ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Saturday 2 August 2014

FUN AND GAMES. (02/08/14)

I’ve had a pretty good couple of days. The new Transcend 1TB drive arrived and works like a dream. I have never had anything that uses USB3 before. “EE By Gum”…… It’s fast. I took the old WD hard drive apart and swapped it’s disc for the second the drive in my old laptop, found the WD recovery disc that came with it and was amazed when everything went to plan; took a while and a few “Bless My Souls.” I left it running overnight and in the morning I had 400GB worth of files. I have no idea if that is all of them as I’ll be blowed if I can remember what was on there….Seems about right.

I have a couple of card readers and on one the bit that guides the CompactFlash card onto the pins wouldn’t guide. I took that to bits gave the little plastic guide a stroke with fine emery paper and now that works as well. I looked at it under my magnifying glass and it looked suspiciously like a little dribble of sweet and sour sauce had found it’s way in there and dried. I like CompactFlash cards but am always a little concerned about all those pins in the readers and cameras. They are very fine and it it’s a miracle I’ve not fouled one up before now. I will have a look and see if Lexar do a USB3 reader. I like their stuff but the big 800x card was an eye watering price. Overkill really as the 1Ds’s write to card speed is only about 70MB/s. I suspect it does a little better but not by much.

I didn’t take one picture yesterday. It was wet, then dry and then perked up but by that time I was reading a book and cooking. This morning I took the dogs out at six thirty for a run on the beach. They do the running, I stand a watch. I lugged the tripod and a bag of filters. It's still quite breezy, north easterly a touch chilly.

_V0G2051

_V0G2053   I took five shots and the filter was getting blathered with salt. I don’t like wiping salt off so I gave up until I could wash it off. These look almost sepia so I said to the dogs we’ll have some breakfast, go to the shop for some food, milk and Marlboro, then have another go when the filters are dry. I went for another go. I gave the whole lot a good dose of LensPen. I love the things. Brush off with one end. Give the cap a twist on the other end and then take the cap off and wipe with the little pad thingummy. I do have several micro fibre cloths but am wary of using them, they trap muck and can be mistaken for a hankie, snot on a lens is not conducive to clear crisp pictures.

_V0G2056  This is about twenty seconds and shot from a low promontory at 50mm. I then retreated and changed to 135mm. Focussed up and put all the filters back on including a polariser as the sun had decided to pop it’s hat on and come out to join the fun.

_V0G2060

_V0G2065

_V0G2066    The first is about 30s and the second and third are about a minute or more.

I kept the dogs on their lead. Molly is either daft or fearless and wanders down the cliff, Alf is just a bit daft and follows Moll. The last one is where they could have ended up. There is a one and half to two meter swell breaking and boiling in this little cove.

Heavy rain is on it’s way. I will think about doing a time lapse of a snail on a mirror eating Ragwort tomorrow. There are some wonderful tiny black and white snails here.

Have fun.

28 comments:

  1. H Adrian I haven't a clue what you are talking about (technical stuff) however I think whatever or however you have done to get these photographs , they are absolutely fantastic. I love the 2 sepia ones and the others are magnificent. My daughter and 2 grand kids are arriving in less than 2 hours so I must dash!! Have a great weekend.

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    1. Margaret, I am a bit colour blind but there was more colour in when I started. I don't sharpen for Google as they do it, I suspect thy also colour or color correct. They try and make it easy for folk but end up making everything look bland,
      I hope your wee lass brings the dog.

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  2. To we mere mortals you sound like Professor Techno - leaving us all behind with your technical knowledge. I'd be more interested in what book you were reading - was it "Confessions of a Camper Van Traveller" by Eileen Dover? On the photo front, my vote goes to the fifth one down.

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    1. YP, I am not a nerd. I just decided if something had died on me then it was up to me to sort it. Computers seem omnipotent but so did God. They can't reason...they just seem as if they can to the ignorant.
      I used to use a big piece of black glass thirty years ago, welders goggle glass, the system or work flow hasn't changed. Only the grab bit has. Film or a digital sensor....It really doesn't matter. Except were I shooting Velvia on long exposure I would metre it. It is gorgeous film but anything over a minute or two and if the sun pops out it buggers it up. Reciprocity is Fuji's excuse. Velvia is susceptible to it.
      No the book was A James Oswald whodunnit. I like detective stories and I like Kindle. They are like....well. relaxing like or well relaxing.
      I'll read anything. Most tends to be technical but I loved your book and got to the end with no nasty jars or re-reads. It just wanted a tiny little nudge for the dream or no dream bit.

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    2. Adrian, I am not saying that I was right but in my little book I was deliberately trying to leave readers with confusion/uncertainty at the end - was it reality or was it a dream? Not a neatly parcelled ending. Thank you for your thoughts on this. Much appreciated.

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    3. YP. You done good, I can't write but I can tell a writer cos I don't watch much telly. I would snap you and Frances up if I could afford to publish books. James Oswald writes well but he is a bit weird. I am normal but do enjoy weird and conundrums. It must be really hard to write a book.
      I don't know how and certainly couldn't do it convincingly but A couple of nudges through the book or a big one at the beginning maybe. Perhaps it is better just left as it is.

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  3. Really awesome seascapes Adrian. Looking forward to that timelapse.

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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    1. Mersad, sitting in a real gale here now so maybe nothing for tomorrow.

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  4. I really like the first 1" promontory exposure. Well, I like lots of the photos, but I am mentioning that one.

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    1. AC, I just hope it sends you out to play with a camera. I get so much occupational therapy from a couple or three cameras.

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  5. Stunning images, like them all. However I have "thing" for seascapes and like the last three a lot.
    In your reply to Margaret reference "google" in Google settings you have un-checked the Auto enhance feature by default it's checked so if you haven't you have to...but you probably have

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    1. Douglas, never knew their was auto enhance...many thanks. I'll look and see. I bet the little tinkers decided my images were crap and needed a bit of a push.
      I do like warm images but the first two are too warm so I dropped the last ones to a cool blue.

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  6. Cracking set of images Adrian, no.5 is my best of the bunch. (just a shame that you chopped off the gulls head!)
    Good job with the hard drives, 'Hard Drive Doctor'...another title you can add to your CV now.
    Sweet and sour card readers...Hmmm?.....now let me see... what number is that on the menu?

    Now, remember that lottery ticket I told you I was going to win with, well guess what?....I WON!
    I've now got a big dilemma on my hands, I just can't decide what to blow the £3.50 on!!...[;o)

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    1. You can almost buy three pairs so socks at Devizes market for that. Just 49p short.

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    2. Frances, If I spend £2 of my £3.50 winnings on a new lottery ticket maybe I might win enough to add to my remaining £1.50 to pay for a trip to Devizes to buy those socks, only if they've got white ones with red hoops on though?
      I like it when a problem is that easily solved!!...[;o)

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    3. My socks cost £7.00p each. I hate cheap socks. The last pair said intelligent wool on so god only knows where they found an intelligent sheep.
      The hard drives are much easier than they once were or I am getting better. I doubt it is the latter.
      I also got a big win £3.50p same as you. I was £1.50p up but it's only smaal change. I'll not be buying another ticket for a while. After hours of messing with devices I'll not be going to any town soon That sounds like devizes. Pain in the bum are devices. Cheap socks or not.

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  7. Are you sure the snail ought to be eating ragwort? It's terribly poisonous (unless you're a cinnabar moth caterpillar).

    The photos are beyond me, but I still love your sea.

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    1. Frances, it's only horses and some cows that are poisoned by it. Most cows have the sense to leave it alone. The snails like it. I can tell by the pile of little shells under each Ragwort......It is very bad for horses but I suspect most other animals leave it alone.
      It's really blowing here now.

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  8. If you've got ragwort then try and find a cinnabar moth caterpillar, that eating the ragwort would make for a great timelapse

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    1. Mark I think I'm too far north. I have looked for caterpillars but without success.

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  9. Wonderful photography, Adrian, and congratulations for getting all the techno devices up and running smoothly.

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    1. Thanks Glo. It isn't the pain it once was. Most bits of hardware chat to each other and come to an agreement themselves.

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  10. The photo quality seems technically brilliant - I am not a good judge of that - but what interests me is your eye for composition. Beautiful!

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    1. Jean, I do crop in post production. There should be some really big waves later. Too dark to see at the moment.

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  11. Great photos with rocks, swells and fog. You had a lot of fun with this location.

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    1. Red, it is clear. the fog is just breaking waves.
      I spend my life messing about.

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  12. As always your posts elicits lots of really interesting comments. You, for example, made the statement that you are normal. Now far be it from me to judge, but if you are normal then I have been living in a delusional bubble of innocence all these years. Adrian normal implies all sorts of things that you are not. You are unusual. Treasure that uniqueness that your followers so love and admire or hate and admire (as the case may be).

    You also told us that YP's book left things in the air at the end. The only descriptive very short story I ever wrote (when I was about 18) other than at school left the ending up in the air and elicited an unfavourable comment from the tutor. I thought it was a very 'obvious' ending. It would seem from a recent comment by a proper writer that I may have been wrong. What I was going to say was that I don't really like being left up in the air at the end of books.

    I could go on but then if anyone is still reading this comment they would sudden;y stop so it would be pointless to continue.

    What on earth did I have for breakfast that brought that little lot on?

    PS So far as the pics are concerned I now know how they achieve all those dreamy quality pics.

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    1. Graham, I am normal, I have a certificate to prove it. Neil's book is good. I suspecty the ending was just a little too complicated for me.
      SRB Griturn are doing 10 stop filters at a sensible price. I have an 82mm one and it was about £45.00p. I just got a 52mm one for £25.00p. They do colour cast but it isn't really a problem. Worth it for a bit of fun.

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