The truth about f/8 and being there

There is an old saying for photographers that does have some merit - f/8 and be there. This simply means you should always have your camera ready to go and at your side, no matter if you think something will or will not come along worthwhile to record.

This morning, I could see this amazing light unfolding before my eyes; the sun had just peeked above the horizon, the warmth of the sun's rays made it just feel toastier outside than it was. My car had just been started and I decided the old Varner Bridge might offer up some nice captures with the sweet light - our other bridge is now closed due to recent damage by the floods.

Yes, I *did* use the f/8 aperture on the Nikon 16-85mm VR zoom and was there! Yes, my fingers got a little cold but it was all worth it.

Memories of days gone by

I was driving along Highway 325 from Bridgewater to West Clifford, this afternoon, and I drove by the old Garber home place and my mind quickly reminisced back to a time years ago - a better time in some ways than now - I used to stop in here and collect Mr. Garber's fire insurance premium. He was an elderly gentleman even back then, he had an old dog that could not see nor hear. Both he and the dog are long gone, now.

I decided to pull in the yard and take a few quick shots, the backyard always fascinated me.

Photography is as much about both preserving memories and allows you the opportunity to reflect on days and memories gone by.

D60 and 70-300mm VR rested on a fence.

Sifting through the old shoebox

I recently had a three-year-old Acer laptop go belly up on me, I had numerous JPEG files on its old hard drive. Happily, many of these are duplicated in at least one other external drive so all was/is not lost, but they are not as easily accessible since they aren't right under my fingertips.

I was reminiscing this afternoon in my own mind about the time I bought my first digital camera - the Canon PowerShot G6 - seems like that was many moons ago but it was only the fall of 2004. At that time, it was the leading compact camera on the market with is 7.1 MP sensor. The G-series were (and are) enthusiast compacts, we are now up to the G12. Many still claim the G6 was one of the best (if not the best) of the bunch, it sported a fast f/2~f/3 aperture for shooting in candle-light plus the sweet swivel screen.

None of this cramming 14MP on a tiny sensor foolishness back in those days......

I bought into the G6 "system" - accessories such as the dedicated lens shade, filter adapter, close-up lens (250D) and even an external Canon flash. I sunk about $2000 into that little camera and extras, and sold it in 2008 for $400. The new owner still uses the venerable tool (I had 26K shutter firings on it when I sold it!) and now takes wonderful pics of her new baby boy with it.

The sifted through the Seagate drive and found some nice captures recorded with the G6, I thought some of you might like to see what I had in my old shoebox from the past.

The interesting world of slow shutter speeds

This straightforward waterfall technique is nothing difficult to record, it just takes any modern DSLR and a cable release - although a self-timer delay also work - but you record captures your eye simply does not see unless you expand your imagination and creative thinking.

One second is almost an eternity to a photographer - so much can happen in that time frame. Painters record what they see in real-time, but we have the ability to stretch the bounds of so-called "normal" vision and record something unique. Of course, there are technical boundaries that are observed and possible image fault potential (such as diffraction at very small pin-hole aperture) but we can often overcome those obstacles.

The D80 is my preferred camera for this type of work for many reasons - (1) it has the connector for the electronic cable release (2) the grid lines in its viewfinder make short work of getting composition perfect and (3) the darn thing is built like a tank and more of a tripod camera as it's too heavy to carry for hand-held shots.

What more can be said about the Nikon AF-S 70-300mm VR? It's the best bang-for-the-buck zoom lens on the market and enjoys almost cult-like status. Very sharp, nice contrast and bokeh, well-made and won't break the bank - I saw that Henry's was selling them for under $500 this week.

I dearly wish DSLR's did have an ISO 25 option, but that can be worked around with a polarizer or a neutral density filter ; ideally, as was the case with yesterday's captures, you need to shoot in very overcast light.

The Carding Mills falls were bursting at their seams, this week's rains have finally abated but not after dangerous and inconvenient flooding. I am satisfied I have recorded enough of it and it's time to move on to winter.

Who'll stop the rain?

Seems appropriate that I use this CCR song as the title for the latest blog post. It started raining on Thursday morning and has barely let up ever since. I was lucky enough to clean up and burn most of the leaves that adorned my yard (the ones in the ditch were just too wet) on Wednesday, I knew it might be the last stab to get it done. Goodness! The ditch now looks like a small river. The LaHave River is soon going to crest if it doesn't stop, I wonder if I will be able to take Trunk 10 to get to church services in the morning.

I knew such conditions might provide a great photo opportunity as I am a big fan of moving waterworks. I went to my usual best spots to get such captures and was not disappointed. I used the D80 since I knew these would be tripod-mounterd exposures (sometimes over 1 second) and I have that nifty electronic cable release, the other two Nikon bodies don't have provisions for the device.

Although it's easy enough to convey motion by stopping down to small apertures and thus yielding long shutter speeds, you can easily see if there is debris on the thin AA filter that covers the sensor. I need to clean it! Fortunately, there is a handy touch-up brush in NX2 that makes short order of the spots.

The camera and 70-300mm VR got a bit wet, nothing too serious, they are drying out as I type. I would not recommend nor endorse shooting in the rain however light it may be. The results can be well worth it, though.