Rapids! are one of those rare bands that actually sound the same live as they do on their recordings – no vocal skullduggery here, Mr Cowell! The band have recently signed to label Heist or Hit, and their debut single will be released in September.

The band were gracious enough to invite me to a practice session so I could get in the way with my D700. Funnily enough, in the darkness of the practice room, I had a problem. The D700 was too responsive to the light. Shooting at ISO 1800 and above the shots looked “normal”, so I had to slow the shutter speeds and revert to ISO 800. More of a challenge to focus, but ultimately the proper feel for the indie rockers they are.

Look out for the single, in the meantime you can listen to Rapids! here.

PDN Gear Guide featured an article yesterday on a gadget developed to stop pictures being taken of celebs (or Big Brother contestants) without their consent.

Consisting of a sensor attached to a set of LEDs, the device detects the light of a flashgun and emits enough bright light to wash out the picture. The project is a brainchild of NY University graduate Adam Harvey, who is working to patent the device and reduce the size.

Of course if you’re shooting with a D700 or D3 you could ramp up the ISO without flash and beat the system… for now.

Read the full article at PDN Gear Guide here, and check out Adam Harvey’s site for full details of the project.

Picture above courtesy Adam Harvey / ahprojects.com

Check out this great video from LensRentals.com comparing the different sizes of Nikon telephoto lenses. I’m never going to grumble about the size of my 70-200 f/2.8  again!

To think that wildlife shooters use a 600mm f/4 regularly as well – at least their wallet would be lighter…

Nikon D700, 24-70 AF-S @ 70mm, 1/640th at f/7.1, ISO 200

The New Forest confuses some people in that it’s not just trees. There are lots of wide open spaces to enjoy, often shared with the odd New Forest pony or twelve. A walk on Sunday took us into the forest near our home and presented an ideal opportunity for practising panning.

By panning I don’t mean criticising; there’s enough of that going on at the moment elsewhere. I was having fun with my parent’s dog, chocolate labrador Molly, and a bundle of hair apparently concealing another canine. As they approached I switched the D700 into continuous focus mode, and multiple frame advance in shutter priority mode, selecting 1/640th second. By continuing to track the dogs as they ran past I was able to get four or five sharp shots. This was my favourite, mostly because the mop is in full flight and there are little catchlights in both dogs’ eyes.

A little different from the Red Kites and cricket recently, but another technique that’s good to practice on. Watching a little of the Formula 1 racing this weekend has tweaked my interest in a little motorsport, where panning is really critical. Watch this space!

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 340mm, 1600th @ f/4.8, ISO 450

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 340mm, 1600th @ f/4.8, ISO 800

Summer’s arriving – which in the sleepy village of Sway in the New Forest means that the sound of willow on leather can again be heard on the village green. Well, the sound of willow wafting at leather anyway.

The second XI were at home to Beaulieu on Sunday, so off I went complete with D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 and teleconvertor, and a monopod to keep me stable. For the second time in as many weeks I was left feeling a little inadequate – filling the frame from the edge of the boundary was proving difficult. This time I was shooting in shutter priority mode, and varied between 1/500th and 1/1600th of a second.  I wanted to make sure the ball was a little blurred to give the impression of motion while the batsmen were frozen in their pose.

Sadly I had to go before Sway’s bowlers began their onslaught, but I’m pleased to say the end result was a well earned 154 run victory. The shots above show top scorers Rick How and Nilantha Atapattu on their way to 74 not out and 52 respectively.

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 290mm, 3200th @ f/5.6, ISO 500

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments about the Red Kite shots from a couple of weeks ago, as promised I thought I’d better post a bit more on the technique and equipment behind the scenes.

You might think that we used shutter priority to select a fast shutter speed, but I was worried that with contrasting low light in the background the camera would select too large an aperture, and the bulk of the bird may be thrown out of focus. So I used aperture priority, adjusting the aperture between f/5.6 and f/8, and using the ISO speed to get a quick enough shutter speed to make the Red Kites sharp. For much of the day I was able to use ISO 320 to get a shutter speed over 100oth of a second, but at times I went as high as ISO 800. Fortunately the D700 makes such choices academic.

I was delighted at the performance of the D700′s autofocus system which worked brilliantly in conjunction with the AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 lens and TC-17e teleconvertor. The effective maximum focal length was 340mm, which although not really long enough to fill the frame as much as I’d like was still fine for getting some shots I was pleased with. Andy Keen, a local wildlife photographer, was shooting with a Canon 5Dmk2 and 100-400mm lens and got some great shots, some of which are now on his blog. If I did more wildlife work then a longer lens would be nice (could a 200-400mm AF-S lens fit in my stocking, Santa?) but I think that’s a dream for another day!

Another thing I’ll take away from the Red Kites is a sore pair of arms. We had our tripods set up inside the hide, and while it was useful to track the birds as they came in from a distance it became a little restricting when they flew closer overhead. I found myself hand holding the lens (thanks to the quick release on the 70-200 lens collar) and taking more shots like this towards the end of the day.

Gigrin Farm is a great location, especially with the Elan Valley and it’s spectacular dams and reservoirs close by. In my youth I loved the Dambusters story, and my enthusiasm was nothing short of childish when I found out this was the testing area for the famous raid by 617 Squadron. Next time I visit I’ll be focussing on the dams in the morning when the light is at it’s best (hopefully!).

Nikon D700, AF-S 24-70 @70mm, 1/125 @ f/5.6

It’s been a busy week in the Forest after the relaxing Bank Holiday weekend. The long weekend turned into lots of preparation at work and expectant kids at home. Poor old Harry does get a camera pointed at him more than most kids, and I loved his expression above. Has he turned into a teenager over 10 years early?

Nikon D700, AF-S 70-200 VR with 1.7 teleconvertor @340mm, 1/160 @ f/6.3

Our garden is attacting all sorts of visitors at the moment (and I’m not just talking about the in-laws). I was really impressed with this shot, not only because of the detail, the pleasing bokeh in the background and colours – and also as it was shot handheld at 340mm using a slow shutter speed. Yes I was supporting the lens properly, but I have Nikon’s amazing VR technology to thank for this one.

I’m writing a more detailed account of the Red Kite shoot from last week, and I’ll include some of my landscape and waterfall shots from the weekend as well. The Kites were featured on Springwatch on Monday, if you missed it check out the episode on BBC’s Iplayer.

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 320mm, 1000th @ f/5.6, ISO 320

This Bank Holiday weekend I spent some time with fellow photographer Andrew Keen in Powys, Wales. We managed to pack in a lot in two days, including a trip to see Red Kites being fed at Gigrin Farm in Rhayader. Here are a few of my early favourite images – I’ll be blogging soon with more pictures and notes on the equipment and techniques we used.

From here we also managed to visit the Elan Valley with it’s spectacular old dams and reservoirs, and waterfalls near Lake Vyrnwy. The area’s being featured on BBC’s Springwatch series at the moment, you might even see us on there…

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 320mm, 2500th @ f/5.6, ISO 500

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 340mm, 2000th @ f/8, ISO 320

Nikon D700, 70-200 VR with 1.7 Teleconverter at 340mm, 2000th @ f/8, ISO 320