Although I was limited by the darkness and only having my iPhone for a camera, these jelly fish in an aquarium looked wonderfully dreamlike.
My son and nephew were too busy looking for sharks to notice anything else!
On Christmas afternoon we made our way off Dartmoor through some woods. The snow had started to melt in the sunlight, producing a wonderful mist that caught the sun’s rays as they passed through the trees.
Entered in the Photo Friday ‘Glowing’ challenge.
We visited our good friends Toyozo and Grant at the weekend, and before I knew it Toy had made these beautiful origami paper cranes for our son to play with.
They look a little battered now, but that’s just a sign of how much he enjoyed playing with them.
I used nothing more complicated than a few sheets of printer paper and the light from my window to set up the photo. You can see here just how small and delicate they are.
The same evening as before, but in colour with bracketed exposures to capture the dynamic range.
The same evening as ‘Spanning the Firth of Forth’, but looking west from South Queensferry.
The Forth Rail Bridge on a beautiful evening in South Queensferry. I used 3 exposures, each 2 stops apart and merged to keep the dynamic range.
Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make the biggest difference.
Have you ever wondered why the humble camera strap is the way it is?
After I hurt my back a few years ago, I found carrying a DSLR and a hefty lens around increasingly tiring.
Landscape photography was not so bad. I’d put my kit in a photographer’s rucksack, the weight was evenly distributed, and those hills stayed still long enough for me to get my gear out and set up without missing the shot.
But photography while sightseeing, or walking about an urban environment didn’t work so well. My manufacturer-supplied camera strap would pull on my neck and back if used in the traditional position (which also left the view screen banging onto coat fasteners – and led to a scratched screen), or if I slung it ‘bandolier-style’ across my body, that left the lens sticking out from my hip for passers-by to jostle.
Presumably Ron Henry, the founder of Black Rapid and an experienced music and wedding photographer had the same problems, because he invented a range of camera straps to make carrying cameras more comfortable and easier and quicker to handle.
Yep. Strange isn’t it? Despite spending a small fortune on camera bodies and lenses, I was quite resistant to the idea of spending more on something as basic as a strap. So what did I think?
The Black Rapid RS-5 is well made, with strong stitching, a padded area and a breathable mesh underside where the weight rests on your shoulder. It attaches to your camera using the tripod mount, using Rapid’s FastenR (a connector made from solid stainless steel, with a D-ring and a high-grade rubber compression washer that ensures a good, tight fit). One advantage of this is that if you have a large lens with a tripod mount, you can attach the strap to that, helping the balance when you carry it. The length of the strap is adjustable, so you can get your camera hanging in a convenient position so that your hand falls on the camera grip. When you grip your camera and move it up to eye level, the connector slides up the strap, ensuring it doesn’t ride up. The strap also has useful pockets big enough for a battery, memory card and mobile ‘phone.
I’ve taken my Black Rapid RS-5 strap on a few trips, where I knew that I didn’t want to carry a hefty camera bag around, and wanted quick access to my camera for street photography. Five days in Paris was great, and I got plenty of shots that I’d have missed if my camera was in a bag, and had no difficulties with the weight of the camera. I also felt more comfortable with the way the camera rests by your side, with the lens perpendicular to your body – no more jostling against passers-by or worries about banging the lens.
It seems ridiculous that I spent a small fortune on camera bodies and lenses, yet all this time a $65 camera strap could have made using them much more comfortable and convenient. My Canon strap is now at the back of a drawer, never to see the light of day again. Highly recommended.
Here’s a video that shows the ergonomics of the strap.
Here’s a link to the Black Rapid RS-5 product page.
I am not affiliated with Black Rapid, and don’t receive any commission from them. I just like the product.
Detail on a wooden door in Gamla Stan, Stockholm.
