50/50 project. #30/50 Making Waves (by Cheshire photographer Picture It Big)

Day 30. Making waves

50 days with a 50mm lens

Suddenly it feels like Autumn with a nip in the air and a cold breeze which was whipping up waves on the surface of the lake.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

50/50 project #18/50 Simple fun (by Cheshire portrait photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 18. Simple fun

50 days with a 50mm lens

This little girl was playing in the shallows with a boat she had built using a piece of polystyrene and a stick, pulling it along on a piece of string. I watched her play for a while and then wandered back to the pub where my two would no doubt be fighting over who could play Doodle Jump next. I passed a family of four playing pooh sticks off the bridge and was tempted to advise them to make the most of it, as such simple fun wouldn't keep them occupied in years to come.

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50/50 project #17/50 Surfing (by Cheshire childrens photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 17. Surfing

50 days with a 50mm lens

The kids are old enough to play in the surf on their own now but I still feel the need to check on them periodically (at the end of a chapter in my Asa Larsson Swedish crime thriller). It's a challenge to pick out your own children out of all the silhouetted, wet suit clad kids throwing themselves fearlessly onto each wave. I cheered a boy in a black and red wetsuit as he caught a wave and rode towards me. As I gave him an exaggerated thumbs up I realised with some embarrassment that it wasn't Sam.

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50/50 project #16/50 ...and relax! (By Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day16. ...and relax



50 days with a 50mm lens
After a marathon 6 and a half hour drive down to Pembrokeshire dragging our shed (caravan) behind us, we finally got all set up and felt as if we were on holiday. The caravan site is beautiful, just one mile from the beach and we are looking forward to exploring after a good night's sleep. That might be interesting as there are about a hundred very noisy crows flying from tree to tree on the edge of the site and they are making an almighty racket! Still nice to listen to as the sun sets and I sip a cold beer.

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50/50 #15/50 Keep calm it's onesie time (by Cheshire children's photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 15. Keep calm it's onesie time

50 days with a 50mm lens

Abbie and I found this onesie today (bargain at £7.99!) and fell in love with it - pity they didn't do my size - or maybe a blessing? Still really want my own onesie before they've gone out of fashion!

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50/50 Project #14/50 Distressed denim (by Cheshire Photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 14. Distressed denim

:50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/800, f/2.5, ISO 100 Aperture Priority

After Sam's mud bath yesterday I rinsed his jeans off with the hose and left them to drip dry on the line. They are now as stiff as cardboard!

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50/50 Project #13/50 No more pictures! (by Cheshire children's photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 13. No more pictures!

50 days with a 50mm lens

This is what happens when I take pictures of my kids nowadays! They'll appreciate me one day. We were at Manley Mere adventure trail where it's a bit muddy after the recent rain...

(I think they were both doing victory V signs at me  but one of them got confused with doing it backwards!)

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50/50 project #12/50 New Converse! (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 12. New Converse!

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical stuff: Canon 5D, 1/160, f/2.2, ISO 100, manual exposure

Abii has been waiting an age for these to arrive - a very late birthday present. They are custom designed and say "POTTERHEAD" up the back, homage to her love of all things Harry Potter / Daniel Radcliffe related.

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50/50 project 11/50 Down by the lake (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 11. Down by the lake

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 5d, 1/2500, f/2.8, ISO 250 Aperture Priority

I had a totally indulgent day of shooting at Lake Coniston today. A "styled shoot" had been set up for a group of professional photographer so that we could practise our craft with models and props. The theme was Swallows and Amazons. I shot mainly with my 70-200 f/2.8 "big boy" lens but took some time out to make sure I grabbed a few shots with the 50mm too.

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50/50 Project 10/50 Bee on heuchera flower (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 10. Bee on a heuchera flower

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 5D, 1/1000, f/1.8, ISO 125, Aperture Priority

There are plenty of bumble bees in our garden at the moment, but they aren't very obliging when you try to photograph them, only settling for a few seconds at a time. It makes it very hard to photograph them at extremely low apertures as you have to be spot on with the focusing.

I took this from above (and many more very similar to it but with blurred bees) and love the contrast of the flowering spires of the heuchera with the dark soil below.

The 50mm lens survived being dropped and the front element falling out. It's very noisy on focusing and I'm still eyeing up the f/1.4 - need to save up though!

The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed that I've switched to the Canon 5d. This has made quite a difference as it has a full frame sensor, meaning that the 50mm focal length is now actually 50mm, rather than the 80mm equivalent focal length that I was getting on the 350D which has a cropped sensor. I wasn't being too precious about this as I really liked the ease and convenience of carrying the much lighter and smaller 350D around everyday. But on the 5D the 50mm lens gives a considerably bigger / wider view and I know I'll get much better performance at lower ISOs. So from now on it's 5D all the way.

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50/50 project #9/50 A la Turka (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 9. A la Turka

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/1000, f/2.0, ISO 100, Aperture Priority

The bright early evening sunshine was streaming into this turkish restaurant in Stockton Heath and I wanted to see how the camera coped with the very contrasty scene. I love the way the menu and glassware are lit by the sun. A few minutes later sun had moved and the menu was in shadow.

By the way we had a cracking meal there with great service. Really delicious food - starter and main course £12.95 and kids menu £4.95. Their dessert was a piece of art - complete with cherries drawn with chocolate and red berry sauce.

The bad news is that a very excited dog greeted us at home wearing a neck cone and he knocked my handbag onto the hard stone tiles. My 350d and Canon 50mm f/1.8 were in it and sadly the lens has broken :-(. So this may be its last shot.

My husband suggests I check out the 50mm f/1.4...

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50/50 project #8/50 natural symmetry (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 8. Natural symmetry

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/80, f/1.8, ISO 400 Manual exposure

I bought this plant in 2007 - it was about 2 foot tall. It now stands at least 7 feet high and has thrived in its sunny, south facing corner. I love its enormous symmetrical, waxy leaves, especially after a down pour.

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50/50 Project #7/50 The day after the flower show (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 7. The day after the flower show

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/200, f/2.8, ISO 100, Aperture Priority

Inspired by all those lovely gardens at Tatton I tackled mine. Unfortunately my lack of green fingers and any knowledge means that the plants survive in spite of my efforts and the end result is "eclectic" if I'm being kind.

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50/50 project #6/50 What friends are for (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 6. What are friends for

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical stuff: Canon 350d, 1/4000, f/1.8, ISO 100, Aperture Priority

This was taken at the Tatton Flower Show - Ladies' Day - and I wanted a shot that would really capture the spirit of the day. Friends on a grand day out, taking the opportunity to get dressed up and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was very busy and seats were scarce, as were walls or places to sit and lean against. These good friends (or sisters?) solved this problem by sitting back to back and leaning against each other!

For more pictures taken with the 50mm lens check out my Facebook page.

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50/50 Project #5/50 Blue wins! (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 5. Blue wins

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350d, 1/1250, f/2.0, ISO 100, manual exposure.

I wanted to take a shot today that embodied how good life is when the sun shines. The kids had been playing boules on the front lawn and left them out (!)  and I thought this might work. We only ever play boules a) on holiday and b) in the summer. Also our front lawn is particularly dried out and yellow - another sign of a long hot spell.

There was some dappled shade courtesy of an enormous pine tree, but I've blown the highlights on the distant red boule. Did a bit of warming up in Photoshop and was tempted to patch the chip on the blue boule but managed to suppress the urge! 

50/50 Project: #4/50 Poor Ferb (by Cheshire family photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 4. Poor Ferb

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/160 f/2.8 ISO 100 Aperture Priority

Have you ever seen such a sorry sight. Poor Ferb went off to be neutered today and has to wear this collar for three days. He's so frustrated and unhappy as you can tell. I know this collar looks enormous but he was still managing to lick his wounds with the first one he came home in. And to add insult to injury this one is pink - as if he wasn't already feeling emasculated.

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50/50 Project: #3/50 Rainbow Sharpies (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 3. Rainbow Sharpies

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350d, Shutter speed 1/15, f/1.8, ISO 100. Aperture priority

As ever I had to play around a bit before I got the final shot. I did lots of different angles but found it hard to fill the frame with a long thin line of pens. This final angle has allowed me to capture every pen with no empty space in the frame. I've put a few of the rejects at the end of this post.

Working with the fixed 50mm lens is certainly making me work. With a zoom lens it would have been easier to just zoom in to fill the frame. But I would not have got this incredibly shallow depth of field with only 2 pens in focus.

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50/50 Project: #2/50 Windswept man (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 2. Windswept man

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical data: 1/400, f/3.5 ISO 100. Aperture Priority.

We went shopping in a very hot Manchester city centre today and came across this strangle windswept man - especially as there wasn't a breath of wind! He's a street artist - what a strange way to earn a living. Perhaps his wife thinks he's actually going out to work in an office each day!

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50/50 Project: #1/50 (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 1. Seedheads

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical data: Canon 350D, 1/500, f/1.8, ISO 200 and manual exposure.

I really enjoyed taking the 350D out today - it felt like a little compact compared to the 5D mk II that I've been lugging around lately. And of course the 50mm f/1.8 mk II lens is very light too.

This was taken whilst we were out walking the dog at an area known locally as the Flashes and we chose a route along the river Weaver. I was spoilt for choice really but settled on this image because it was "cleaner" than some of the others - less clutter from stray grasses and leaves in the background and a nice contrast between the lighter seed heads and the darker background of ferns.

F/1.8 is a very shallow depth of field (most of the image is soft focus apart from the small focal area) but it does allow a faster shutter speed. I had to be really careful about picking the point of focus out and also waiting for the plant to stop swaying in the breeze.

I did a little processing afterwards to slightly emphasise the contrast between the foreground subject and the darker background.

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A new photography project - 50/50 (photography course Cheshire)

I've really missed doing the 366 project I did right through 2012, when I took and posted a photo every single day. It wasn't always easy (at times it was a downright chore done at 11pm at night!) but I learned so much and enjoyed swapping comments with other people in 365 forums.

I was chatting with another photographer a few weeks ago and he suggested that I do something else this year that wasn't such a big commitment but would give me scope to be creative - a 50/50 project. My brain was trying to work out how a project could be half and half of anything but he put me out my misery and clarified that it was 50 days using a 50mm lens. I was hooked straight away as I have a 50mm lens that I adore using but haven't had out the bag much recently.

(Pic taken on my lovely HTC One camera phone)

This is a Canon 50mm f/1.8 mk II prime lens and cost me around £90. To cut through the jargon / numbers it is a lens that doesn't zoom (to get closer to your subject you move yourself), it isn't very wide angle and is often used for portraits. The low aperture of f/1.8 means that you can get very creative with soft focus and also it lets in lots of light so is good in low light conditions. Not bad for £90 and a favourite of wedding photographers.

I used this lens a fair bit last year for the 366 project until I bought a new telephoto 28-300mm lens from Tamron which quickly became my favourite toy. So I'm looking forward to pushing the boundaries a little more this time with the 50mm lens.

366 photos taken in 2012 with 50mm lens

I hope you'll follow my daily photos for the next 50 days and let me know what you think of them. If you're doing a photography project at the moment I'd love to hear about it. And don't forget that I run courses in digital photography and offer one to ones designed around your needs. Find out more about my photography courses on the website.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!