You’ve got opinions on your camera, lenses and accessories haven’t you?  I’ve yet to speak to any photographer who hasn’t wanted to share their thoughts on their equipment and now there’s a new way in which you can do just that.

PhotoGearUser.com is a website I’ve been working on for photographers to rate and review their photography equipment.  In return for airing their thoughts and carrying out a public service to other potential users, reviewers get a link back to their own website.  So if someone reads your review and finds they want to know more about you they can just click on your link.

There’s a few reviews already up.  I’ve posted a few and others have contributed.  I’d really like to get more product reviews and have been thinking about possible incentives such as gift vouchers or maybe even cold hard cash.  Maybe run a monthly lucky draw and an award for the best review.  What do you think?

The list of products is far from complete so if there’s something you want to tell the world about or just have a rant and it’s not yet listed just drop me a line.

It’s a phrase that I often find people smuggly stating about their photographs and I often wonder,

Does that make the photograph any better?

After all, it’s not as if image files coming out of a camera are untouched by any form of processing as each digital camera will carry out its own manipulation of the image before it’s spat out.

As far as I can recall, I don’t think I’ve taken an image that couldn’t be improved with some post processing.  What does that say about me?  What does that say about my camera?

The whole point of me shooting in RAW is the latitude I get for post processing.  I’m not yet quite arrogant enough to think I won’t need it.

Perhaps, my photographic karma will suffer the consequences of post processing, but I don’t think straight-out-of-the-camera shots are big nor clever.

Am I wrong?

After visiting Seacombe ferry terminal over the past weeks for some sunset shots of the Liverpool waterfront, I decided it would make a nice change to capture the sunrise instead especially since the sun would rise from the direction of the city centre.

I’d also just recently taken delivery of a Cokin P neutral density (ND) graduated filter set and was keen to try them out on a landscape shoot.

So, just after 7am this morning, we (I dragged my able assistant along - don’t worry, she’s a morning person!) arrived at the waterfront to find a number of other photographers already set-up and the sky was already turning a light blue.  I felt like a schoolkid arriving late for class!

Anyway, with auto-bracketing on and my new ND grads in place in front of my EF-S 17-55mm, I set about taking a series of shots with the intention of stitching them together.

Why stitch?  I could easily fit the most significant parts of the Liverpool cityscape into frame with my lens set to 17mm, but the resultant image would be too much sky and river.  There’s just not enough detail to be able to crop down a single shot so I prefer to take several and fill the frame with more buildings.

Here’s an image that’s actual comprised of 15 individual exposures - 5 sets of 3 bracketed shots tone mapped and stitched.  It’s too wide to see in full here so click it and view the original size to see it the detail.

I’m happy to say that this particular pic has been featured on the RedBubble Liverpool group.  Now, if only someone would buy a print…

It wasn’t easy, getting up so early on a weekend, but I will do it again and next time I’ll be further to right so that I can get the sunlight reflecting off the other side of the buildings.  I’ll also shoot in vertical format instead of horizontal so I can get more sky and water without losing any detail.  It means a bit more post processing, but when I’m faced with clouds and reflections like this I’d prefer to capture them.

There’s nothing quite like the drama of a sunrise or a sunset to really bring a landscape photo to life.  If only there was a way to know exactly which direction the sun was going to rise or set when planning a shoot.  Well, you can do just that for absolutely free!

All you need is:

• A copy of a sunrise/sunset chart
• A compass
• The sunset/sunrise time
• A timepiece

With these handy charts, you can see exactly which direction the sunset and sunrise is going to be all year round.  Print one off and stick it in your wallet, purse or keep a copy on your phone!

The EF 50mm lenses from Canon are probably the most talked about lenses I’ve come across (in the world of Canon). Their popularity is no doubt partly due to the great value of the f/1.8 flavour, which costs less than £70, in light of the sharpness a fixed focal length lens brings.

As well as the f/1.8, there are f/1.4 (2/3-stop faster than f/1.8) and f/1.2L (1/3-stop faster than f/1.4) versions each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

• 50mm f/1.8 (aka nifty fifty) offers sharpness, shallow depth of field and low-light capability in a very light and inexpensive lens.
• 50mm f/1.4 improves on the build quality, image quality, autofocus performance and bokeh of the f/1.8.
• 50mm f/1.2L delivers the best sharpness, image quality and build of the range, but at a cost of money and weight.

On a full-frame camera these lenses offer a versatile focal length suitable for a wide variety of different subjects.  On a cropped sensor body, the 50mm focal length moonlights well as a short portrait lens, highly usable for full-body through to head and shoulder portraits.  The maximum f/1.4 aperture is very effective at blurring backgrounds helping subjects to really pop out of a photo.

I used to own a 50mm lens on my old Canon 1000FN, but must admit that it didn’t get to see much action.

Now, with my 1.6x cropped sensor 40D, my 70-200mm f/4L is just too long to get the kind of bokeh I really want for portraits and as good as my EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 is sometimes its depth of field just isn’t shallow enough.

After seeing its almost cult-like following and a number of wonderful shots (including this one), I decided to take the plunge again with a 50mm lens after deciding the EF 85mm f/1.8 would just be too long for portraits on my 40D.

Interesting to note that Canon’s 50mm f/1.4 seems to fall behind in the sharpness and contrast stakes when compared against Sigma’s own 50mm f/1.4.  Here’s a link to a 100% crop comparison of Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM and Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM and I’m afraid to say that the difference is very apparent.

Given that the Sigma costs about £100 more than the Canon it ought to perform better, but of course they’re just photos of charts.  What’s more important is their performance in the field and I’m glad to report the Canon’s no slouch in any department.  What’s more, the shallow depth of field and bokeh - albeit octagonal - make for very pleasing results.