Train set

THESE pictures started as a project to document a typical day, but halfway through I got distracted.

“Late again?” To the commuter? Or, about the running of the train? Both, I would say. These tracks go all the way to Gatwick Airport.

A lot of people, including myself, catch up on sleep during their morning commute. Once on a train from London Waterloo, I had a nightmare and startled some passengers by waking up with a grunt.

Taken at my favourite time of the day: go-home time. This picture was shot from the bridge connecting the ten platforms to the concourse at Reading Station.

Eddy.

Shooting the moon

WHEN shooting the moon in the night sky, it is tempting to expose for maximum light capture, with a large aperture, slow shutter, and high ISO. But that is the absolute wrong way to go about it, as that will result in a big round shiny blob on a black background.

The correct settings — typically f/11, 1/500, and ISO 100 — can be disconcerting at first sight. These are also typical for shooting in bright sunlight, so why do they work for shooting the moon in the darkness of the night?

My personal theory is that they work because the moon is in a similar lighting condition as a subject lit by a midday sun. After all, the moon glows because it reflects sunlight. Lots of sunlight.

This shot was taken with a Tokina 80-200mm f/4 on the D40 in manual metering and manual focus mode. I felt nostalgic for the simplicity of the D40 after spending so much time with the D200 and just had to fire it up.

Eddy.

55mm f/3.5

THERE IS a reason behind the popularity of the Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 Micro despite it being a non-AI (AI standing for Auto Indexing) lens. It produces amazingly sharp pictures when used both for macro and general shooting. The maximum aperture being f/3.5 may appear rather restrictive for non-macro photography, but taking into account that most kit lenses bundled with today’s DSLRs do not go above f/3.5 even at short focal lengths, it is not so bad after all.

The Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 is most effective when coupled with an extension tube/ring. In my case, I use the M2 which increases the magnification factor and, thankfully, allows me to mount the lens on the Nikon D200.

As you can imagine, when shooting such a tiny insect, one has to get very close, which causes some light to be blocked by the camera and the person taking the picture. As I did not have a flash unit fitted, I had to maximise the use of the available light by setting a large aperture. The downside of doing this is that the depth of field becomes very thin which causes large areas of the spider to go out of focus. Considering that the spider was not longer than 5mm between its extremities, the DoF must be 1mm or less. Amazing!

Eddy.

Farnborough car boot sale

FARNBOROUGH boasts one of the biggest Sunday car-boot sales in Hampshire. Attending the sale has become almost a weekly routine for us. I, in particular, like to visit a stall that sells photography equipment.

Foreigners represent a big fraction of the buyers; often, they will buy many items without even checking their condition. I believe that those are sent back home as gifts or for resale. As the saying goes, one’s man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

This lady looked rather downbeat, probably from poor sales. It had rained all morning, and there were puddles in front of some stalls, which kept potential buyers at bay.

Sometimes the sellers are selling for a higher purpose than just getting rid of their junk. When I am browsing, I try to make eye contact with them for some encouragement.

Eddy.