but no rest for the wicked. The next day was straight back to Sheffield for the inaugural ”Take the Stairs Challenge” at University of Sheffield freshly refurbished “Arts Tower”.

“Take The Stairs is a run with a difference.  Challenge yourself to run to the top of the University of Sheffield’s Arts Tower, standing a massive 78 metres high, that’s 20 floors of steps between the pavement and breathless glory as you reach the top.“

After a quick warm up routine to get everyone ready down on the lower ground floor nice & close to terra firma

then it was time for the runners to be off. Oh & BTW can you go to the roof and photograph the runners as they finish. Err, did I mention I was a bit, well shit scared of heights… I was not looking forward to this bit.

Luckily the top was actually wrapped in louvres so was all rather enclosed and wasn’t any where near as scary as first imagined

which luckily guarded you from fears of shooting a few feet from the edge, though it did get to some…

Luckily even if St Johns weren’t on standby, Vinnie made an appearance too

In those louvres were some viewing points which allowed for some superb views over Sheffield, well worth the run up the stairs for.

Watch out for next years event!

This is one of the many mirror-less interchangeable lens cameras (in this case micro 4/3) which are becoming popular to enthusiasts. This isn’t a full review, not even a partial one, just, a first impressions from a full frame SLR shooter on my thoughts of it.

What I liked

The weight – this will also fall into what I don’t like, it’s nice to carry about, my post accident back appreciated it, but the low weight isn’t always advantageous to stability
Discreet – Can’t say I didn’t notice that ‘they guys’ like I’d normally be wandering around YSP, big SLR, backpack, big lens, we do stand out a bit.
The tilt/twist touch to focus rear screen. For macro shooting this is just superb, hold it low, twist the screen to view, click on the point of flower you want to focus. Me likey!

Meh

It was fitted with the 14-42mm lens, and you could feel the plastic on plastic cheapness of the build. This is not quite in the dislike as I do appreciate the total cost of camera & lens is under £500, somethings got to give, and if plastic build quality is it, then that’s it, it’s just I don’t recall feeling it on the equally cheap Canon 18-55mm I was handling last week…

What I disliked

The size meant the ergonomics don’t work. I can shoot with my 5D and adjust aperture, ISO, shutter speed etc all with the camera to my eye. With the Lumix it’s just to small & there is only the one control wheel. Even the diminutive Canon 400D I used to shoot with had nicer ergonomics.
Too light – I do like a bit of weight, gives a reassurance of build and helps stabilise longer exposures. You could probably argue well it’s got image stabilisation built in.
Battery life – it’s apparently  a bit pants. So pants the owner dispatched me with a second battery even though was only going out for an hour (though to be fair I didn’t use it).
It’s slow – click, think about it, shoot, display in the EVF for a second, grr I’m trying to recompose ready for the next shot…
The EVF – It’s still no optical view finder, combined partially with review & no response for a second in the EVF. Really showed that often I shoot, and start zooming to recompose & it’s rather strange doing this with the image from a moment ago still on the screen.
Proprietary mini USB port – minor point but tends to turn in to major gripe. Just know how damned useful it is if everything uses the same mini USB port, we all have a spare cable then.

Would I swap for my 5D?

Not on your nelly. I love the brute handling heavyweight of the 5D. My back might not always appreciate it at the end of the day, but, I’ve got a lighter rig at home if I want it (G9 or 30D with no grip), but my hands always go for the 5D.

Personally I wouldn’t even get one as a light weight backup to my 5D, I’ve long discounted these due to them being “another system”, I’d end up with a bunch of extra lenses and it starts getting expensive fast. As a 5D owner, it makes more sense to me to run a 600D as a small backup system, that with the 18-55 gives me nearly all the advantages (eg tilt & swivel live view) with a lot less disadvantages, and where needed it will of course take the rest of the lenses from my line up. If Canon were to launch their own version, my opinion might change, BUT, for me it’d have to be APS-C and not go down the same dinky lines as the Nikon, and the speed/ergonomics would have to be improved for me to still not want to take a 600D instead. It may not quite be as ultra light or ultra dinky, but compared to 2KG of 5D & L, it’s still a featherweight.

But at least it’s now nice to be able to make this as a more informed decision, having actually used one.

That said HAVE YOU SEEN the new Olympus OM-D E-M5? Overly long name but Oh My God I just want one, with the old power wind inspired grip. Even if it just sits on a shelf!

This one was different though, this was not a few volunteers dancing around Sheffield Town Centre & fighting with other shooters for the shot. This was Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, I’d be the only photographer, checks date, no it really wasn’t April 1st.

So last Friday I found myself in a classroom at St Marie’s Catholic Primary School, as the children demonstrated & chatted candidly about the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) and Resuscitation Council UK’s (RCUK) work promoting the teaching of Emergency Life Support (ELS) skills in schools.

For the technical bods, the 30D I said I was selling last month was very much not for sale and was over my shoulder as a backup. I used the 5D & 24-70mm combo at 400ISO, I had a 580EX & stofen on camera, and off to about 5′ to the right was a slaved 550EX on a light stand bouncing off the ceiling all using E-TTL. For the first time ever I shot my 5D in Program mode (usually lives in AV or Manual) but in changing circumstances just let the camera get on with it.

Late this year the “Visit Peak District” tourism office contacted me regards my Chatsworth Emperor Fountain picture

Emperor Fountain

in their words “our library of images and those that have been sent by Chatsworth themselves of the emperor fountain. The problem is is that they are not great. I came across your image on Flickr and immediately fell in love with it’s colours and composition. Would you be interested in having this image featured on our Double Page Spread called Regal Peak?”

How could I refuse? So if you pick up this years copy of the Tourism Guide (print or PDF), flip to page 10-11…

admittedly a bit more obliterated by text than as a photographer I’d like, but still my first double spread.

So this years cards are:

A fairly simply layout for Gizmo & Furby

though making a miniature cracker & getting a character with no hands to hold it are both harder than you first imagine.

A christmas pudding Apple for Bramley Computers

Which after whisky didn’t work as planned, reverted by to schoolboy physics and some deodorant and a lighter. This also lead to a ‘happy accident’ shot of Cooking Apple (click through to see on flickr).  This is a dual layer shot, with the flames captures in one exposure, and the apple & berries in a second exposure and layered up in Photoshop.

Having gone to all the effort of capturing Santas for the BHF santa jog promotion, it also seems daft not to utilise something from these shoots for Christmas

and the final card for this year, is one of the snowy scenes from last December

Anyway, here’s a selection of pictures from today…

Y.M... oops wrong song

Jump Start?

Belfast Police Station (by PPCC Antifa on flickr)

Belfast Peace Wall (by photographphil on flickr)

did nothing but to remind even an outsider about the troubles, and the past bubbling below the surface. I know Belfast is much more than this, but it did always feel that around each corner was a reminder of the past.

On this visit to Ireland though, I made a promise I was taking the time out to go to the Giants Causeway, seemed a shame to get so close & not actually go there. Along the way though we made a discovery…

After consulting with twitter, we took the long way up to Giants Causeway via the A2 coast road. Out of Belfast, & north of Larne, you find yourself on the mile upon mile of smooth, lovely tarmac, twisting & following the coast line, rocks climbing to your left, the sea feet to your right. Mile upon mile of impressive drive along sweeping curves. Mile upon mile of stunning views, mile upon mile of serenity.

It turns out then that up the coast and away from Belfast, Ireland is a drivers & landscape photographers HEAVEN. The Giants Causeway to be fair was a bit of a let down, it is afterall just a bunch of hexagonal rocks, but the drive & the views on the way there & back? Stunning. It’s a shame the Causeway steals all the glory, as you can pretty much stick a pin in the map along that coast, and be guaranteed a stunning view.

Overrated

How about instead

Kinbane Castle (by Vins64 on Flickr)

which is more than a castle on a rock, you parked at the cliff edge with views of an island, walking down from there you look back at the coast and there’s a 200′ waterfall, and caves and… It should be a major attraction, instead it’s just sign posted as “Kinbane Head” and has parking for 20 cars!

or Dunseverick Castle which is ever so conveniently placed, again fab, and parking for about 6

or Carrick-A-Rede

which has more rocky outcrops, a rope bridge, and god knows what else, to give you an idea, this is the view from the over flow car parking

you parked in the quarry with unobstructed views out to sea, just watch you don’t reverse too far though!

or Port Much

Isle of Much

and this is just a small sample. Every one of these places looked like you could spend hours there. The day we had to tour was simply not enough to take it all in, really need to go back another time and spend at least a week plus here. Oh and did I mention the tarmac? Next time I’ll take something fun to drive too.

So on the first Saturday of August, the sleepy village of Bonsall is awoken as the whole world descends upon them, competitors from as far & wide as Bonsall to Bakewell, some foreigners even turned up from Nottinghamshire too. You can bring your own hen, or if you don’t have one, there’s a local “Henterprise” where you can rent a hen to race.

The competition attracts young & old, on the right is “R” from “The States”, a man of few words, and even stranger than the Nottinghamshire lot.

The premise is simple, it’s basically a 50 yard sprint, first chicken across the finish line wins. The world record for a well trained hen is 2.9 seconds!

And they're off..

Of course you then hope they make a run for the finish line with their owners calling & baiting them

Here chicky chicky

Of course, these are chickens, so there’s as much chance they find the dirt around the start line interesting, in which case their is a three minute time limit, and nearest to the line wins.

Or sometimes they just revert to some good old 1600s hen fighting

but as this is a cruelty free sport (funds are raised towards Campaign For Free Range Chicken Farming) hens that fight are warned, then receive a yellow, followed by red card & removed from the course. The grey hen here picked  a few fights & was quickly dismissed.

Like any sport, there’s evidently some attempts at cheating, though some were easier to see through than others

Luckily all these were caught out & dismissed.

Some were evidently very relaxed with their hens

this one looked very relaxed & happy to sit without being restrained, or others took theirs along for a drink…

But all in a clucking fun day for everyone with lots of racing

Right, anyone for a vindaloo?

Sometimes that is pretty much is as this shot (gratuitously pinched from Ed Callow)

demonstrates. Shot with a Nikon D3100 (their current ‘entry’ consumer SLR), taken in manual mode, with the aperture set at an ‘open’ F3.5 which in the depths of London at the night equalled a shutter speed of 8 seconds. This has given plenty of time for the passing traffic to give those wonderful light trails, which along with light bouncing off nearby shops & streetlights have nicely lit the car too.

Now I can here some brains melting at the back, apertures? manual? shutter speeds?

So some basics

ISO – this is old lingo for ‘film speeds, higher the number, the more sensitive to light your camera is (so shorter shutter speeds). It also equals more ‘noise’, less so on SLRs but a major issue with compacts. The cameras on a tripod, keep this as low as possible, and don’t worry about really long shutter speeds. In fact this is a bonus.

Shutter Speed – How long the camera ‘exposes’ the sensor to light. Hand holdeable speeds are above approx 1/60 of a second, to get time to ‘light paint’ the cars we need time to run around, so seconds, here shown as 2″ (2 seconds) or higher is what we are looking for.

Aperture – Inside the lens is an ‘iris’ just like the one in our eyes. The higher the number, the smaller the iris is, the less light is let in. Compacts are limited here as often the smallest the aperture can be is F8, whereas SLRs will stop down to F22-32 depending on the lens, which is a LOT less light hitting the sensor.

You’ve then also got the camera modes:

M – Manual, you set the aperture & the shutter speed yourself

AV (Canon) or A (Nikon) – Aperture Priority, in this mode you set the aperture, the camera automatically sets the shutter speed to suit.

TV (Canon) or S (Nikon) – Shutter priority, in this mode you set the shutter speed & the camera adjusts the aperture to suit.

P – Program mode, the camera sets the aperture, it usually attempts to keep it around the 1/125 mark, so will open up or shut the aperture down to achieve this.

Plus of course a myriad of scene modes which I’m going to completely ignore.

There’s also the ‘Exposure compensation/Exposure Meter’, in Aperture priority or Shutter Priority you can dial this up/down to instruct the camera to make the picture darker/lighter than the standard exposure. In manual mode this will show if the camera thinks you are going to over expose or under expose your shot.

I tend to use Manual mode, as this way your exposure is consistent between shots, as the camera can change the amount of exposure in other modes between shots as you compare you never can be 100% sure if the change is something you’ve done, or the camera. So I look at what the camera says in say, aperture priority mode, eg I’ve set it to F8, and the camera says 2 seconds, then use those as the starting point in manual mode, adjusting the aperture, or shutter speed, keeping an eye on the exposure meter indicator to ensure you aren’t heading in to over exposure, or so far off the bottom of the scale you’ll never light the car.

So light painting…, so adding to the previous kit of a camera, car  & tripod, we add a light source. For the basics you can use a big torch, so to demonstrate…

One Compact camera with exposure control, one car, and a torch…

There’s no right & wrongs here, this was shot in manual mode, in a dark area, the camera set to F8 and & 2″ (2 seconds), before the shot the camera was indicating this shot would be underexposed by about 2 stops, this would mean the shot would be very dark without any torch light. I set the camera on self timer and as the shutter went off, wafted the torch over the areas I wanted lit. Hey presto. The car is light painted, and the surrounding areas ‘underexposed’ into darkness. Unless you’re a prodigal genius, or just damned lucky, chances are it won’t work first time. Or the second. I’d probably suggest at a point where the camera suggests it’s only slightly underexposed, so when you take a picture you just get a slightly dark pic, then try another adding the light so you can see the difference, then start working to more extreme variations such as this which would be dark without the light. Beauty of digital is each shot is free and the feedback instant. Just keep changing the settings till you start seeing the results.

Photography is ruled by the laws of physics, so whilst this is using a model car, and a small pocket torch, scale this up to a real car, and a big hand held torch. If it’s too bright, then stand further back with the torch (double the distance the car will receive quarter of the light), or stop the aperture down to reduce the light allowed to the sensor. Too dark, stand closer or open the aperture up.

During the long exposure you don’t even need to worry about getting between the camera and the car either, as long as you keep moving then you won’t be stood still long enough to be recorded, as long as you don’t point the torch at the camera.

Here’s another demonstrate the process through the stages

Aperture Priority – No exposure compensation. F4.5 1/13th second

This is how the camera saw the shot, regardless of mode (without flash) this was pretty much the results you are going to get. Sat in the middle of nowhere, there is no passing cars, shops or streetlights to light the car.

Manual Mode – Under Exposed approx 2 stops.

This deepens the depth of the sky, but the car is now silhouetted as the sun is behind, and the car is now very unlit.

Adding some light

This is an identical exposure to the previous shot, but this time adding some light from a flash gun, just one on the floor pointing in quite clearly to the front wheel.

Finally adding two lights

The front flash is now angled to cash a bit more light along the side of the car, and a second flash is held up just out of the right of shot lighting the front end.

The above shot was done using radio remotes on the camera, as the ‘ambient’ light levels weren’t dark enough for longer exposures. As the light levels dropped, so did my batteries. You’ll see quite a lot of magazine shots done this way in brighter light, but they have much bigger flash guns than us.

Here’s something from a shoot a few years ago, did I mention white cars are awesome for this? White reflects the light superbly making your job easier. Dark cars as you can imagine suck the light in. Shooting my old Audi bordering on black but green really saloon on the same night I gave up as I needed a lot more power than my flash at the time .

Shot again in manual mode, with the shutter set to F13, giving an exposure of about 5 seconds. Later at night you lose the ‘dusk’ blues, but longer shutter speeds are easier to achieve, I then took my flash gun set to 1/8th power, and ran along it firing it so it got an even coverage of light. This could just as easily been some torches waived over it.

Hope this helps someone.

Zumba is one of the new keep fit crazes and in attendance were 342 ladies, and 3 blokes. It’s a very high energy dance aerobics, lots of fun, and below is a sample of pictures from the session.

Zumba!