Thursday 25 July 2013

The latest Blurb......


Well. The last time I was on here was my birthday, and I am happy to say I was a little spoiled!

I am now the proud owner of my first set of Cokin ND Grad filters!  Great for land and sea scapes but, WAIT, there's more.......

The 58mm Cokin adapter for my Canon lenses also fits the DMC 70-210mm zoom for my Pentax 35mm SLR so I can start to be a little more creative with my film photography.  I also have a Sigma 35-70mm zoom for the Pentax but will have to get a 52mm adapter for that.

I also picked up a Canon Remote Switch for those long exposure shots when using Bulb mode.

Can't wait to get out there for a little play time!

Hope you're all fit & well!

regards

Jordy


Wednesday 17 July 2013

Adventures in Film #1 - Voigtlander


By now those of you who follow me on here will know that I have re-visited my photography roots and, now, I have returned to shooting in film in addition to my digital work.

Although I love my digital camera with all of it's features that bring a near instantaneous pleasure to my photography, I love the planning and thought that goes into using film. Not that I don't plan my digital shoots, but it is easier to re-shoot those after a quick review in the LCD.  Shooting with film fills me with anticipation from the first exposure; an excitement in waiting to see how it turned out and then, a great satisfaction in seeing the developed result.

These photos here are from the 4th film to be put through the Voigtlander since I started back on film.  It has taken me this long to become familiar with using the fully manual folding camera.  The main thing I have had to get my head around is the focus and the depth of field. The camera is limited in comparison with a digital equivalent and I find myself having to compromise on some photos so that the settings are within the limits of the camera. For example, the highest shutter speed is 1/250 and so I find that I cannot use a larger aperture such as f4 when I want too because the light meter is telling me that I need 1/500 or even faster. 

Speaking of settings, when I first started out I was using the 'Sunny 16' method of calculating shutter speed. I have since downloaded an app on my iPhone 5 called light meter. I used it for this film and it has been very accurate!

For this film, a NEOPAN ACROS100 ISO100 Black & White, I kept the subjects strictly to landscapes. I am very pleased with the results; especially those wide angle photos taken from the Speers Point Bluff overlooking Lake Macquarie.  I was very happy with the sharpness and tone of these and I can't wait to get into the next Voigtlander project!

I hope you are all well & that Life is wonderful for you!

Jordy


Note - these prints are for sale as are other prints on this blog.  Please contact me if you are interested. 

Photos on this blog are © Copyright Life with Jordy Photography and are not to be downloaded or used without specific permission.














Tuesday 9 July 2013

Stockton - Sunset and Long Exposure


Hi again everyone!

Well I must say that I have had a fairly busy week!

The winter weather we had been having had cleared a week ago and although the ground was a little soggy underfoot, the weather has been perfect!  The days have been glorious; blue skies and mild temperatures.......until today!  Today is a return to the gloomy, cloudy, rainy, cold of winter.

Luckily I got out on Sunday afternoon for a Photo Safari to Stockton.  I had been there before but this time I had some ideas I wanted to try.

The Sun sets over the Hunter River and the resultant silhouettes and shadow from the mangroves on the Wetlands really make great subjects, not to mention the odd Pelican or two!  There is also an Oyster Farm in the Wetlands on the eastern end of the Stockton Bridge.  I knew that if all worked well then I would get some lovely sunset shots but that if I added an ND8 filter to the mix that I would also get some silky smooth water from the Hunter River. The ND8 filter would also enhance those golden sunset colours.

The first part of my safari was spent a little further up the Stockton Peninsula where there are a couple of shipwrecks.  I have been there before also, but I have a new camera and kit since that original visit,  and wanted to see what else I could achieve.  The shipwrecks are on the eastern shore of the Hunter River and at the time I was there the Sun had not quite set. It was difficult to get good shots at that time of the afternoon; the Sun was just screwing up the exposure all round to get detailed shots of the wrecks. I will have to return there on Sunrise when the light will be more compatible.

I did manage to get some photos from that area though, the mangroves and some old rail lines plus a makeshift jetty that no one in their right minds would ever try to use. The area apparently used to be the ballast drop off area for shipping which would explain the rail lines and other old equipment lying about.

As the Sun got lower into the sky, I packed up and drove a little further down onto Nelson Bay Road.  Once the Sun gets low in the sky it is amazing how quick it can disappear. However, when armed with an ND8 filter and small aperture settings for long exposures, it is surprising just how much light the camera can capture even after the Sun is below the horizon.

One thing I am yet to purchase to add to my kit is a remote control for those shots in Bulb Mode.  I found that I had to change the ISO settings to keep some of the exposures within the 30 second time frame of the camera.  It worked well though with very little grain from the high ISO.

I hope you are all well and have not fallen foul of the winter sniffles and sore throat! For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere who are enjoying Summer; I wish I was there!

Regards

Jordy

Note: The photos on this blog entry are for sale as a print or, I can email you a high resolution file to you to take to a printer of your choice.  All photographs on this blog are © Life with Jordy Photography 2013













Catching up.

 Well it has been a couple of months since I posted a Blog article.   I don't have any Project or roll of film in particular to share wi...