Leap! (He's A Very Silly Boy)

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Yes, it is the 29th of February on a leap year.
Yes, I did go to the park, in the dark, with a pile of light stands and flashguns, and jump off a bench.
Yes, I did rather enjoy this.
Yes, I am a very silly boy.
No, I do not apologise for this fact.
One more, if you're silly enough, after the jump...

Has Bean

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Will consume copious volumes of bean juice in order to function in a manner loosely resembling normal...

Mad day

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What a bonkers day... I feel like I've got next to nothing done, at least of stuff that I was planning to get done, yet I've been running round like there's no tomorrow!

Texture I could almost eat!

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It's a backup image today, shot a few days ago.
It's been quite a busy day today, and I ended up running out of time to shoot anything interesting. (I'm sure you don't want to see a phone photo of an EV charging summary screen!)
I really liked the textures in these clouds, going B&W and bumping the contrast really brought them to life.

Sleeping Vineyard

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Continuing the theme from yesterday, Three Choirs Vineyard under the full moon.
A trio of extras of the dew this morning after the jump.

Moonrise

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Nearly didn't get this one.
I've been at Three Choirs Vineyard today, and was chatting and looking out over the vineyard after our wine tasting, when some fellow visitors noticed my camera and directed me round the corner of one of the buildings to see the moon peeking over the horizon.
Fortunately I had the 150-600mm lens with me and was able to get the moon looking something close to as good as it looked in reality.

Thank you for the tip, anonymous wine lovers!
One more after the jump.

I think you've dropped something

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Reflect upon this performance

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Something from nothing

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An interesting cloud pattern but fairly boring, flat, evening light was what I saw when I left work today, and I almost headed straight home to do some macro work for today's photo, but I've been meaning to revisit this tree for a while, and I thought the pattern in the clouds might line up behind it, perhaps as a black and white image with some interesting textures.
As I parked up and got my boots on, I saw some interesting colours starting to appear, and I realised that it was probably going to be worth my while. After a few minutes, this fiery sunset appeared.
Aside from plonking my hand straight down on top of a patch of stinging nettles, I really enjoyed seeing and shooting this.

I always loved this lens on my APS-C bodies, but in combination with the 6D Mk II, I think it's incredible, and keeps giving me images I'm really happy with. I just seem to keep reaching for it every time I go out.

One more after the jump.

Not feeling it

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Feeling a bit wilted and uninspired tonight, for no apparent reason.
Meh. Here's a shot from Derbyshire at the weekend that I was reasonably pleased with.

Trent Bridge

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One more after the jump.

Some for now, some for later

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Another one that I'm quite pleased with from my trip out yesterday.

Snowdrops

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One more after the jump

Moody Skies

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A couple more after the jump.

Breakthrough

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Another backup image today - not because I haven't taken anything, but because I'm not able to share any of the photos I shot this evening on here!
I spent the evening taking portraits of some of my family to celebrate a milestone. I was very pleased with how well they came out, especially given that I've not done any serious portraiture or lighting of human subjects for years. I'll have to find a willing subject (victim?) I can shoot and share on here at some point!

Lifted Spirit

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It's a backup image today, taken a few days ago.
I unexpectedly had a last-minute invitation from a friend this evening, and while that threw my photo plans off, it made what might have been a bit of a difficult evening much nicer, and I really appreciated it.

Into the mist

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Another wet night, but with a bit of mysterious mist to play with today.
Glad of the weather sealing on the camera here...
A couple more after the jump.

He Who Contemplates

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Not me, at least not today. I have (perhaps unwisely) been spending money on cameras instead of contemplating.
After years of wanting to, and never having a good enough reason, and / or enough spare money to throw in that general direction, I have finally gone full frame after finding a nice used 6D Mark II at a price that I couldn't resist.

In the pink

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One more after the jump.

Sunset, obscured

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Some more after the jump.

Good Memories

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One of the wines we had at our wedding. Lovely stuff, on a lovely day.

L, I miss you every single day. I'm forever glad that we managed to have our day, on our terms, before the rug got pulled from under our feet.

Stop / Go / Whatever

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Just about drowned both myself and the camera tonight... Filthy weather!
A couple more after the jump.

Definitely more than hints

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Not the finest of photos, I'll admit. But in a little over a month, and even with a forecast of snow, the change is marked.

Wet Night

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My bokeh appears to have measles here... Not sure whether the lens was filthy or just rained upon. Ah well, it's clean now!
Another pic after the jump.

Pizza!

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I love this bit of kit. I reckon it's probably about half paid for itself vs takeaways, and I've only had it a couple of months 😂.

Olive Bread

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As fresh as it comes, straight from the oven.
Yes, I did eat some of it immediately.

It turns out that being able to adjust power and turn specific flashes on and off remotely is as useful as I thought it would be.
I'm very pleased with the Godox setup, although my older 430EX flashes don't talk to the radios like the newer units do, so they are on/off and trigger only, no remote power adjustment is possible. I'll probably (eventually) either replace them with used 430EX IIs or more likely go for a couple more new Godox TT600s. Pricing is similar, actually less for new TT600s, and the included accessories are pretty nice.

Happy accident

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I was messing around with water and flashguns again (there is at least one theme emerging here).
One flash failed to fire on me for one or two shots, perhaps a transient radio issue, or the batteries in were dying, and couldn't keep up; but I ended up preferring the shot where the flash didn't do its thing!
I've included a couple of shots where things went according to plan after the jump.

2 flashes, one each side on the front, one flash, gelled green, on the backdrop, and when it worked, a fourth flash with a tight grid fitted, aimed from the back right.

I've made an interesting discovery that the EOS 80D seems to have much more jitter in its trigger time than the EOS M6 Mk II does. The M6 II seems to have very little jitter, in that subsequent frames triggered identically don't vary much, but the 80D seems to vary quite a lot. I might try and measure it at some point, just for the hell of it.

/

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Not sure whether I prefer this clean one, or the one after the jump.
Also, dog pic, because why not?

Lo-fi Knot

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I was feeling a bit defocused, and couldn't decide what to shoot, so the lensbaby came out.