Exeter Festival of South West Food & Drink

Don’t miss this year’s festival from 29^th April to 1^st May


The ultimate foodie event packed with the region’s finest food and drink producers, a host of food related workshops, plus top chefs including Michael Caines, Mark Hix and Lesley Waters who will be working their magic in the cookery theatre.  And there’s plenty for the family to enjoy with hands on workshops in the Food is Fun teepees.


With the Royal Wedding on the opening day, stock up your picnic hamper at the Festival and watch the wedding on a giant 25 sqm screen.  Plus prizes for the best dressed visitor in a Royal-themed fancy dress to be judged by the Lord Mayor of Exeter.  
find out more at: http://www.exeterfoodanddrinkfestival.co.uk/

Capturing the Northern Lights in the Norwegian Arctic

Having wanted to 'go North' since I was a small child, but not getting the chance to travel until recently, I wanted to ensure that I came home with as many good quality photographs as possible as momentoes of the trip. I had researched what I needed from a camera and lens and discovered that my existing equipment wasn't really up to the task, so I took the plunge of new investment and thankfully the results have justified this decision.

My original digital SLR camera has a cropped sensor – what this means is that although the camera itself is the same size as a 35mm film camera, the digital sensor inside is actually smaller than the area of film that is exposed in the equivalent analogue version. This is due to limitations of cost and space, but what it means is that you can't get the full benefit of a really good wide angle lens. This was impostant to me as I wanted to take pictures of the sky, which is pretty wide!

I chose to stay with Canon as their controls are familiar to me and I went for their popular 'full-frame' camera, the 5D Mark II. To go with with the camera body, I chose a 24-70mm lens with a maximum aperture of f2.8. This meant I could get nice wide angle landscape shots, but could also zoom in for close-ups, and most importantly I could really open up the aperture, like a pupil dilating in darkness, for the anticipated Northern Lights.

I already had a tripod, but another bit of kit I needed was a remote shutter release. This is a gadget that enables you to take pictures without touching, and possibly joggling, the camera, ensuring nice stable shots. The cheapest option is a cable version, but I elected to get a wireless one and am very happy I did, as I could keep my hands in my pockets in the freezing temperatures!

So – here are a couple of pictures that I'm really happy with:

The settings I used were:
Sensitivity: ISO 800 (This sets the sensitvity to light of the sensor – the higher the number, the greater the sensitivity, but also the greater the 'grainyness' of the picture, so there is a balance)
Aperture: f2.8 (The lower the number, the wider the aperture)
Exposure: 15 seconds (The time the shutter is open, allowing light onto the sensor)
White balance - Kelvin (This sets the range of colours the camera 'sees' and corrects for the lighting conditions)

The only thing I would change? To have an even wider angle lens so I could fit in even more sky... time to open a savings account!

 Kate West owns and runs Nutshell Photography from her home in Silverton, Devon. For more information about Nutshell Photography or to discuss how to contract Kate to photograph your wedding, special occasion etc. please see www.nutshellphotography.co.uk