancied getting in that green Bokeh hue in the background too.
Thought is a nice end of summer/beginning of autumn shot.

Day 35 - A Nasty End

Using the new Extension tubes (macro enablers) coupled with different lenses of mine, both the 18-55mm and the Helios, I was able to get reasonably close to this creepy crawly, and a good few others. These are my select pictures however: (this spider was small, as the wasp it has wrapped up will no doubt tell you).

errrrghhhhh! I'm not a fan of spiders or wasps, so this picture is designed to rile me right up lol.

Day 34 - More reflections

After seeing that bottle of Gin hidden inside Dan's phone, I've been on the look out for similar hidden wonders.
The recent rain gave me such opportunity and i managed to get these.

captured once again with the narrow depth of field advantage of the "fast" ish Helios 44 f2.

Day 33 - Helios-44 - It's all about the "Bokeh"

New toy, a Helios 44/2
nice smooth Bokeh to it, and comes out with some interesting shots. This is just one example of many I could show:

Day 32 - A late Night walk

In the lovely village of Llanon lies many an undiscovered treasure.....

Day 31 - Home is where the "Hearth" is

A lovely picture of the wood burning little fire we have in the cottage. 

Day 30 - Car photoshoot

Took a spin down to Cardiff bay with some Drifters to do a quicky photoshoot with St. David's Hotel in the backdrop.

First bit of close up non HDR night photography for me, so was interesting. Still got a bit to learn with this Camera though. So onwards and upwards for me...

See what you think of these ones.

First one is the Pic for today....the rest are just extras

Day 29 - Inside a Mobile Phone

Mysteriously hidden inside this mobile phone is a lovely bottle of Gordon's finest gin.

Got to love the reflection

Day 28 - The HouseMate

My housemate Chris Nicholas in his room.
Usual dull look on his face ;)

He has the most important things in his life with him. His DVD collection, a guitar, his mac and some Cherry coke.....(and the hairspray)

Day 27 - Same lens different flower

They are disappearing fast like i said and i noticed this one was a bit bigger and more open, so it BEGGED to eb taken a picture of.
I obliged.

Day 26 - New Lens Old flower

The roses are on their last legs as winter creeps in, so i thought i'd try and get the last pictures of some flowers for a while. Nice colour and a hint of a spider's web if you look closely.

Day 25 - Dan's Idea

Found some barb wire on the fence in my garden and thought of Dan's pic from earlier in the month.
Figured i'd use my new found aperture freedom to do some shots on it. was bit dark out, but this came out ok.

Day 24 - The EF-S conundrum

And the solution....
Cut it up.

I wanted a wider angle lens for my EOS 10D.....but there are none that i can afford for a standard EF mount.....So, my solution, modify an EF-S lens, so that it will fit.

fairly simple process....as described here http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/efs-10d.html
I've done that now.....taking the original lens as pictured here:

Cutting off the top 2 layers of plastic so that it doesnt collide with the mirror on the 10D.....it worked very well.

This is the result....nice clean finish and more clearance on the back.

This gives me a 28/29mm equivalent (after the 1.6x crop factor of the digital camera) at the wide angle end.

enough for me to take some nice landscape shots, and fit in more of a room in one shot.

Day 23 - The Jelly Bean Factory

Not having BEAN out of the house yet I decided to take a picture of something inside...

These Beans are amazing. They remind me of the sort of sweets that Willy Wonka would make. And that look on your face when you get one you dont like lol. Priceless!