Among the things I plan to work on in 2008, I really want to have a proper play with HDR images. I’ve been looking at the PhotoMatix software by HDRSoft, which is very very tempting. It’s about $120 (roughly £ 60) which is cheap enough to play with, but still not overly cheap.

Still, it’s something that I’ve got some ideas for using, and seeing what kind of imagery comes out of it.

Definitely something for sometime in 2008, I think.

Autumn’s one of my favourite seasons, primarily for the sheer amount of colour that gets brought in to any landscape photograph with the way the leaves all turn different colours. The photo below is a perfect example.

This photo was taken in Parker’s Piece in Cambridge. I was just sitting on one of the benches, and noticed the fantastic contrast between the different types and colours of leaf, and it made for a photo I’m really pleased with.

With luck I’ll be adding a few more examples of photos like this over the next couple of weeks, while the leaves are still in this fantastic state.

One of my colleagues has just bought a Canon EOS40D. I’m not quite sure why - other than as a status symbol, really - because the photos I’ve seen of theirs taken with a Sony Cybershot compact camera are (to be blunt) horrendous.

Seeing them buy this Canon camera, while not knowing anything about what the lenses do, or even that this meant that the lenses detached from the camera body, well, it just saddens me really.

Now OK, I’m not a great photographer - I’d like to think I’m fairly good, but I’m in no way great - but I progressed through the various stages of compact camera, bridge camera, then made my way up to the SLR. And I’m pleased with how things have gone, and will keep on learning as I go on.

But to me that’s the way it’s supposed to be - that you learn, and progress. Not just jump in to buying a bloody great SLR with no understanding, and somehow expect it to “make” you take better pictures. Because the fact is, it won’t. I went from taking pretty good photos with the bridge camera to taking some truly abysmal ones with the SLR. I’m still learning about it now, just over two years down the line, and still make screw-ups on a regular basis.

So I wonder how long it’ll be before this EOS 40D is consigned to a cupboard somewhere “because it’s a crap camera”. And I think it’s a pity, because it’s a fantastic bit of kit, and I’d love one. Not as much as I’d love a 5D or a 1Ds Mk III, but that’s life. Maybe one day, when I either a) have made a decent level of money from photography, and can rationalise the purchase or b) when I’ve run up to the limitations of the 20D.