Just a quick note to wish you all a very merry christmas, have a wonderful break, and snap lots of nice photos.

Charlie -

I thought it was worthwhile to write about this here, as it’s not often I do one of these. I decided (after putting the lights on the tree), that a timelapse of the tree being decorated would make a cool video.

I set the 400D with the Sigma 10-20 on a tripod, and started with a composition containing a table, filled with all the decorations, and then the fire in the background with the tree, which looks ‘christmassy’. I changed the composition towards the end to be with the tree more central, as it was unnecessary to keep the table in when it’s empty.

Anywho, I have written up about timelapses, HERE, optimistic post before I had the 400D, and I feel I have posted up some of my attempts before. This one worked well I think, so, let me know what you think, and I may work on a guide as to how I do these at least, when I have some time, tell me if you think it’s worthwhile!

So, here’s the video, I recommend you actually click through it to the vimeo site, and watch it in HD, but if you can’t be bothered, or have a slow Internet connection, feel free to just watch it here ;-)

Decoration of the Tree from Charlie Styr on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas!

Charlie -

I was thinking about this as an idea for a blog post when I was writing my last ‘ramble’ about Flickr, which proved vaguely interesting as a topic of conversation. I will write up some ideas for Christmas presents that I think are good, and related to photography. There will be some expensive, and some less so, so it should hopefully cover many of you in terms of something potential, hopefully not too late!

I’ll start with some more expensive ones, Digital Cameras.

Someone’s first DSLR

I was sent a very nice email the other day by a reader asking about what a suitable upgrade to a DSLR from a compact camera was, and so I got doing some research and came to some conclusions.

The Nikon D60 is Nikon’s current entry level camera, and has achieved very favo

urable reviews across the internet. I decided that this is an excellent idea for a first DSLR, I also feel that c

urrently Nikon is ahead in many respects that Canon, particularly in terms of Design, they keep doing significant rebuilds, in comparison to what Canon appears to be doing which is shoving new parts into a body, (400D style), that has had complaints about quality/handling in the past.

Furthermore, for ~£329 the Nikon D60 comes with an image stabilised kit lens which has also achieved many positive remarks, about the glass, and the IS as an added bonus, (or VR as Nikon call it). Therefore I would say that if you are looking at buying a first DSLR for someone, either as their first camera, or as their first DSLR, this seems an excellent way to go.

- Great price in the UK (~£310)

- Great price in the US ($529)
On a side note, the D60 is replacing the D40 base model camera, so, if you are still looking at the idea of a DSLR as a gift, but the D60 is looking a bit too expensive, the D40 is also a great camera, and due to being ‘not the latest’ will be available for even less money.

- D40 UK (£199.99)

- D40 US ($368)

Ideas for a compact camera

This was something else I was thinking about whilst browsing Flickr the other day, and that is of compact cameras, and their capabilities. Realising that many of these cameras now have lots of manual control, and are surprisingly capable at getting detail out of their lenses/sensors.

So I explored the internet for a while and drew my conclusion on the compact cameras available, and thought of the Panasonic DMC-TZ5. It is a mid-rage compact camera, in terms of control, and quality, and price also, yet it is very highly regarded.

Again, it has achieved good reviews, but I was also considering the specs and therefore how it could apply to different people. I think it would be a fantastic first camera if you weren’t wanting an SLR or didn’t have the money, it has a huge 28-280mm zoom range, have a look HERE if you are confused by the zoom range values, which allows you to go from fitting in a big scene, to zooming right into some distant detail. Furthermore, the lens is made by Leica, a marque synonymous with quality glass, and it has Image Stabilisation to boot.

I think this would apply as a first camera, a great gift, but where I think this is also a good idea is as a gift for someone in your life who is a keen photographer, has an SLR maybe, but would find plenty of practical use for a decent compact to take everywhere, or even just situations where an SLR is imposing or impractical.

- UK (TZ5 & Case & 1GB card) (£186.99)

- US (TZ5 only) ($224.99)

For some less expensive gift ideas, I thought I’d start with some good books.

An author who I have a couple of books by is Tom Ang. A renowned writer on photography, his books inspired me, particularly when I was just starting out. One of his latest has received great reviews, and is about photographing ‘anything’, and is an interesting guide, it’s avilable at Amazon, so just have a search in your country for ‘Tom Ang’ and you can bring up a whole host of his books.

Click the book cover to the right if you are in the UK to visit the Amazon page for that book.

Something I think is an excellent idea for a gift is a subscription to a photography magazine. I am subscribed to the magaine to the left, and wholeheartedly recommend it, in the UK of course. HERE is their website, and you can probably subscribe online.

What I think is particularly good about this as a gift idea is that when you subscribe you often get a free gift, for example a Tripod is quite often the gift, or something similar, and that can double as an additional gift at the time, or the subscription for Christmas and then the tripod for the Birthday for example. A great idea.

I remember every time I receive the copy of the magazine, ie. once a month who gave me this gift, so it is a good way of getting yourself stuck in someone’s head as a gift giver too ;-)

There are of course other ideas in the lower cost area of photography, I’ll list a few ideas:

• Calendars
• Tripod
• Off-camera flash
• Lenses
• Photography Books, (photographs rather than guides)
• memory cards
• cases for cameras
• a film SLR!

So, I hope this has given your mind a little jolt when it comes to Christmas, or Birthday gift ideas for someone photographic in your family, or one of your friends. Please leave thoughts on this article, as it is my first of this ‘type’ really, so any analysis is greatly appreciated.

Also! feel free to email me, (contact link at the top of the blog), if you have any specific questions, I will answer! (and hopefully help!).

Charlie -

So, I thought I would have a recap of two of my favourite images from Prague, so I have selected two that I was really pleased with, there are more, but these are just some of my faves. If you want, go HERE, and you can see the whole set from Prague on Flickr, so, let’s get into them!

The first photograph, although a little cliché, is one I’m really pleased with, and it is a market scene, at “Havelske Trziste” I believe.

So, why do I like this photo? There are a few points about this image that I am just really pleased with. The first point is: the colour.

This photograph, and in fact, both the photos in this post coincidentally, were taken with the Canon AE-1, a film SLR, and it was loaded with Kodak Ultramax 400. I didn’t look specifically into the film, but it was available in a bundle at WHSmith in the airport, so, you know.

Anyway, back to the colour, the main point to me is that it looks completely real, something I feel I rarely achieve using my digital SLR, and it’s great, it looks like it looked when I was there, the glistening, brightly coloured fruits, with the harsh fluorescent lights above them, it was just like it was in real life, and that, I love.

The next thing is the DoF, it must have been darker than I remember to achieve what I can only guess was f/1.8, judging by how shallow this image is, but I think it worked well, what I love is the grapes, hanging, crisp and in focus, over the OOF people walking in the background.

All in all I am really pleased with this photo and have actually got a large professional print of it done, maybe a picture that will get walled!

The next photograph is something I entitled on Flickr, ‘stormy sea’. I will explain all in a moment, first, the photograph:

This was a ‘hidden gem’ in ways, when I looked through the photographs, in the respect that I had forgotten taking it, normally I find I remember almost everything I have taken a photo of on a roll of film, so it was a nice surprise to find something I like, but didn’t remember on the roll.

The reason behind the title is slightly confusing, even to myself. Basically, I view the lines and shapes in the photograph as something from a stormy sea, you have that fence at the bottom, an incredible shape that looks like it could be a rolling wave, and then the other fence line, the roof line etc, and to me it all appears like waves; then, you have the crack down the wall, coming from the window, which is like a lightening bolt from the sky.

Wait, it’s gonna get more confusing:

What it really reminded me of, was an animation I feel like I have seen of a stormy sea, but made out of unnatural objects, like cogs and clockwork kind of objects. I don’t know if you’ve seen the film, ‘the illusionist’ but there is a scene when certain documents are found, and there is massive elaborate cog-work inside things, and imagining those spinning is how I imagine this. Also, to make it more confusing, you know the animations for a film production company before a film? Like the one with the long straight road, and then there’s the one with the lighthouse, it reminds me of one of those too.

All in all, I have probably confused you, but I thought it would be interesting to see if anyone at all would be able to understand my thinking. I’m going to scour YouTube and Vimeo for an animation video that explains what I’m trying to say. Possibly.

Anywho, so, I like the photograph for that kind of dual meaning, but I also like the simplicity and the abstract nature of it, it’s just one I really like.

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Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little blarb on the photographs, any thoughts are welcome via email, or just in the comments on the blog, also feel free to click on the photographs and visit them on Flickr!

I remember when I was new to Flickr, the first year I guess, a while back now. I was using a FujiFilm Finepix S7000, a great camera, I still have it and use it for video. What I remember as being really exciting back then, was the proposition of opinion, seeing what other humans, who I had never met before, from anywhere in the world would say about my pictures.

I would get up the day after uploading a photo, and when I got on the computer I would head straight to flickr, and see the ever pleasing, yellow, ‘New!’ recent activity, link, lit up! It was so exciting, and I would go in, and see someone, or maybe more than one person’s comments!

I would learn, and pick up tips and ideas, for example, I never understood what the exposure compensation was, or how to use my camera out of P, but I picked it up and moved on. I live in Aperture Priority now, although for certain things obviously you have to go into Manual, but just experimenting for the first time with shutter speeds where you could hear the opening, and the closing as completely separate things, it was a strange, but interesting time.

I was looking at this picture:

I still adore that photograph, it was and still is a stunner, if I say so myself, modestly. The comments, the comments! It had 4 comments and became my most ‘interesting’ picture according to Flickr!

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The point of this rambling post is mainly for my purposes, but maybe you will find it interesting to read too; reincarnating my excitement with Flickr. I moved away from all the groups which require forced commenting, 1-2-3 style groups and the like, and nowadays I have a very solid circle of friends on Flickr, a few who I have now met in real life now too, and that is great, but there was something oh so exciting about just having the comments pouring in and seeing what people were saying, different people every day.

I kind of want that back, kind of, but I also much prefer the more personal comments I get from friends, the comments will tend to be more detailed, etc, but I did love just seeing loads of people’s ideas for what would improve the image, or what would make the image more interesting to them.

I think hearing all those comments is what made me progress in my photography, not to where I am now, but it helped me appreciate different ideas, and therefore my tastes changed over time, I look back at some of the stuff I faved back in the day, and unfave them immediately, thinking ‘how did I ever like that!!’

I’m not sure where this thought rant is leading, but I know that I really brought back memories of what I loved Flickr for originally, by looking back through my first pictures, from Nov. 7th 2005, a long while back, and seeing my own excitement in replying to people’s comments etc. I think Flickr has changed an awful lot since then, and is indeed a very different place now, in good ways and bad ways, but I still really enjoy the site, and must visit every day, I’m sure.

Hope you’re well,

Charlie -