Sandy

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I haven’t been in Sandy in an absolute age. The last couple of times it was very busy, and a smattering of dogs and toddlers isn’t very conducive to bird photography. We had some heavy snow overnight and I thought I’d give it a go. As it was snowing horizontally while I was there it was duly deserted. A couple of new species for me, starting with this fella, which I think is a redpoll:

Redpoll?

For a British bird, it has quite striking colouring. Having grown up in Northern Ireland I am predisposed to expect all wildlife to be brown :). Next up I think is a juvenile goldfinch. Focus is a bit soft but, given the size of the subject matter, this really is on the limit of what my camera and lens can do:

Goldfinch

Siskin

Pheasant

My final offering, a great spotted woodpecker. A *sharp* picture of a woodpecker still eludes me, and this is another one to add to the ‘almost’ collection:

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

I wonder if the bloke with the 500mm bazooka had better luck.

The Silent Median – App Ratings and the Independent Developer

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Having released my second app a couple of weeks ago and started to play with some of the great tools that Apple provides to analyse download patterns, I’ve had something of an epiphany about my personal interactions with the App Store.

My first iPhone was the 3G, which [roughly] coincided with the opening of the platform to third party developers, and the blossoming of the water-cooler ‘have you seen this app?’ conversations. I assiduously rated everything I downloaded.

Now, with those Wild West days well and truly gone, I don’t rate anything. In fact I can’t remember the last app that I rated.

And guess what? When someone from Mexico downloaded my app on the first day it was released and didn’t rate it, the penny dropped with a thud. What did the person think of it?   What did they like? Glaring omissions?

Human nature dictates that most people who bother to review will be at one or other extreme of the normal distribution. While this might average out the scores, a healthy dollop of ‘moderately pleased’ would, I’d argue, help raise visibility. Or to put it another way, the more reviews the better. Provided of course that the app doesn’t suck and get nothing but rubbish reviews, in which case any attempts to raise the profile or visibility  won’t count for much either way.

So: rate those apps. The gaming giants and industry juggernauts can power through without you. The smaller fish, and the downright tiddlers, can’t.

My app on the App Store - new listings in Photo & Video

My app on the App Store - new listings in Photo & Video

Back to Bath

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We are just back from a really lovely long weekend in Bath, which was my first extended play with the latest toy, my 16-35mm L, which I picked up at the end of December. The lens is the last step in my preparation to go full frame. The wide end on a crop sensor is a bit of a shock in comparison to the lens it’s effectively replacing for me – the 10-22mm S mount, as it’s weighing at about 25.6mm with multiplier effect. The build quality is fantastic, and very similar in feel [and materials] to the macro 100mm L.

A few quick shots:

Georgian Infinity

Georgian Infinity

Rebecca Fountain

Rebecca Fountain

Finally, an HDR shot of the Abbey:

Bath Abbey HDR

Bath Abbey HDR

So this is bracketed around a 5 second exposure at F8 [the other exposures are 1.3 and 20 seconds respectively]. I still find the HDR to be very hit and miss, so while this isn’t the best shot I’ve taken, I have a few rules of thumb, which at least minimise the failures.

I find dusk gives the best results, as it makes for the broadest range of exposure without super stopping down [F22] or using filters during the day, and B setting long exposures at night. Trying to keep electric light sources out of the shot also helps, as you get massive halos, and blown out sections on the long exposures.

One variable which is very hard to mitigate for – other than a postponement! – is the cloud cover. When I took the shot above – actually, it was something of a photographic scourge all weekend – there was very even cloud, with no variability in light quality. The long single exposures made for a very deep blue colour, which by the time the HDR software had stirred the pot, looked pretty awful. I will often desaturate in post, or even go for full black and white.

All of which is a lovely story. In a deeply unrelated final comment, if you are in Bath, try to get a table at Sotto Sotto. It’s fab!