After being out with Sarah on Thursday and killing my 1st camera battery on the twilight shots, I returned home to find a posting on Facebook about the looming Perseid meteor shower. With my camera on my back and my tripod in my hand, I cycled to just outside Luncarty to get out from under the street lights.

One of the results from the shoot with Sarah

It wasn’t long before I started to see the meteors which were thick and fast. What I hadn’t accounted for was the randomness of where they were appearing. My wide angle lens just wasn’t wide angled enough!

I started to shoot a series of pictures at 30 seconds each which I wanted to make into a star-trail shot plus a time-lapse movie but was gutted when my camera gave in after just 10 minutes. With no backup cell I packed up and headed home, safe in the knowledge that the events were going to be repeated the very next night.

Repeated behind a layer of cloud!!!

The night wasn’t a complete flump as the 20 minutes of shots I took were combined into the orange picture you see below. I also made a short movie of the sky.

Orange master? For sensitive skin!

I was minding my own business and having a good dance along to my wii game when Ian texted, suggesting we do a twilight shoot, like right then. So it was off with old combats and on with some warmer clothes and out the door to a proper photo trip. Yieahy! The sun was just starting to set so we headed west along the river in the hope of catching it set over the water. After a small trip down a odd back road we ended up at Campsie Linn. This is usually a quiet area as is not the easiest place to get to and many don’t know of it, but this night the small car park was full and the road packed with parked cars. Very Odd. We decided not to investigate and headed down the other road to the fishing area close by. A short walk brought us out at the river side and we set up to capture what light there was.

I had remembered my tripod for a change which is a good thing as slow shutter speeds were needed to capture the light and movement in the water and clouds. So with low ISO and high aperture the shutter was about 15-20 secs. My wide-angled lens is too big for my filters so I was unable to block out more light for lower speeds. I did however get some fabulous shots with it due the nature of the all encompassing lens. As the light started to fade we could see flaming lanterns exist the trees at the Linn itself and rising on thermals to grant their wishes, which was maybe a little odd for a summers evening in Scotland. Unfortunately with the wide lens they were just blips on the horizon. As the light got more and more dim the shutter speeds got lower and with a bit of experiment we found that with my camera on “bulb” mode I could use the remote shutter release to get longer exposures by pressing the button once to open the shutter and then pressing it again to shut it. This meant very long shutter speeds with no holding down shutter buttons or cables, very handy. However there is nothing like long shutter speeds to let you see how dirty your lens actually is.

Just after darkness really stared to settle in, the bats came down and the Linn camp had ended their night in a fiery water display, no idea what they were up to. Our shutter speeds were down to 10 mins and the batteries were starting to complain, but i did get a lovely shot before my battery gave up entirely. However the lens and sensor weren’t very happy with such long shutters and it took a lot of photoshop work to pull out the impurities. After the battery went we decided to call it a night as we could hardly see our way back, so we packed up our stuff and hiked carefully back down the river to the car. The low shutter speeds meant that we didn’t get as many shots as usual as each shot took longer and there was no postponing the sunset, but I am happy with the shots I did get and it was excellent to be out on a proper photo trip again.

10min Exposure, Lovely but left impurities.

The Rather Brutal Fly Killer

As potter is still working hard to support his family (how selfish!) I haven’t been on a proper photo trip for a while and thought I would do something else a bit in depth and proper photography like. I chose to have a macro day so put the Sigma 50mm Macro lens on, the one which doesn’t have an auto focus that works with the D40x. The Weather was a bit wild again so I roamed my flat, hunting for a subject. After stalking the cats and annoying them until they simply walked away every time I came near I thought to do my carnivorous plants, which I have 4 of (3 different species). Keeping the Aperture to 2.8 and 3.2 to give a very tight depth of field and a good shutter speed on ISO 100 or 200 I  got up close to the monster plants, being careful not to actually touch them with the lens as got a suspicion they would eat anything that got too close. They are really interesting and quite brutal plants up close, with leaves and stalks running red form their kills. Strange thing for a Veggie like me, maybe, but they keep the fly’s down and hence keep the spiders away! Above the plant in the bathroom is a small glass wind chime that my sister gave me a couple of years back which was spinning gently in the light. With a bit of struggle I managed to get a few shots of this too though it was hard to focus on something moving with such a small aperture especially with only manual focus, needless to say a few were out of focus! But the glass looked beautiful with the sunshine dancing over it.

Then I had the great idea of shooting my tattoo! fabulous! only problem being it is on my stomach (couldn’t do the one on my shoulder or upper arm as couldn’t look through view finder to focus as am not a contortionist!). After twisting and turning my body at odd angles (not good for the old dodgy shoulder) I managed  to find a way to work around my curves and that so I could see my tattoo through the lens so I could focus.  Really would of liked an auto focus for this one as am all sore now! I used window light to give it some highlight and tried to keep the ISO as low as I could without gaining too low a shutter speed as I was shaking a little under the strain, my poor stomach muscles. So with low F number, low to medium ISO and decent light to give a highish shutter speed I finally got some decent shots of my tattoo which I had never seen except upside down or in a mirror. Of course I had to turn it a full 180 on the computer to get it the right way up. It’s quite pretty! With a little photoshop magic to sharpen the images and turn some to monotone, which I have a liking for these days I got some lovely close up shots to make the everyday look interesting.

My Dargon

As my sister was up with her husband and twins we had arranged to go over to my uncles house to see the Kelman side of the family. As there were too many people for one car me hired a 2nd so each had a baby and 2 adults per car. We got to Kelman central just as my father was pacing a hole into the paving in anticipation of seeing the twins, which he had spent the day before with. I had the most important person (except the babies) with me as I had picked him up on the way. My grandad, who at 94 is the oldest Kelman, so as I also had the younger twin in the car I had the oldest and youngest Kelmans, (well technically Tabby is not a Kelman but close enough). Father forgot to say hello to myself, my sister and his father and was straight to grandchilden.

Oldest and youngest of the clan

After Uncle Alex had managed to feed the clan and ensure we all had something to drink we enjoyed the day out in his garden which thankfully is quite large as with 7 children and a host of adults we needed a lot of space. I got out the camera to capture the gathering, especially grandad with the twins as he had requested such a shot.  The day was hot but muggy and the light awful, but I managed to get some nice shots. I had to keep the aperture a bit higher then I’d like as when you work with children the problem is they keep moving and if the depth of field is too short they go out of focus as they have moved between the setting the focus and pressing the shutter (dam fast things children!). This however left the problem with background being too busy especially with all the people milling around. In the end it was down to a lot of photoshop work to get the best shots. I found myself using a lot of monotone to get a good depth and contrast to the shots and also added a bit of grain to a couple to give them that little something more. Unlike lots of people I like high contrast in portrait shots, like dark shadows even on the face, but The light was too flat for this and the flash was just a bit too much trouble as it just gave babies something else to eat or older kids something else to stand on.

Most of the shots were of the babies of the clans, Tabby, Georgie and my cousins little girl Lottie. They were happy around the camera and were quite eager to eat it and put little fingerprints on the lens. Some of the best shots were taken by using the auto focus and putting the camera down in front of them and relying on the wide angle to give a good shot, but of course this is how the little fingers got all over it. Guess that’s what lens wipes are for though. The older boys (my cousins’ children) were too busy running around and playing football to get their photos taken but we did get a shot of all the kids together at the end.  Most important is we did the photo of grandad and the twins, the meeting of 4 generations. Grandad was wonderful as always and adored being with the new generation, so much so when the adults retired inside he decided to stay outside claiming that he couldn’t hear what everyone was saying inside was just going to say outside. Us Kelmans are a stubborn lot. My cousins husband had a term for this kind of behaviour, a Kelmanism, which is when we say or do something with such certainty others will believe it is right, regardless of weather it is. My eldest sister definitely does this and once made myself and my other sister believe that the sun was the other side of the moon!

Clan children

All in all it was a good day and was great to be with family, even if my own parents forgot to speak to their own children and went straight to the grandchildren. We enjoyed introducing the twins to the clan and gave them some early warning of what is to come and how stubborn and argumentative their family can be, but also how loving and accepting. Us Kelmans don’t worry about what others may think as we know we are the best!!!! (a Kelmanism I believe!)

I had been aware that it had been raining heavy all night and when I got up in the morning, running late as usual, I didn’t think about the rain beating down on the roof. I couldn’t find my boots quickly enough so just shoved on my trainers and ducked out the door. The city centre was very wet but just had a few big puddles littering the streets. I got to the bus stop, thankful for my storm proof jacket, and had to jump over a rather large puddle to get on the bus. The driver advised me that the Crieff road was a bit flooded but he would try and pull into a drier part for me. I thanked him and took my seat not thinking it could be that bad. How wrong I was! We came over the railway bridge and into a biblical storm. The rain was lashing and the road was under a foot or so of water. The mini roundabout was barely visible at the edge of the flood and the other 2 roads leading off it were closed and I could see what looked like a river or mini loch happily expanding over Feus Road. The bus driver dropped me off a bit further up the road than usual as the bus stop was under ankle deep water (and that was on the pavement). Hood up tight I walked the 100 yards or so to work which thankfully was on slightly higher ground and not flooded, once there I called my mum who lives down the road and at the worse of the flooding and found she already knew as she had went into her kitchen and found it full of water and when she opened the back door the patio was nowhere to be seen under the new pond. Luckily for her the kitchen is sunken and has a step of a few inches to get into the dinning room or hall and this probably saved the rest of the ground floor.

The rain calmed as the day went on and I supported a service user into town which wasn’t really affected by the flood with the roads and pavements clear with only a few basements needing pumped out. On the way back we noticed a police sign on the Crieff road and were worried that the road was closed but it was just a danger sign as a manhole cover had blown when the flood hit in the morning and the pressure not only moved the cover but also a fair chunk of road and the area was littered with large chunks of tarmac, am very glad I hadn’t been there when that happened.

Sweeping the water under the fence

After work I walked around to mums place to see her and my sister and her family who had flown up from London for a visit. I went round the back as I had no boat to get down the main road which was still flooded and was now full of firemen and pumps. The back street and pavement were clear, as was the main part of garden but the patio was only passable with wellies or by jumping between sandbags. The drains were spewing up water and the vent under the house was throwing out water too. The neighbours daughter was standing sweeping the water under the fence to her garden where a industrial pump was pumping it out to the back street where the drains were still functioning. I jumped the bags and into a slightly sodden Kitchen, the water had dropped enough that at least it was no longer filled with water. Not sure how they got the kids and stuff into house, but they did, but unfortunately without luggage as the airline had misplaced it! Between us we kept sweeping the patio water under the fence until it levels dropped enough that we could move the pump between the gardens without the other one rising dangerously high again. Eventually we could actually see the paving slabs and could take the lino off the kitchen floor and give the floor a sweep and clean.

Out the fr0nt the water levels were high and it was like walking out the front door at a loch side. Fortunately for us the water reached the front garden but not the door, guess the old Victorian drains and foundations aren’t all bad, the people over the street were not so lucky. I got some shots as the water receded a little and I felt a bit safer standing on the sandbags at the front gate. There were pumps and firemen everywhere, all working hard to uncover the street again. It was well into the evening before the street was anywhere near passable but it still had open drains as the manhole covers were missing. We found out from a neighbour that the problem was that the old drain had been slowly blocking with silt and were now 70% Silt, the local councilor who lives in the street had been campaigning to get it fixed and had won and the work was to start next week. Too late unfortunately for the residents.  The old blocked drain could not deal with the quantity and speed of the rainfall and panicked!

The worse of the flooding at the front of the house

Today though is a warm and bright day and it seems impossible that yesterday was so wet, the center is all dry and sunny like nothing ever happened. However for those in the flooded areas there are ruined kitchens and wet foundations and floors to remind them of yesterdays weather tantrum. Thanks and praise have to be given to the fire brigade  and the people in the neighbourhood (especially my mums lovely neighbours) who all chipped in to clear the flood and save as much of the houses as possible.

The Weather had taken a turn for the worse and I was bored of waiting for the cat to give me a urine sample (not an easy thing to do) so I decided to do a multiplicity shot to pass the time. Recently I’ve had some training days that have explored mental health problems, including Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a very interesting mental health problem, when suffering form it the mind does some amazing but very disturbing things. There is the visual hallucinations along with the audible ones and although there are a few recorded incidents about the ‘voices’ saying nice things the vast majority hear and see very negative things, which I feel must say something about humanity. It has existed throughout time and is thought to be what was happening when people were seeing and hearing demons. But guess you could argue it was responsible for people hearing God and angels too. Also psychic mediums could be seen as schizophrenic as they display many of the symptoms, they just know how to control it and make money from it. The training also dispelled the myth that a schizophrenic is more dangerous than someone who isn’t, there is no evidence of this and just like the general public personality plays a part, some are nasty, some nice after all they are just as human as the rest of humanity.  I also learned that 1 in 5 schizophrenics get better within 5 years, 1 in 3 will get better but with some remaining symptoms and only 1 in 5 will continue to have the troublesome symptoms.

Anyway this all inspired me to do a multiplicity on the subject. Multiplicity is made up of several shots put together. To do this 1st you need the shots so it was out with the tripod. I set the camera up with an ISO of 800, as the light was poor to the bad weather, and a F number of 11. After a couple of shots I decided to use the off camera flash to enhance light and detail. As I had no one else to shoot I used myself. In order to do this I used the shutter release remote (another cool gadget I have for the Nikon) which allows me to take a shot without being behind the camera. Then leaving the camera on the tripod I moved around, got changed and changed my hair to get the different characters for the shot.  After about 40 shots I decided I had enough to work with and uploaded them. I then chose the main shot, with the main character and opened it in photoshop. Working with this shot as a center I chose the next character that would fit in to interact with the main one. With this 2nd shot open in photoshop I selected the character in question using the magic wand tool (holding down shift to select more than one area until the whole figure was selected) and copied it over to the main shot on a new layer. Using a new layer for each character means if you make a major mistake you can just delete the layer and not have to start the entire thing from scratch. Once both characters were on the same photo I moved around the 2nd one until in the right position and then using the earser tool rubbed out the bits which needed to seem to be behind the main character. To finish off character 2 I cloned in any bits missed out by the magic wand from the original shot and then brightened her a bit and made her slightly transparent by reducing the opacity of the layer. I then repeated this process for the other 2 characters and once I was happy with them and their positioning I flattened the image before saving it. Then noticed I had a foot missing and had to clone that in too! stupid foot! The finished shot was not perfect but I’m happy enough with it, even if it did take over an hour to work up in photoshop.

The finished image