Racing against time!

As you know by now I have been attempting Katy's Camera Challenges, and this month we have been challenged to use the Shutter priority setting. Now, I knew that the setting existed on my camera, but I have to confess that any use prior to the challenge has been entirely accidental!

For this challenge we were tasked with finding some willing moving subjects, which was a challenge in itself. Having watched the Scotland rugby team end up winning the Wooden Spoon, and thereby propping up the league table, they definitely didn't fit the bill, and living at the end of a cul-de-sac meant that moving cars were not an option either. So, I decided to combine the challenge with a day out to the Races. Plenty of moving subjects there for me to practise on and the opportunity to add to the Celtic Thistle coffers at the same time, what more could I ask for :)

Well, paying attention to the instructions might have helped!

Shutter Speed 1000

Our first challenge was to take photos in the Shutter Priority mode starting with a fast Shutter speed and gradually slowing the speed down. Katy suggested starting with 1000 for cars and 500 for animals, but I reckoned that racehorses and cars were probably much of a muchness in terms of speed so started with the photo above at 1000. As you can see even the movement of the horse's tail is crisp. Sadly none of my money was on any of the first three past the post in this race, so the Celtic Thistle coffers were lighter by the end of it!

Shutter Speed 800

I know that it looks like this horse is galloping in the wrong direction and it is, but I found it much easier to take photos of the horses as they headed down to the start when I was trying to fiddle about changing the shutter speeds. I think this speed is probably acceptable too, and certainly better than any shot I might have attempted like this in the past!

Shutter Speed 400

Not so great

Shutter Speed 125

Definitely not crisp and even!

Our next instruction was to leave the shutter at a fixed speed and try to follow the movement pressing the shutter as I went. I wrote the instructions down before going out to the Racecourse, but did I read them whilst I was there? Of course, not! So I will have to rise to that challenge another day :(

The final part of the challenge involved photographing running water, so I was delighted to find a waterfall in the racecourse garden. We were also supposed to take the Camera off of the continuous focus setting, but you know how bad I am at remembering (or reading!) instructions, so needless to say that didn't happen.

But I did get these shots

Shutter Speed 250

Shutter Speed 125

Shutter Speed 50

I have to say that I am really enjoying these Camera Challenges from Katy, and even although I would appear to have the memory span of a gnat, some of the information that Katy is passing on is filtering through!

An added bonus is getting to have a great, if not lucrative :(, day out at the same time.

And my favourite photo of the day has to be this one

A determined face if ever I saw one :)

Looking forward to seeing how everyone else has approached the challenge and if you are up for a challenge, it is not too late to join in!

Rising to the challenge

Recently, Katy at The Littlest Thistle has been challenging us all to get to grips with our cameras. Having supposedly mastered the Landscape, Portrait and Sports settings we were then challenged with something called the triangle of light (No, I had no idea what she was talking about either!)

To get to grips with this scary sounding triangle we first had to get our heads around the aperture settings. Now, as it happens I usually use the aperture setting on my camera, so most of what Katy said about the challenge almost made sense:) In a later post mathematical equations were being banded about and they definitely made no sense whatsoever!

We took a photo of a line of objects, focusing on the front object and increasing the aperture with each photo. So, the above photo was taken with the aperture set to f5.6 and the focus on the front reel. The front reel is in focus but the rest are not

Same photo at f8

At f11 the second and third reels are now in focus but the lettering on the last two reels is indecipherable

At f22 you can read the lettering on the brown spool

At f29 you can read all of the lettering on the spools.

We then had to repeat the exercise focusing this time on the centre object

So, this time at f5.6 the green spool is in focus but the spools either side are not

At f11 only the front and back spools are indistinct

At f29 the variation in the front thread is now discernable.

And just in case you thought that all this information was going in one ear and out the other (it has been known!)

On our sporting trip to Murrayfield last weekend I was able to catch the flamethrower using the Sports mode

and the sequence of a lineout, which unfortunately was about the only piece of action that happened directly in front of us. By this stage, my Irish husband, was too tense to utter anything more than the odd syllable so it was maybe just as well. His heart rate only recovered when the fact of Ireland's winning of the Six Nations Championship sank in around 10.00p.m that evening :) Sadly for me, Scotland could only gain the Wooden Spoon, so our prospects for the World Cup later this year seem rather dismal :(

Throw - in

Jump

Catch

Gather

This month's challenge is to get to grips with the shutter speed, so I am off to find some fast moving objects :) There weren't many of them to be found amongst the Ireland fans on Sunday morning in Edinburgh I can tell you :)

In Bruges

To celebrate my husband's birthday recently the whole family headed off on the Eurostar for a weekend in Bruges. Now, if like me you had never been to Bruges before, I can only say that you should definitely be adding it to your list!

The city is small but perfectly formed

with beautiful canals and

stunning buildings. This is the Provincial Government Building on the main Market Square,

and this is the Chancellery, which dates back to the first half of the 16th Century.

The small street you can see, which separates the Town Hall from the Chancellery, is named the "Street of the Blind Ass", I have no idea why :)

Our favourite building though was the Belfort

and if you are a fan of the film In Bruges with Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleeson, you will recognise this building straight away! Being big fans of said film our sons had to climb the 366 steps to the top, their mum, however, opted to stay on the ground and enjoy another Belgian speciality instead :)

Waffles aren't the only foodie treat on offer, though, there was plenty of opportunity to indulge in a couple of other Belgian specialities

Chocolate

and Beer! With over 500 varieties to sample, the males in the family were in heaven :)

As well as specialities of the edible variety, Bruges is also famous for its' lace, of which there were plenty of examples around.

Lace curtains

and even a lace fence!

Needless to say there might have been some handmade lace in my suitcase on the return journey (and maybe some chocolate too!).

Have I sold Bruges to you yet??