Went to my inlaws caravan at the weekend in mid-Wales.

Also my first chance to play with my polarising filter which I used for a lot of these shots.

So, Sunday morning, I was up and out just after 7am, took a drive up one of my favourite roads, the pass that runs from Llangynog to Bala and took a few photos.

Was frozen taking these next two - standing on the edge of what isn't far off a cliff with a strong wind blowing. According to the car it was 4C :eek:

Mmm, new tarmac...

Going for the 'just finished a rally stage' look (without the mud)...

Sunday afternoon, was at Lake Vyrnwy:

And the RSPB hide let me get a few pictures of birds close up. Used the 300mm lens for these and was surprised how well they came out considering I was shooting through a window:

Monday morning, up and out again at 7 and off to Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall. Just spotting with rain when I got there, basically set up on a skinny metal bridge with the tripod and ran through a load of varied settings as fast as I could before the rain came any harder with the aim of reviewing them back at the car (no waterproof equipment so had to make do with a hand shielding the lens!).

Managed to get these before the rain really started.

These were done with a 4 second exposure.

Kinda proud of this one (probably my best photo to date):

Comments appreciated.

Steve

Also, I could do with some advice...

I'm thinking about buying a couple more filters (possibly the Cokin P series). I'm kinda new to DSLRs so hadn't really much of a clue what filters did what. I noticed that this month's Practical Photography mag had a section on filters and from that, I think the two that may help most would be a graduated filter (to add more detail to the sky) and a neutral density filter (a few times I've wanted a longer exposure time but had to settle for a shorter time so the shot isn't over-exposed).

Any suggestions on which strength filters I should buy (ideally don't want to buy a whole range) or any other filters that would be worthwhile would be appreciated. Is the Cokin P series a better bet than the A series (seems to allow a wider angle lens?) or is there a better (or cheaper) filter range out there?

I currently just have a couple of cheap 'Targus' UV and polarised filters I picked up in WalMart while I was in Florida for $20 the pair (although they seem to do a reasonable job).

Cheers.

Just looked at these again this morning and realised that I cocked up the 2 pics with the car in! I was lazy and used the editing tool in photobucket to block out the numberplate. Unfortunately, some light grey blobs have appeared elsewhere on the pictures now! :eek:

No idea how or why - will try to correct them later.

I have to say those photos are awesome! My 12 year old daughter is really into photography (ie she enjoys taking photos) to such an extent she wants to be a photographer when she leaves school.

Any tips?? (For taking such fab photos I mean...)

Is it down to the camera and lenses, or is there much more to it than that?

To be honest, I've only been using a DSLR since the start of the year. Just had compact digitals before. I'm still very much a novice at the moment.

It's something I've wanted to get into as a hobby for a while. My Father-in-law got a DSLR at Christmas and having a play around with that made me decide to take the plunge.

The main things I've done are...

Researched what I wanted from a camera. The main things for me were to get a reasonably priced package with a normal and telephoto lens and for the camera to have live view on the screen (like you get on a compact - made it easier to use to begin with for me).

Read (or at least skim through) Digital Photography for Dummies or DSLRs for Dummies - really helpful in understanding what stuff does. Some of the photography magazines can be helpful too.

Taken lots of pictures! I'm not paying for film/processing with digital so I take loads of shots in varying settings I think are relevant to the conditions. I've found that this helps because although you may end up deleting a load of shots, you'll probably get some that stand out as being much better than the others. It also helps me to learn what settings are suitable to certain conditions.

I haven't reset my file counter yet since I bought the camera and in just over 4 months, have taken nearly 1000 pictures (although that includes a holiday in Florida - 450 pictures)!!!

I found that my DSLR (a Sony A300) gives far superior results to my previous compact (a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, which I thought was pretty damn good for a compact!).

Cheers.

Some nice photographs there of Pistyll Rhaeadr. Funnily enough, a friend and I visited there the other week at the end of April. We had tried in January to get there but the roads were all iced up on the journey there, which in turn led to my car sliding down a hill with no one in it and causing a minor scratch on the side from a bush.

Might have gone a bit OTT with the colour on the first image but the blue of the water is "real" as I was using a blue graduated filter.

As for what filters to use, currently in my bag I have one graduated ND4 filter, one graduated ND8 filter, one full ND8 and one graduated "Fluo Blue 1". A fair few filters but sometimes I use them in combination with one another.

If you want to see the differences, check out The Cokin Filter Page where you can view examples of what filter does what.

Edited 14 May, 200917 yr by john-w

Very nice pics.

That polarising filter certainly brings out the contrast, doesn't it! (unless you've been tweaking it in Photoshop, of course )

Cracking pics, looks a nice road as well

That polarising filter certainly brings out the contrast, doesn't it! (unless you've been tweaking it in Photoshop, of course )

Actually the first image is HDR, with practically no adjustments in PS, except sharpening and levels adjustment to try and rid the horrid white sky.

The thing with HDR is that you can get a nice, even exposure when you can't get one with just one image, especially if the background is brighter than the foreground. Even with a graduated filter everything can just explode into a horrid white overexposed image.

I did a bit more research online and in Jessops and ended up buying a Cokin Wide Angle holder (don't think I'll use more than one filter at a time for now but I might want to go down to 18mm on the lens).

Picked up an ND4 filter and an ND4 graduated for now. When we get some decent weather again, I'll give them a try.

Nice photos of the waterfall by the way John. Where did you stand for the first one?

looks a nice road as well

A very nice road!. Have driven it loads. Very big drop off the side in places and it isn't that wide! My in-laws bought a holiday chalet in Llangynog (where the climb starts) about the same time my wife and I got together (in '93), moved to a house in the village in '96 and have had a static caravan at the other end of the village since they moved back to Coventry in 2003. Years ago, we used to be down there probably 20 times a year in all weathers. Remember driving up that road in snow in a 205, getting half way up and having to give up as the snow was getting too deep. Was a bit hairy having to do a 3 point turn, reversing back towards the edge when you hadn't a clue where the edge was!!! :eek:

Tend to see quite a lot of nice cars on it - mostly Caterhams/Westfields and Elises - have often seen a convoy of 10 or 15 cars going through the villages.

I did a bit more research online and in Jessops and ended up buying a Cokin Wide Angle holder (don't think I'll use more than one filter at a time for now but I might want to go down to 18mm on the lens).

Picked up an ND4 filter and an ND4 graduated for now. When we get some decent weather again, I'll give them a try.

Nice photos of the waterfall by the way John. Where did you stand for the first one?

I sometimes use the ND4 and the Graduated filter together, often if the sky is far too bright to get a decent exposure. As for the picture, I was squat just underneath the metal bridge pretty much. There's a small rocky flat which you can sit on if the water is low enough, but it can be pretty dicey as it's often soaked and there's the obviously large drop down to the lower stream if you're not careful! You can actually see the rocky flat in the second picture directly under the bridge, just where the rock starts to turn to a green moss colour.