dgrblog

Old tree sunrise This week end I decided to make a huge effort and catch some early light photography at two of my favourite locations. Saturday was a clear morning with a lovely sunrise but Sunday was overcast, rainy, misty but little or no wind. Saturday The old tree was my intended photo for Saturday morning but while capturing that I heard geese and ducks up by the loch so headed that way for some extra shots. The swans below made interesting images as the light was getting brighter. The old damaged boat was another super subject. Lairds Loch a frequently fished loch near the Dundee to Coupar Angus road is large area of water where capturing reflections is made quite an easy task with the wooded hills that surround it. Sunday came and it was over the Tay to Wormit in Fife. The rail bridge is always great to photograph as is the old ruined building at the west end of the bay. One of my dogs, Fergie, loves the water. He kept entering the Tay for a sw...

Scanning negatives and slides on a flatbed scanner can be quite challenging. The cost of a dedicated scanner is way out my league so I was interested in reading this article on making a device for providing the light from above the strip of film. Once I have tried this out I will let you know about the results.

Read about this amaxing device today. This video shows the camera in action and there is also an interview with the inventor Ren Ng.  More detailed information can be seen on the Lytro website It is a new way to look at photography. The camera picks up all the light from the scene you are photographing and through a lens array the light is passed onto the sensor. Information recorded at the sensor is not just the light level but also the direction this light travelled in. Rather than focusing before taking the image, focus can be selected at various points in the image after it is taken. The camera is simple to use with only two buttons, shutter release and power. There is also a 8x optical zoom with a constant f2 aperture. The large aperture makes this camera ideal for low light picture taking. Example image Example image from the Lytro website shows what can be done with the images. Click on the image to change the point of focus. This can be don...

The Carnoustie Tournament played on Carnoustie BC green was a great success again. The weather was great, the green had unbelievable pace at times and the players produced some excellent bowling. Ailsa Robertson and Mark Thompson from Dudhope BC not only won the pairs competition but were semi finalists in their respective singles competitions. The singles winners were Harry Grieve from Fairfield BC and Ann Gray from Forfar BC.

First time I have seen one of these in my garden. It loves the fat balls.

Visited the Scottish Game Fair at Scone Palace near Perth, Scotland this weekend. The fair runs from Friday 1st June to Sunday 3rd June. We went on the Saturday. The weather was really hot on the Saturday morning with continuous sunshine till after lunch when it clouded over but was still quite warm. We arrived at the car park area at 8.30am and there was already large numbers n the car park. We were in row G. Many people had their own cooking facilities in the back of their vehicles and were preparing breakfast on small stoves. The roads to the fair were well managed and there was no delay in accessing the car park or indeed the fair site through the turnstiles where you paid your entrance fee. The £15 per person fee was great value. A family ticket of 2 adults and 2 children was only £32. Once you have paid you can leave and re-enter as often as you want, you get a stamp on your hand for getting back in. Once in the fair there were many trade stands, food stalls including a ...

Had a problem while heading home last night. Got a puncture in the off side rear tyre. Thought it would take 15 minutes tops to be back on the road but an hour and a quarter later we finally removed the spare wheel from under the car. In the Zafira the spare is carried under the car held in place by a rack which is lowered by turning a bolt in the equipment tray, under the carpet in the back of the car. This was all straight forward but on some Zafira's there is a security bolt as well which holds the wheel in place, that was the problem. Still with some brute force we got it done. Once the spare wheel was out it took only a few minutes to change and head for home.