Camera Labs

No, I'm not going away from the forums. I suspect I'm not alone in this, but I've been going through a prolonged stagnation phase. My primary photographic interest area remains wildlife, wild or captive, but even that is getting a bit samey. Finding new subjects isn't necessarily helping. The trip to the puffins was new to me, but although I had planned to visit on two days I only did one. What happened between now and the times I could spend hours down the park with the ducks? I guess I want more something, but what is that something?

Pushing far beyond what I'm doing is going to take more time and dedication than I have I think. I'm not the sort to get up at dark o'clock at the best of times, and the hiding in a spot for hours on end waiting the "the shot" isn't viable either.

Enter astrophotography. While I do like a dabble on the long winter nights, there I'm frustrated by local conditions and once again much travel isn't realistic. I thought I'd get around that this year by concentrating on the sun so I can at least do something in day time. And once again I have to apologise to the country for causing the rain and flooding which we all know was invoked by my purchase of solar scopes this year. So I've been getting a lot of use of that...

Maybe try other areas I've not really explored? I'm not sure... I haven't done them since they're not interest areas, so that doesn't make sense really.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Maybe do a timelapse of those British guards that never seem to move?

(Although they may get a wee bit paranoid if you tried that.)

Planting in one's yard, to attract birds and butterflies, will produce endless opportunities for interesting images, in all weather. This can be enhanced by establishing perching opportunities that certain species may favor.

Allow a spider to live inside a window, and occasionally allow a fly to enter the home. Stand ready with a macro lens!

Sites such as Strobist.com present fresh ideas quite often. Some are inexpensive projects that use self-built, inexpensive materials.

Local groups in the UK may organize what we in the USA call photo walks.

One question-and-answer site recently discussed the best lens for a specific purpose. The host recommended the questioner use one fairly fast (f/1.8 ) fixed-focal-length lens for a whole year, developing familiarity, so that the photographer learned to see everything from the perspective of that focal length.

Photographer/blogger Eric Kim recommended photography books. Joe McNally recently recommended photography books. The common thread was to read more. I just acquired _An Inner Silence, The Portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson_. It is full of inspiration, to say the least. Moreover, HCB did just
about everything, photographically, with one or two lenses.

There is a saying that when life provides lemons, make lemonade. Make a project of photographing cloud formations!

These are just some ideas.

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Canon 7D/5D/40D/1D2N; Nikon F6, FM3A, & Coolpix A; Canon 40mm Pancake, 135L, 50L, 35L, pre-II 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8L Macro, 10-22mm EF-S, 28-135 EF, 400mm 5.6L; Nikkor 50mm 1.2 AI-S, 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8D, 16mm 2.8D Fisheye, 180mm 2.8D, 100-300mm 5.6 AI-S; Tokina 17mm & 100mm 2.8 Macro

Hi popo,

I'm on the same page in a lot of ways. Terrestrial photography has had a boost with the new kit but astrophotography just rocks so far as I'm concerned. Why?

First off it's technically challenging and in a way the inclement weather just adds to the sense of achievement when success happens. Then in post there's an opportunity to exercise more craftsmanship (hopefully) and achieve a house style.

Whether this is transferable to terrestrial depends, I guess, on the individual and the amount of time that can be spared. Demanding subjects which are difficult to capture might reduce the volume of output but might also produce exponential satisfaction when it all works out.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

I know the feeling popo, we all want something different, it's a bit different for me with warmth and sun most days. The nearest beach 4km down the road and a rain forest 45 minutes drive. Seeing this day after day it becomes the same old and most days although I always take my camera I don't shoot anything, I've seen it all before.

Although I like surf shooting I only go when it's a metre + and I can get pretty close on rocks at my favorite surf spot about 20 minutes away.

Hope you resolve it all and that you find something new to add to your photography interests.

Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

Doing this for a living over the last several years has definitely put a different perspective on photography, hence my limited forum contributions of late.

The hobbyist snapping days of everything that moves are very few and far between. The other day I decided to spend the afternoon in the park and shoot a whole bunch of different stuff ... ended up taking a total of 5 photos and then when viewing on my PC ended up deleting them all as I though them not up to par.

I'm thinking it's just a burn-out phase, as I still enjoy my different gear, but now it's become more job specific.

Just catching up on the forums so getting to this late

I too know the feeling but I guess Im in a somewhat differant boat. A few weeks ago I had an amazing hour long encounter with a hawk during the golden hour and got soem amazing shots but for 7 hours before that I sat at a pond watching the comings and goings of the local wildlife... never picked up the camera once as nothing special was happening

I've taken several morning or afternoon trips since then with no results when I came home.

Last weekend I spend 4 days driving to NW Ontario, 1400km each way... I came back with a handful of scenery pics and no wildlife pics at all.

I guess for me the pics are a bonus as I just enjoy my time in the outdoors but I know not all of us can do that...

That being said lately I find myself looking for unique photo opps. I`ve been trying to get out more in the evenings to get those silhouette shots and I`ve also been looking for shots with cool reflections but ya... the days of coming home with hundreds of pics after a morning outing are exceedingly rare these days and more often than not I find myself coming home with less than a dozen and maybe 2 or 3 keepers.

Hope you find some new inspiration in your wildlife work popo.. I miss your work.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

I don't feel I've done much more this year... even getting the Sigma 120-300, which doubles to '600 and extends my reach beyond that possible previously hasn't really enabled me to go further. I am still at it, but I guess there comes a time when what's done is done, and finding something new gets harder.

On the plus side, my hard disks are filling up slower than I thought so I can delay the expansion that is still ever impending.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I know how you feel. Because of I loved astrophotography so much I ''went'' DSLR. After having a simple 350D with the needed adaptors and a cheap trackingmount, I loved it. AP was it. Then I bought a new mount for using the then just bought telescope, (EQ-5 sort off) and since then (one and a half year ago) I stopped with AP. Why?
I dont know!
It's the time needed to set everyting up, and I somehow hate it because the new mount is so heavy and a telescope... well, that's quite different from a simple lightweight mount with a light 350D. But I think, that just because it was all that easy (well not too easy as the main reason of buying an EQ-5 was that it was that more stable etc.), it was much more ''oh, it's clear, let's go out and shoot the M31 Galaxy!''. Now I have to plan when I could go out, because of the weight.
Using a cheap mount was while using quite frustrating, but after seeing the results I was amazed. Now while I could get so much better quality but I dont use my new (and expensive...) equipment because Im too lazy.
Dang.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

I'm also hoping you get inspired soon popo!

I think we've all been there, some of us several times. I normally get through it with a new subject, new equipment, or new processing! Or even a new end-goal for existing material, like a book or exhibition.

Gordon