A new toy...

Yes I splurged a little on the weekend and bought myself (finally) a Cokin filter holder and bits to fit onto a couple of my lenses, both film and digital. I also bought a graduated neutral density filter and I love it! It's lovely to use and nicely darkens the sky when I want it to, and because it's a Cokin I can just rotate it around as I need to. Here are some example photos from the weekend:

This photo in Marchmont, Edinburgh was taken on a severe angle but I just swivelled my ND filter to match the brightness of the sky. I have post-processed quite heavily because I thought it added a bit of punch to the image.

35mm, f/11, 1/60sec, ISO400, Tripod

A street in Marchmont, Edinburgh. I have used the ND to darken the sky and boost the clouds a little. I used a long lens to compress the buildings.70mm, f/8, 1/125sec, ISO200, Tripod

The Meadows, Edinburgh, I have used the ND to darken the sky a little. I like the paths leading off at different ang

25mm, f/8, 1/60sec, ISO400, Tripod

Silhouette over a building site adjacent to the Edinburgh canal. I have used a wide angle and used the ND to heavily darken the clouds and sky - I think it is quite effective.

40mm, f/7.1, 1/200sec, ISO200, Tripod

The brewery building in Edinburgh - here the ND has darkened the sky gently.

28mm, f/6.3, 1/50sec, ISO200, Tripod

And a couple that didn't use the filter but I thought I'd share anyway:

Here I was trying to show perspective by having the bars blurred but looking deep into the derelict building.

28mm, f/2.8, 1/50sec, ISO400, Tripod

And here I was looking for a different 'spring' image by blurring the daffodils as they moved in the gale force winds on the weekend!

70mm, f/13, 1/2sec, ISO100, Tripod