Combine harvester, grapes and leaves with Sigma 10-20

[Tobers]

Lovely day! I put my 30D and Sigma 10-20 in a small Tamrac should bag (just fits the camera with lens on), jumped on my motorbike, and proceeded to enjoy my two favourite pastimes.

Using a bike really frees up your ability to take pics. You can just stop anywhere, dont get in the way of anyone, and you can see so much more than being in a car.

I've also been reading Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure book so decided to take all my pics in Manual mode

Riding down a little lane through the Sheepleas woods near Guildford, I saw light filtering through the trees and hitting some of the foliage lower down in little patches. I liked the way the light illuminated the leaves and made them transluscent. I took this one (#1) at 1/80th at f4, with the ISO up at 640 as it was pretty gloomy.



Onward & upward, I rode past a field with a combine harvester parked in it. Too good a chance to miss. I put my polariser on - luckily both my 10-20 and 17-55 have 77m threads, lay on my front in the stubble, and got this shot, #2. What a cracking lens this is. 1/125th at f16, with ISO still on 640 as I'd forgotten to reset it . I had to de-noise it a bit in Lightroom. The polariser really did a good job on the sky and the colours. I like the big spike too.



And last for today. I had ridden over to Box Hill to check out all the other bikes and have a supremely tasty egg & bacon bap. Just nearby is a vineyard which apparently produces really tasty wine. Cant imagine they've been having a good year this year with it being all cold & damp. I got down low again with the polariser on and shot upwards to get the lovely blue sky. I knew I wanted background blur so chose f4 and got 1/200th with ISO inexplicably at 200 this time. I could have done with f2.8 or more actually - very tricky to get good bokeh with such a short focal length. #3...



All in all, a lovely hoon on the bike, and some excellent discovery of manual mode. Now which way do you turn the dial to increase the shutter speed??

Cheers

Tobers

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Well the combine shot and the grapes are just superb. First shot is noce as well but those last two are really nice.

[Gizmo 76]

Really nice collection of shots tobers , but the signature does get in the way a bit

No.1 actually reminds me of a shot from said book, but my fav is definitely No. 2 , well worth the rashed body and a great use of the wide angle.

Has the 30D got the ISO information in the viewfinder, because i'm pretty certain the upcoming 40D has if you want it

[D2V2D]

Nice photo's, very sharp. I like number 2 the best & number 3 in a bottle. Todays perfect weather for bikin'.

[Tobers]

Ta folks. Darn - forgot about the sig which is in the Lightroom export dialogue. I'll have to sort that out.

My fave is the combine harvester shot. The wide angle of 10mm is just great. You can get such cool angles with it. I really like the big spike looming forward which then draws you into the rest of the picture. Looking at it again, I could have got a bit closer to it I think. Might see if it is there tomorrow.

No, the 30D doesn't have permanent ISO in the viewfinder, but if you press the ISO button it will display in the viewfinder and you can change it & see the change happen in the viewfinder. However, I often forget to reset it and am trying to get into the habit of doing so.

Obviously I need a 1DSmk3

[bodoman]

Just love the combine harvester. great photo

[Liquid101]

Nice shots Tobers - 2 and 3 for me. Both good stock shots too

[icemanonline]

Nice shots .........combine is a cracker, as is that Sigma lens

Mint set of photo's mate and congrats with your efforts using Manual Mode. I have tried manual mode a few times but still learning. Seeing your results though certainly gives a goal to go for! 4 me anyway....

Well done Tobers

icemanonline

[Tobers]

Ta muchly. It's a bit confusing using Manual mode - I'm some way away from being instinctive yet, but practice makes perfect. I want to be able to move aperture and shutter speed without even thinking about it. On the 30D, the quick twiddle dial on the back is really cool but I need to remember which way to turn it. Same with the dial near the shutter release.

I'll get it eventually. Good fun though, and the exposures above are spot on so there's something to it.

Tobers

[jonnypb]

great shots, did you use a CPL filter?

[Tobers]

Yep - 77mm Hoya circular polarising filter. Nicely made bit of kit.

Talking of filters, all my Cokin filters & mounts are for sale in the for sale forum. I've started on big time Lee filters now!

[macker2006]

Really like that combine shot too mate, well done

[goso]

Nice to have some sun for a change to be able to get on the bike I'm thinking its probably a laid back Harley? great shots.

[Tobers]

A Harley!!! No way. It's a KTM 950 Supermoto - the best bike I have ever ridden....cue excuse for a bike pic...

[D2V2D]

This is my mate's bike. He's often goes to Northern Spain in the mountains. He's also been to Morocco on it with a group of mates. He's bike mad & had various Harley's over the years then a BMW & now he's had this KLM for 2 years.