Through the Trees

Once again I’m uploading another photo from the wildlife photo shoot I went on during the weekend. For this photo I was trying to capture the bird up against the blue sky, but when I took the photo the meter had metered for the sky and the whole photo was underexposed. When I came back to look at this photo I actually liked the effect that this created.

I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F8 selected, and ISO 400 locked in. The camera selected a shutter speed of 1/200^th of a second for this photo. I wasn’t using the flash as I wanted to expose for both the foreground and the background (although this turned out to be impossible).

When looking back at this photo I actually really liked the underexposed effect. So to enhance the effect I increased the contrast and lowered the shadows until the bird and the foreground turned into a silhouette. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with how everything else looked.

Hopefully I will have more happy-accidents with my photos! Because they generally work out to be very interesting photos!

Mat

Resting Robin

This photo has to be my shot of the day! We were walking along the path when I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look round and just saw this robin fly into the bush. I immediately stopped at turned round to take a photo. I thought it would fly off very quickly so i rushed to take the first photo. To my surprise the robin didn’t move, so I crept a little closer, took a few more photos. I kept closing in until I was about 10 feet away from the robin! This meant I could set up the composition that I wanted.

To capture this image I set the camera to 1/400^th of a second shutter speed and I locked the ISO at ISO200. The camera selected an aperture of F5.6. I had also manually selected the focus point and moved it onto the robin’s eye to ensure that it was pin-sharp.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and then lowered the highlights to retain an even exposure. I didn’t crop the photo as I was happy with how I had framed the photo at the time. The colours had been replicated accurately and really show off the red-orange colour of the robin.

This is definitely my shot of the day; none of the other photos that I had taken on the day are as good as this one. I will still be uploading more photos from my trip over the next week.

Mat

Flying Off

I managed to get out for the wildlife photo shoot yesterday; I went through the nature reserve down to the duckpond. I managed to catch a lot of the local birds in the forest, and when I got down to the duckpond it was full of swans and ducks and moorhens.

There was a male mallard duck that was chasing a female mallard duck, the female mallard decided to fly off and I just managed to capture the male mallard chasing after her. I was already in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/640^th selected. I had left the camera in auto ISO, which the camera selected at ISO800. I wasn’t using the flash at this point as I needed to take a lot of photos in a series.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo was straight from the camera. The colours where exactly as I wanted them to be. Faithfully reproducing the bright colours of both the male and female mallard ducks. The exposure was also calculated exactly how I wanted it to be.

I’m glad I got a chance to go out on a wildlife photography wander, I tried out some of the flash gun ideas I’ve been meaning to try out for quite some time. I shall upload the best of the photos that I took over the next few days.

Mat

Silhouette

This is another photo from my walk to the top of the hill in the nature reserve a few days ago. I tried to take a mixture of both wide shots, and close ups. For the close ups, I tried to focus on teasels, using them as a silhouetted foreground against the dark sky. I tried a mixture of focusing on several, and single plants, but decided that single plants had the most impact.

I used an aperture of F16, as I wanted the entire image to be in focus, so each of the spines could be seen individually. This amount of detail makes the image much more dramatic, as it emphasises each part of the photo equally. I wanted to use a low ISO, so had to base the shutter speed around these two values. I wanted to under expose so, after some experimentation, I decided to use a shutter speed of 1/320.

I increased the contrast in Photoshop, as I wanted the range of tones in the clouds to be prominent; decreasing the brightness slightly aided this. I then sharpened the image, in order to pick out the patterns in the clouds and to make the spikes of the teasel more prominent.

Bex
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Field Walk

I was once again looking through my computer when I found this photo from one of the many walks that Bex and I have been on. We were walking along a country walk when I saw this view across the field opposite us. I instantly liked the composition that the fence and tree created.

To make the most of the composition I had the camera in aperture priority and selected an aperture of F11. I locked the ISO at ISO 100 to make sure the quality was as good as it could be. The camera chose a shutter speed of 1/60^th to match; this was fast enough because I was using a focal length of 40mm. I made sure that the photo was taken vertically because the fence posts would have made this very obvious otherwise.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo was straight from the camera. The colours had been reproduced perfectly and the exposure was exactly how I wanted it to be. I liked the composition so I didn’t crop the photo down.

I’m very much looking forward to the wildlife photo-shoot tomorrow. I’ve got all my camera gear ready and waiting, I’ll let you know how it goes, and I’m sure I’ll upload some photos to show you.

Mat

Pink Rose

I was looking through some of my previous photo shoots, when I remembered about this photo. I wanted to upload it at the time but I must have forgotten about it. It’s very similar to one I have already uploaded but with a different lighting technique.

For this photo I had the camera in manual mode with a flash gun set up underneath the flower. I had the flash gun underneath as I wanted the flower to be lit from the bottom left corner of the frame. I set the aperture at F6.3 as this gave me the depth of field I wanted. I had already locked the ISO at 100 for maximum image quality. I then selected a shutter speed of 1.3 seconds to complete the exposure.

The only editing I did to the photo was to increase the contrast and to lower the highlights slightly as the whites were just starting to become clipped. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the overall effect.

I should be going out for a wildlife photo shoot this Saturday if the weather is good enough for photography. Otherwise I’m sure I will find plenty more photos in my computer.

Mat

Gloomy

I went for a walk through the local nature reserve today. In contrast with the last few days of bright sunshine (along with the cruel jokes aimed in my direction and VERY red skin), the weather was quite dreary. It didn’t rain as expected, but provided some interesting cloud formations.

I tried to capture this by walking to the top of the large hill in the nature reserve (the highest point in my town), in order to avoid any rooftops or other unwanted objects. I used manual mode, for complete control over the composition. I tried to under-expose, as I wanted the foreground to be a silhouette against the dark clouds. I used a shutter speed of 1/400, with an aperture of F11 at ISO 100. I used a narrow aperture in order to ensure the sharpness of every detail throughout the image. I wanted to minimise the amount of visible noise in the image, so used ISO 100. This means that the only option I had was to change shutter speed to get the correct exposure.

I have edited the image in Photoshop before uploading. I increased the contrast and decreased the brightness by equal amounts to make the clouds more striking. I also sharpened the image, but apart from this I haven’t changed anything. I seem to get both good and bad photographer days. By this, I mean whether I take a lot of photos that I am pleased with, with not too much fiddling of the settings, and the opposite on a bad day. Today was definitely a “good photographer” day, and I look forward to sharing some other images with you in the following posts.

Bex
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Travelling

I haven’t got out for a photography wander quite yet, so I looked through some of my previous photography wanders. I was looking through my trip to our local railway station; while I was there an express passed through the station. I managed to capture a few images as it sped through.

To capture the image I had the camera in manual mode, I did this to make sure that the all the movement was frozen still and to have the depth of field that I wanted. I selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second and an aperture of F5.6. This ensured the movement was frozen still and the depth of field was suitably narrow. I didn’t use the flash as it was banned on the platform, and because the train was too far away for it to make much of a distance.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how I had captured the photo. The camera had exposed the photo and reproduced the colours exactly as I wanted them. The composition was precisely what I wanted so I didn’t crop the photo down.

It’s unlikely I’m going to be able to get out for a photography wander this week, but I’m hoping to be able to get out for a photography wander on this Saterday.

Mat

Go Nuts

This photo was taken the last time I went into town. I know I’ve already uploaded a few photos of the Squirrel there, but I really like the composition I had captured in this photo. The squirrel was running around very quickly, but every now and then he would come very close to where I was positioned. One time he stopped about 5-8 feet in front of me and stood there looking at me for a few seconds.

While the squirrel was standing still I quickly brought the camera up to my eye and took a series of photos. I had the camera in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/500^th of second to freeze the action. The camera selected an aperture of F4.5 and an ISO of ISO4000 to complete the exposure. I left the other settings on default as I didn’t have time to change them before taking the photos.

To edit the photo I lowered the overall brightness as I had overexposed by around 1-2 stops!  I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with how the photo was composed and the colours had been replicated just how I wanted them to be.

We still haven’t had a chance to go out for a photography wander. But hopefully over the next few days we will get a chance. If not I will use some more photos from our previous photography wanders.

Mat

Wall Climber

This photo was taken on yesterdays photography wander. We had stopped for a short break opposite a wall; I noticed the plant growing up the wall and thought it made an interesting composition.

As most of the photo would be in one plain I chose an aperture of F9. This gives an adequate depth of field and allows the use of faster shutter speeds. I also selected an ISO of ISO 100 for maximum quality. The camera coupled these with a shutter speed of 1/30^th; I was using image stabilization so this shutter speed would still be fast enough. I boosted the colour saturation to make the greens look more vibrant.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the camera had exposed the image. The colours had been reproduced exactly as I wanted them to be so I didn’t change them. I was also happy with the composition so I didn’t crop the image either.

I enjoyed our photography wander yesterday, hopefully we will get a chance again in the week. According to the weather forecast the weather should get better during the week! So hopefully we might get some more bright and colourful photos in the week.

Mat

Thinking Bird

I managed to get out for a short wander today with Bex; we decided to go out around our local area. We didn’t have very much time so I didn’t take many photos; most of today’s photos were of birds. A particular bird had landed on a small wall around ten feet away from where I was sitting. It stood still for a lengthy amount of time. So I had plenty of time to compose the photo and to take the shot.

For this photo I had the camera in shutter priority and a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second, this was adequate to freeze the movement of the bird and to allow for camera shake. I also preset the ISO to 400 to ensure that a moderate aperture was chosen by the camera. The camera selected an aperture of F8. As the bird was looking to my left I decided to keep the bird in the right hand side of frame, as this creates a pleasing composition; I like how the bird looks like it is thinking while perched on the wall.

To edit the photo I lowered the overall brightness as the photo had become over-exposed. I also increased the shadows so that the exposure was even throughout the whole photo. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with how the camera had reproduced the colours.

I’m glad that Bex and I got a chance to go out for a photography wander today. The weather was really good with bright clear skies; they created some tough exposures but the extra challenge was good fun.

Mat

Lost

I went for a walk through the local nature reserve this afternoon. Part way through the nature reserve is a long forgotten fence. It is no longer used for anything, and appears only to be there through a matter of convenience rather than use. It is run down, which made it ironic when I walked past to see this ripped dog collar, tied to the fence in a knot (the buckle had fallen off).

If you look carefully, you can see a cobweb, to the left of the collar. I liked this as it added to the idea of it being old. I used an ISO of 800; I wanted to add a degree of noise to the image, as I felt it would add to the theme. I used an aperture of F5.6 in order to blur the background, and furthest parts of the collar, focusing attention onto the most ripped part and the scratches on the bone shapes.

I have done some editing in Photoshop, but a very small amount. I increased the contrast slightly, to make the image more striking. I then sharpened the image to pick out some finer details on the collar, such as the weave of the material. I’m really pleased with the image, as it’s quite abstract and, I’ll admit, I did get a little lucky with the composition!

Bex

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Choices

The name is a little self explanatory today, as it’s a picture of a menu. Mat and I went for a meal, to a small restaurant on the outskirts of the city centre. They had flowers on every table (see 12^th April), and dimmed lights creating soft shadows over everything. As I was about to look at the menu on the table, I noticed the shadows over the page, selecting different words. I decided to take a photo of this, as I liked the effect it created, and the fact that it seemed a little abstract.

I used an aperture of F4.5, as I didn’t want many of the words to be in focus and needed as much light as possible to compensate for the overall dark setting. I had to use ISO 1600, which introduced a lot of noise to the image, but was necessary. I actually think the effect produced by the noise adds to the photo by giving it more texture. I haven’t done any editing, as I liked the original and the way the overall image had a soft tone to it.

I know that a menu is something incredibly simple to take a photo of, but I think that as long as there is an element of composure, you can make a good picture of anything you find.

Bex

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Lone Leaf

I took quite a few photos in town one the trip that Bex and I went on. This was one of my favourite photos from the trip. A leaf was being carried around the park on the wind when it got caught on the branch of a hedge.

I liked the composition that it created as it hung from the branch. To make the most of this composition I used a moderate aperture of F9, this gives a short depth of field to have the background out of focus but the leaf and its surroundings still sharply in focus. I had the ISO in auto, so the camera selected ISO 320 and a shutter speed of 1/60^th to complete the exposure. I boosted the saturation in camera to give the colours a boost.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and colour tone. I did this to make the colours look even more vibrant. The greens on the leaves look very fresh with the higher colour tone. Increasing the contrast also makes the photo look much more vibrant and gives the photo an increased vibrancy.

Bex and I have planned to go out for a photography wander tomorrow; unfortunately the weather hasn’t been too good recently so hopefully it will improve enough to allow us to go out with our cameras. If we do get the chance we will upload the photos we take to show you.

Mat

Branching Close

Both Bex and I went into town today as we had some spare time, I took one of my cameras with me but I decided to take my Pentax ME Super with me so I can’t show you any of the photos I took quite yet. So I thought I would upload another photo from the previous trip into town.

As we were walking around there was a bush that was in the middle of the park. It looked quite odd as it wasn’t surrounded by anything, I tried to take a wide angle photo of the bush in its surroundings but I didn’t like how the composition looked; so I tried a tighter composition, focusing on just a few branches. I think this tighter composition worked much better. To make the most of the composition I used the camera in aperture priority and selected an aperture of F9, this gave a good compromise between the branch being sharp and the background being blurred. I also set the ISO to ISO100 for the maximum quality. The camera completed the exposure with a shutter speed of 1/80^th of a second. I also used the flash to create a higher contrast between the branch and the background.

The only editing I did was to increase the contrast and to lower the overall brightness slightly as I think this make the photo look a lot punchier. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with how the photo was straight from the camera.

I didn’t quite finish the film off today, hopefully Bex and I will get a chance to go out on another walk later this week and I’ll be able to finish the roll.

Mat

Wall Climbing

Again this is a photo from the weekend before last. The park we had our lunch in was surrounded by a short wall. Ivy was growing all over the wall; it looks like it climbs its way up the wall from the ground. I wanted to capture the effect of how the ivy grows up the wall.

To capture the effect I composed the photo so the ivy was in the lower right hand third of the frame, and I left plenty of space in the top left third. I did this to give the impression that the Ivy is growing up the wall. As the whole scene was in the same plane I selected an aperture of F5.6 and I locked the ISO in at 100, this gave a shutter speed of 1/125^th of a second.

I didn’t edit the photo because I was happy with how the photo was straight from the camera. The exposure was perfect and the colours had been replicated exactly how I wanted them to. Crucially I didn’t need to crop the photo because the composition was exactly how I wanted it to be.

I really like how the ivy appears to be climbing along the wall. I still have a few more photos that I can upload from our trip into town, but hopefully, Bex and I will be going into town again tomorrow. If I take my camera and capture something interesting, I’ll upload for you to see.

Mat

Branched

I didn’t have a chance to take any photos this weekend unfortunately. That was Bex’s job this weekend! So I used a photo that I had taken last weekend, when we were walking around the centre of town.

For this photo I had the camera in aperture priority and as I was close to the subject I used a relatively large aperture (F8) to ensure that everything I wanted was in focus. I left the camera to choose the shutter speed and the ISO speed, which it chose to be 1/80^th of a second and ISO 125. I had the white balance set into auto because I was using RAW format so I could adjust the white balance afterwards if it required changing.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and the sharpness slightly. I also increased the amount of green while lowering the colour balance. I did this to make the photo look more punchy and give the photo some vibrancy.

Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go for a photography wander at some point this week. But if not I still have lots of photos that I can upload, and Bex took some fantastic photos yesterday which I’m sure she would love to upload for you.

Mat

Dedicated Follower Of Fasion

As promised, for the next day or two, Daily Wanders is to turn into the hub for all that is on trend this season! Today, I did the photography for a day of fashion shows being held at the local shopping centre. The shows were approximately an hour long, with a mixture of children and adults, but the children definitely stole the show!

At the end of each show, the models were invited onto the stage individually, before a finale. One of the favourite models of the day was a young girl called Faye. She was one of the last to walk down the runway, so I managed to get a photo that I was really happy with. I used a flashgun at the event, as I wanted to highlight each model, and not have to worry about a possible lack of light. I used a guide number of 16, coupled with an aperture of F11, as I wanted a dark background to focus attention on Faye. It didn’t work as well as I wanted it to, because I couldn’t go under 1/160th, and didn’t want the depth of field to be any deeper.

I was a little disappointed with the original image, so decided to try to edit it. I decreased the highlights, decreased the brightness and increased the contrast. Finally, I sharpened the image. Having been a little disappointed with the original image, I was pleased with the difference editing it had made. Today was hugely enjoyable, if a little stressful due to technical issues! Keep checking Daily Wanders over the next few days for all the latest trends!

Bex
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Shadowed

Foremost, I must apologise for hardly appearing on Daily Wanders so far this month; I have been incredibly busy with deadlines to meet, so the blog has very much been left for Mat to run. I should be able to post more regularly after this past week of madness. Now, more importantly, today’s post.

I called this image shadow for 3 reasons. Initially, for the black background; created by under-exposing when using flash to lose the detail purposely. Secondly, the shadow of the first flower is cast onto the second. Finally, a slightly more abstract reason; the flower behind shadows the foremost, and the way it is placed makes it look like a colour shadow, or a reflection of the front most flower.

I took this photo when out for lunch after a photography wander with Mat; the café had flowers on each table, so we spent most of our time ignoring each other! I’m really pleased with this image because it has a lot of different perspectives that you could see, but also because it was a rare “lucky shot”. I didn’t need to edit this picture, as I liked the original. I love being able to use the original image, because it shows that you are improving as a photographer. I’m photographing a fashion show tomorrow, so if you like photography, and like to be on trend, Daily Wanders is the place to be!!

Bex

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Scampering Squirrel

I know I very recently uploaded a photo of a squirrel but I had taken a lot of photos of the squirrel and this is one of the photos that I really liked. I was trying to take a photo of the squirrel as it was scampering along.

To capture the photo I used the camera in shutter priority and selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second. I also selected an ISO of ISO800, as this would enable the use of this shutter speed. The camera chose an aperture of F5.6 as I was overexposing by 1/3 of a stop. I didn’t use the flash as I didn’t want the squirrel to be scared away.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the image was exposed and with how the colours had been replicated. I was happy with how I had composed the photo so I didn’t crop the photo. Overall I was happy with the effect I had created when taking the photo.

Unfortunately Bex has been very busy recently with a lot of important deadlines coming up soon. She apologises and tells me that she is missing the blog, but she will be back blogging very soon. I still have a few more photos that I can upload from last weekend, but hopefully I will get a chance to go out for a photography wander at some point over the weekend.

Mat

Urban Road

Following on from yesterdays post, I thought I should upload another urban landscape. I thought I should upload this one as it is a bit different. The effect I was trying to create was a high contrasting scene, between the bright sky and the dark buildings in the foreground.

To create this high contrast I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F20 selected; I then underexposed the photo by one stop. By underexposing this makes the sky clearly visible but puts the buildings in the foreground into a dark shadow. I like this effect as I makes the building look like they are being looked over by the bright sky. I used the preset white balance for daylight as I thought this would give the most accurate balance of colours.

In the editing stage, I increased the contrast and the shadows, to bring back some details that had been lost. I then changed the amount of blue and red in the photo; I did this to make the blue of the sky very vibrant and to stand out clearly from the rest of the photo. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the photo.

I’m very pleased with how the urban photos that I have been taking have come out. I like urban photography as the possibilities are almost endless, around every corner lays a different photograph to be taken. Being able to spot and capture these photos is the most challenging and fun part of urban photography and will defiantly keep me going back into the city.

Mat

Cityscape

This photo I had taken on the trip Bex and I took into town over the weekend. We were waiting at the bus-stop, our bus was running slightly late, which meant I had some spare time. I saw that behind the bus-stop was a great city view down the river and into the distance. I framed the photo to have the river in the centre with the buildings on either side completing the composition.

I had the camera in aperture priority so as I wanted a deep depth of field I selected a small aperture of F11. There was plenty of light so I didn’t have to worry about the shutter speed; because there was a lot of light I locked the ISO at ISO 100, to keep the quality as high as possible. The camera selected a shutter speed of 1/125^th of a second to complete the exposure. I increased the saturation in camera to make the colours look punchier.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo came out of the camera. The exposure was calculated accurately and didn’t require any adjustments. I was also happy with how the colours had been replicated, I’m glad I increased the saturation in camera as it really makes the orange colours on the buildings look very vibrant.

I enjoy taking photos of the inside of cities, it is a bit of a struggle to capture a photo without any vehicles or any people in; but I always enjoy a challenge! I very much forward to the next time.

Mat

Daffodil

This photo was taken on the trip into town that Bex and I went on recently. I saw that some daffodils were growing in the shelter of a wall. I thought by making the depth of field very short I could isolate the daffodil and create an interesting composition.

To ensure the depth of field was small enough I used an aperture of F8, this kept the the depth of field large enough for the entire flower to be sharp, but small enough for the background to become blurred out of focus. I left the camera to select the shutter speed and the ISO, which it chose 1/200^th and ISO 250 respectively.

To edit the photo I lowered the brightness down and increased the shadows, I did this to keep the lighting even across the photo. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with how I had framed the photo and the colours had been replicated perfectly.

I’m glad we managed to get out for a photography trip; I’ve now got lots more photos to upload to the blog. Although, I still might go out on another photography trip because I have some ideas that I want to try out in our local nature reserve.

Mat

Frosted

I was looking through some photos this evening, as I wanted to add to the wall of photos that I created previously. While looking for some pictures to add, I stumbled across this image and decided to edit it to see what happened.

I took this photo while on an early morning walk through the local nature reserve, trying to get some good photos in the fog. As it happened, there was no fog and the early morning was wasted, as there wasn’t a lot to take photos of until it was light as the wildlife had the right idea and didn’t venture out until later!!!

Where it was still dark, the camera struggled to get the correct white balance, meaning the image was almost bright blue. I corrected this using Photoshop. I increased the contrast and reduced the brightness slightly. I then almost completely desaturated the image, and decreased the hue to make the blue more prominent. I then sharpened the whole image, in order to draw attention to the formation of the ice crystals.

I love looking through old photos, as you never know what gems you might find!

Bex
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City Squirrel

As planned Bex and I went for a trip into town today; the weather while we were there was amazing! It was bright sunshine and small clouds spread around the sky. The weather was great for us but more of a challenge to the photography, with the direct sunlight casting harsh shadows over everything that was out of shade. With this challenge in mind we set out with our cameras in hand.

There were a few trees growing in a corner of a small open area in the centre of town; in and around these trees a few squirrels were running and jumping around. Fortunately they were in the shade so the light had been diffused nicely. As the squirrels were moving about so quickly it was quite had to focus on them, so when one of them paused for a few seconds, I quickly focussed in and took the photo. I had preset the camera in shutter priority and selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second, this was adequate to freeze the motion and to remove and camera shake. I framed the photo so the squirrel was in the right hand side of the frame, looking into the left side of the frame.

To edit the photo I had to lower the brightness down as the photo was overexposed, fortunately as I had taken the photo in RAW format this didn’t degrade the image quality. After that I cropped the photo down to remove some distractions, and to focus the attention onto the squirrel. I decreased the colour tone and increased the saturation to make the colours look more vivid and to make the photo as a whole look punchier.

We both enjoyed our trip into town today, both of us took a large amount of photos which should keep the blog running for quite a while! It was good fun trying to take photos of the squirrels as they darted around, I always enjoy the challenge of wildlife photography.

Mat

Waiting

I took this photo on my short stay at the railway station yesterday. There was a short gap when no trains arrived or departed the station. During this period a woman walked onto the platform and sat down on one of the many seats. I thought that by isolating her and the local surroundings I could make an interesting composition.

I used the camera in live view so the woman wouldn’t see me taking the photo of her. Because of this I also had the camera in the program auto mode, as I couldn’t change the aperture or the shutter speed easily. I did preset the ISO at 200 though, so the quality would still be high while enabling the use of a fast enough shutter speed.

To edit the photo I cropped it a little tighter to enhance the composition. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the effect I had created. The exposure was spot on so I didn’t change it; the colours had also been replicated perfectly.

Bex and I are planning a trip into our local town tomorrow, so hopefully we will come back with plenty of new photos to upload.

Mat

Outing

I managed to get out for a short time today, so I thought I would go back our local railway station. While I was there a small group of friends were waiting to get on their train to Weston-Super-Mare. They were very happy and chatting to each other. I had my telephoto lens on my camera so I managed to take a photo without them noticing.

I had the camera set into manual mode so I could decide which shutter speed and aperture to use. For this photo I had the shutter speed set at 1/500^th and the aperture set at F11. Using this aperture ensured the depth of field was large enough to keep the whole group in focus. I had left the ISO to automatic and the camera selected ISO 6400 which introduced a lot of noise.

To edit this photo the first thing I did was to reduce the noise, after I increased the contrast to make the photo look punchier. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the result I had made. The colours had been reproduced accurately in the camera and didn’t require any changes.

I enjoyed my short stay at the railway station, if I get another chance soon I would like to go back as I have a few ideas that I want to try out. Otherwise, a trip down to the duckpond would also be beneficial as I have some ideas I would like to try out with my flash gun.

Mat

Natural White

I haven’t had a chance to go on a photography wander recently, but I was looking through the photos that I had taken during my most recent photo shoot. I was looking through them and this one ‘jumped’ out at me.

I had the camera in manual mode so I could select both the aperture and the shutter speed. I then preselected an aperture of F11 to keep the depth of field as deep as possible. I had to use 20 second exposure time because I was only using natural light for the exposure. I didn’t use the flash in this photo as I wanted a more natural effect.

The only editing I did to this photo was to increase the contrast and to lower the highlights. I did this because I wasn’t completely happy with the result straight from the camera. I didn’t change the white balance or the saturation because I was happy with how the colours had been replicated.

I like the effect I had created with this photo, using the natural light has made the flowers look a lot more natural. Hopefully I will get a chance to go for a photography walk at some point this weekend.

Mat

Potpourri

This is one of the photos I took on my recent photo shoot. After using the flowers and the vase, I looked around and found a bowl full of potpourri. I thought this would make an interesting composition if I took the photo in black and white.

For this photo I just used the natural light that was landing on the bowl as using the flash would spoil the effect I was aiming for. I had the camera in manual mode, and I selected an aperture of F16 to ensure the depth of field was adequate, I then programmed a shutter speed of 20 seconds at ISO 100 to complete the exposure. I set the white balance to the daylight setting as I was using natural light. I framed the photo so the bowl was in the right hand side of the frame.

To edit the photo, I de-saturated it to remove the colour. I then increased the contrast to make the photo look punchier. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the effect I had created. I didn’t change the white balance as I had already preset it to the daylight setting.

I like the way this photo has come out, I’m glad I didn’t use the flash on this one as otherwise it would have spoiled the effect I was trying to create.

Mat

Birthday Blogging

Today, Daily Wanders has reached a milestone. A year ago today, I spent two hours staring at a computer screen, trying to figure out what to write, how to write it, how to use the software and just how an earth we would manage to keep this going. That, and the title of our blog, of course!

Today, Mat and I had a mini birthday party; and what is a birthday party without a cake and candles (cut finely as we had a few people to thank!). It seems strange, that a year ago I was wondering how we’d manage these daily uploads, yet now, it feels strange if I don’t sit down to write a post in the evenings; something I find very enjoyable and quite relaxing!!

This past year has been incredibly busy, with a huge itinerary that we seem to have packed in (who knows where?). Examples of this being Brisfest (21st-23rd September), a few holidays, visits to relatives, a balloon fiesta, a harbour festival, open days, church visits and many wanders through the town centre, villages and the harbour to name a few. It seems that whatever we have been through and wherever we have gone this past year, the blog has followed. It’s been great to have something to focus on, something that pushes you to get out of bed at 5am because the fog is photogenic (even if you are sleep-deprived!) and a means of access to things I otherwise wouldn’t have been lucky enough to have been involved in.

I have been asked by more than a few people what the future for Daily Wanders entails, and if it’s anything like the last year, then I perhaps should’ve told them that I don’t have a clue! However, we will definitely continue to post every day. For those more technically minded, this post may disappoint you somewhat, but I do hope it gives you an insight into the past year from our perspective, and that you will join us in saying happy birthday, and thank you to everyone who has supported us so far.

Mat and Bex
(written by Bex)

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