Well its finally here after all those months, I now have a Canon EOS 1D Mark III. Amazing! Ive had people try and coerce me out of it and into a 7D which dont get me wrong is very nice, but bang for your buck its not a 1D. The frame rate is impressive, built like a tank and sounds like a machine gun going off, feels really solid in the hand.

Had a bit of practice with it this week at the twins cricket match and got an invite to the Speedway with Jamie, nice one! Im ticking off the photo projects at a real rate now so I need to get my thinking cap on look for new ideas and inspiration.

Update

Well been a few months since I last posted on my blog. Well the day has finally come and Ive purchased a new camera body the EOS 1D Mark III. The great thing is I now have enough Pro equipment to register on Canon Professional Network. I was surprised at how easy it was getting to grips with this new body, but I guess having a film background thats helped. The real test will to today taking pictures of the kids at their cricket match, so really looking forward to it.

What else? Been scouting a couple of locations for different ideas recently, funny how you suddenly find the most amazing images in the most unusual places. For instance Ive come across this Bluebell wood right next to the M6 Hilton Park Services.

Some of the other locations have proved pretty fruitless too. A couple of projects are now nearing completion, the Manor Hospital which opened yesterday. The Save the Gates campaign has now seen the Patent Shaft Gates resited in the middle of the town centre having spent three months being refurbished. So need to find a few more projects to get my teeth into.

I now have CS4 downloaded onto the Mac, took some getting used to be its great, really flexible in all honesty its probably overkill for my needs however it compliments my set up well. I prefer to get it right in camera if I can and not totally rely on Photoshop to do the work for me. My post processing is minimal really a boost in colour perhaps, change in shadow details etc.

Im now totally hooked on shooting in RAW so my workflow has changed somewhat, I put off shooting RAW for two years but now I really wouldnt want to go back. That means I will more than likely get some new CF cards for the forthcoming motorsports season.

I have recently added a ND4 stop filter to the kit - great value and funky results from the recent Ingleton trip, I may as the Spring starts get a solid ND8 just in case.

My tick list of locations is getting sorted slowly but surely but the nice thing is Im adding to it almost weekly. Im quite enamoured at the moment by urban exploration so follow the blog for some future interesting shoots.

Heres a shot I took last week of the old Springfield Brewery in Wolverhampton - keep watching for more when I eventually find a way in.

CFF Trip

Well hopefully I will be reporting back in the next few days after the CFF meet at Ingleton Falls, looking forward to meeting up with some of the guys off the forum for what will be a great days photography. Hope its not going to be cancelled like the last one due to the weather. Im looking forward to giving the ND grads a work out and see if I can nail the illusive milky water effect. Early reports say that the waterfall is in full flow due to the amount of snow we have had recently.

So next post up will be the field report and pictures.

Well the big day came and saw the arrival of a Mac book for me anyhow. Lots of camera stuff, extra flash gun, extension tubes, 5 in 1 reflector and fill reflector for macro work. Had an amazing few days leading up to Christmas, finished work on Tuesday which effectively gave me an extra day, I spent the morning walking around my local patch which had a covering of ice and a smattering of snow. Took some what I would call record shots, stuff that means something to me. It was a great day to spend the first day of my holiday.

Im now getting on top of the Mac and have a course to attend at the Store on 2nd Jan really looking forward to that.

Managed to work on my photo projects too which is a bonus, off to work soon so Ill be taking the camera along to get a shot Ive been promising myself for months. Will post it up if all goes well.

Church in RAW

Well had a nice couple of days off with the twins. Decided to get back behind the camera for a change having compiled a short list of places I want to photograph. For the first time ever I set the 40D onto RAW, emptied the memory card and set off. I went to Holy Trinity Church in Short Heath, this place is just aching to be photographed this time of year with all its rich colours. So set about going round the place with what I must say a lens that is becoming a firm favourite of mine the Sigma 10 - 20 f4.5, in fact its not been off a body since I got it.

The weather could have been better, however I ended up with a dull sky, but the purpose of the excercise was twofold, shoot RAW and put into practice what I've learnt from CFF. Well remember all the stuff the memebers had told me about shot at f16, 1/3rd into the frame etc , and this was the result.

Have to say its now convinced me to shoot in RAW apart from say my motorsport and cricket stuff, so there we go another learning curve over the Winter months.

Church
Originally uploaded by jtmwood

mel
Originally uploaded by jtmwood

This is the first initial test shot using the ST-E2 indoors set 4ft away from the subject with the head bounced and diffused, certainly lots to learn.