Blog Move

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West Kirby Marina

Another beautiful day in West kirby so time for a stroll around the marina. At hte beginning it was quite calm so managed to get a couple of reflected shots. Tried out a Sigma 70-300 lens but missed the quick focus and VR stability of other Nikon lenses.

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A Wedding at Work

No the hospital lab hasn't been licensed for weddings!  One of our coleagues is getting married next Friday...when most of us will be hard at work..so we planned a surprise alternative wedding and a wedding breakfast at morning tea-break.  We all hope the real wedding goes as well as this one!  Our bride to be was not only showered with gifts and confetti but a wedding dress was made to adorn her on this special day. Coloured ribbons with loving messages for the couple were attached to the dress.  She was so pleased with the outfit that she wore it for the rest of the day.   Happy Wedding Day Jenny, hope next weeks do is even more fun

Urban Workshop in Liverpool

A couple of weekends ago Pixsmiths went to an urban workshop in Liverpool, arranged by Welshot Imaging and by Willliam Cheung FRPS a  former editor of Photography Monthly magazine, one of the UK’s leading imaging magazines.  It was a cold day but the rain managed to keep off.so that was a blessing..

We were a smallish group so all had opportunity throughout the day to ask questions of Will and get his expertise on setting white balance and settings etc...He also showed a slideshow of shots he had taken the previous day on a shouting visit.   We started off at the Albert dock and headed off for the cathedral.  The warden at the cathedral was alos a keen photographer and kindly allowed the group access to to the balcony for shots down the isle. Afterwards it was back down to the Albert docks and for some lunch at the Pump House. Afterwards more photography around the docks and over to Liverpool One as the light was setting - loads of photographic opportunities here.  Some of us went on the big wheel to get some unique shots of  Liverpool.  By then the light was really going so tripods and long exposures wew the order of the day.  It was back to the Albert Docks for some nighttime reflections.It was a long day and boy did the back ache the next day - really do need a lighter tripod with a carrying strap!  but thank you to Welshot and William for the event.  Below are just a few of the images taken on the shoot.

Christmas Goodies

Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year, forgot to mention the photography related goodies received.Always striving to improve on and off camera flash techniques I got a copy of Joe McNally's Hotshoe Diaries.Its very readable and informative and will put into practice with the new Nikon SB900.
Stu Little over at littlephotoshopis planning some flash tutorials too so I'm sure that will be most useful too.

Software has also been updated on the computer.  Have the latest version of Adobe Lightroom - some of the presets are really useful and the batch editing will help speed up workflow or RAW files.
I know adobe CS4 is now out but its difficult to keep up with all the latest versions so have settled for CS3.
 I googled for solution and found Ia  was not alone in my endeavours.  Adobe themselves suggested a fix for the conflict in their software.- however this did not work for me.  My solution was to run CCLEANER application to clear the cache and fix any registry problems.   Installation was then straightforward.  Hurray!

Icy Spell

The icy spell across the UK has brought the photographers in us all out - news programmes have been inundated  with snowy clad landscapes.  Actually glad not to have any weddings in January - far too cold!

So have taken opportunity to capture  nature's frozen gems.  Frozen water droplets and freeze-dried roses adding a splash of colour, the snow-covered beach and  the frozen lake in Ashton Park in West Kirby  have all been digitally recorded.  Its such a rare occurrence for the Wirral to have such a blanket of snow that even with icy paths had to wrap up well and get out with the camera.   I found that the cannon G9 on macro mode was more adept at getting detail shots than the D90 with the tamron 18-50mm lens. Hope you get some great winter shots too and that you share them.

La Palma

Almost forgotten hadn't mentioned our travels back in early Daecember. La Palm was a lovely weeks break back in Nov/Dec - seems a while off now we are in an icy grip. This small Canary Island has its own micro-climate.  We discovered that its "tunnel of surprises" was true - travelling from the cloudier rainy east through the tunnel we arrived to see blue skies and sunshine.We found a car invaluable for exploring the national park and coastal towns at our own leisure.
A full report can be found at  virtualtourist page.