Tree Growth

I took this photo on the most recent wander that Bex and I went on in our local town. We were walking down a long path that was surrounded by trees on both sides. On one of the trees there had some ivy growing up the side. I liked the composition it created against the background.

To enhance the composition I used the widest aperture that I could, which was F5.6, the camera selected a shutter speed of 1/80^th of a second and with an ISO of ISO 3200. I decided against using my flashgun as there was enough light making its way through the trees. I had to compensate against the amount of green by lowering the colour tone and bringing more red into the photo. I composed the photo so the tree took up the left half of the frame with the ivy in the centre of the photo.

To edit the photo I further decreased the colour tone to balance the colours. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with how the rest of the photo looked. The composition was how I wanted it to be and the exposure was spot on.

Both Bex and I have been very busy recently, but we will be going out and taking photos as often as we can.

Mat

Paddling Past

I said in a previous post that Bex and I only saw two ducks while we were at the duckpond. After I captured that photo the ducks split off and I followed the male duck until he past some reeds that were protruding above the water level. I thought it made an interesting composition so I took a series of photos and used the one with the best composition to upload for you.

I had the camera in shutter priority mode with a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second selected so all the movement made by the reeds and the duck were frozen. I was overexposing the photo to compensate for the lighting which corrected the overall exposure. This gave me an aperture of F5.6 and an ISO speed of ISO 400.

The only editing I did was to crop and rotate the orientation of the photo, as i think this vastly improves the composition. The exposure was correct and I didn’t need to overexpose the photo as I had already compensated for the lighting conditions. The colours had been replicated with the right warmth so I didn’t change the colour tone, or the colour temp.

I’m very much looking forward to our next photo shoot. Maybe we should do a still life photos hoot as we haven’t done one for quite a while. I learnt a lot from doing the still life photo shoot with the flowers a few months ago; hopefully I’ll be able to apply that knowledge to improve my next shoot.

Mat

Flying Away

Again this was taken on yesterdays short wildlife photoshoot. I was watching a pigeon in one of the trees next to me, when suddenly it took off and flew away. Within minutes of this happening the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down! I think the pigeon had the right idea flying away. So I quickly stuffed my camera gear back into my camera bag and made off for some shelter.

For this photo I had the camera in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/640^th of a second selected and I was overexposing the photo by one stop, to ensure the bird was correctly exposed. The camera selected an aperture of F5.6 and an ISO of 3200 to complete the exposure.  I wasn’t using the flash gun because the sky was cloudy and diffusing the light adequately.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo looked straight from the camera. The exposure was spot on and the colours were replicated just how I wanted them to be. I thought if I tried to edit the photo I would spoil the effect I had created in camera.

I enjoy wildlife photography as it provides a different challenge to normal photography, with the subjects moving randomly and quickly you need to have quick reactions and the foresight to predict where they are likely to move to. I enjoy these challenges, which is why I try and go on as many wildlife photoshoots as I can.

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

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

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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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

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

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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Vase Of Flowers

I took this photo in my last photo shoot. I was trying out different lighting techniques; one of these techniques was to have the flash gun set up behind the vase and have the light shining through the glass. It was quite difficult to find the right power settings as the flash being so close kept blowing out the highlights.

As I previously said I had the flash gun set up behind the vase, to attain the best effect I started with a relatively high power: 1/8^th of the total power. I then worked my way down to 1/64^th of the total power. I found this to be the best compromise between the highlights and the rest of the exposure. I was trying to have the background dark with the vase looking like it was lit up from the inside, I think by having the flash gun set at 1/64^th created this effect the best.

To edit the photo I changed the light levels to darken the background and to tone down the highlights. I also changed the white balance to remove a colour cast. I was happy with the rest of the photo so I didn’t change any of the other settings.

I like the effect of this photo; I managed to create the effect of the vase being lit from the inside. The next time I do a still life photo shoot similar to this I will experiment with the flash gun power settings and the distance to the subject to try to improve the effect further.

Mat

Bright Horizons

Mat and I went for a walk today. Having had other things to do in the morning, we didn’t leave until late afternoon so didn’t make our way back until the sun started to set.

There is a field, near to where Mat and I live. In this field, a pond has been built, with a small fence to keep dogs from destroying the habitat, and seating inside the fenced area. On the way back, we decided to stop for a rest so sat down next to pond. I looked behind, and could see the sun setting behind the trees. I loved the pattern of the pink clouds in the sky, and the bright stripes of colour. I decided to include a tree in the foreground, as I thought the image would look uninteresting, as there would be no foreground without this. However, I decided to keep it to one side, as I wanted the focus to stay primarily on the background.

I increased the contrast and decreased the brightness in Photoshop, to make sure that all of the foreground detail was lost. I also decreased the hue and increased saturation to make the pink tones appear more prominent. I also sharpened the image slightly, to emphasise the individual branches of each tree and to pick out the individual clouds.

Bex

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Flowing

I managed to get down to the duckpond yesterday so I took a few photos while I was there. During the time I was there, a few swans were paddling around the duck pond. One of them made its way towards me so I took a few photos as it passed me.

I was using the camera in shutter priority and I selected a shutter speed of 1/400^th of a second. I underexposed by 2/3rds of a stop, this meant the camera chose an aperture of F8 and an ISO of 100. I composed the photo so that the swan was in the top right corner of the frame looking down to the bottom left corner. I like this composition because it looks balanced, with the swan moving from corner to corner.

To edit the photo I cropped the photo slightly, just to remove some other birds I had caught in corner of the frame. I didn’t change anything else as I didn’t want to spoil the effect I had created. The photo didn’t need sharpening because it was taken on ISO 100, the colours had been replicated perfectly and the exposure was spot on.

I’m glad I managed to get out yesterday because I was starting to get low on photos to upload. I hope we get another chance for a wander, as there are still a few ideas that I want to try out in the nature reserve.

Mat

Through The Trees

I managed to go out for a photography wander today, so I went for a short walk around the nature reserve. I didn’t have very long so I didn’t take many photos, this is one of my favourites. I was out during the evening and the sun was starting to set, so I tried to capture the sunlight as it passed through the tree.

I used an aperture of F8 to ensure the depth of field was big enough but also ensuring the light didn’t diffuse around the aperture blades. I left the camera to select the shutter speed and ISO. I boosted the colour saturation and colour tone in camera.

When editing the photo, I cropped out the bottom of the frame as there was a lot of dead space which detracted from the overall effect I was aiming for. I also boosted the colour saturation and colour tone further to make the colours really stand out. I didn’t change anything else as i was happy with the effect I had created.

As I didn’t take that many photos today, I hope to get another chance very soon to capture some more images. I have a few ideas of what I want to photograph so the next time I’m out I shall experiment with these ideas and show you the results.

Mat

Top Field

I was once again looking through some photos that I had taken a while ago on a photography wander. I saw this one and thought it had some good potential so I had a look at it to see what I could do with it.

When taking the photo I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F11 selected. The camera matched this with a shutter speed of 1/160^th of a second with ISO 100. I boosted the colour saturation and the contrast in camera to give the photo more punch.

This photo needed quite a lot of editing; the first thing I did was to crop the photo down so that the attention is focussed onto the correct area. I then increased the contrast and the colour saturation further to make the photo look really dynamic!

I like how this photo has come out and I think the editing has made the photo look much better than before. Hopefully Bex and I will get a chance to go for a photo graphy wander at some point during the Easter holiday.

Mat

Glowing

Eventually, there will come a point when you get fed up of seeing concert photos- but hopefully, not yet. Any fans of The Script will realise that the blog title refers to a song by The Script; for other readers, feel free to either listen to the song in question, or disregard the previous statement and assume that I’m referring to the lighting.

This photo was taken during one of the last songs of the concert (excluding the encore), which was started slow, explaining the smoky atmosphere. The singer was walking round the stage, but at this point wasn’t singing. Being a compact, I couldn’t change many settings, but did have control over the white balance. I selected flash, as I didn’t want to lose the bright blue. I did use flash in this photo, as I wanted to deliberately under expose; the only way to do this was to trick the camera. This didn’t affect the image, as what I wanted to focus on wasn’t in range of flash.

I have edited this photo in Photoshop. I increased the contrast and decreased the brightness to make sure that all of the people in this shot were completely silhouetted against the blue lights. I also sharpened the image to make the edges of the starburst more prominent.

The starburst wasn’t intentional, but appeared in one of my other photos so I tried to achieve the same effect when taking this image. I’m really pleased with this photo; it’s probably one of my favourite shots of the evening.

Bex

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Viewpoint

Both Bex and I have been incredibly busy today so we didn’t get a chance to go out for a photography wander. Her laptop is still broken so I looked through my computer for some inspiration. Once again I looked through some of my holiday photo folders, when I stumbled across this photo; it was taken on a disused railway line on the side of a mountain looking in towards a valley.

I used the camera in aperture priority to make the most of the composition, I chose an aperture of F16 to give a large depth of field, and to keep everything looking sharp. I also preselected an ISO of 100, to give the most detail possible; there was plenty of natural light so I didn’t worry about the shutter speed being too low.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was very happy with the result I had made at the time. The colours had been replicated accurately so didn’t require altering; and the exposure was perfect.

Bex has told me that she is really missing the blog, and that as soon as her laptop is working again she will be blogging as usual. She tells me that she has a lot of photos in mind that she wants to upload.

Mat

Burgundy Leaves

I managed to get out for a photography wander this weekend, so once again I brought my trusty flash gun with me. I also took my tripod with me to hold the flashgun so I could use some off camera flash.

I spotted some dead leaves hanging from a tree that amazingly hadn’t fallen off despite all the wind we’ve been having! So I set up the flash gun on the tripod to the right and slightly behind the camera. I set the camera to fire the flash remotely; I took a few test shots and decided that the best effect was created without any flash exposure compensation. I had the camera in aperture priority and I preselected an aperture of F5.6 to ensure the depth field was short but the leaf was still sharp. The camera paired this with a shutter speed of 1/60^th of a second.

Editing the photo I decided to increase the contrast and boost the shadows, I did this to make the photo look more dynamic and to make the photo look less flat. I also reduced the colour tone, by doing this the reds become boosted and enhance the burgundy colours of the dead leaves. I didn’t change the composition else because I was happy with how I had framed the photo.

Overall I’m very happy with this photo, I like how I had framed the image and I really like the effect I had created with the flash gun. Hopefully I will get another chance to go on a photography wander at some point this week.

Mat

Magical

This is another photo from my latest wander with Mat, through the local nature reserve. Mat takes time to set things up carefully, while I tend to have a guess, go for it then review the image on the camera screen and adjust the appropriate settings from there. Due to this, I normally end up leaving him behind.

As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I found a small clearing between two rows of trees; this is where today’s upload is set. While taking other photos, I struggled to see as a single beam of sun cascaded light into the clearing. At first, it proved to be a hindrance, forcing me to use flash, but after a while I decided to try to incorporate it.

I had to take a few shots to get the image right, as I wanted to make the image seem mystical, but didn’t want the shadows or highlights to clip. I used low-key gradation to make the image more dramatic. I used F11 as I wanted the entire photo to be in focus, but needed the extra light so couldn’t use anything smaller. I had to use a shutter speed of 1/50 at ISO 320 to let in enough light. I increased the contrast, hue and saturation in Photoshop. I also decreased the highlights and sharpened the image slightly. I love this photo; I feel it’s like the sequel to “Start Off Small” (2nd April 2012), as it’s a similar style, taken in a similar location. Winter sun is great for shots like this, as it’s always quite low, making it easy to capture something dramatic.

Bex
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Standing Tall

Mat and I went to the Focus on Imaging Show on Sunday, and it was AMAZING! It really was photographic heaven, and well worth the two-hour train journey. While at the event, there were a plethora of things to try out, from lenses to lights and soft boxes to cameras.

One of the things I tried were some lights. In order to help attract customers, a mini samba class was run at the stall. Before this started, those with cameras were invited to take photos of the dancer using the lights. I didn’t have a lot of time as there were a few people waiting, but I managed to get this photo, and I absolutely love it!!

As ever, I found that the image from my camera looked a little dull on my computer screen, so increased both the contrast and the saturation to make the image look more vibrant. I also increased sharpness to make the glitter on her eyes and the details of the individual jewels stand out. I absolutely loved visiting Focus, and really wished I could have stayed! Roll on next year!

Bex
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A Refreshing Drink

There were a lot of swans at the duckpond, when I went for my walk last week. Some of them made some interesting compositions which I decided to photograph. One of my favourites is when the swans lean down to drink the water; I really wanted to catch the water as it dripped off their mouths.

To capture the movement of the water I needed a fast shutter speed, I decided to use 1/400^th of a second as I thought this would be fast enough. I was using my monopod so I didn’t have to worry about camera shake. The camera selected an aperture of F 5.6 and an ISO of 250 to complete the exposure. I didn’t use the flash in case it scared the swans off. I composed the photo so the swan was in the right hand side of the frame.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was pleased with the effect that I had created. I didn’t crop the photo because I like how I had framed it. The exposure was spot on and didn’t require any adjustments either.

Hopefully the weather will cheer up again soon, and if it does I will defiantly be out with my camera once again!

Mat