A trip to Bolam Lake

[Michael W]

So today I decided to pop down to Bohlam Lake next to Ponteland and Morpeth as I have heard that there are some pretty nice views there. Unfortunately the weather was not very forgiving so the trip ended early because I was too busy taking pictures at one locations. It is a very nice place and the lake is massive! Anyway so here are some pictures I took, there are not a lot and I haven't yet went through everything so enjoy these for now!

Here is a portion of the lake

DSC_3354 by Michael W 94, on Flickr

The lakes inhabitants

DSC_3345 by Michael W 94, on Flickr

DSC_3331 by Michael W 94, on Flickr

Wildlife around the lake

DSC_3396 by Michael W 94, on Flickr

The Common Blue Damselfly and them mating.

DSC_3427 by Michael W 94, on Flickr

DSC_3454 by Michael W 94, on Flickr

DSC_3482 by Michael W 94, on Flickr

Enjoy,
Michael.[DOUBLEPOST=1405800460][/DOUBLEPOST]Okay... so I haven't posted a new image before since the forum upgrade so bare with me while I figure out how to show the images. 🙂

 

[Michael W]

This is the best I can do with uploading

 

[X3NiTH]

There's a drop box that you can use on Flickr that you can select a fair range of sizes from, when you change the value in the box it will readjust the provided link to the higher resolution you selected.

When the lights really poor you can safely select ISO 800, maybe even 1250 before you get noise degradation on bright images with a D300 (s model like yours may give you a tiny bit more), and if you get good at handholding you can drop the shutter speed down to the length of the lens you are using for static subjects, in this case 1/60s for a 60mm focal length. Are you using the 60mm Macro by any chance, if so sometimes the images will sometimes lack contrast which can be easily rectified by setting a black point and white point when editing the RAW files, this will make the images pop, I would recommend using CaptureNX for this. If you're shooting straight to JPEG you can tweak the image settings to give you more contrast and you can save this as a separate setting in a Menu Bank and select it when you use this lens, (that tome of a manual is a very good read). With the D300 I found an EV bump to 0.3 can help a lot as we'll as d-lighting set to normal.

I would seriously consider not using any of the auto modes and go fully manual, you may miss a few shots while you play but you'll learn more of what the camera is capable of given the lighting situations.

You'll be glad to know you have an excellent camera and I have no doubt that it will reward your patience.

🙂

 

[Michael W]

Thanks for the tips X3NiTh much appreciated! The D300S was a bargin in my opinion, I got it at a second hand shop for around 400 quid in very very good condition so I'm really impressed with it!

 

[X3NiTH]

Yep that's an absolute steal, Grays are selling a EXC+ condition one for £545 with over 30k on the shutter clock, £609 for one just shy of 8.5k on its clock (you will find the actuation count in the EXIF data). Shutter on the D300 is rated to do 150k. What lenses have you got? Do have a flashgun for it?

Btw if you don't have the manual you can download it onto an iPhone or whatever as Nikon provide a manual app in the marketplace.

 

[Michael W]

I have Nikon 35mm prime lens, Nikon 60mm Macro 2.8, sigma 50-500mm, sigma 70-200 2.8, Nikon 105, Tamron 10-24. There is still a lot more, I share these equipment with my dad he is the pro, I recently started to do some photography.

As for flashgun we have a Nikon SB 700.

 

[X3NiTH]

When doing close up macro use the flashgun but not on the top of the camera (not able to reach the subject at the closest point). Set the camera flash into commander mode (custom menu setting e3), pop-up the camera flash, set the flashgun into remote mode. Now you can use ninja skills to shoot the small stuff by holding the camera in one hand and the flash in the other and directing the light where you want it! Crossing your arms can help you to balance the two together. Another good trick to use with any lens to capture subjects with a brightly lit background is to put the camera into Matrix metering when the flashgun is in the shoe (make sure e3 is set to TTL) and you will notice that the flashgun reads TTL BL FP, you can then go and have fun shooting shadowed subjects while shooting into the sun!