New Lenses for my Camera

Ok, I couldn't resist. I wasn't going to post any more photos, but I got a couple new lenses (birthday present from my cats - they are very generous) for my camera and took a pile of pics getting used to them. It seemed a shame to let them go to waste!

The Pennyburn Mill

Just some of the defenders of Derry (ironically the attackers in this game)

An Irish bog

A pleasant morning on the Foyle

A quick note on the last photo... there was no naval support in the historical attack on the Pennyburn Mill, but there were encounters on the River Foyle during the siege. I wanted to add another element to the wargame and take advantage of some of the new rules we will present in the upcoming scenario book (yes, it IS coming...). The Kestrel will be armed with a pair of light naval guns to give a bit of artillery cover to the Derry assault, though the range will be limited to about half of the table.

I suppose mentioning the new lens above, someone who cares about such things is probably shouting at their computer, "What was the lens?" I've had a Canon Rebel XSI for about ten years now and always used the 18-55mm lens that came with the kit. It's been a great unit and I've mastered the art of taking shots of single models, individual units, and relatively close action shots. What I've always struggled with is long shots with sharp focus across the entire depth of field. I also have to set up a very complicated light array in my game room to get photos with enough light to stop the camera from needing overlong exposure and often resulting in blurred shots.

Without going into a pile of technical detail, which I don't really know all that well anyway, the shots above were taken with an EF 50mm f/1.8 STM. It is ridiculously cheap for a camera lens (I think it was $100). It only has a single level of zoom fixed at 50mm, so you need to move the camera around to compose your shot, but that's not much of an issue with miniature photography. All of the shots above lack any post production on the computer except for a small amount of color correction with a cool filter to remove a bit yellow caused by the light from the room. I could have corrected that by setting the white balance on the camera, but I didn't bother for these. They probably could have used a bit of post, but that wasn't the point of the exercise. No complicated lighting (only the overhead of the room and a window), sharp focus all the way across the shot, and almost zero post production - very happy with this lens!

I'll talk about my other new lens, a Canon 10-18mm at some future time, but it also has great capacity for shooting under less than ideal light conditions. I'll still be carrying my original too, but now I will give the illusion of being much more professional as I pretend to carefully consider the correct lens for the shot!

Ok, that really is it. There will probably still be a few pics for units I haven't shown yet and maybe another post on the game in general as the time draws near.

Huguenot Regiment

Still expanding my Williamite army, here is a WIP of the first unit of my Huguenot Brigade...

After some fairly extensive research I have been unable to find out much about the uniforms of the Huguenots other than the fact that they wore grey (gris-mêle). The fact that they were in the middle of so much of the fighting in Ireland and there seems to be no record of facing color might indicate that the facings were simply grey as well. There is a painting by van Wyck that seems to show a unit of grey clad troops with blue facings so I will probably paint one of my Huguenot regiments that way.

In any case, this regiment is destined to be de la Meloniere's I think.

I also took this pic with my iphone 4S using the 645 PRO Mk II app and am impressed with the results. There was absolutely no post editing done on the photo. While it won't replace my normal camera for serious work, it works great on quick shots for web posting!

New Camera

I just purchased a Canon EOS Rebel Xsi. I decided it was time to upgrade my photography equipment. For years I've used a Canon Power Shot S30 and I've had good results (All of my photos from Republic to Empire were taken with the S30). Recently I've noticed my old camera's auto focus function seems to be having trouble and I started looking around for a replacement. After a pile of research online, I picked the XSi.

Right out of the box, I got this shot among my first attempt:

The only post production on the computer was a 5% increase in brightness to bring out the brushwork in the fur bonnets. I'll post more about my photography in the future with details of my set up and camera settings, but for now let me say I am ecstatic with my choice.