Some from London

[Singing snapper]

I was in London last night or a charity event and stayed close to London Bridge (not to be confused with Tower Bridge which is far more attractive. When I first came to London Bridge years ago I was underwhelmed). Before breakfast I grabbed two cameras, my 5D mk III and my newly returned 645D and hit the streets. These are all with the 120 f/4 macro:

Pentax 645D FA 120 at f/8 1/125 ISO 200


HMS-Belfast,-Tower-Bridge-and-the-olympic-rings by singingsnapper, on Flickr

f/11 1/160 ISO 200


HMS-Belfast-and-Tower-Bridge by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Looking across to the city:

f/11 1/200 ISO 200


Looking-across-to-Fishmonger's-Hall-and-The-City by singingsnapper, on Flickr

f/11 1/125 ISO 200


Looking-across-to-The-City-from-the-south-bank,-Southwark by singingsnapper, on Flickr

The Golden Hind, on the um, Golden Hind!

f/8 1/100 ISO 400


Golden-Hind by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[markgozz]

Hope you don't mind me asking about the settings you used on the Golden Hind shot .

You used f/8 when you had f/4 available even though it raised the ISO to 400 and pulled the background further into focus which I find a bit distracting .

Always interested in finding out why people use the settings they do , it helps me understand the technical aspect of photography a little better .

Mark

[Singing snapper]

Originally Posted by markgozz

Hope you don't mind me asking about the settings you used on the Golden Hind shot .

You used f/8 when you had f/4 available even though it raised the ISO to 400 and pulled the background further into focus which I find a bit distracting .

Always interested in finding out why people use the settings they do , it helps me understand the technical aspect of photography a little better .

Mark

My conundrum was that if I used f/4 (and i did try f/4 but deleted it) not enough of the hind's head would be in focus. Having a large sensor, 44mm x 33mm the 645D has less DOF than APS-C and FF cameras. It's possible that the shot doesn't work because of the background. A bricked background is distracting even if thrown out of focus. I have added 20px gaussian blur to the background and when before I did this I looked at 100% at the unprocessed file in CS5 the background was indeed OOF. Go back to normal screen size and it looks totally different. It's a pity the other side is inaccessible as the background wouldn't be bricks. If there were trees behind, it wouldn't be so bad. Bricks cut through many things!

[Singing snapper]

From the balcony on the top floor of a building close to Fishmonger's Hall, The Shard with the sun reflecting on to its surface

Canon 5D mk III Carl Zeiss 35 f/2 at f/16 1/80 ISO 100 (all shots with same lens and camera)


Sunstar-on-the-Shard-in-London by singingsnapper, on Flickr

looking at the same view at sunset:

f/8 1/50 ISO 200


The-shard-at-sunset by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Looking down the Thames

f/7.1 1/60 ISO 200


Overlooking-London-and-Tower-Bridge-at-Sunset by singingsnapper, on Flickr

The following morning looking across Millenium Bridge towards St Paul's Cathedral:

f/11 1/80 ISO 100


Looking-across-Millenium-Bridge-London by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Stood beside the Millenium Bridge looking across the Thames:

f/11 1/60 ISO 100


Looking-across-the-Thames-from-under-Millenium-Bridge by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[markgozz]

Originally Posted by Singing snapper

My conundrum was that if I used f/4 (and i did try f/4 but deleted it) not enough of the hind's head would be in focus. Having a large sensor, 44mm x 33mm the 645D has less DOF than APS-C and FF cameras. It's possible that the shot doesn't work because of the background. A bricked background is distracting even if thrown out of focus. I have added 20px gaussian blur to the background and when before I did this I looked at 100% at the unprocessed file in CS5 the background was indeed OOF. Go back to normal screen size and it looks totally different. It's a pity the other side is inaccessible as the background wouldn't be bricks. If there were trees behind, it wouldn't be so bad. Bricks cut through many things!

Thank you very much for the explanation , I had no idea that different size sensors had different characteristics with the same lens .
Didn't mind the brickwork so much but the mix of windows and brick did draw the eye away .

The image with the sun light reflecting off the tall building it is a great shot and I think it will be even better once the building work next to it is finished .

Mark

[Singing snapper]

On my way to work with a colleague of mine close to peterborough just into the Southern Lincolnshire Fens spent a few hours pulling my cases around London. The new W hotel on Leicester square has fairly recently opened, and they have their distinctive W sign in the entrance to the lobby. Had to grab this shot fairly quickly while noone was there as two member sof staff complete with security headset made a point of standing by the sign just after:

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at f/8 and 43mm (33mm 35mm equiv) 1/250 ISO 200


The-W-in-London by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[Singing snapper]

Took a stroll in London before meeting a friend of mine on my way back from Lincolnshire.

i started off in Covent Garden:

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at f/11 and 33mm 1/30 ISO 400


Covent-Garden by singingsnapper, on Flickr

then made my way down toward St Paul's Cathedral, and found the high contrast appealing:

An old red bus:

Pentax 645D FA 33- 55 at f/19 and 43mm 1/125 ISO 200


Old-red-London-Bus-amd-St-Paul's by singingsnapper, on Flickr

The other archetypal London thing: the black cab

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55mm at 55mm and f/11 1/250 ISO 200


black-cab-and-st-pauls by singingsnapper, on Flickr

and in black and white:


black-cab-and-st-paul's-in-bw by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Another shot with dark clouds hanging over St Paul's

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at f/11 and 45mm 1/200 ISO 200


St-Paul's by singingsnapper, on Flickr

in black and white:


Stormclouds-over-St-Paul's-Cathedral by singingsnapper, on Flickr

After a quick dinner with my friend in Holborn I made my way to King's Cross to pick up my luggage from left luggage (expensive but left me free to wander) and they have been doing some work to the interior of the station; I need to spend more time here to take advantage of the shapes and it works better after dark I feel and didn't have a lot of time as was in hurry to get my train home from Paddington:

Canon 5D mk III Carl Zeiss 35 f/2 at f/8 1/40 ISO 800


Kings'-Cross by singingsnapper, on Flickr

Same camera and lens and same settings


King's-Cross-2 by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[Singing snapper]

Friday was a truly fantastic afternoon for constrasty photographs with bright sunshine but plenty of clouds. I've had to do a fair bit of work correcting as much of the perspective distortion here as this was as far back as I could get to take the photograph. I really like the black and white version but the colour also works well:

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at 33mm f/16 1/100 ISO 100:


front-of-St-Paul's by singingsnapper, on Flickr

in black and white, converted in Silver Efex Pro 2


In-front-of-St-Paul's-B&W by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[Singing snapper]

In London for a few days right before the olympics (the place will go into meltdown from 25th!) and while having lunch on Gloucester Road in South kensington, I noticed the planes fairly low and the position of the partial moon and thought it might make an interesting shot, so went back to my Kensington hotel and grabbed my 645D and my FA 400mm

Pentax 645D FA 400 f/5.6 at f/6.3 1/500 ISO 160


BA-airbus-before-wheels-down by singingsnapper, on Flickr

same camera/lens f/9 1/500 ISO 200


BA-airbus-and-the-moon by singingsnapper, on Flickr

[Singing snapper]

Out and about in London yesterday. Thought I'd deliberately get some false into a shot at Westminster Abbey:

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at 33mm f/22 1/60 ISO 200


westminster-abbey-with-flare by singingsnapper, on Flickr

And a gymnast statue outside the Westminster parish church

Pentax 645D FA 33 - 55 at 48mm and f/16 1/50 ISO 200


gymnast-statue by singingsnapper, on Flickr