Grape vine leaves provide an interesting silhouette against the sunset colours in the sky.

vine leaves at dusk

Settlers Rest Farmstay, West Swan, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 35mm f/2 @35mm, 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO640

vine leaves at dusk

Settlers Rest Farmstay, West Swan, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 35mm f/2 @35mm, 1/160 sec, f/2, ISO160

I enjoy shooting during the golden hour (the first or last hour of sunlight during the day), it provides lovely lighting. This is another photo from our recent farmstay in late December, in the Swan Valley.

grass at sunset

Settlers Rest Farmstay, West Swan, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @42mm, 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO100

Not sure if you noticed it, but several months ago I enabled full-text RSS feeds, so anyone subscribing to blog updates via email or using an RSS reader will now see the full post, without having to click through to the blog itself.

(If you are not subscribed to this blog, then you may want to consider subscribing via RSS or email to ensure you get get notified of all new posts on this blog.)



I recently came across a cool device with the interesting name of Little Bramper. It is a bulb-ramping intervalometer for Canon DSLR cameras that allows the shutter speed to be varied during a time-lapse, to allow better results for time-lapses done during sunset and sunrise.

Here's a sample time-lapse created with a Little Bramper (via Canon 5D tips):

Sunlight behind a vine leaf accentuates the structure and veins of the leaf.

grape vine leaf detail

Settlers Rest Farmstay, West Swan, Western Australi
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @70mm, 1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO200

This is the sixth article in a series on "understanding your camera" that I am writing as I teach camera basics and camera operation to my children.



It has been a little while since the previous post in this series. I am hoping to publish additional articles in this series a little more regularly this year.
Before looking at camera controls and camera operation, I want to first re-visit the concept of f-numbers, f-stops and stops, as an understanding of these is important for further posts in this series.



The f-number is the ratio of aperture to the focal length, because the area of the aperture opening changes with focal length.
It can be calculated as the ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the aperture opening, ie,

f-number =	focal length
	--------------------------------------
	diameter of aperture opening

This allows you to calculate the f-number (aperture number) for a given focal length and aperture diameter, or alternatively, to calculate the aperture diameter for a given f-number and focal length. For example, this equation allows us to calculate that a 50mm lens at an aperture of f/2 will have the lens aperture opened to a diameter of 25mm.

I'll be posting more photos in coming weeks from our recent farmstay in the Swan Valley.
In this photo, the evening sun provides some rear lighting on this dried grass, bathing it in a golden light. I love the colours and lighting during the "golden hour" just before sunset!

golden ears

Settlers Rest Farmstay, West Swan, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @24mm, 1/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO100

We spent last week at a farmstay in the Swan Valley. The kids loved interacting with the animals, including collecting the chicken eggs each morning.

Samantha collecting the eggs at Settlers Rest farmstay

West Swan, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 35mm f/2 @35mm, 1/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO500

Looking back at 2010 makes me realise just how busy a year it has been for me.
In addition to being busy with family committments and community-related committments, I travelled fairly regularly for work, spending a total of 7 weeks away from home.
I visited Sydney (twice), Adelaide (three times), Brisbane, Gold Coast, Roxby Downs, as well as a road trip to various locations through NSW, including Newcastle, Wollongong, Nowra and Botany Bay.

I always try to take a camera with me when I travel for work, and managed to find some opportunities for photography in those locations.

looking down on City Beach

Flagstaff Point, Wollongong, NSW
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @19mm, 1/200 sec, f/11, ISO100

I participated in the Worldwide Photo Walk for 2010, attending one of walks in Perth with my two oldest children (aged 10 and 11). I also went on several other photowalks with friends and colleagues throughout the year.

St Mary's Cathedral

Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @21mm, 1/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO100

One of my more interesting photography-related purchases in 2010 was a Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens. On a Canon 50D body, I prefer the 35mm focal length rather than 50mm (a 35mm lens results in an effective focal length very close to 50mm, rather than the 50mm lens' effective focal length of 80mm).