Photowalk 41 - Overcoming Inertia

I've be re-grouting the tiles and re-sealing the bath in our bathroom for the last couple of days, so my trusty S5700 has been sitting in my camera bag.

I had a couple of hours to spare this morning, so I scrubbed the silicone sealant off my hands, grabbed my kit and took a stroll in the sunshine, trying to shake off those photographic cobwebs.

Lamplight Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F5, 1/180th, ISO 100, Focal Length 16mm, Hand-held, Polarizer

I always find it hard to get started when I'm out trying to take Photographs. I'll look around, see the Sun is too high and bright, and my camera stays in it's bag too long.

I often have to force myself to get my S5700 out and just start snapping a couple of frames, then I gradually get into the "groove" looking for shapes, colours, textures and things that catch my eye.

Communication Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F3.5, 1/250th, ISO 100, Focal Length 6mm, Hand-held, Polarizer

I find it really helps to listen to my Ipod while I'm shooting - maybe podcasts or some music, but I think its the way that I'm insulated from the scenery around me (because of the sounds from my 'pod) that helps me to start really concentrating on finding things that I want to photograph.

You've probably guessed from the Photo's that I was on my usual Priddys Hard walk. I was in the mood for detail - the sky was a great blue colour, which my trusty Cokin A Polarizer helped to emphasise.

The shot of the road-sign was for the S5700 Flickr groups Photo assignment "communication". I was really struggling to come up with an idea for what to shoot, and I thought this sign was a bit confusing, so I moved my angle to isolate it from the surroundings. I only wish I had been able to get a bit higher to avoid the perspective distortion.

Spot Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F5, 1/150th, ISO 100, Focal Length 25mm, Hand-held, Polarizer

With most of these shots the ones I've uploaded are the last ones I took of a particular scene. I'll start with wider shots, including more of the surrounding area, then move in (keeping an eye on my focal length) to get closer to the subject, flicking between landscape and portrait orientations.

I'll be shooting, then checking my histogram for "blown" highlights or blinkies after every frame, dialing down (or increasing) the exposure with Exposure Compensation if necessary.

Clouds Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F5, 1/85th, ISO 100, Focal Length 6mm, Hand-held, Polarizer

Photo's often look a lot better on my cameras LCD view screen than they do on my PC when I get home, so that's why I take a few different versions of each subject.

Slipway Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F6.8, 1/140th, ISO 100, Focal Length 16mm, Hand-held, Polarizer

It was great to have some Sunshine today, to get out and enjoy the fresh air, get a few miles under my belt (still a little too tight!), and capture some nice shots.

Cheers, Rob.

ps, A note on camera exif data. Being a bridge camera, my S5700 has a crop factor because the sensor is a lot smaller than on a dSLR, so when you're looking at the focal lengths bear in mind that the S5700 has a focal length range of 6-63mm, which is the equivalent of 38-380mm in a 35mm dSLR. Also the aperture and shutter speeds given are approximate, as for some reason sometimes they're different in the PC exif data than what I actually took, but its usually just the next step up or down.