Photography

Introduction

I am passionate about photography. Whenever I go out with my family to interesting places, whether for a short bike ride around the neighbourhood, a day out to the countryside, or abroad on holiday, I always take one or more cameras with me, looking for interesting subjects and scenes to capture.

My favourite areas of photography are wildlife, landscapes, panoramas, architecture, sunsets, random objects, and any natural scenes I find. I don’t limit myself to those, but they tend to be what I take photos of the most.

I am not currently that interested in studio photography or portraits, although I enjoy taking portrait photos of people I know.

I purchased the D3200 in 2012, just before we went to Iceland. It’s an entry level camera but produces brilliant photos. At the time I had a Panasonic DMC-ZS10, but I was self-studying the technical side of photography, and wanted a camera with manual control.

I have taken around 90,000 photos over the last 3 years with this camera (as of 2016), and am still learning. I enjoy both aspects of photography: The technical – choosing the right lens for the scene, knowing what aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and other camera settings to use for a desired effect, and the amount of available light; the creative – composing and framing the photo, trying different techniques, angles and viewpoints.

When it comes to photography though, you never stop learning. I have been learning from day one, and I will never reach a point where I can say I know everything about photography, especially since they are always enhancing the technology, and making what was not possible before a reality now. And there are an infinite amount of scenes to be captured in an infinite number of ways.

So my advice to anyone interested in photography out there, is that you should continue to learn and try new things. There is no limit, and there is no point at which you should stop and decide that you know everything there is to know!

This is what drives my passion with photography – trying different camera settings, new angles, techniques, viewpoints – using my imagination and looking for photo opportunities that people without a camera usually miss. I have been criticised for taking too many photos and of being ‘stuck behind the camera’ and not able to ‘live in the moment’. In response to that I say that I am living in multiple moments simultaneously compared to the average person, because my brain has become conditioned to look for different views and interpretations of scenes all around me.

I like taking interesting photos of scenes that the average person would not give a second glance to. When you walk around you see many things, but don’t pay much attention to them. When you have a camera you start to employ lateral thinking artistically, and re-examine apparently mundane scenes.

See my Galleries page for more photos.

Panoramas

I love panoramas, because I love landscapes, especially when there is a good view, like from a mountain top or a high building. Or just generally a scene I want to capture, but which does not fit into the width of a standard photo.

I create panoramas by taking multiple overlapping photos, and then stitch them together with Hugin, a free open source panorama stitcher. Hugin has a wizard which does most of the work for you. Even so it takes a fair amount of time to create one panorama. The result is that I have photos in a number of albums that have not been stitched yet. I will find the time at some point.

I have a Samsung phone which has a Surround Shot mode, which allows you to take a full spherical (360° x 180°) photos. The phone stitches it all together for you, and the results are quite impressive. It is not perfect though and sometimes fills in areas where it can’t work out the overlap. This is usually happens if you don’t keep the phone in one place while taking the photos.

I used to use Dermandar to host my panoramas, but can no longer embed them. You can still see some of my public panoramas there.

I am now hosting these on my website – Panoramas, using free viewers I have found online – Panellum, and Paver.

My Cameras

Sony DSC-T3

When I was young I had various point & shoot film cameras, and have used some disposable cameras. My first digital camera was the Sony T3, which was a good little camera and fitted easily into my pocket, which suited me back then.

Panasonic DMC-ZS10

At the time the technology was at the point where your phone could play music as well as take decent photos, and I was convinced that I would no longer need a separate camera – a view that many people hold today. However, like smartphones camera technology progressed, and cameras with 10x and 12x zoom emerged. I was not happy with the single focal range of my phone’s camera, nor the resolution, so I purchased the Panasonic DMC-ZS10, which was a nice compact zoom camera.

Nikon D3200

A few years later I started to do some self-study and learned the basic photography concepts and techniques, and realised that the Panasonic was rather limited when compared to a DSLR. A friend of mine had a DSLR and I was impressed with the quality of photos it produced, and the control you have over camera settings.

After some research I decided to get the Nikon D3200, as it was an entry level camera, affordable, higher resolution than most of the other cameras in its class, and had an ‘assistant mode’ built in – which I never really used!

I originally bought a fixed 35mm and a 55-300mm telephoto zoom lens to go with the camera. My first trip with this new camera and lenses was to Iceland. While walking around I quickly became frustrated with having to continuously change the lens when I needed to take telephoto or wide angle photos. A while later and after some research I decided to purchase a Tamron 18-270mm lens. I wanted to Nikon 18-300mm, but it was more than double the price, and I could not justify it having not tried either.

The Tamron proved to be a good buy and I love that lens. It covers a very wide focal range and is light and you can take it anywhere. Anyone wanting a ‘walk-around’ lens for a DX camera should definitely look at this as an option.

Later on I purchased the Tamron 10-24mm ultra wide zoom lens second hand, as I wanted to photograph architecture and interiors of old houses, and this lens can be used for some nice creative effects.

I use the fixed 35mm lens for portraits, parties and other events, sometimes with a speed flash if at night.

The DX lenses I have are as follows:

• AF-S Nikkor 35mm F1.8G
• AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm F3.5-5.6G
• AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm F4.5-5.6
• Tamron 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD
• Tamron 10-24mm F4.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD

Olympus Tough TG-3

On snorkelling holidays I occasionally bought disposable underwater cameras, but was disappointed with the quality of the photos. Rather than buying an expensive underwater enclosure for one of my cameras, I decided to get a dedicated underwater point & shoot camera, and I decided on the Olympus Tough TG-3. It is a brilliant little camera with an aperture of F2.0, and is waterproof to 10m, and can be dropped from 2m apparently, and left in the sand on the beach. If used in the sunshine you need to stop it down, as the maximum shutter speed is1/2000s, and at F2.0 you will overexpose your photos.

Nikon D750

After 4 years of using the D3200 and around 100,000 photos, I decided it was time for an upgrade. After a lot of research, and for various reasons I won’t go into here I decided on the Nikon D750. I love this camera! It has a nice deep grip; lots of customisable controls; a newer better 24MP sensor; 3D focus tracking; and many other nice features that I wanted. It is a fullframe (FX) camera and is slightly better than the ‘cropped sensor’ (DX) range when it comes to image quality, depth of field, and sensitivity. It also has a screen that can pivot up and down, for those difficult shots.

I wanted a lens I could walk around with, and have wide angle and telephoto zoom all in one, so I got the Nikkor 23-300mm lense to start with. I also purchased the Tamron 150-600mm telephoto zoom as I love taking photos of wildlife, including birds in flight. A lot of people are saying that this is a good lens and I am amazed at the photos I have taken with it. I am not a professional photographer, nor do I have experience with a lot of different cameras and lenses, but this lens feels good and is generally brilliant!

I subsequently bought the 18-35mm lens for wide angles, and the 24-85mm for a standard zoom lens where I don’t need extended zoom.

I have a wishlist of lenses that I would like in the future, funds permitting. They include the Nikkor 16-35mm F4.0; Nikkor 24-120 F4.0 (this is supposed to be better than the 28-300mm, for when I don’t need the reach – maybe); Nikkor 70-200mm F4.0; and some primes, starting with the Nikkor 35mm F1.8. I am not considering getting the legendary 24-70mm F2.8 at this point, although that may change in the future. I may look at Tamron variants, but this will need research.

The FX lenses I have currently are as follows:

• AF-S Nikkor 50mm F1.8G
• AF-S Nikkor 28-300 F3.5-5.6G
• AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm F3.5-4.5G
• AF-S Nikkor 18-35mm F3.5-4.5G
• Tamron 150-600mm F5-6.3 Di VC USD

Insta360

To create the cylindrical panoramas on my Panoramas page, I took a number of overlapping photos along a horizontal plane and then stitched them together. See Panoramas below for more info. For 360° spherical panoramas I used to use the PhotoSphere functionality in my Samsung phone’s cameras, but sadly they removed that functionality. Although it was a painful process and i didn’t capture many of them. Dedicated 360° cameras have been around for a while now (as of 2024), and the quality, features, phone app and desktop software have matured to the point that they produce good quality photos and video, but still obviously not as good as taking separate photos with a DSLR and stitching them together.

After reviewing various makes and models I decided to get myself an Insta360 camera, which captures an 8K image, although this is spread around the full 360 degrees. The camera has a great phone app and desktop software, Insta360 Studio, which allows you to produce some creative images and video.

Phone Cameras

I have had a number of smart phones over the years. The technology has improved to the point that most people don’t bother with a separate point and shoot camera anymore. I currently (2024) have a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra which produces brilliant photos, but they are nowhere near a match for a full frame DSLR. I do use my phone’s camera if I don’t have my DSLR with me, or if I want to take a photo to share with someone immediately. There are definitely some advantages to using the phone camera.