OCA Course: Cloudy Weather and Rain.

Sunny/Cloudy:

1. Scarborough castle in evening sun. 1/1500sec @F8 ISO 400.

2. Scarborough castle in cloud. 1/1000sec @F8 ISO 400.

Although it's only half a stop difference, the cloudy picture is underexposed by at least another stop.

3. Diving Belle in low afternoon sun. 1/250sec @F8 ISO 200.

4. Diving Belle in cloud. 1/80sec @F8 ISO 200.

The low sun accentuates the difference between the yellow and blue images. About a stop and a half difference.

Here are two of my images that are improved by light cloud or haze. Too much contrast from full sun would lose some of the subtle tonal differences in the plumage of these two birds - this may be important for identification of some species, such as warblers, which have very similar green/brown plumage.

1. Short-eared Owl (it will win the staring world championships).

2. Juvenile Iceland Gull (subtle plumage differences can help to age the bird).

Three pictures in overcast conditions:

1. Camelia.

2. White flower (don't ask!). White things with detail come out better in hazy or cloudy conditions.

3. Dryads saddle. This was in a wooded glen, and detail in the deeper parts would be lost in full sun.

Rain: It hasn't rained for almost three months in North-east Yorkshire and the farmers are desperate. It wrecked my schedule for this exercise, but a short shower yesterday brought relief. 

1. Rainbow: This was taken last year on a digital compact. It's interesting how the sky darkens between the inner and outer bows due to its refraction.

2. Car window and mirror: many years ago i used to visit the Impressions gallery in York, when they had a good exhibition on. I recall some very interesting images from a young lady (oriental, I think) who was driving around town at night in a beat-up 4x4 taking urban images through a rain spotted car window. Some were memorable. Here are two of mine that aren't. The car window also needs cleaning. They were also taken on a digital compact.

1. With mirror.

2. With rosebush.

OCA Course: Tungsten and Fluorescent Lighting

Tungsten: Sitting room and patio. At ISO 100 the light levels in the room and outside gave an exposure of 0.4sec @F4, so no hand holding.

                                          1. White balance on Auto.

                                          2. White balance on Daylight.

                                          3. White balance on Tungsten.

The difference between auto and daylight WB is minimal, as the auto setting does a good job of equating the scene to daylight at the expense of very yellow tungsten lighting. On the tungsten setting, the room looks relatively normal, but outside is cold and blue.

Fluorescent: Utility room and window. Again, at ISO 100, 0.8sec @F4 meant a tripod was essential. 

                                          1. White balance on Auto.

                                          2. White balance on Fluorescent.

The auto setting gives some warmth, but is too yellow. The fluoro setting is nearer the correct appearance but looks a bit grungy, and isn't a true match. Perhaps it is a bit green.


O.K. - that's quite enough of white balance. I don't use small fluorescent bulbs on principle because of the pollution caused by those countries who mine the chemicals to make them - just like batteries for electric cars, so I'm not doing any more images for this exercise. Long live petrolheads.

My God, that was a boring exercise!

OCA Course: Narrative: A Picture Essay.

DRESSAGE LESSON

All riders of any discipline and of whatever standard need training to get the best results. Horses don't work straight out of the box! They need preparation, patience and practise.

Meet Eddy

An intelligent dressage horse

Out of the box

First pick out the hooves -

 - and oil them

A good grooming

Polish that saddle

 Final adjustments

Don't forget the rider

 Off to the arena

Mount up

Meet the trainer

Assessment

Like this

 Got it!

 Going well

The grooming images were taken with a wide-angle zoom, and the arena pictures with a tele-zoom so as not to spook horse and rider whilst concentrating. ISO 800-1000 to stop motion in a dark arena.