342: The Gateway

Shooting a film in freezing conditions is not always easy. Add low light levels, an inadequate sound recording set-up and a general lack of preparedness, and it becomes what I'd call challenging.
It was fun, though! Didn't finish shooting, of course. Being put off for a warmer weekend, I presume.

Settings: f/14, 1/80, ISO 800, P-FA 50mm. Monochrome and curves adjustments.

296: Food is Fast

And comes back even faster for some.
Not a slow night by any means - these places on Braunstone Gate were doing plenty of business, with all the people coming to see the last acts of Oxjam Leicester Takeover 2010, get drunk and have a kebab (presumably.)

Settings: f/1.4, 1/250, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm.

286: Rutland-Halford Fork

A test shot taken outside the Curve Theatre with my newly acquired DA 16-45, which I am liking quite a lot over the 18-55.
Judging by the exposure, it would seem that the daylight was exactly two stops lower than a "Sunny 16" day. However, I had to push the exposure in PP a fair bit to achieve this result, so I would say more like 3 stops.

Settings: f/8, 1/200, ISO 200, DA 16-45 (16mm,) exposure adjustment and minimal cropping.

285: Gallowtree Gate Greens

Settings: f/1.4, 1/80, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm.

283: Stilts & Streamers

Settings: f/6.3, 1/200, ISO 200, DA 18-55.

272: Cross the Street

Settings: f/2.8, 1/25, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm, 4x Starburst filter.

265: Night Street Discs

Nice images can be taken with a fast lens wide open and focused to the minimum distance.
The old EOS D30 definitely has some dynamic range issues: Highlights blow quite easily, even in RAW. I had to convert the CRW files to DNG using the Adobe DNG converter, otherwise RT wouldn't read the colour settings correctly (totally skewing the white balance, and giving a purplish tint to blown highlights which is near impossible to recover in post-processing.)

Settings: f/2, 1/20, ISO 400, EOS D30, 58mm Helios-44M M42. DNG RAW.

183: The Crossing Point

So we've just crossed the halfway point of 2010. Where did all the time go?
The past, of course.
I think this project is going well, despite some distinct difficulties with finding good subjects that cause me to hunt around for small things to shoot tiny details of. Note to self: Please try not to macro-scavenge so often.
There's just no substitute for breaking from familiar ways and trying something new, but some days things just don't go so well, and I end up posting three images a couple of days later to catch up.

Doubt, lazyness and insularity are the inglorious trifecta of bad ways I must fight against if I want to see this year-long project through to its end.

The EOS D30 has a definite problem with white balance in some RAW files. Loaded up in some editors they look distinctly green, and when I corrected the white balance, the blown-out sky in this shot went very purple. So monochrome was a good option here. JPEGs are usually fine - if only it had the contemporary-style option to shoot both.

Settings: f/8, 1/160, ISO 200, EOS D30, 35mm Photax-Paragon M42. Some sharpening, curves adjustment and cropping.

117: Spooky Street Lamp

Settings: f/2.8, 1/50, ISO 400, 28mm M42, EOS D30.