Dec 06

20th: Early morning up at beechwoods, very cold, but great light.

5d, 17-40 f4, 1 sec at f16, iso 100.

5d, 50 f2.8, 1/10 at f5.6, iso 100.

19th: First proper frosts of winter and fog to boot. Got into town early and grabbed a few shots down the backs and down fen causeway. Was out at lunchtime as well and got some slightly better shots, bit chilly to be fishing!

5d, 70-200 f4, 1/15 at f16, iso 100.

4th: Managed to get out one sunny lunchtime and grabbed a hand held pan of Kings College. There were loads of tourists and students out and about, but I've somehow avoided most of them. One chap did appear on two shots, but I edited him out.

For panoramic shots I usually always have my camera on a tripod, I've got a Pauosaurus Head (which keeps the nodal point of the lens directly over the rotation point), but it's big and heavy so I tend to leave it at home. I always take shots on manual at the same aperture and shutter speed settings, this makes it easier later. Back on my pc I import the RAW files rattle them through DPP (digital photo professional) and then stitch them together using Pano Tools Assembler (a great piece of software by Max Lyons).

Here are the original files:

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 1/200 at f13, iso 200, handheld. And here is the end product

Nov 06

17th: Midsummer common - The leaves seem to be clinging onto the trees for dear life, finally we are seeing some autumn colours.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 1/15 at f16, iso 250.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 0.3 sec at f16 , iso 100.

15th: Beechwoods - a little strip of beech trees above the Gog Magog golf course. It's a nature reserve and is great for autumn colours. It's very convenient as you can park right at the entrance and it's only a slight detour from my way into work!

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 1.6 sec at f16 , iso 100.

Oct 06

14th: Anglesey Abbey - perhaps one of my favorite places just a short drive from home is Anglesey Abbey owned by the National Trust, the gardens are spectacular, the kids love to run up and down the undulating lawns, the dahlia garden is not to be missed and the avenue of horse chestnut trees is just fantastic. I suspect I could put an entry in my blog every month for Anglesey Abbey I go there a lot with the family and they are very patient when I'm taking photos.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 1/13 at f11 , iso 100.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 1/125 at f5.6 , iso 200.

Sept 06

22nd: Star trails - standing round in the dark for 30 minutes is not much fun, but with dark frame subtraction enabled on my 5d it was another half hour back home before I could view my efforts. This was the first of just 2 photos I took on the night of the 22nd it was a new moon, but the glow from Cambridge still lights up the night sky. It's quite remarkable only a 12 minute exposure and the stars have moved so much. My camera recorded the view as a sort of muddy brown colour, so a bit of work in photoshop was required.

BEFORE - 5d, 28-75 f2.8, 12 minutes at f4, iso 200.

AFTER

7th: Night time - I was just about to go to bed, but there was not the slightest breath of wind and there was a completely full moon. I'd seen some striking night time photos of Cambridge taken by Sean McHugh some of which were taken solely by moonlight. I thought I would try and have a go. I think I got back home at around 2am!

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 3 minutes at f11, iso 200.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 2 1/2 minutes at f11, iso 200.

August

5th: Hay bales - Brilliant blue skies and the hay making was in full progress just off Haverhill road.

5d, 70-200 f4, 1/100 at f16, iso 100.

June 06

28th: Wren library, & Trinity College - Popped out in my lunch hour and was wandering round Trinity taking a few snaps next thing I knew a chap at the wren library door announced I was the last one he would let in. I didn't argue, photos are allowed as long as you don't use flash. High iso values and wide apertures were called for.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 1/200 at f8, iso 250.

5d, 70-200 f4, 1/50 at f4, iso 1600.

May 06

1st: I got into Cambridge early, for about 7:30am. Bank holidays are great, traffic is non existent and town is almost deserted. The only problem it was raining, but that somehow improved the light giving it a soft dreamy edge. First off I took a few shots down at Clare bridge then moved on to the punts at Trinity, finishing off along the backs.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 1.3 sec at f18, iso 100.

5d, 28-75 f2.8, 0.8 sec at f7.1, iso 100, b&w.

April 06

April I final took the "digital plunge", sold some of my existing camera kit and bought a canon 5D.

Pretty much at the same time as going digital I decided it was about time to try and start getting some half decent shots of Cambridge, after all it's on my doorstep and my day job is in town - Cambridge images was born.

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