Polaroid Partners With Blipfoto On A New Photo Journaling Service That Only Lets You Post Once A Day

January 2, 2015

I have been a member of Blipfoto since April last year. It is a great photography community and the Photo-a-day mandate has encouraged me to pick up my camera (or iPhone) every day since joining to post shot of varying quality and subject matter... great fun.

There is an opportunity to order a book of the years photos which seems like a nice momento, especially as the photos are meant to reflect that day in a picture..

It will be interesting to watch how the partnership with Polaroid 'develops' but it seems sure that this will give the opportunity for growing the community...

Fuji X-T1 in Austria

December 31, 2014

I took the X-T1 on a trip to Austria over Christmas. It was a pleasure to travel with lighter equipment.

Switch to Fuji Mirrorless from Nikon DSLR

November 23, 2014

I have owned a Fuji XE-2 for almost a year and have found that my Nikon D800 DSLR was getting less and less usage. I have finally decided to bite the bullet and move on from DSLR to Fuji Mirrorless. I will be picking up an XT-1 this week.

Zoom Burst

November 5, 2014

If you've never tried a zoom burst.... set your shutter speed to a low speed.. maybe 1/20th Second or so... zoom your lens as you fire the shutter and hey presto you will get some motion trails... experiment with the shutter speed and whether you zoom in or zoom out during the shot... works handheld but probably better on a solid tripod if you have one to hand...

Fuji Warranty Service

October 25, 2014

Recently my Fuji XE-2 developed a small fault on the rear LCD screen. The camera is under warranty so I contact Fuji via their site to arrange a repair.

The service was excellent. I received packaging within a couple of days with pre-paid postage included. I posted the camera on Monday and received it back the following Saturday morning fixed.

No quibbles, just an apology that the product had developed a fault.

Very pleased with this service!

Digital Photographer of the Year 2014

September 4, 2014

I was lucky enough to get second place in this year Photographer of the Year competition (Round 4)

Second Place in Round 4 of Digital Photographer of the Year 2014

I used a Trigger Trap Mobile Dongle to fire flashguns when a sound was made. This allowed me to time the capture with the dart hitting the balloon at precisely the right time.

Trigger Trap

September 3, 2014

I did a quick test of the new hardware and mobile App (iOS) Set up to trigger my Nikon D800 to fire when sound is picked up by the handset.

Using the camera shutter actuation rather than flashguns is not going to result in as snappy a response time, but with care you can capture the immediate aftermath of a balloon burst (in this case filled with flour)

I fired a nerf dart (with a pin in the front) at the balloon from around 5 feet away. The time taken for the sound to reach the phone and for the phone to trigger the D800 and for the shot to be taken equates to around the time it takes for the dart to travel to the target.

The new hardware paired with the updated iOS App feels more reliable than the previous incarnation (which already worked great) it is also a little snappier to trigger (make sure that you set the correct values for delay in the settings menu...

I'd like to see an option for the trigger to fire the camera (or Flashes) on a numbered trigger count. e.g. fire the camera on the 2nd noise detected above x value. This would help avoid 'false' triggers for example when opening the shutter before a burst

Example photo attached with the two states of the flour balloon..

iBlazr

June 9, 2014

I recently picked up an iBlazr LED light for smartphones. This is a clever little device that can supply improved flash performance or video light for smartphones.

It charges via USB and connects to your phone via the audio jack. I'll post some shots taken with the iBlazr shortly.

Moving on...

May 28, 2014

I was on my way home from work this evening and stopped to get a snap shot of the fountains on the Southbank. A nearby security guard decided to move me on as there was a family with children in the fountain and I didn't have their permission to photograph them... The worlds going mad.