Hong Kong Nights

 

Hong Kong skyline from The Mount. Canon 7D, EF-S 10-22 @ 17mm, ISO100, f4, 3sec

Well, after a month on holiday we're back in Glasgow. The wallet's empty but my hard drive is certainly full. It's just about grinding to a halt with all the pictures on it. Now the task of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Should keep me busy for many an hour. In the mean time here are some night pictures of the Hong Kong skyline. It's a hard place to get amazing shots as the sky is rarely clear from haze as you can see from the above picture.

The daily light show "Symphony of Lights" where over 40 buildings light up in time to music.
Canon 7D, EF-S 10-22 @ 10mm, ISO100, f6.3, 8sec

Canon 7D, TS-E24mm, ISO100, f16, 20sec

Canon 7D, EF 24-70 @58mm, ISO100, f2.8, 1.3sec

Hong Kong Island

Canon 7D, Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II, f16, 20sec

Well, yet again the weekly blog has taken a slow turn. However goodbye wet and windy Scotland, hello Hong Kong and hello to cheap (ish) camera equipment, hello to a new 24mm Canon tilt and shift lens and hello no more converging verticals and to 50 megapixel panoramic shots like this one. The shift function is amazing. 3 shots taken at various horizontal shifts and stitched together in Photoshop. Because the lens keeps the same plane the whole time there is none of the bending of perspective that comes with wide angle lenses and therefore no information is lost. This is definitely my new favourite toy!!

Kotor, Montenegro

Well I've finally managed to get my camera out again after many months of studying followed by a period of life's bane, work. It has however, taken me to Montenegro for the first time and it turns out it's quite beautiful. The town of Kotor (a UNESCO world heritage site) lies in a bay surrounded on all sides by mountains. The picture above was taken from a fort on the hill above the town. The old city walls run from sea level all the way up to this point.

A view of the old town with the ubiquitous cruise ship in the bay.

Sun setting as we started up the walls.

The old city walls running up into the mountain.

Badelona

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22@14mm, F22, 0.3S, ISO100

The beach at Badelona, a few kilometers along the coast from Barcelona. Not too sure what these pyramids are for but they've done a nice job of turning them into art. Was quite disappointing after getting up at 6am to have such a dull sunrise but you can't have it all.

 Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm@12mm, f16, 1/4s, ISO100

I think this is an old power station but I've not managed to find any info about it. It can't be that long since it was in service as on google maps there's steam coming out of one of the chimneys. Some of the graffiti around the perimeter wall is quite stunning.

 Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm@12mm, f10, 1/60s, ISO100

A view from the road side.

Lady Birds

 Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f9.0, 1/125, ISO200

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f13, 1/320, ISO640

 Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f13, 1/250, ISO640

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f5.6, 1/250, ISO640

After another hiatus in posting, and photography really to be honest, it's about time I got something on the blog. This week we were inundated with lady birds on board the boat. We had literally hundreds of them all over the deck. I think it must be breeding time as that appeared to be one of the main pass times while they were here. That and getting squished by unsuspecting shoes. They really are tricky little things to get a decent shot of. Took hundreds of shots and only kept a few, but at about 8mm long and quite evasive when you get close, it's not surprising not too many came out well. They all seem to be well dusted with pollen too. They could have made a bit more effort for the camera. For those who are interested I believe these are seven spotted lady bird or Coccinella Septempunctata to give it it's full title. The most common lady bird in Europe

Callanish round 2

Here's the best of the rest of my shots from last night

The sun going down on a beautiful evening.

The almost full (it was full moon's eve) rising.

A different view of the Callanish Stones.

It's pretty cool what you can do with a couple of torches. I took a load of shots at the Callanish stones tonight. None are edited, just as shot with long exposures, a mini Maglight and a 1,000,000 candle power torch. It's my first real go at painting with light and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

This is probably one of my favourites. Taken just before I packed up.
f5.5/Exp 120sec 10-22mm@17mm ISO100

My first attempt with the Maglite and floodlight. The moon was so bright you can see the shadows it casts in all the pictures.
f4.5/Exp 201sec 10-22@21mm ISO100

f5/Exp 157sec 10-22@19mm ISO100

f4.5/Exp 198sec 10-22@18mm Special prize for naming the constellation in the top left.

f5.3/Exp 53sec 10-22mm@18mm ISO100

An old cottage beside the 2nd circle at Callanish.
f4.5/Exp 174sec 10-22mm@13mm ISO100

I've taken plenty more which I'll probably load up soon.

Tribidabo, Barcelona

Well it's been a while now since I posted. A busy month has passed in the shipyard in Barcelona. Great spot for Christmas and New Year though. Missed all the snow in the UK which is a mixed blessing. None of the transportation difficulties for me in the sun but no opportunity to go skiing or climbing. Anyway I'm back in Scotland now so hopefully there will be some more snow in the highlands and I can get out to the mountains.
In the mean time here are a couple of shots from Tribidabo which sits on the hill above Barcelona.

I'd just like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the best for 2011