It looks a lot like autumn

Let's enjoy the weather and photograph! The sun is low, there are lots of clouds and the light is a kind of yellow. Sometimes the sun shines, but never for a long time...

Last week smallson had a "sail camp". I was really afraid of the weather but in the end, there was some cooperation. The sun shined and it was warm for most of the week, but the wind was on the weak side. Anyway,  the boy enjoyed it a lot!


On the last day of the camp, we were invited to a barbeque and I brought the camera. I got really amazing images, very crispy due to the lighting.

I have applied a very warm post-processing on this pictures. I am searching for warmth. I think my mind is a bit full of the gray we are having in Netherlands.  I had just casual images, not really elaborated, but I liked the warm effect. I just bumped the temperature control a bit up. That's all.

Because the light is still strong, I can use ISO 50 and I really see a huge difference on the quality of the image with the Canon 5D Mark II on ISO 50 and the old Canon 400D on ISO 100. And this is sometimes a kind of a problem, because I don't feel like using the 400D anymore.

I am also tending to use prime lenses instead of zoom lenses. In fact, they are irritating me.  Zoom lenses are good, but they are not really sharp. Not like the prime ones. I was dreaming with an EF 100mm f 2.8 macro (L or not L) but my plan will need to wait... unless I find a pot full of money on the street. Out of budget.

A happy boy who sat the entire day into a small boat. He was wearing a sweater. The entire day. I managed to get it out when I got at the camp at 5PM but yes, he was wearing it the entire day.

 

An example of team building...  the boat was full of water. Lovely teacher. On this picture I have used the 50mm lens, a prime one, and kept the opening at f/1.4. But I think I am starting to manage the depth of field (finally!) and the tip is to keep a bit of a distance when using such low aperture.  You gain on the depth of the image: you can clearly see that it is a three dimensional one. 

So, keep a low aperture and keep distance! The focus point was set on the teacher's face.

 

Sails and sun. Beautiful combi.This one, of course, taken with a zoom. The kids were very distant.

 

And my small boy, on his boat. This image also taken with a zoom and cropped, tightly, to show him a bit closer. Important when you crop an image is to be sure the image is sharp enough to be cropped. When cropping an unsharp image, you get blurred images. If you are planning to crop, use a tripod and be sure your shutter speed is at least double of your focal length.

 

An overview of the floating platform where the kids  start/stop and have lessons. I was again exploring depth. I find it so funny here in Netherlands that we have lots of water around and so close by our houses. And this is the idea on this picture. To bring the buildings into the water.

 

It was a really fine camp. It was close by our house and the kids didn't sleep over there, but instead came home every day at the end of the camp. And about the weather, although we are having more rain as ever, was not to complain about.