Branching Pathways

I got out for another photography wander today with Bex. We went into our local town again, and went for a walk around our usual places. We were walking along a path on the way to a cafe that we like when I spotted a few small branches that had fallen onto the path. I thought they made an interesting composition.

To make the most of the composition I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F5.6, as this isolated the closet branch from the rest of the scene. I left the camera to select both the shutter speed and the ISO, for this exposure the camera selected a shutter speed of 1/40^th of a second and an ISO of ISO 6400 to complete the exposure.

To edit the photo, the only thing I did was to increase the contrast, I was happy with the rest of the photo so I decided to leave it the way it came out of the camera. The composition was as I wanted it to be, and the colours had been replicated accurately so didn’t require any editing. Also the exposure didn’t require any changes except for the increase in contrast.

I’m really glad that both Bex and I had a chance to go out with our cameras today. We haven’t been out with our cameras together for quite a while and I was in need of taking some new photos. So I will have a few new photos to upload to the blog over the next few days.

Mat

Burst Of Colour

I took this photo on one of the trips Bex and I went on to our local town. I was trying to capture a photo of a group of daffodils but they were in direct sunlight which made setting the exposure very difficult. I didn’t get the effect that I wanted so I moved on to a different subject. When looking back through, I came across this photo which didn’t look as bad as I thought when I took it.

I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F8 selected to give the best trade off between depth of field and a fast shutter speed. I locked the ISO at ISO 100 for maximum image quality. I didn’t have my flash gun on me during this trip as I couldn’t balance the harsh sunlight. The camera selected a shutter speed of 1/125^th of a second to complete the exposure.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and lowered the highlights. After I did this I started playing with the colour temperature settings, I used the custom setting and selected the yellow leaves which turned them white and turned the background a rather pleasant blue colour! I stopped changing settings after this as I didn’t want to spoil the effect that I had (accidently) made. I really like the modified colours and I think it makes the photo look much better than before.

Hopefully things will get back to normal soon and Bex and I will get a chance to go for a photography wander very soon.

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

Look Before You Jump

I found this photo while doing the previous blog post, this photo was taken chronologically first but I preferred the previous photo, which is why I uploaded it first. I had first seen the squirrel scurrying around in this tree. It stopped on a branch and leaned over looking like it was about jump to the ground (which it did after I captured my photos).

I didn’t have much time to capture the image I wanted, so I put the camera into shutter priority and selected a shutter speed of 1/640^th of a second. I chose this photo as I knew it would fast enough for all eventualities; it is fast enough to remove almost any movement by the squirrel and it will remove any camera movement even at the lens longest focal length. Fortunately I had enough time to take a short series of photos before the squirrel jumped off the branch onto the ground.

To edit the photo I cropped the photo for a tighter composition around the squirrel because there were quite a few distractions behind the tree. I didn’t change anything else because I was happy with the exposure and the colours had been replicated perfectly.

Hopefully at some time next week Bex and I will get a chance to go for a photography wander. The weather looks to improve so hopefully there will be plenty of new flowers bursting into life in the nature reserve and lots of wildlife hiding and waiting to be found.

Mat

Food Lookout

I took this photo earlier this year on the trip that Bex and I went on to our local town. I remember this trip because of the very friendly squirrel I found. It obviously liked the attention of the camera, because while I was taking some photos of the squirrel it didn’t move very often. So I managed to get a good set of photos while I was there.

This is one of my favourites because I managed to capture the squirrel just before it ran off, so it was looking towards a scrap off food behind a wall so I couldn’t follow for more photos. I really like the pose I captured the squirrel in just before he ran it ran off.

To capture the image I had the camera in shutter priority so I had complete control of the necessary settings. I then set the shutter speed to 1/500^th of a second, this was fast enough so that any movement made by the squirrel would be frozen and any camera shake would be removed. I didn’t have my flash gun with me during the photography wander, but it wasn’t required because the sky was partially cloudy which caused the light to be diffused perfectly. I overexposed the photo by 1 and 1/3^rd of a stop to compensate for the brighter background.

To edit the photo I cropped the image down to focus the attention onto the squirrel. I also boosted the contrast to give the photo a little extra vividness. I was experimenting with the colour tone and the saturation; I tried increasing the colour tone while decreasing the saturation. Which increased the reds while decreasing all other colours, because the squirrel is predominantly grey this creates a stronger contrast and makes the squirrel stand out more from the background, particularly as the squirrel is standing on a small patch of green foliage which jumps out from the background.

I’m very impressed with how the image looks after I edited it; it looks very different from how it came out of the camera. I think the photo looks a lot better after I edited it, the composition looks a lot better and the lack of colour I think makes the squirrel stand out from the background a lot more than before.

Mat

Resting Bird

Bex and I managed to get out this weekend in the wonderful weather but we decided to have a day off from photography and to enjoy and relax in the weather. So I will be using a photo from one of my wildlife photography wanders. I remember taking this photo because the sun was beaming down which made the metering a challenge. As I really enjoy a challenge I was determined to capture this photo!

For this photo I had the camera in shutter priority to ensure that the shutter speed was fast enough to remove any movement that the bird made. Because of the direct lighting conditions I overexposed the photo to ensure that the exposure was even across the photo. I had left the camera in Auto ISO because the light was constantly changing. The camera selected an aperture of F5.6 and in ISO of ISO320 to complete the exposure.

To edit the photo I had to change the light levels quite a lot to combat the harsh exposure. I lowered the highlight while increasing the shadows. I also lowered the overall exposure to recover the highlight details. I didn’t change the colour temperature or the colour tone as I was happy with how the colours had been replicated by the camera.

I hope the weather holds because now that we’re off out photography break; I would love to capture some summer photos before the weather makes another turn for the worse!

Mat

Watching The World

I took this photo earlier this week while I was out walking with my camera. I was passing through the nature reserve and I saw a bird that had landed on a tree and just appeared to be watching the nearby world.

To make the most of the composition I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F6.3 selected. This aperture gives the best compromise of depth of field and still allows an adequate shutter speed to be used. I composed the photo so that I had a branch in front to give some foreground interest, and to also as lead in lines to the bird. I didn’t use the flash gun because the sky was quite cloudy and therefore the light was diffused.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo looks. The exposure was spot on and the colours had been replicated perfectly. I liked the composition so I didn’t crop the photo either.

Hopefully Bex and I will get a chance to go out on a photography wander of some sort this weekend. The weather is looking good, warm and slightly cloudy; perfect photography weather!

Mat

Lone Swan

I didn’t get a chance to go for a photography wander this weekend so I used one of the photos from my previous wander earlier last week. I noticed a swan had made a nest on a small island in the duckpond. I thought it made an interesting composition as it was isolated on its own.

To make the most of the composition I put the camera in manual mode so I could control both the aperture and the shutter speed. I set the aperture at F5.6 and the shutter speed at 1/640^th to freeze the movement. I let the camera choose the ISO, which it calculated to be ISO1000. I also overexposed the photo by one stop.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with the effect straight from the camera. The exposure had been calculated perfectly and the colours had been replicated faithfully. I didn’t crop the photo as I liked how I had composed the photo.

Both Bex and I have a very busy time now because of our school/college work. But we will still go out on photography wanders whenever we can. If we don’t get a chance then we both have a large reserve of photos that we can access on our computers.

Mat

New Growth

It finally feels that spring is here! We’ve had nothing but glorious sunshine, making for a perfect bank holiday weekend. One of the best things about spring is that all the trees that were once bare are now lush and green again, and all the flowers are springing up to cover the ground once again. I love this time of year as it is full of colour which is great for photography and the bright sunlight always creates interesting exposure challenges.

To celebrate the turning to spring I thought I would upload a photo of a snapshot of spring. To best portray this effect I thought that a spring time flower would create the effect I was looking for. I went for a photography wander in our local nature reserve and the ground was covered with new flowers starting their new growth.

I saw a small group of white flowers caught my eye because there was one of the flowers standing out in front of the others. I liked this composition and how it separates the flower from the others in the same way that spring is separated from the other seasons. For the actual exposure I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F5.6 selected to ensure the background was thrown completely out of focus. I had an ISO of ISO 200 selected for maximum image quality. I also overexposed the photo by one stop. This meant the camera chose a shutter speed of 1/100^th of a second to complete the exposure.

I didn’t edit the photo because I really liked the effect that I had created in the camera. The exposure was spot on for the lighting conditions and the colours had been calculated incredibly accurately. I also liked the composition I had created so I didn’t crop the photo down.

I’m glad that Bex and I managed to get out for a photography wander today. Most of my photos where of birds again, so expect lots more wildlife photos over the next few days.

Mat

Landing

Bex and I managed to go out for a wander today, but we didn’t take out cameras with us. So I decided to upload another photo from last weekend’s wildlife photo shoot. I had paused momentarily when I saw a pigeon flying past me out of the corner of my eye. I turned round as it flew past and brought my camera to my eye and took a series of photos as it landed on a branch in a nearby tree. Unfortunately quite a few of the photos were out of focus or slightly blurry, but this one and a few others were pin sharp.

I had the camera in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/640^th of a second programmed in to remove any camera shake and motion blur. I also had the ISO set at ISO 800 to ensure that a moderate aperture was selected by the camera. I had overexposed by one stop, when I reviewed the photo it looked a bit too bright form my liking; but this was easily eradicated in the editing stage.

To edit the photo the first thing I did was to lower the overall brightness of the photo to combat the overexposing. I also increased the contrast to make the photo look more dynamic. I also cropped the photo as there was quite a lot of dead space surrounding the pigeon; by removing the dead space it focuses the attention onto the main subject.

I’m glad that I got a good photo of the pigeon as it landed. I had quite a few attempts of taking photos of moving birds last weekend but unfortunately most of them were out of focus or blurry; but I think I am slowly getting better at my wildlife photography.

Mat

Hiding Away

This is another of the photos I took last weekend which I really liked. The clouds hadn’t broken when I was taking this photo which made the exposure a lot easier to calculate. I didn’t need to use the flash either as the contrast was a lot less between the highlights and the shadows.

I was once again using the camera in shutter priority to ensure that any movement by the bird was removed. I had selected a shutter speed of 1/640^th which also ensured that any camera shake is also removed. As I previously mentioned I was wasn’t using the flash by this point as the contrast was a lot lower so the flash wasn’t required to brighten the shadow areas. I left the ISO in auto so the camera selected ISO1000 and an aperture of F5.6 to complete the exposure.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and lowered the colour tone and the colour temperature. I did this to ensure to enhance the yellow of the bird’s chest and to dampen the vivid green of the tree branch which distracted the viewer away from the bird itself. I also cropped the photo as there was a lot of dead space surrounding the bird.

I’m not sure on which day but both Bex and I are hoping to be able to go out for a photography wander at some point this weekend. I’m sure that we will upload some of the photos that we take while we’re out and about.

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

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

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

Standing Tall

Mat and I went for a walk through a small town on the outskirts of the city yesterday. He didn’t take his camera as just wanted to go for a walk, but I couldn’t be parted as ever!!

During one part of the walk, Mat sat down on a bench with a coffee (in –5 degrees!), while I chose to continue walking. I found a small clearing, just off the path, so decided to see what was there. I walked into the clearing to find a small shaded area, surrounded by trees- almost impossible to find if you weren’t looking. Small patches of light broke through the cover of the branches, providing thin beams that shone pointed to the centre. I tried to focus on one burst of light, taking the photo up the trunk of the tree to give an idea of scale. I used an aperture of F8, as I wanted the tree to be in focus, while making the background slightly blurred.

I increased the contrast in Photoshop, while slightly decreasing the brightness to make the image appear more dramatic. I decreased the saturation slightly, as I had changed the hue to make the green tones more prominent, and didn’t want this to be obvious when looking at the image. I’m pleased with this image, but regret not using low-key mode, as it could’ve made the image seem more dramatic without having to sacrifice details, as with post-processing.

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

Small Growth

This photo was also taken on our recent wander into the nature reserve. Further along the path was a tree which had some saplings shooting off; on some of them small pieces of green were hanging off. I spotted two of these pieces of green which I thought could make an unusual composition.

I used a wide aperture to shorten the depth of field and I focused on the left piece. I did this to throw the right piece out of focus. I used the flash in this photo so I could create a high contrast between the background and the subjects. I had the camera in manual mode with a shutter speed of 1/50^th of a second and aperture of F5.6. I chose this combination to keep the depth of field very small and to ensure the background was dark in comparison to the subjects.

To edit the photo I boosted the contrast and lowered the shadows. I did this to make the photo look more dynamic with the very high contrast between subject and background. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the effects I had created.

Overall I’m very happy with this photo; I captured the effect that I was aiming for. I really like the effects that can be created with flash. I will defiantly be trying more varied effects in the future.

Mat

Branching Up

Bex and I managed to get out for a walk today; we went slightly out of our town today to a park that we haven’t been to for quite a while. We decided to sit down and watch the world go by for a while, we were about to move on when I noticed three trees standing on their own; which I think made a very interesting composition.

I used the camera in aperture priority and selected an aperture of F11 to ensure the whole scene was sharp front to back. I under exposed by two stops to silhouette the tree and to enhance the blue sky. I composed the photo so that the tree was in the left hand side of the frame.

I didn’t edit the photo, as I was happy with the effect that I had created. The levels were as I wanted them and the composition was spot on what I wanted. I thought I might spoil the effect if I changed the composition or the light levels.

Tomorrow Bex and I are going to the Focus On Imaging Show in the NEC at Birmingham. We’ve been very excited about this trip for a long time! Both of us have planned the day out to the last detail. We will let you know how we get on when we get back.

Mat

Traveling

I had some spare time to myself today, so I thought I should go out and take some photos. Instead of going to one of my usual photography spots I went somewhere different, I went down to our local railway station. I took a variety of photos, a mixture of different trains and the passengers occupying the station. There was one particular photo that I wanted to get so told myself I wouldn’t leave the station until I had taken that photo.

The photo that I wanted to take was of one of the guards walking down the platform next to the train, but I wanted him to be isolated from the surroundings. To create the effect that I wanted I put the camera in manual mode and selected the widest aperture of F5.6, I then selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second to freeze the action. I used AI Servo focus to track the guard and I left the ISO selection to the camera. As the guard walked nearer to where I wanted; I tracked him with the autofocus until the composition was as I wanted. When I got the right composition I took several photos with the camera in continuous drive mode.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and lowered the highlights to stop the sky from whitening out. I didn’t crop the photo because I really like how I framed the photo with the other staff members and passengers surrounding the guard. I also like how the photo is framed within the train, platform and the canopy of the station I think this captures the hustle and bustle of modern life.

Hopefully if the weather holds up Bex and I might be able to go out for a photography wander this weekend. It’s been a while and we both have some interesting ideas for our next uploads.

Mat

Roses Are Red

It’s Valentines Day tomorrow! Hopefully you have something nice planned. I love having things marked on the calendar, as it gives me a theme to work towards. On the subject of themes, I would like to run a small competition. If you have something you’d like to see us cover more of, send an email to dailywandersblog@gmail.com with your name, and your idea for a theme. We’ll choose our favourite, then we’ll upload something which we feel suits it. But for today, it’s valentines!

I didn’t have a lot to do today, and the weather was miserable so I spent most of the day messing around with my filters and taking photos around the house. I found a small artificial rose from last year, which was dipped in glitter at the tips. I used macro filters equivalent to +6. I focused on the centre of the flower and used flash, meaning the edges were out of focus but produced spots of reflection where the glitter caught the light.

I have increased the contrast and sharpened the image, but otherwise I have left it alone. I’m pleased with this photo; I feel that working to a theme gives me better results, so I can’t wait for your suggestions!

Bex
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