CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Nikon D800 - Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 - 30s @ f11 - ISO 100 - Tripod This is a shot I've always wanted to get but until now I've not had the time to do.  Some business meetings in London afforded me the opportunity to get some evening shots around London and I headed to the Millenium Bridge across the River Thames to get the shot of St Paul's Cathedral lit up on the north bank. A thirty second exposure blurred the people walking across the bridge and gave the sky an eerie glow as the city lights bounced off the low clouds.  I took eight shots at various settings, two of which has to be discarded due to joggers wearing fluorescent jackets that showed up in the image, and this one was the favourite. Post processing in Photoshop Elements 11 included blending two exposures of the same RAW file so as not to lose the detail in the Cathedral dome, which was a lot brighter than the rest of the image.  I then applied a Color Efex Pro 4 'fine' tonal contr...

This shot was taken a few weeks ago on my first test shoot with the Nikon D800.  This is the single track road that leads down to the village of Burton Coggles or Burton Le Coggles as it is sometimes known, just 8 miles from Grantham in Lincolnshire. Nikon D800 - Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 - 1/20 @ f7.1 - ISO 200 The first shot above was taken on a landscape view and shot in colour.  It was then converted into mono in Photoshop Elements 11. Below you can see the live view screen on the D800 showing what the camera 'sees' and at what exposure.  I have found the live view function on the D800 to a huge step forward from the live view on the D700.  It is a revelation and I have found myself using it more and more. The final shot was the same view but shot in portrait with the 50mm f1.4 lens rather than the 17-35mm f2.8 used in the first shot. Nikon D800 - Nikon 50mm f1.4 - 1/200 @ f4 - ISO 200 ---------------------------------------------...

One of the reasons in getting the Nikon D800 was its capability to shoot broadcast quality video.  This is an area I have dabbled with in the past with my Nikon D90 and then on the D300s. I quickly learned that the sound quality can be drastically improved by using an external microphone instead of the tinny internal mic that picks up all the wind noise.  I bought a Nikon ME-1 mic for the D300s (the D90 didn't have an external mic socket) and this has been brought into use for the D800. I ran a test on Monday when I shot some video of the snow storms crossing over the top of Grantham.  The video was filmed from the top of Somerby Hill in high winds and the video shows the difference in sound quality between the clip shot on the internal mic and the clip shot using the ME-1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND C...

Just over a month ago I reported that I had added a Nikon D800 to the MacLean Photographic arsenal alongside the existing D700 and over the past month I have been getting used to the new 'beast' with its massive 36 megapixel sensor which gives me some massive advantages when working on landscapes or in the studio.  Starting today, and continuing over the next couple of weeks, I will write some blogs on my personal experiences on using this camera and compare it to the D700. One of the main advantages of the huge pixel count it the ability to produce large prints without resorting to software trickery.  The native image size of the D800 is 7360 pixels by 4370 pixels, which gives an image of 62cm (24.8") x 37cm (14.8") at 300 pixels per inch.  This compares to the D700 file size of 4256 pixels x 2852 pixels from its 12mp sensor, giving a size of 36cm (14.4") x 24cm (9.6"). Now in the real world none of that matters unless you produce massive images becaus...

The weather over Grantham this evening was rather weird with snow storms blowing through, followed by a spectacular sunset.  I grabbed my camera bag and climbed to the top of the hill overlooking the town to capture the scene. Setting the D800 on the tripod fitted with the 17-35mm f2.8 wide angle zoom I set about capturing the scene.  I also used the D700 with the 80-200mm f2.8 to get a closer image of the sun setting behind the clouds on the horizon. Nikon D800 - Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 - 1/15 @ f16 - ISO 200 - Tripod - Lee 0.6 ND Soft Grad Nikon D800 - Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 - 1/15 @ f16 - ISO 200 - Tripod - Lee 0.6 ND Soft Grad Nikon D700 - Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 - 1/2500 @ f5.6 - ISO 400  Nikon D800 - Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 - 246 seconds @ f16 - ISO 100 - Tripod - Lee 0.6 ND Soft Grad / Lee 10x ND Snow Cloud over Grantham - Fuji X100 - 23mm f2 - 1/50 @ f2.8 ISO400 ----------------------------------------------------------------...

Nikon D700 - Sigma 50-500mm f4 / f6.3 - 1/4000 @ f8 - ISO 800 - Tripod  If you are a regular visitor to the MacLean Photographic blog you'll know that the Vale of Belvoir is one of my favourite places to visit, not only due to its proximity close to my home town of Grantham but also because it one of those great undiscovered photographic locations, with a variety of landscapes in a relatively small area. The focal point of the Vale is Belvoir Castle, home of the Duke of Rutland. Perched high on the hill, surrounded by woodland, the castle is a very photogenic piece of architecture.  On every visit to the Vale I usually end up shooting it from one angle or another. The first shot was taken on a very foggy day in October 2012 and for most of the morning the castle was shrouded in mist. However as the sun started to break through the castle and the trees were revealed.   Grabbing the Nikon D700 and fitting the Sigma 50-500mm lens I took this image with the foca...

Another day of bad weather in Grantham had me looking for something to photograph indoors.  As it is Mother's Day tomorrow here in the UK we had some flowers in the house so I 'borrowed' one for a quick table top studio shoot in my office. After several images from various angles of the flower head I decided to go for a macro shot and put a drop of water on the petals to give a point of focus. Using the Nikon D800 fitted with the Nikon 105mm f2.8G micro and a very simple set up using a LED head torch as the light source, I decided to then try one shot with a very large depth of field and one with a shallow depth of field. Here are the results - Nikon D800 - Nikon 105mm f2.8G AF-S micro - 1/15 @ f9 - ISO 100 Nikon D800 - Nikon 105mm f2.8G AF-S micro - 5s @ f51 - ISO 100 Simple set up - Nikon D800 - Nikon 105mm f2.8G AF-S micro - LED Head Torch as the light source -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...