Err did we miss it?

No, nope, not at all. Well, nearly! 

It's Saturday (just, and depending on your time-zone) and so we've just squeezed in a post for today as well :-) Lucky you guys. 

Well Christmas, as far as I'm concerned, is over. The other half keeps telling me that Christmas extends through to New Year when the decorations come down, but I've got that humbug spirit and as far as I'm concerned, it's over. Christmas and me have never got on well - it's fun and all, and the presents are great (I've not got to receiving socks yet so I'm still ok) but really I just find the whole thing a bit of an anti-climax. You spend ages looking forward to Christmas day and then...ooopps you missed it. That said, this year, despite the stinking cold I had, Christmas was not a wholly bad affair. In fact, it was quite fun really. 

Anyway, it's this got to do with photography? Not a lot to be honest, but I thought I'd give you something to chuckle/sneer at (delete as applicable) while I figure out what to say. 

The other thing about Christmas time is the way the days just seem to disappear. I always have good intentions of getting out and doing some pictures on the big day itself or Boxing day, but usually it's midday before I'm out of bed and then if the weather is anything other perfect, it's dark by the time I dressed and ready to go anywhere. This year was no different. But I did make it out of the house today for an hour in the freezing cold to grab a few shots at sunset. And it's this that I thought I'd talk about....well, this and light. 

Hands up those who have been out to take sunset pictures? Yep, quite a few of you. Hands up those who have seen the sun set and then packed up to leave only for the light to get stunning? It's a learning experience for sure. As well as a cursing experience. I recently came across a bit of software for the iPhone called PhotoCalc. This is something amazing and does all sorts of cool things which I'll look at in future posts, but the pertinent point for this post is the sunrise/sunset calculator. Using the iPhone's GPS ability it works out your current location, then calculates sunrise and sunset, as well as twilight times which really helps if you want to get the best pictures by giving you exact figures for the 'Golden Hours'. Now you can plan your butt freezing times to the minute and make sure you're home in time for dinner.

-blabpictures-