The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jan
25
Photo of the Week 49 – Backlit Butterfly
Filed Under Photography on January 25, 2009 | 1 Comment
When I was starting photography my Dad gave me one very good piece of advice, keep the sun at your back! The vast majority of the time this is great advice, and I pass it on to beginners when they ask me for advice. However, like all guidelines in photography, breaking them intentionally in a thought-out way can lead to great shots. I’ve never really been great at shooting back-lit subjects, it just doesn’t work for me usually, but this shot is the exception.
I shot this back-lit Small White (Pieris rapae) butterfly in the Junior Gardens on the St. Patrick’s College Campus (AKA the NUI Maynooth South Campus) in Maynooth, Ireland.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/400 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: F8
- ISO: 200
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Bias: -0.67
Jan
11
Photo of the Week 47 – Into the Night
Filed Under Photography on January 11, 2009 | 3 Comments
As a friend of mine put it on Flickr, this photo combines my three nerdy hobbies, Astronomy, Photography, and trains. This is a 5 second exposure of a commuter train approaching Maynooth reflected in the waters of the Royal Canal in the late evening while Venus & the Moon shine over-head. This is a shot I’d tried before, and each time I learned a few more valuable lessons. So, although this is the result of a learning experience, I’m still shocked at how lucky I was to get everything to line up as well as it did. The train, the reflection, the silhouette of the tree, those things I could control, but the positions of the Moon and Venus, those were a pure bonus! Anyhow, if I had to pick my three best photos yet, this is one I’d definitely choose.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 5 sec
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: F5
- ISO: 200
- Camera Mode: Manual
- Exposure Bias: -2.0
Jan
6
Photo of the Week 46 – A Winter Night in Maynooth
Filed Under Photography on January 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I shot this photo last December, but since it’s so insanely cold tonight I figured this would be an appropriate time to share it as a Photo of the Week. In summer this same grass is full of people sitting out enjoying the sun chatting or studying or playing Frisbee, but now, in winter, it’s pretty much deserted except for the occasional very determined dog-walker. This area of St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth is referred to as ‘the Graff’, and the building is St. Mary’s House. You can also see the spire of the college chapel, the Gunne Chapel, in the background.
This image is composed of four images separated by 1 stop combined into an HDR image and tone-mapped with Photomatix Pro.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: F3.5
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
Dec
21
Photo of the Week 44 – Amphibious Bistort
Filed Under Photography on December 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’m not even sure this is a good photo technically, I think the depth of field is actually too shallow, but I’ve always liked the composition and the green of the bokeh, so I’m counting it as one of my best regardless.
The flower is a somewhat strange one that grows on both land and water, hence it’s name, Amphibious Bistort (Persicaria amphibia). I really like it’s spikes of pinky-white flowers, and it’s very common in Cavan where we have no shortage of either wet soil or water for it to thrive in!
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/500 sec
- Focal Length: 55mm
- Focal Ratio: F8
- ISO: 200
- Camera Mode: Auto
Dec
17
Photo of the Week 43 – The Royal Canal
Filed Under Photography on December 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Apologies for the later than normal Photo of the Week, but I got distracted over the weekend preparing the talk I gave yesterday. Anyhow, with all this nasty damp and cold weather we’ve been having of-late here in Ireland I thought it might be nice to choose a brighter, sunnier, and warmer Photo of the Week.
This shot of the Royal Canal was taken from Jackson’s Bridge looking east towards Maynooth and Dublin. Jackson’s Bridge is the only crossing point over the canal between Maynooth and Kilcock and the bridge gives a great view to the east in the afternoons with the sun behind your back for good lighting. This shot was taken at about 4pm on the 30th of May this year.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/250 sec
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: F13
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Compensation: 0.0
Dec
7
Photo of the Week 42 – Jupiter, Venus & the Moon
Filed Under Photography on December 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Last Monday (1 December 2008), the Moon, Jupiter & Venus were in a very close conjunction in the sky. For the non-astronomers amongst you that just means they were very closely placed in the sky. In fact, they were so close that Venus actually passed behind the Moon! This week’s photo of the week if my favourite shot of the event, you can see the rest of my shots in this Flickr Set.
This week’s photo of the week was taken not long after Venus re-appeared from behind the Moon. You can see it just off to the right of the think crescent Moon. Jupiter is the bright point of light above and to the right of the Moon.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the technical details of this shot:
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1.5 sec
- Focal Length: 70mm
- Focal Ratio: F4.5
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Compensation: -1.0
Nov
28
Today’s Fire in NUI Maynooth
Filed Under 42 (Life the Universe & Everything), Photography on November 28, 2008 | 2 Comments
One of the things I like about NUI Maynooth is that it’s the kind of place where very little excitement ever happens. You get the odd evacuation because some muppet with a JCB has hit a gas main but nothing ever blows up. Life as a member of staff or a student in NUIM is generally a pleasant, peaceful, and uneventful affair. Today however was a little more dramatic, though you wouldn’t think it by reading the official press release from the university:
A small fire occurred this morning in the student restaurant at the edge of the North campus of NUI Maynooth and has since been brought under control …
My definition of a small fire is dramatically different. Surely when you can see the plume of smoke from your office half a mile away and when a building is levelled it counts as more than a small fire?
Nov
23
Photo of the Week 40 – Making Hay
Filed Under Photography on November 23, 2008 | 2 Comments
I generally stick to traditional aspect ratios when processing my photos, usually 4:6 or square in fact, but from time to time I get all daring and go for an extreme crop, this is probably one of the most extreme crops I’ve ever done from a single image, but I have to say I like the results. Oh, and yes, I did have to wait a long time till the tractor spat out a bail of hay at exactly the right moment! I think I shot about 100 pictures that afternoon, and this is the only really good one from the lot.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the technical details of this shot:
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/640 sec
- Focal Length: 130mm
- Focal Ratio: F5
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Compensation: -0.33
Nov
11
Photo of the Week 38 – After the Rain in Killybegs Harbour
Filed Under Photography on November 11, 2008 | 2 Comments
I was in Killybegs for a wedding a while ago and was hopping to get some good shots. Killybegs is located on Ireland’s north-west coast and is our largest fishing harbour. The weather was terrible for most of the weekend but the light we got for about half an hour one evening just made up for it all. We had dark ominous looking clouds to the east and a few gaps in the clouds to the west to allow the setting sun to peep through for a few minutes at a time. Photography heaven! I just love sunlit subjects against a dark brooding sky. This is my favourite shot from the weekend showing a collection of fishing boats of different shapes, sizes and colours against a wonderfully dramatic sky.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the technical details of this shot:
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/2500 sec
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: F5.6
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Compensation: -0.67
Nov
2
Photo of the Week 37 – Laraghbryan Church
Filed Under Photography on November 2, 2008 | 1 Comment
The ruins of Laraghbryan Church are set amidst an old graveyard and next to a modern grave yard. The whole lot is surrounded by high trees so although the church is only a few hundred yards from the road, many people drive by every day without ever realising the wonders hidden behind those trees. Because of the trees though it’s very hard to get a good shot of these ruins so I’ve had to resort to HDR to even have a chance. I’ve taken a lot of shots of these ruins and I’ve settled on this one as my favourite because of the nice shadows being cast across the church.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the technical details of this shot:
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: F5.0
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Three Brackets:
- Exposure Bias: 0.0 (Exposure: 1/800 sec)
- Exposure Bias: -1.0 (Exposure: 1/1600 sec)
- Exposure Bias: 1.0 (Exposure: 1/400 sec)