Nicolette's Notebook

How creativity seems to colour every day of my life

White Rose...

Wednesday, 16th November 2011

Playing with the new camera again...  this series of photos were taken of the white rose which still has a few blossoms even so late in the Autumn...


I liked the brown stamens and the sandy coloured dying petals...  The photos are not quite as sharp as I would like but we have a slight breeze outside today...  and a breeze always affects close-ups...  I like the lovely soft bokeh in the background of the rose...  the colours blend into each other in a way that doesn't detract from the subject of the photograph...


This is a particularly pretty white rose that grows in my shadiest flower bed near the neighbours garage wall...


A test close-up shot taken with the lens 1 cm from the rose...  I like the sharp focal point and how the rest of the petals become beautifully blurry...


The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is a nice camera to hold... a solid feeling and weight in my hands...

Tiggy...

Tuesday, 15th November 2011

The new Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 arrived just before lunch...  I slotted the battery into the charger to allow it to charge for long enough to be able to take a few test shots...


This photograph and the one below are of my mum's cat Tiggy outside in the garden...  I was trying out the macro setting as I wanted to see how it managed doing close-up photography.  I have always loved taking close-up photos.


The camera took lovely clear photos outside.  It is a dull late Autumn day and the light was mundane...


Then I moved indoors with Tiggy.  I wanted to see how the camera would handle in-door lower light shots.  This was one of the features that was most important for me when choosing the camera and having a point and shoot camera with a lens starting at f2 was important for me.  My last point and shoot was not good at handling low light...


There is some noise in the background but it is not awful...  and certainly not as bad as with the old P4. This photograph like the one above was taken from the shady angle with the light from the window behind Tiggy...


I am pleased with how this camera has handled a rather tricky setting and Tiggy is not a cat who likes to sit still for very long.


I am really looking forward to testing this camera's abilities on a walk...

New Point and Shoot...

Friday 11th, November 2011

For months now, I have realised that the time to replace my late lamented Nikon P4 had arrived...  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my Nikon DSLR D3000 and the amazing selection of lenses, filters books and other camera related paraphernalia that have taken up residence here, since its arrival, last Autumn...  
Without it I couldn't possibly have won a prize in the Zoo Photographic Competition...


1st Prize in the 'best funny caption' category 
98, 99, 100, Ready or Not here I come!!!


Highly Commended in the 'best picture taken by a visitor' category...

But there is a lot of weight involved with taking a DSLR out for a walk...  and I really wanted a great point and shoot camera that I could put in my coat pocket or my handbag and literally carry with me everywhere that I go.  I used to take the P4 with me everywhere.  Which meant I always had a camera when I saw something exciting or the light seemed to change just as I turned the corner or I met an animal in a strange place, there would be my trusty little camera ready and waiting...  

The other problem I have with the DSLR is that I don't feel particularly comfortable wandering the lanes and byways with an expensive camera and assorted lenses hanging on my shoulder...  So I tend to wait until Neil can go for a walk too and at this time of the year... well... apart from weekends... it is always dark by the time we can go out together which isn't ideal for photos...

The crunch came when I bought my ticket for going over to spend 3 weeks with family in Kent...  I really didn't want to take so much valuable camera equipment in my luggage but nor did I want to miss taking photographs of my family over the festive season...  Neil will be with his family and also wanted to be able to take photos over Christmas...  so he will use the DSLR system and I have bought a new Point and Shoot...

Then I started trying to choose...  I knew that the camera had to be good at taking photos in low light conditions as most of the photos over Christmas will be taken inside the cottage which has very small windows and not a lot of light even in Summer...  My favourite types of photography are animals, close-up (can't call it macro because I have never actually had a macro lens but I do love to see the details in the hedgerow), and landscape...  I have also begun reading about taking my photographs in RAW format and wanted the camera to have this option as well...  Okay, I have become used to the DSLR and I wanted a point and shoot that could come as close to giving me DSLR functions as possible but with the light weight/pocket size of a compact camera.  

After literally days of reading online reviews, browsing photography magazines, reading blogs, reading amazon reviews and gazing at image after image on Flickr...  I finally narrowed it down to a choice of 4...  okay, so only 3 were ever really in the race but a woman can dream...
  • Canon Powershot S95 - this was a major contender for me, even though I am not really a Canon fan...  My last film camera was a Canon Powershot which replaced my beloved Nikon Coolpix (stolen from luggage between Russia and Northern Ireland) but since then I have moved through several Fuji Finepix (2 were stolen), Nikon P3 (stolen), replaced by Nikon P4, then the arrival of the Nikon DSLR and I was not completely convinced that I wanted to go back to Canon...  Then I read that they are updating it to the Canon Powershot S100 in January 2012 and I decided no... not going there...  as this happened to me when I bought my MacBook Pro, less than a month later, Apple brought out the new improved version at a lower price to my new purchase, and months later I am still irritated by this...
  • Nikon P7100 - this was very high on my contender list and I was so very very keen on this camera...  I so love using Nikon...  everything about Nikon...  but on looking at the Flickr photos I was not completely convinced that this camera was the one for me even though on paper it seemed perfect... I just thought it was a little too big and chunky for what I want.
  • Leica D-LUX 5 - oh this came high on my dream list...  I looked at it... I read about it...  I drooled...  but - the price - there was just no getting around the price - way too expensive for what I want or need...
  • Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 - came into the picture...  Made in the same factory as the Leica D-LUX 5 and uses the same lens.  But at half the price of the Leica.  I looked at the photographs on Flickr... now granted I had to scroll through many amazing professional photographs before I started finding images taken by "ordinary folks" but when I did... I was so impressed... beautiful closeups of everything from leaves and peeling bark to cats claws...  stunning colour...  great indoor shots...  I just knew this was the camera for me...
So the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 has been ordered on Amazon, along with a spare battery (yup - I take more than 400 photos on a walk), a 32gb Sandisk (noticed that taking photos in RAW take more memory and I have had my 16gb card flash up as full), a converter that will allow me to use some of my filters on the camera (pleasant surprise for a compact), and a book on getting the most out of this camera.  I had noted that other buyers although loving the camera... were less than enamoured that the manual is on a CD...  not so useful if you want to refer to it while standing knee high in wet grass...  

I have never owned a Panasonic, nor has Neil, so this will be interesting.  It is good, now and again, to stretch myself to look at the possibilities of using a different brand to my favourite, and as I said to Neil, I already have my Nikon DSLR system that can do everything plus a lot more than my little P4 could achieve, so it will be nice to see what a different camera can do.

Should arrive on Tuesday...  so exciting...


Mystical Magical Belfast...

Saturday, 5th November 2011


Magical, mystical Belfast... 


The Mourne Mountains in the far distance...


The fog blankets the city... 


With glints of sunlight breaking through...


And then... the fog gradually begins to fade away...


Waiting Patiently...

Saturday, 5th November 2011

I have a wonderful group of feral pigeons who like to visit for their breakfast every morning...


We woke up to sunny morning and blue skies for the first time in days...  so after feeding the birds, small and large, the cats and ourselves, we will go for a walk on Cavehill...  We have had such a wet summer and autumn that any sunny spell especially in November should not be missed...


My friendly pigeons are still being patient but they have noticed I am photographing them from the window instead of being down in the kitchen sorting out their food...


Even with the sunlight... there is a very definite autumn chill to the air.

Halloween...

Monday, 31st October 2011

It is Halloween and the bangs, crackles, whistles and shrieks seem to be dying down.

On our evening walk last night on the Cavehill, Neil and I arrived at the viewpoint just in time to watch the whole of the Halloween Fireworks display by the river Lagan in Belfast.  I didn't have a camera and Neil took some photos using his phone.  The shots are a bit fuzzy but we were about 4-5 miles from the fireworks.




It was a magical display and amazing seeing the sheer scale of the fireworks over the city lights.

I must try out a few night shots with my camera and the tripod I received for Christmas.  I have never actually taken the tripod out of its box yet...  but with the winter nights drawing in, I am sure to have more opportunity for trying.

Garden Orb Weaver Spider

22nd September 2011

We have an orb weaver spider in residence on the other side of our bedroom window...

This is a wonderful short BBC Wildlife video of an orb weaver spider spinning her web...  Absolutely worth watching the beauty of the process...


Although I am a bit nervous around spiders...  This morning when I opened the curtains, she was busy rebuilding part of her web...  and I could not fail but to be amazed at how she was working...


My orb weaver spider has beautiful striped legs...  I often see these spiders in the garden in Autumn...


I pretty much tried every lens that I own to take these photographs... and fervently wishing that I had a macro lens...  In the end I had most success using the AF-S Nikkor 35 mm prime lens with the Canon 52mm close-up lens 500D attached.


Soon after taking these photographs, having finished her work, she vacated her web and headed off to the corner of the window frame to snooze...  

Enjoying a Swim...

21 September 2011

Yesterday I decided to go to the zoo with my camera and the Sigma 70-300 mm lense.  Our zoo in Belfast is on the slopes of the Cavehill and there is a wonderful walk around the animal enclosures along a meandering path on rather steep gradients...  

I thought this photo of the sea lion was perfect for Watery Wednesday...


I think this is sea lion is definitely blissed out...

Yellow Roses...

Monday 19th September 2011

Macro Monday

Gosh it has been a while since I joined in with Macro Monday and it is fun to be back...


I just adore roses...


The sweet delicate perfume...


Delicate soft yellow petals...


And the gaudy showiness...


To me... roses are sheer perfection...



Strange Conversation...

18th September 2011

For SOOC Sunday this week I have chosen a photograph (which has been cropped) that I took on a visit to the zoo with my two nieces in early September...


I would love to have known what these two were saying to each other...

Driftwood...

Monday 12th September 2011

Macro Monday

I have had a very busy summer and look forward to sharing some of the different series of photographs that I have taken while on my many walks and visits to new places.


This series of photographs is of a wonderful section of tree trunk that drifted onto the beach.


I just adored the colours and textures on this wonderful piece of driftwood.


I've always loved driftwood.  I love the way the time spent in the sea water smooths the rough edges.


Partly buried in the sand...



I love the contrast in texture between the wood and the sand and pebbles.


Wonderful textures and green algal growth...



The subtlety of the colours of charcoal, grey, sand, beige, olive greens, ochres... are just glorious.


Beautiful textural swirling patterns...

Sleeping at the Zoo...

8th September 2011

My nieces and I spent a eventful day at the zoo before we travelled over to England.

As we arrived Maya said that her tooth was bleeding.  It was a baby tooth.  So I gave her a tissue and said she should wiggle it gently.  By the time we reached the elephant enclosure the tooth was out.  So I carefully wrapped it in tissue so that the tooth would not be lost.  She was a little worried that the tooth fairy would not be able to find her on the ferry.  I said that the tooth fairy was magical and would find her.  When she expressed concern that the tooth fairy would be too tired to fly home, I said that she would be able to rest on the ferry and travel back with it to Belfast on the return trip.


There was general consternation that we could not locate the ring tailed lemurs.  These sleeping black and white lemurs had to suffice.


I thought it was really cute...


When we reached the monkey house... we peered at the mass of monkeys all snuggled up together.  My niece wondered how many legs and arms each monkey had.


I said two legs and two arms.  
That they were just enjoying a group cuddle and a snooze in the warm sunshine.