Watching the World

Perhaps not the world, but certainly a small part of my local area! I took this photo during an early evening walk around the harbour this evening. Although it may feel a little depressing that Christmas Day has passed and the days are incredibly short, I don’t let it get me down!

I went on a trip to my local harbour this afternoon. I took my tripod, my wide-angle lens and my telephoto. I took this particular photo on my wide-angle lens to try to get a larger view of what was across the water. I used a slow shutter speed coupled with a high ISO to enable me to use a narrow aperture (giving me a larger depth of field). I have seen a few photos of busy towns that have tried to convey the passing of time. I took inspiration from these photos and tried to use their results in my image. Each of the shots I saw were dark and focused on lights and signs, so I tried to do this in my photo. To add to the image I incorporated the reflections on the water and used a starburst filter.

To draw more attention to the lights, I edited the image in Photoshop. As a general improvement I sharpened the image and removed noise. I decreased the brightness slightly and increased the contrast by about 50% to lose most of the detail in the shadows.

Overall, I’m pleased with how this image turned out, and I’m pleased how I can see some small features that are similar to my w sources of inspiration, while retaining some originality. If you want to see the kind of images I took my inspiration from, search “night city” on Google.

Bex

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Sea View

I was looking through my laptop this morning, trying to gather inspiration for a photography wander in the afternoon. As it happened I never actually got chance for my walk, but during the process of looking for inspiration one image caught my eye particularly- this one!

I took this picture a few months ago, during a recent holiday to the ­seaside. On the evening of the first day, I walked out onto my balcony to take in the scenery. As I looked to my right, I spotted the peach coloured clouds of the sunset and decided to take a photo.

I had to do a little post-processing, but only so much as straightening the image and cropping it slightly; it had all the small and inexcusable errors of a snapshot! I didn’t edit anything past this as I liked the original image, and didn’t want to lose the natural colour.

Admittedly it was more of a snapshot than a photograph, but I absolutely love it! I really like how the stone walls of the other balconies are painted white and pick up the colours of the sunset. I love how the balcony walls act as a frame. I also like how the Perspex at the end adds a final piece of interest to the picture, making the whole sunset image more curious.

Bex

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Starting Fires

I hope you’ve been enjoying yourself over the past week of fireworks and bonfires!! I love this time of year, as there is so much to take photos of- both inside and outside of events.

I took this photo at one of my town’s local events, which I attended to support my grandmother as she had the honour of lighting this year’s bonfire!! After she had lit it, it was left to burn down completely (which was rather nice, as it was freezing!). It was a really interesting subject for a photograph, as the combination of smoke, flames and ashes made for a unique effect at every press of the shutter. I like this photo in particular.

I experimented with exposure times to get different effects; in this picture I used a shutter speed of 1/4000 with an aperture of F8. I used such an incredibly fast shutter speed because I didn’t want the patterns made by the smoke to blur, and there was a lot of light coming from the fire.

I haven’t edited this image as I was pleased with the original. I love how you can see the ash around the outlines of the fire along with the silhouette of the wood. I hope you’ll join me in saying congratulations to my grandmother – she did well!!!

Bex

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Trails

I’m back!!! Firstly I must apologise for abandoning the blog, and secondly I should thank Mat for keeping Daily Wanders running smoothly while I have been munching on throat sweets like they were smarties!

Today, I was feeling better and was in need of getting some fresh air. Mat and I have wanted to try taking photos of light trails ever since we first started the blog back in April, but it’s gone dark too late throughout the summer season.

This evening, we walked to a bridge over the motorway, not far from the town. We took Mat’s tripod, my E-500 and several layers to try and capture the action! For this particular shot, I used an exposure time of 20 seconds at ISO100 with an aperture of F18. I tried to take out as much light as possible to allow for a longer exposure time.

When using a slower shutter speed, I was presented with the problem of the white burning out, but needing this time for more vivid reds. To combat this, I tried to take the photo when there was a lot of traffic on one side, but not a lot coming towards us.

Later, I used the remove colour cast tool to correct the yellow tint to the picture; I also increased the contrast to make the colours stand out. I love how you can see a few stars in the sky and reflections on the wet road. I also like how it wasn’t completely dark when we took the pictures, so you can still see some light on the horizon.

Apart from all the thoughts of rain, illness and general melancholy brought about by the thought of winter, it can’t be all bad! At least I can do more shots like this without becoming deprived of sleep. At last- a cheery note to winter!!

Bex

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Graffiti

Bex and I went to the festival today again. As part of the official photography team we had access all areas and had a lot of work to do. But don’t think that we had forgotten you, while we where on our way to one of the main stages we spotted this graffiti artist working on one of the designated walls. We both enjoyed watching him work, he would spray for a bit then stop and take a step back to look at what he had just done.

He had just started to spray again when I managed to take this photo of him. The photo froze him in time while he was starting the next section of the wall. I used the flash to pick out the details on his face and in the shadows, I left the flash gun in TTL Auto (Through The Lens Auto). This meant that I just had to concentrate on composing the photo within the frame. I really like the atmosphere of this photo; it shows how much the graffiti artist was concentrating on his artwork. All his concentration worked out because his artwork looked amazing when he had finished.

I didn’t edit the photo on the computer because it looked exactly how I wanted to when I took the photo. The camera precisely captured the atmosphere of the graffiti artist working away at his artwork.

We shall be returning to the festival again tomorrow for the final day. So we shall upload another photo. We have taken a great number of photos so far, and I’m sure we shall take even more tomorrow, so we will have lots of photos to upload in the next few weeks.

Mat

Wild Flowers

I managed to get out today during a quick break, so I thought I would go out for a quick walk with the camera. On my walk I saw these wild flowers, I really liked how they were bunched together without anything surrounding them.

When I took the photo I used quite a small aperture to retain a large depth of field. It was quite dark so I used the flash, by doing this the background became blacked out. By using the flash it meant I could use a low ISO and retain the full detail in the flowers.

When I took the photo off the camera I thought it needed some editing. The flash wasn’t quite powerful enough, so I had to boost the brightness to make the flower look a bright white. I also cropped down the photo to concentrate the attention onto the flower.

I really like this photo, the editing worked very well. The photo looks exactly how I wanted it to. I would like to think that my editing is getting slowly better.

Mat

Silver Lining

I haven’t been feeling very well the last few days, so I haven’t had chance to go for any walks. Last night, I was feeling a little better so decided to go for a late evening photography wander. I walked to the top of the hill in the local nature reserve and sat down to watch the sun setting. I wasn’t hoping for much, but it was absolutely stunning!

I increased the red and the contrast on the camera itself. When taking the picture, I under- exposed by two stops to make the colours stand out more. I didn’t use a lens hood, so got lens flare (purposely). By exposing for the colours in the sky, the foreground has gone black; I think it works incredibly well as it gives the picture contrast. I like how you can see a bit of the foreground at ground level, even if you do have to look closely. I think it adds a bit of interest and mystery.

I love taking pictures of sunsets; the silvery clouds and the blacked out foreground contrasts against the colours of the sky incredibly well. When it comes to sunsets, every cloud does have a silver lining!

Bex

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Out to Sea

I didn’t get a chance to go out today so I thought I should look in my computer for some inspiration. I found this photo from a holiday a few years ago. The photo was taken with a compact camera so the quality isn’t fantastic, but I think its good enough for an upload.

The photo was taken towards the late afternoon, so I could create a more natural photo. Also with the sun behind me I didn’t get any bad reflections from the water. I underexposed the photo to retain detail in the sky; this also darkened the shadows on the rock which gives a pleasing effect to the photo.

As the photo was taken on a compact camera it needed some editing to get it up to a good enough standard for the blog. The photo was quite ‘flat’ straight from the camera, so I increased the saturation and the contrast. I like the effect that this gives the photo, it makes it seem much more realistic.

Now after a fantastic weekend, it’s back to normality. Hopefully the sunny weather will stay around, but otherwise it was very nice while it lasted.

Mat 

Crystal Clear

I’ve reached the end of a rather busy time where Mat’s been left to do a lot of posts.

I took this picture during our picnic on Sunday but hadn’t had a chance to upload it. The heat was beginning to get a bit too much, so we moved into the shade of a willow tree by the stream. It was shallow and incredibly clear, so the stones could be seen through the ripples. I thought it’d make an interesting picture, so crouched down by the water’s edge so I could take the picture at less of an angle.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I should upload this picture, as to me it looked a bit out of focus (the effect of the water), but after looking for a while, I made my mind up. I like how you can see the ripples in focus on the top left of the picture, while the rest of the picture is slightly blurred, giving an interesting effect.

I must apologise for the late post, but a friend and I went out for some greatly needed retail therapy!

Bex

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Better late than never!

I must first apologise for my lateness of the post, but as mentioned previously today is my birthday, meaning I’ve been busy all day. The second thing I should apologise for is the fact that I dug out an old picture from my laptop, but I’m not going to.

Today was a milestone birthday for me, and I feel that if there is any time for reflection then that time should come today.

This picture of two dragon flies on a plant was taken at the Eden Project during a holiday to Cornwall. I loved how the water droplets were captured. This was before I became obsessed with cameras, just a shot. I took this picture with a regular compact camera, and I can honestly say that this is the first image I took and was proud of.

This picture really was what sparked my passion for photography, so although I didn’t have time for a new picture, I think it fits in rather well today. Again, apologies for the late post! Now, goodnight!

Bex

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