Author: Kieran

Old school hacker, amateur photographer, petrolhead, geek, father. ( and I might just like planes ) http://www.kieranreynolds.co.uk
July 11, 2012 Photography 1 Comment

RIAT in the Rain 2012…. (and the sun)

Well, at the weekend, it was that time of year again – RIAT.

RIAT, properly known as the Royal International Air Tattoo, held at RAF Fairford, which isn’t that far down the road from me, is listed as the worlds largest military air show, and as a fan of technology, and the challenge of photographing the fast moving jets, attendance is almost mandatory.

It’s also a time to meet up with friends, some of whom I see relatively precious little of.

This year, two sets of people made some really strange decisions.
Silverstone/FIA, and RIAT organisers – they made the British F1 Grands Prix and RIAT fall on the same weekend – eh what ????????
So people like me had a choice – go to one or the other, sorta.

I could have gone to the GP itself on the Sunday, and RIAT on the Saturday, but, as my friends wanted to go to RIAT on the Sunday, that is missing the GP.

It also happened to coincide with the first time a Briton has reached the Final of the Mens Singles of Wimbledon. (Pity he only won the first set – but let’s face it, he was up against Federer, arguably one, if not, *the* best in the game of all time)

Please FIA/Siverstone and RIAT – don’t so this in 2013.
(At least RIAT already has it’s dates for 2013 – so I guess this is directed at FIA/Silverstone to NOT hold the F1 GP on 20-21 July)

Back to RIAT……

Last year I bought myself a 6 day FRIAT ticket (MACH 3 it’s called) , which gave me entry to the first 3 days – Wednesday->Friday, where a lot of the aircraft arrive at RAF Fairford, the two days of the actual air show, and then the Monday where all the aircraft depart.

THe FRIAT MACH X tickets are an expensive way of getting in, but well worth it – the seats in the FRIAT enclosure provide you with a damn good view of the action. (which last year I didn’t use on the Saturday, as my friends only had general admission tickets, so I stayed with them).

Just to highlight that – I got a lovely shot of a Panavia Tornado GR4 taking off on full re-heat, with a nice cone of flame out of the rear.

This year, however, I decided not to do that, and also as I was properly disorganised with tickets for everything this year, missed out on a 2 day FRIAT ticket as they were all sold out.

I therefore went with a 2 day ticket to the air show itself, and the Friday arrivals, and the Monday departures.

Why go to both days of the air show ?
Simple – last year it was rather wet on the Saturday, and the display’s started very late, and therefore there was less of a display, and I didn’t want a complete wash out, so, both days is a kind of insurance of one day being poor weather.

Well, it’s now Wednesday evening, and I haven’t really had the chance to go through all my photographs of the weekend yet, and process them ready for any kind of publishing.

The only photographs that I have had processed, were literally processed, the old-fashioned way, chemically.

Yes – I used film.

…..
…..

Now you have picked yourself up from the floor, and gotten over the shock – you may be asking yourself why I chose to take some photographs using such an “old” medium of film.

Well, I do have film cameras, and have had since my father passed away.

I inherited three 35mm cameras from my father, as well as a 110 type film camera, 2 medium format cameras (6×6) and a digital camera.

I do run film though all the 35mm cameras, and as two of them are identical Minolta X300’s, I actually have black and white in one, and colour in the other, to give me some creative opportunities.

The “problem” I have with all the 35mm cameras I inherited from my father, is that they are all manual.
Manual everything, including focus.

Now, I love this when doing something like flowers, sunsets, and maybe even subjects that move relatively slowly, like my daughter, but……. with something travelling at well over 200mph – yeah, I’m not quick enough to focus.

So, wishing to get the joy out of film, and also to try and force myself to slow down, and enjoy the moment of taking, I looked for, and purchased a new film camera.

Well, I say new, new to me, it was second-hand off that well-known auction site, Ebay.

Having said that it wasn’t new, it may as well have been.
It’s in immaculate condition, and first thing I have done is pull my 24-70 f/2.8 L off my 7D and plug it on.

What did I get ?
An Canon EOS 1V HS.

It’s gorgeous, I love it.

The first film I have run through it was to prove that the camera actually took decent photos, and I used an old film, so the colours on the results are a little “off” – but I have actually proved the camera works, and that ignoring the slightly odd colours on the film, it takes good shots with my 24-70 f/2.8 L.

I went for a Canon EOS EF device, so that I could use my existing lenses on the body (most of mine are EF, not EF-S – the only EF-S is the 18-200mm which lives on the 50D), and was initially looking for a EOS 1-N, but the 1V is newer, so plumped for that one.

Now, going back a second or two, I said I bought the film camera to slow me down, but I also said that for fast moving objects the fully manual cameras would be potentially inappropriate.
(yes, I know that I could use the film cameras on fast moving objects, and in fact I have done – shooting F1 cars – but definitely need lots of practice there due to the requirement of fast fingers for the focussing.)

There are two slow down drivers.

The first, is the fact I can’t see the photograph I have just taken until the film has been processed, so the result is unknown.

The second, to a lesser degree, cost of processing.

The first slow down is the most important for me – the not knowing.
This focusses my mind on making sure that the photograph I am taking is “right” – first time.

For static objects, this means making sure what I want is in focus, and looking at interesting points in the view to focus on, checking, and adjusting the depth of field, the framing, perspective etc.

For faster objects, like cars and planes, the autofocus has freed me of the worry of screwing up the focussing with the manual X300’s, and has allowed me to practice things like panning, and choosing the moment for the shot, rather than relying the high speed continuous shooting mode to take a sequence of shots, some of those in the sequence might be bad, but the sheer number of shots that you have taken means that there is a high probability that there will be a good shot somewhere in that sequence.

All in all – another step towards more fun.

July 11, 2012 Photography Post a Comment

Chasing the Dragon

Photography is addictive.

I have begun to think that photography is a drug.
It’s addictive, seriously addictive.

I could even liken it to the term used around heroin addiction/taking – “Chasing the dragon”.

If I use the term Chasing the Dragon as detailed in the Urban Dictionary entry 1,here, then I might actually have a good case.

Photography can be thought of in a number of ways, something my pro friend and I have discussed many times, is it an art form, or a precision technical experience, i.e. like “how accurate/detailed can you get a photo?”.

It’s also something I have discussed with another amateur photographer friend.

Cath, the pro, now, she is an extremely talented artist, the other friend is a detail freak.

Does one side mean that it is impossible to do the other ?
No – I am kinda in the middle, although I tend to the detail more than the artist, and I have way less talent than Cath.

I do know however that my detail freak friend and I share a common affliction….. that addiction to the perfect shot. (I’m not saying Cath doesn’t want a perfect shot – somehow that’s different, and honestly, probably a better approach)

Detail freak and I, we both have in our portfolios, shots that are absolutely special, that almost elusive “perfect” shot, e.g. something such as a shot where we can see the rivets on an aircraft flying past us at 450knots, and that has given us the “buzz”, or “high” of that perfect shot.

And this is where I go back to the “Chasing the Dragon” analogy.
We’ve got that first “high” of a precise shot, that “buzz” of excitement as we have zoomed into the shot, and seen those rivets, and the writing on the plane/car.

Trouble is, now we are doing everything we can to get that “high” again…… and again, and it’s taking a ever increasingly better shot to get us that “high”

We are in danger of overlooking the enjoyment of actually taking the photographs and reviewing good shots, at the expense of the crave for the detail.

And with that “chase” of the detail, we are looking at more expensive gear, both camera bodies and/or lenses as we come to the horrific conclusion that when you compare the results of a sanely priced body/lens to an expensive body/lens, in actual fact, expensive bodies/lenses *ARE* clearly better.

It’s a potentially never ending spiral, as better devices are made, and our addiction to the detail gets worse – where are we going to end up ?

Destitute ?

Frustrated ?

I guess that would depend on whether one thinks that the better, and seriously more expensive lenses are actually worth the money – the *Is it worth it* question ?

Honestly, the frustration is the biggest thing for me, as I can definitely see the benefit of the expensive glass attached to the front of my camera.

And there lies a potential danger of the addiction.

June 17, 2012 Geek-tech, Petrol-head, Rant Post a Comment

Daytime Running lights

Let’s start with an admission, I have an Audi RS4, it has optional Daytime Running Lights (DRL) – and on my version, they are standard incandescent (halogen) bulbs.

I will also admit that I do occasionally have them turned on.

There – those admissions are out of the way.

I however, have a bit of  a problem with DRLs.

The problem I have with DRLs is how they are almost ubiquitous on new cars and they all have one flaw in common, with a notable exception, Volvo. (maybe the now defunct SAAB)

Interestingly, the reason they are ubiquitious, is EU law.

It’s stated here, which basically states that it is a requirement for all new cars and small vans registered after Feb 2011 must be equipped daytime running lights.

The flaw ?

The requirement is only for the *front* of the car, mainly for pedestrians and cyclists.

So – why is that so bad ?

Well, it isn’t for cyclists and pedestrians, it does give them a greater chance of seeing cars that are coming towards them before they cross the road.

However… let’s get back to other road users, and take a look from behind.

The are a awful large proportion of people these days that have no idea how and when to use lights in inclement weather, and let’s be honest, Britain isn’t exactly known for it’s periods of unbroken stunning sunshine.

This spring for example has seen the wettest April in 100 years, (or Oxford, wettest since records began)  – and May hasn’t exactly been better.

The problem with all this rain, at least car related, is that with the large, wide wheels on modern cars, the resultant huge quantity of spray that is kicked up on the motorways can, and regularly does, make visibility horrendous.

Now, as all these people with DRLs go, “I have DRL, no need to turn my lights on, I’m OK”……

HMMM – as so back to the flaw.

DRLs are only on the *front* of the car – which means that all the spray makes the rear of the car almost impossible to see – even more so as these idiots haven’t got their lights on – the proper lights, the dipped lights that actually turn on the rear running lights on a car, the ones that make the rear of the car visible, like they do in the dark at night.

These idiots, I’m not going to call them drivers, as they aren’t, they are passengers with a wheel in front of them, with no clue about what is going on around them, are putting lives of innocent drivers, and any passengers at risk of serious injury or worse, and are effectively got the backing from the EU with the DRL legislation.

Now, the blame isn’t 100% with the drivers of these modern cars.

Some significant blame has to be apportioned to both the manufacturers of the cars, and to the UK and EU legislators for making cars with DRLs that only specify that the DRL are on the front of the car – and not the front and back.

The other issue I have a problem with, and I have seen this more with Mercedes cars than any other cars – is the use of automatic headlights.

There is a very good case for having technology that automates things, but technology has a limit – in the case of automatic lights, there is a sensor that determines how dark it is must be for the lights to be activated.

Trouble is with that there are a number of situations where there is enough light, but visibility isn’t good enough, such conditions can easily be found in heavy rain, with lots of standing water, or fog.

Fog is an interesting one, it can be bright enough to make you squint, but the actual visibility can be horrendously poor – and this is what confuses the automatic sensors on the automatic lighting controls on the cars.

Trouble there – the drivers are so reliant on the technology, they don’t think to do what they must do according to the Highway Code – at minimum, turn their dipped lights on.

They may even think if they have DRL, “I’m ok – I have DRL” – but that isn’t the case – I may be able to see them in my rear-view mirror if they are behind me, however…. and here is, to my mind, the crucial bit………….. I can’t see them when I am behind them.

Volvo know this, their daytime running lights are at both ends of the car… that makes them the safest option.

Question is – why haven’t other manufactures understood this and acted accordingly ?

And the deeper question – why hasn’t the EU realised this, and acted done the right thing and when they mandated DRL for the front of the car, acted with overall safety in mind, and mandated DRL for the read as well ??

After all, the whole reason stated for the DRL EU legislation is safety…
Quoting from the URL ealier,…. “In countries where DRL is already obligatory it has been hailed as a very positive development in the field of road safety.”

Come on people – wake up…
Use your lights appropriately – and EU …… well, slap!, smell the coffee…

June 9, 2012 Photography Post a Comment

Lake District Trip…(via Bonnie Scotland)

After two weeks of utter hell health wise, I was thankfully well enough to take myself away for a long(ish) weekend away to the Lake District, and to treat myself, took “The Beast” instead of “Olivia the Weasel”. (Thanks to Her Majesty, and the resultant extra long Bank Holiday weekend)

I hate traffic, sitting in slow moving, or worse still, stationary traffic is enough to send my blood pressure into orbit, so I do journeys to places like that at stupid o’clock, which meant I got to Ullswater at 01:30 on Sunday morning.

Had a quick sleep in the car, and woke at 04:30 for my first attempt of the trip at a sunrise photography session, to find myself confronted with solid dark clouds.

Damn.. Back to sleep then.

At a more sensible time of about 08:00, I fired up the laptop, and found I had no mobile broadband signal, so drove the little way to Keswick where I filled the beast up with fuel, and, as I was in the area, and saw the signs, decided to take myself up to the Osprey View Point and see what it was all about.

I had a good 90 minutes up there (all the time I could buy with the lack of change in my pocket at the time 🙁 Note, if you go there – take a fair bit of change for the parking, 90 minutes cost £2.70)

The views of the actual osprey’s nest were good, but only if I used the Forestry Commission/Osprey Watch supplied telescopes – even my 300mm lens, with a 2.0x teleconverter on a 1.6x crop sensor making an effective 960mm lens, was useless for a nest at over a mile away.

Never-the-less, I had a good 90 minutes looking and shooting the the birds located at what is known as the “lower viewpoint”, I didn’t go to the higher viewpoint, as I was constrained for time in the car park :(, I will do next time though!

I even managed to get a couple of (not so good) shots of a cute red squirrel.

Once done, I wondered down to the car park again, and took the opportunity to have a lovely jacket potato cheese and beans at the Old Sawmill Tearoom and fired up the laptop, and looked at the weather forecast…

As expected from what I could see overhead, the Lake District was covered in a layer of unbroken cloud…

Double Damn…

Scotland however – east coast, was forecast to have good weather, so, with the newly filled tank – headed along the A66 for the M6 to bonnie Scotland in desperate search for good weather.

After a stop at Gretna Green and some shopping at the outlet village there, I headed up to Moffat and a reservoir that was apparently forecast to have blue skies and sunshine.

A few play shots later with my newly acquired B&W 10 stop filter (LEE Big Stoppers are rocking horse wotsit to find at the moment, and that was my preference as I have a 100mm filter holder for my Cokin Z-series filters) of the reservoirs in the area, I headed towards Peebles, where I found blue skies and sunshine.

I took that opportunity to re-fill the beast, have some food in the sun, and sit down and enjoy the rays, before heading on to drive through the city centres of both Edinburgh and Glasgow as I’d never been.

Now I have seen the centres, I am going to find some time to go back for a shoot of some of the architecture.

That’s a lotta miles covered, and whilst catharsis in nature, still a bit *too many hops*.

After a conversation with a good friend, and awesome pro photographer, Cath Evans, I had the revelation that I really was busting myself for relatively little gain.

I needed to take a step back and actually enjoy what I was doing, and stop trying to chase the weather, and all the associated stress, and frustration in trying to “force” a shot.

I just needed to slow down a little bit.

Too much stress with work, me being ill, and wotnot, my desire to have a good weekend led me to still rushing around like a headless chicken.

So – with that effective “slap about my head” – and a huge thanks to Cath, for the few choice words that were said that made me realise that – I took masses of time to shoot at Ullswater and Aira Force the next day.

I have also learnt where the sun will be at various times of the day, and have now got a re-plan for my next trip to the Lake District, and where I will be, at what times of day.

The best results of both days sessions are here, so there will be loads more shots forthcoming after my next trip.

June 8, 2012 Geek-tech Post a Comment

GUI Interfaces

It seems we have not made progress.

All you developers out there now must be thinking “Eh? what? We’ve put a lot of work in to our interfaces”

Well – they’d be right, but there are a couple of old fashioned sayings.
Less is more.
Work Smart(er)

The interfaces I am really talking about here, are specifically call logging software.
Why is it, that with all my screen real estate, I still am forced to have the interface at full screen to see anything vaguely useful ?

No software that I used in this arena (or actually, having a real think about this – any arena – erm, Photoshop, Gimp, Word,Open/Libre Office) *works* for me, it’s like any smartphone – there are issues/pitfalls everywhere.

A call logging/handling piece of software is going to be used in an environment where a member of the support staff needs to do two things – read the information from the logging system, and process that on a system that they are working on.

It is so much easier to see *both* interfaces, at the same time, than have to flip between the two open windows, and hope that they can remember the information from one window when working in the second window.

One could reasonably argue that maybe in such an environment, the support staff would have two monitors attached to the computer, and in many cases, this would be true, I have, and so does all my colleagues.

And more thinking about this – GIMP/Photoshop really also fall into this cesspit of functionality “gap”.

There are too many “toolbars”….

Even with a screen real estate on a high end laptop of 1900×1200 (and most work/enterprise laptops *aren’t* high-end resolution wise) – this still isn’t reasonably enough to actually see what I am doing, and have the space when the software is written such that only a full screen environment makes sense to view/edit etc…

In the case of the mobile worker, and even at times with the non-mobile worker, certainly in my case, I find that rather than try (and as I am human, fail) to remember all the details from one interface, I am actually resorting to writing it down long-hand, with, shock and horror, pen and paper.

This defies the entire point of a computer, or the software applications themselves, as *tools* to make life easier, and enhance productivity.

Obviously I can’t use pen a paper to edit digital photographs, but, thinking back to dark-room days… were things *that* cluttered and complicated ?

I don’t think they were.

What I would like to see, is a nice small, simple interface that tells me only the things I need to know, and the space to be able to enter my own updates.

What I also need, is an interface where I don’t have to scroll either up, down, or worse, left/right to view, edit, or access other fields.
It’s inefficient, and therefore poor design.

I don’t have those problems on an iPhone, in any application.
Apple, to give them all the credit they deserve, have really thought about, and enforce this ethos of interface.

There are lots of people that love the iPhone – why – it works.
You don’t need a manual to use an iPhone, technology should be *that* simple that one doesn’t need a manual.
(If anyone reads this and thinks that I am saying an iPhone doesn’t have faults – think again, it does, this article isn’t the place for those 🙂 )

It’s certainly feasible – OTRS, and specifically it’s iPhone application is an example of where this is possible.
It’s got everything I need there in the interface on the iPhone – please please, can I have the same kind of application on my desktop.

Could I however use a photo editing software on a iPhone? Actually, no… I’d need at least and iPad or similar…

A very definite example of less most certainly being more.

As I conclude here, I think of Roger Hicks, who writes a regular column in Amateur Photographer magazine, and how often he makes similar style of comments, and as I read them, I find myself slowly nodding in agreement…

… Have we lost the point of computers? Or am I getting too “old” 🙂