What photography means to me

[Eric Hardy]

My first camera was a box brownie, which I got in 1945. You could even make your own prints by putting the negative in a frame with the paper and leaving it in the sun!! This went everywhere with me and I used it a lot in Germany just after the war as a member of the BAOR. I was at HQ Rhine Army in Bad Oeynhausen. We had cigarette rations, which in those days, if they were not smoked, were used as currency. I used my cigarettes to get a German photographer to develop and enlarge my photos to full plate and half plate size.
I was amazed how much detail I could get, even with a box camera. I was hooked!

My first real camera was a Braun Paxette 35 mm which I got in the late 1950s



This was followed by about three different versions of the Pentax Spotmatic SLR

By the mid 1970s I was taking things really seriously, built my own dark room, developed my own films and prints and even tried my hand at developing coloured prints, which was VERY time consuming. I bought myself a Mamiya twin lens reflex which gave 2 ¼ inch square negatives.



In the late 1990s came the digital revolution and I went digital! I sold all my dark room equipment and Mamiya camera (getting exactly what I paid for them twenty five years later, much to my surprise). I progressed through a couple of Olympus cameras, a couple of Fuji cameras until now I use the Canon EOS 450D DSLR. My lenses are a 12mm – 24mm Tokina wide angle zoom for church interiors, an 18mm – 55mm Canon lens for general use, a 55mm – 250mm Canon lens for telephotos and a 50mm Canon prime lens. (You have to multiply by 1.6 to get their 35 mm equivalents).



I am keen on photographing churches and a little group of us get together to visit and record them. In fact we are getting together tomorrow to visit three churches in Oxfordshire.

Here is a picture of me in action taken by a fellow enthusiast!



I have had no formal training whatsoever but I have learned a lot from experience and reading round the subject.

In the end, it just boils down to getting a lot of enjoyment from an interesting hobby.

Eric H

[NightHawk]

A very fascinating and detailed piece of your photographic history there Eric - thank you for sharing it with us.

Our older cameras certainly bring back some memories don't they. 

.......... I used it a lot in Germany just after the war as a member of the BAOR. I was at HQ Rhine Army in Bad Oeynhausen.

Small world Eric.  Kathy used to live in Bad Oeynhausen around 1967.  Her dad was in the Army (Royal Signals), stationed at BFPO Herford.

Have a great time in Oxfordshire. 

Laurie.

I've moved the thread from this point onwards to http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php/topic,986.0.html as it has moved off topic slightly and doesn't detract from this current thread.

Laurie.

[greenfinger]

I am a church afficionado too, Eric. Especially the oldest Roman churches in Burgundy. I understand what you mean by learning by experiment: a lot of trial and sometimes (often? ) error. My camera is a very compact Panasonic DMC-TZ2: it's rather basic, but all I need at the moment.

[Eric Hardy]

I have just been overcome by lens lust !!!

I read a review of the Tokina 100 mm macro lens and this sold it for me "Regardless of the great optical performance of this macro lens, technical proficiency is a prerequisite for sharp images at high magnification. I made over 250 images with the Tokina AT-X 100mm f/2.8 PRO D and feel it is suitable for both serious nature photography and as a conventional short telephoto. This multi-platform lens is a very fine performer. Quite affordable for a 100mm macro with the latest multilayered coating technology, it offers exceptional value."

I have ordered one from Amazon and just can't wait for it to arrive 

I have the Tokina 12 mm - 24 mm lens and I know what that can do. Here is one of Fingest Church, near us, taken with it two days ago



I will be shooting bugs and flowers like mad.

Eric H

[NightHawk]

Nice one Eric - "boys and their toys"   

It's great to hear you still get a buzz of excitement for new equipment.

Waiting expectantly for it to arrive for you, and then seeing your 'super close-up' shots.

Laurie.

[Eric Hardy]

Boys have toys but men use tools 

Even at my age Anthea puts up with me and my toys with mild amusement.

Eric H

[Eric Hardy]

I am a church afficionado too, Eric. Especially the oldest Roman churches in Burgundy.

I am sorry Andre, I have just noticed your post that I never replied to. There are some magnificent Romanesque churches in Burgundy which I would love to photograph. I am afraid that these days I have to content myself with churches a bit nearer to home.

Eric H

[ideasguy]

RE:

I will be shooting bugs and flowers like mad

You have my attention 

[Eric Hardy]

My new lens arrived yesterday. I feel like a boy with a new toy 
I have been shooting off a few experimental shots. I think I will need practice, it isn't always easy to get perfect focus when handheld but a few give an idea of what should be possible. I will have to try it with a tripod sometime.


Blackthorn


Viburnum Burkwoodii


Magnolia x soulangiana


Hellbore


Bee on Grape Hyacinth


Magnolia Stellata

Eric H

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Excellent images Eric.
I particularly like the first one, the anthers show well.

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Absolutely stunning quality.
Nice to see names to the plants, Eric. I'm looking forward to more and more 
I love all those plants.
Did you have a sniff at the M. stellata? Some have a very faint but very beautiful scent.

[Eric Hardy]

Thank you Malcolm, I had as many misses as hits so I will have to keep practising.
Eric H

[Eric Hardy]

Absolutely stunning quality.
Nice to see names to the plants, Eric. I'm looking forward to more and more 
I love all those plants.

Thank you George, I am beginning to like this lens. Here are a few more from today: -


Our black cherry is in bloom


and so is our Victoria Plum.


This Japonica Chaenomeles(?) has been in bloom for ages


The snakes head fritillaries are going over but one or two are still in flower


Someone please remind me of the name of this one.


Scilla siberica


Finally a little bit larger so that you can see the little fly 
The daffs are still going strong.

Did you have a sniff at the M. stellata? Some have a very faint but very beautiful scent.

Our M.stellata has a lovely but delicate scent. At the moment there is a heavy scent pervading the garden so you have to put your nose very close to appreciate its subtlety.

Eric H







 

[ideasguy]

Sheer quality
White flowers are one of the most difficult to capture. Youve excelled with those examples.
That Black Cherry is just tres beau!

The next difficult colour?
Well, I'd say purple and blue.
Youve done very well with Scilla siberica.
Comparing to the real thing, is the colour true?

RE:

Someone please remind me of the name of this one.

I'd say Dicentra spectabilis.
Could be a cultivar of course.
That was taken today? Mine is nowhere near flowering stage yet!

RE:

Our M.stellata has a lovely but delicate scent.

That describes that plant perfectly. Gorgeous. My best scented one died a few years ago. I now have 2 replacements but I dont think their scent is as good.

[Eric Hardy]

Thank you George.

Youve done very well with Scilla siberica.
Comparing to the real thing, is the colour true?

You have made me go out in the garden and look very closely at the colour. It was not quite true although the difference is quite subtle.
I have adjusted it in Adobe Elements 5 to as an exact a colour as I can manage. It looks much truer now: -

I'd say Dicentra spectabilis. Could be a cultivar of course. That was taken today? Mine is nowhere near flowering stage yet!

Thank you for that name. I have looked it up in the RHS A-Z and it does not show an illustration of D. spectabilis. The leaves in D. Stuart Boothman, which is illustrated, look very similar. The one in my picture of is in the herbaceous border and in full sunlight. It just about clings on. We have another large clump on the north side of a holly hedge and under an apple tree. This is thriving and, along with some ferns, really seems to like the damp and the shade.

Eric H

[ideasguy]

Which brings me to a REAL big problem I have in my Master Database.
Putting a description to the colour of each plant.

Have you noticed that many websites avoid stating the colour of a plant?
The reason being, I suppose, you are looking at an image (but not always!) and you dont need a description!

Nice touch up job, Eric 

[Eric Hardy]

Colour, like the flavour of wine, is almost impossible to describe accurately 

Our bible does try 



Eric H

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Colour on monitor displays can be quite different too, they should be calibrated, I dont.

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

The monitors are very good nowadays. If the image looks like the plant Ive photographed, I'm happy with my image file.
Laurie has a topic somewhere n this forum where he explained how to calibrate.

Hey Eric. Thats the good book I use, and those spectacles look remarkably like mine!

[NightHawk]

A great selection of photos you've posted up to now Eric.

Very good composition and detail.  Well done!

The monitors are very good nowadays. If the image looks like the plant Ive photographed, I'm happy with my image file.
Laurie has a topic somewhere n this forum where he explained how to calibrate.

This is the topic link where Monitor Calibration was discussed if anyone is interested.

Laurie.

[Eric Hardy]

Colour on monitor displays can be quite different too, they should be calibrated, I dont.

So I understand, Malcolm. I don't calibrate mine either. I am happy with my monitor as it is so I daren't fiddle in case I can't get it back again

Hey Eric. Thats the good book I use, and those spectacles look remarkably like mine!

I was pretty certain that you would have the bible George 

Thank you for your kind comments Laurie and also for the link to your explanation of Monitor calibration. You probably read what I said to Malcolm about not wanting to fiddle. Being keen on photography I made certain that my computer has a decent monitor and bought a Sony x-black LCD which is excellent. The screen on my laptop is a decent one too. I have had pictures up on both of them at the same time and I don't detect any colour variation so I take that as a good sign.

Reading your post on monitor calibration I noticed you mentioning to George the use of Shadows/Highlights in Adobe Elements. That is a very useful tool which I use a lot on church interiors. It is very difficult to get both the windows and interior properly exposed because of the glare so I deliberately underexpose the interior so that the windows are correctly exposed and I lighten the interior with this tool. It is useful on white flowers too although I didn't need use it on my recent posts.

Eric H

[NightHawk]

I agree completely Eric about not fiddling with your monitor settings unnecessarily.

It's when you detect a significant change of colour of an object you've photographed compared to how your monitor shows it - then a bit of calibration would be required.

As I mentioned in that article, I'm still using a CRT monitor which is quite a few years old now.  It hasn't got to the stage where much calibration is needed yet though, as it's still giving accurate colour rendition.

I don't believe in updated my technology to the latest versions just for the sake of it either.  As long as it's performing correctly for me I'm happy with it.

When my CRT monitor eventually fails then I'll get one of the LCD models.  Better quality and much smaller footprint on your desktop.

Laurie.

[Eric Hardy]

I remember, ages ago,  Laurie saying ?boys and their toys?, but never mind ? here goes  .

In October I succumbed and bought a Canon 40D body (second hand) to supplement my Canon 450D. Of course my existing lenses were compatible. It was at a price I couldn?t resist. I bought it from a chap who has bought himself a Nikon D700 (full frame). It cost him a packet. Why he changed I don't know because he can't use his Canon lenses on it. I don't know why he had the Canon really. He has only taken 6000 shots in the time he has had it. It is in mint condition. I excused my self indulgence because it was around the time of my birthday.


Canon 40D

Then of course the lens lust returns  so Anthea allowed me to treat myself to a new lens as a (very early) Christmas present. I got the Canon EF 24-105/4L IS USM. It is a good performer.



I have been very pleased with results so far. On my two last church crawls I have had this lens on the 40D and my Tokina 12?24mm on the 450D and that has been all I needed. No lens changing.

Here are one or two examples. All are taken hand held and Aperture Priority

 I know there are a few Nikon enthusiasts among you so here is my daughter-in-law, Tabitha on Boxing Day: -


1/100 sec; f4; ISO 100; 105mm focal length; Exposure bias ?1/3 EV
 
And of course I couldn?t resist taking lots of my great grandson Zack so here a couple of samples: -


1/800 sec; f4; ISO 500; 40mm focal length; Exposure bias  0 EV


1/132 sec; f4; ISO 100; 40mm focal length; Exposure bias ?1/3 EV

And one or two from a recent trip to Oxford: -

Lincoln College Library

1/25 sec; f6.3; ISO 400; 55mm focal length; Exposure bias ?1/3 EV. This demonstates the effectiveness of IS (image stabilisation)


1/25 sec; f6.3; ISO 1600; 35mm focal length; Exposure bias ?1/3 EV.

And finally an exterior shot of the Clarendon Building (taken to avoid showing the traffic below)

1/400 sec; f7.1; ISO 200; 80mm focal length; Exposure bias ?1/3 EV.

And here is a 100% crop

[NightHawk]

Eric, you must have been reading my mind.

I was only looking at this topic yesterday evening as I've been thinking about purchasing a Canon DSLR.  I knew you had one, plus a couple of other members on the Forum, so I was just checking which one you had.

Just saw you do this posting today with a new Canon camera you've added to your photographic arsenal. 

You're making me envious. 

As you know I use a Nikon D60 DSLR and have generally been very pleased with the results.  However, the area I'm not very impressed with is it's landscape capabilities.  Sometimes they're not very sharp and other times there's some slight distortion of perspective for the part of the scene closest to the camera.  I've read some good reviews about the Canon range of DSLRs which has prompted me to head away from Nikon this time around. 

I would be very interested to hear your assessment of your latest acquisition in all areas - close-ups, general scenes, portraits and of course, landscapes.

I'm expecting to receive compensation for the accident in October 2010 fairly soon, so I thought I might treat myself.

Another great set of photos too Eric. 

Laurie.

[Eric Hardy]

Hi Laurie,

Serious amateur photographers, in the main, seem to divide themselves into Nikon or Canon people. I am a Canon person. Although two of my children (and families) are serious Nikon users, my eldest is a Canon person, so he will inherit my equipment 

What I would suggest is that you join Flickr, if you are not a member already. You don’t have to put up photos and unless, like me, you want to upload vast quantities, it costs nothing. Even I get my “Pro” membership free because I use BT Yahoo for my broadband.

You can find my Flickr site by Googling “Eric Hardy Flickr”. If you can then make me a contact I will reciprocate by making you a contact and “friend”. That way you will see more of my photos than the general public can see.

If you click on a photo in my photostream it will open up again and you will see noted what camera has been used. If you click on “Actions” you can view different sizes and also view Exif info.

Down the side of the first page of my photostream you will see “Collections” which in turn contain “sets”. “Countryside and seaside” contains a set called “The Chilterns” you will see there are square thumbnails in the right. About the bottom 20 rows have been taken with Canon cameras.

To save time, here is a link http://www.flickr.com/photos/erichardyuk/sets/72057594077093904/

Of course you can explore it more. There are groups that I belong to that you may be interested in : -

http://www.flickr.com/groups/digitalrebelxsi450d/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/40d/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/canon24-105/

If you do a lot of browsing it may help you to come to a decision.

Unless you are wanting to do videos, there is not much point in getting the later and more expensive models. They also have a higher pixel count and I read somewhere that they demand higher quality lenses to get the best results.

You mentioned distortion in landscapes. I take my pictures in RAW. A programme called DPP comes with Canon cameras and is a RAW converter. It includes a tool which corrects any distortion from a Canon lens (it doesn’t work with my Tokina lenses).

I hope this helps and I will be interested to know how you get on.

All the best,

Eric