Today we made a brief visit to the Peak Railway on the way to Chatsworth Park. All week we've had sunny weather and then someone threw the weekend switch so we got white skies and no sunshine. Oh well!
The flower was taken outside the Chatsworth shop (they were for sale) in low light and without flash so it turned out quite well. I took some other more colourful shots using the same technique which turned out to have a quite attractive abstract quality (being slightly shaky) which I quite liked. I've added these to the Miscellaneous gallery.
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Today we made a return visit to Belton House. This was the first time I had visited since getting the 7i as I had a faulty D5 on my previous visits. The 7i worked much better and the focus was spot on for virtually all the shots I took today which is something you couldn't say for the D5(s) I'd used there previously.
When we got there we found that there were Horse Trials being held in the grounds. Though they didn't really interest me we I had to take some photos and placed myself beside one of the jumps. I tried using the 'Sport Program' mode but found that continuous AF was more trouble that it was worth so I left it in the sport mode to optimise shutter speed but changed the AF to one shot and pre-focussed on the jump. The problem is if you let the camera turn off (power saving) then when you power it back on it's set to continuous again. Anyway I chose a couple of shots and they're in the Miscellaneous gallery along with a couple more from Belton.
I've also updated the Creatures, People and Close-Ups galleries.
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I'm sad to say that for one reason or another I didn't really get to take many pictures this weekend. The best laid plans .... We did get chance to make a quick visit to clumber though and here are the results.
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The bluebells are still not at their height but I got so excited at seeing them again I just had to get some shots. You can bet there'll be more over the next couple of months.
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These are probably the last pictures I'll take at the Armouries. I made the mistake of taking in a tripod to use it as a monopod i.e not opening it out but using it to provide some support in the low light. I was asked a couple of times if I had obtained permission (which stupidly I hadn't). The second attendant that asked suggested I go down to the information desk and get a badge which would stop other employees from 'challenging me'. I did this but no-one on the information desk knew about the badge so they referred me to another lady who referred me to a group of 'managers' one of whom stated that not only do they not allow the use of tripods but that all photography was also prohibited.
There are no signs stating that photography is banned (it certainly wasn't on my last visit in August) and the posted regulations as you enter the main foyer actually state in black and white that photography is allowed for non-commercial use. Coupled with the fact that none of the employees knew of this 'new' policy and that no-one actually tried to stop any of the numerous photographers I saw from taking pictures I have to ask. What's going on?
Anyway as photography is 'officially' banned at the Armouries I certainly won't be visiting very often in the future which is a shame as the colour and spectacle lends itself very well.
I sent an e-mail to the armouries regarding the confusion over photography which I encountered last month. It basically said what I had said on here and a week or so later I received this reply. They also asked that I remove the pictures I had from my web pages which I have done..
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