Tracks of Time

I didn’t have much to do today, so in an effort to fight the boredom I caught a bus and went to the harbour for a walk. On one side of the harbour is a small café and, next to this, a railway. It’s mostly disused now, only serving tourists on a steam train during the summer. There are no barriers along the tracks so, during the winter, children play on the them; it also means I have chance to take photos!

I had taken several photos on the train tracks, and was beginning to think about leaving when I spotted these notches all the way along. I’m not sure what they are, but I thought that it would make a good photo. I originally took it in colour, but apart from a little redness from the rust, most of it was grey. Because of this, increasing saturation didn’t look right, so I tried turning the image black and white; I was really pleased with the photo in black and white as it adds to the idea of the subject having age.

I increased the contrast in Photoshop and sharpened the image, but decided to leave everything else, as I didn’t want to lose any detail. I love going for walks when I don’t have a lot to do; there’s always an excuse to take a camera!

Bex

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Stormy Horizon

I took this photo on Tuesday when I visited town with Mat; after we stopped for coffee, we walked along the harbour side. The British weather isn’t very reliable at the best of times, but it didn’t seem too bad when we got off of the bus; we were sorely mistaken. Whilst walking along the harbour, the sky began to get darker, and streaks of rain became visible. As photogenic as this was; it’s needless to say that we didn’t stay much longer!!!

I tried to under-expose this shot to capture the full presence of the storm, with all the layers within- I think I managed this incredibly well. For some reason, there appear to be vertical lines stretching throughout the image that I couldn’t edit out. Never the less, I liked the image and chose to upload it regardless. I sharpened the picture in Photoshop, to enhance the prominence of the flags and other details of the ship. I also increased contrast in an attempt to make the clouds more dramatic. Apart from this, I have not edited the image, as I didn’t want to make the lines any worse.

I’m really pleased with this image; I think we were very lucky on two accounts. The first being the picturesque scene, the second being that we made it on the bus before the heavens opened!!

Bex
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In A Rush

Bex and I didn’t have anything planned during today so we went down to the harbour in our local city. It was quite late by the time we got there. So I thought instead of trying to get a sharp image, I’ll make the most of the conditions and use a slower shutter speed to blur the movement of passing cars.

We were walking alongside a busy road which gave me the idea of blurring the movement of a passing car. So for this photo I slowed the shutter speed of 1/30^th of a second this means that the background will be blurred but the car will still be relatively sharp. As it was dark I used the widest aperture of F4.5 which gave a shallow depth of field.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and the brightness. I did this because I thought the photo could do with a bit more ‘punch’. I also de-saturated the photo because I thought the photo had a bit of a colour cast to it.

Overall I am impressed with this photo, and I really like how the lights of the car have become refracted through the lens to make the patterns on the image. I’m glad I didn’t change much in the image because I like the overall effect that I created.

Mat

Industrial

This is one of my favourite photos that I took on my walk around the harbour yesterday. An event was organised to showcase the history of the local area. Train tracks snake around the harbourside, in between the many cranes. In this event train carriages were placed in various locations around the harbour and the cranes and buildings were lit up.

As I walked up the road towards the harbour this view presented itself and I loved it! I used my wide-angle lens to capture it as best I could. I didn’t want to use my tripod, so had to use a wide aperture and the fastest shutter speed possible. On screen, the image didn’t seem to have much detail but I loved the view so tried to recover as much as I could in Photoshop. I don’t often use the shadows and highlights tool, but thought I’d give it a go in the hopes it would help my case; it did!

Apart from lightening shadows, I haven’t edited this photo at all. I love how it’s captured the light shining on the wet pavement and how the wide aperture makes this picture seem endless. I didn’t try to remove any noise, as it is most prominent in the sky but I like the texture that the noise gives it. This is one of my favourite images that I have uploaded, and I’m really pleased with it. I will definitely be using this tool more often!!

Bex

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With a Twist

I love old books! This may seem rather out of the blue, but it’s not as uncalled for as you may initially think. Mat and I went into town today, and despite the constant lashings of rain, I took my camera. During the late afternoon, I walked towards a local market that runs all year round. It’s here that the book comment begins to make sense.

The market is unlike others, in which the stalls are actually furnished shops the size of a stall- one of these is a bookshop entitled “Beware of the Leopard”. I love it as it’s the type of shop that’s a muddle and prevents you seeing over the top of each isle; it’s completely floor-to-ceiling with different works. I found a small photography book from 1944; I loved it and have spent the entire evening pouring over it until my head was ready to explode with inspiration. On the way back from the market I walked through a courtyard, which led onto a small church. I took this photo in the courtyard during the brief deficiency of rain.

The photo had little colour in, and was rather uninspiring. I’ve always been told that if colour adds nothing to the photo, then it’s absence is probably a good thing- I ignored this. I increased the contrast in Photoshop to lose detail in the skyscraper behind and to increase the prominence of the clouds. I then sharpened the image to make the noise show up more, adding interest to the sky. While debating over the presence of colour, I accidentally over-saturated it. I decided I liked this so experimented further. I increased the hue to give the picture some warmer tones.

I’m really pleased with the effect of this image; ignore anyone who tells you the fore mentioned rule- they’re wrong. Rules- 0; Becky- 1.

Bex

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Opportunities

Sometimes in photography (although not as often as I’d like), luck plays more of a part than the actual skill of being able to compose a good photograph. One example of these little gems of luck is the weather you get- this is a very good example in my opinion!

I was walking home, and happened to have my camera in my bag. It was around 5pm, and was almost dark as it is in winter. I have to walk along a bridge in order to get home, and as I was walking across the bridge I spotted this beautiful piece of scenery. I grabbed my camera and tried to capture it as best as I could by changing a few settings. The photo still doesn’t do it justice (but it comes pretty close!).

Amazingly, I haven’t edited this picture at all. I wasn’t sure whether or not I should, but after spending time looking at the image, I decided against it, as I liked the minute details that make this image so unique. I love the warm glow behind the trees that loses the detail of them, along with the small accents of cloud mixed into the amazing colours. I’ll admit that I took a detour when I saw this; to the hill in the local nature reserve- the view was stunning! I love sunsets- with or without photography equipment.

Bex

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Following the Path

This is another picture from my walk that I went on a few days ago. As I mentioned previously, I went for a walk to my local harbour. When I first walked towards the harbour I noticed a rocky outcrop, which happened to look like a winding path. At the top of this path, a man was walking around. He started to walk back towards the path shaped rocks, so I grabbed my camera and tried to set up the shot as best I could before he moved.

The shot was a little under exposed as I had used a really narrow aperture and had forgotten to take off exposure compensation. When reviewing the image, I actually liked that it was under exposed as it accentuated the shadows and made the clouds look moodier. Apart from sharpening the image slightly, I haven’t edited it at all.

I like how the path seems to lead you to the horizon, but the man who seems to be looking for the start of the path, or perhaps following the trail distracts your attention. I like how his motives are mysterious; you have to look at the image closely to make up your own mind. I’m really pleased with my snapshot!

Bex

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Mid-winter Wanders

I went for another walk today; this time towards a local harbour. As I was getting ready to go home I decided to try taking a photo that faced up towards the steps, but it was too busy. I tried to adapt my shot a little by purposely getting some people into the frame. I took the photo on an angle to add a little more interest rather than a straight and rather dull shot.

It was quite a bleak afternoon; clouds lined the whole sky so no detail could be seen. I decided to play up to the empty white background by making the rest of the image moodier. I desaturated the image, but not completely; this meant that you could still see a little blue colour in the clothes. I sharpened the image to emphasise all the imperfections of the worn-away staircase. I also increased the contrast to make the image seem more dramatic.

My camera doesn’t have a live view function, so it was a bit of a guess as to the end result. I like how you can’t see much of the people; it gives the image a little mystery. Overall, I’m pleased with my photo. Sometimes, making the best of a bad situation will give you a good end result.

Bex

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Shadows

I finally had chance to go for a walk today, and as usual I took my camera with me! This is probably my favourite image of the day, and perhaps isn’t quite as edited as you might expect at first glance.

Towards the end of my walk around the local nature reserve it was starting to get dark and was beginning to cloud over. I found some strange looking flowers, and decided to take a photo of them up the stem to make them seem bigger in the image. However, the camera metering got a little confused and for some strange reason, it came out black and white!

Although I hadn’t intended to take an image in black and white, I liked it and how it made the clouds look more ominous. To try to make this effect more dramatic, I increased the contrast in Photoshop. I increased it to the point that you couldn’t see the stems of the plants to add mystery. I also decreased the brightness slightly. The combination of this made the clouds look much moodier and added a general sense of ambiguity to the entire image.

I’m really pleased with how this image turned out; it just goes to prove that sometimes the camera knows best; even when it doesn’t have a clue what to do!

Bex

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Take A Guess

I thought I’d do something slightly different for my upload today. One of the first things that I always explain is about the subject and where I took the photo. Today I’m leaving you to guess what it is. I took this photo during a recent outside broadcast with Bradley Stoke Radio. We were offered the chance to switch on the Christmas lights and provide the entertainment – and no, it’s not the Christmas lights!

I’m a little limited to what I can write so as not to give you any clues!!! For this reason, I shall skip straight to post-processing. I had to edit this image rather a lot as the quality wasn’t wonderful and the colours didn’t stand out enough. I increased the saturation and contrast; I changed the hue slightly, removed noise and sharpened the whole image.

I will reveal the answer in a news post in a few days time, so keep an eye out! If you’d like to enter my mini competition, then either comment on this post or send an email to dailywandersblog@gmail.com

Good luck!!

Bex

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NOTE: THE ANSWER CAN NOW BE SEEN ON THE POST FROM 25TH NOVEMBER

Autumnal Amble

I’m back… sort of. I was feeling a little brighter today so Mat and I went for a walk around the outskirts of town. Towards the beginning of the year, we found this place by accidentally getting on the wrong bus (don’t ask). It may have been cold and late whilst we were anxious to get home, but it was a nice place to wait for the correct bus.

I explained to my family that evening, and they told me how I could get back there. Since then we have visited the same place a few times and different points in the year. It’s amazing how as the year progresses, it changes completely; it seems almost as if you’re visiting somewhere new each time. I think my favourite season of the year to photograph is in autumn; it sounds a little cliché, but the colours of the leaves really do add so much interest!

It’s really odd to see when walking, as one road is completely green then as soon as you turn the corner you are faced with a sea of fire. The vast stretch of pavement is lined by trees each side with benches in between. Around this time of year you completely lose sight of the floor as it gives way to a carpet of colour.

In this photo I used a custom white balance (6000K) to make the colours warmer; I also increased the contrast and sharpness on the camera. I haven’t done any editing after this as I was pleased with the photo and didn’t want to make the colours appear artificial.

This is one of my favourite places to visit, as it doesn’t seem possible that you could ever tire of it. It’s difficult to get to, but really is worth it and I can’t wait until I can go again. There’s also a very nice café near by – coffee please!

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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Stalls

This is another photo from my holiday, as I still have many to upload and so little time to take new pictures!! I took this photo on the first full day of our holiday when we went shopping.

As described in a previous post, the shopping centre opens out to reveal a long high street with small pathways spiralling off of it. I’ve visited the same place several times, so I’ve been down most of them. The trouble is that they ALL lead to another winding alley, which leads to another and another, and so on.

I walked a little further down the street before turning off this time, and I found two large archways in what seemed to look like a long forgotten part of town. I heard noises so walked in to see what was going on and was faced with the buzz of a traditional market place.

I took this picture using ISO 1600 so that I could get a fast enough shutter speed whilst still being able to use an aperture of F8 to get a deeper depth of field. I didn’t do any editing apart from noise removal, as I wanted to keep the photo as close to the original as possible.

It’s near impossible to find the same streets more than once, but I certainly hope that I’m able to find this one again- I love it!!! Retro sweets anyone?

Bex

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One Last

I took this picture on my walk yesterday; it was one of the first shots I took on our walk and it’s one of the pictures I mentioned yesterday that I was especially pleased with.

It had been raining that afternoon, so raindrops were still on all the plants around the town. As I was walking past a hedgerow, I noticed a few leaves that had almost broken away from the branches due to the excess rain. I loved how some rain has stayed on the leaf, giving the effect of a lens. I focused on this leaf in particular, using an aperture of F4.5 to blur the edges of the leaf to make the picture seem more surreal. I used low key gradation to make the photo seem more dramatic and emphasise the contrast in the image.

I didn’t have to do any editing, as I was pleased with the original photograph. I love how you can see the veins of the leaf through the water droplets; it seems to add to the mystery of the image. I am going on holiday tomorrow, so I shall leave you in the capable hands of Mat for the weekend. Au revoir!!

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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A Bright Start to the Day

I had to get up early today and misjudged how early! Because of this, I had some extra time so grabbed my camera and took a detour through the nature reserve. As we get ever closer to winter the days get shorter and the sun rises later.

As I walked through the nature reserve, the sun was just rising above the trees. I took a picture into the sun making the foreground black out. It was an incredibly clear morning, and I had a little dust on the lens, giving some lens flare.

When reviewing the image, I saw that the blue of the sky was darker towards the edges of the frame. To make this effect more prominent, I increased the contrast and the saturation slightly.

I think that the time of day is very important when trying to compose a photograph. Another thing to consider is the weather; if you can avoid bright sunshine, then do!!

Bex

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Going Places

One of my friends and I went for a walk with my camera last week. We’re both into photography, but we’re both a little crazy so there was just as much messing around as there was photography.

One of the places that we walked was around a local college. The building differs slightly in design as you walk around it, making it interesting to look at along side the grounds. Hannah walked out in front as she was looking at the college, so I decided to take a “natural” portrait shot.

I thought the picture looked quite urban and industrial, although the colours had gone slightly off due to selecting the wrong white balance. I tried to correct this, but while editing I decided to try black and white; I think it worked quite well.

The only time I use black and white is when colour doesn’t seem to add anything into the picture. I feel it’s become an expectation to see colour photos, as that is what we are used to. I enjoy breaking the trend!!

Bex

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Old Inspiration

I haven’t had much of a chance to go out for any photography wanders recently so I had a look through my computer for some inspiration. I had to go all the way back to July to find this photo!

Bex and I had gone out for a wander in the local nature reserve, the weather was very nice and we were out for most of the day. I spotted this dead flower hiding away in a bush, it looked interesting so I took a photo of it. The first few photos I took the composition weren’t quite right, so I changed my position by about 90 degrees and took a few more photos. This is one of the latter photos that I took, and I think the composition worked very well. It just proves a small change can make a big difference!

I didn’t do much editing to the photo, I adjusted the exposure by a small amount, and I decreased the colour temperature by a small amount. By decreasing the colour temperature it makes the whites clearer and look much more pleasing.

When taking macro photos, making very small changes will have a very large effect to the end photo. So I always take my time when doing macro photography to make sure I get the desired effect.

Mat

Towering

This is another photograph from mine and Mat’s endeavours to the top of the bell tower. I feel as if I may be over playing the weekend’s excursion slightly, but I took a lot of pictures so I have at least a few that I’m proud of and this is one of them! This is one of the last pictures I took while “up on the roof” (if you excuse the musical reference), but one of my most individual.

It got quite sunny as the evening drew in, meaning a lot of pictures I tried to take ended up as silhouettes. In most cases this only made the picture unusable but this is the exception. I noticed how the smaller spires were lined up perfectly, yet the middle spire was much taller while still in line. I liked the effect this had, so decided to try and capture the lines in a photo. Because of the position on the roof, I had to take it on an angle. I actually think it works better being taken at an angle as it created more interest. I had to take the picture into the sun, which caused the foreground to partially blackout, the entire photo to go black and white plus a little lens flare. I used a fast shutter speed to try and capture the clouds, which in monochrome, gives the picture a moody effect.

I didn’t have to do any editing, as I was already pleased with it. I would call this a “happy accident” as due to the restrictions I faced, I was forced to take it in a different way and it turned out better than I imagined. I think the lens flare works incredibly well, and adds to the over all effect.

Bex

An Unknown Plant

The weather was really nice today so I was sitting in the garden enjoying the nice weather. I noticed in one of the trees, this plant that was hanging down. I’m not sure what specific plant it is, but I thought it might make an interesting photographic opportunity.

I used the widest aperture I could to ensure the background was blurred appropriately. I also used the flash to pick out the white of the plant. The wind was blowing quite fast so I had to use a fast shutter speed, this meant I required a moderately high ISO.

When I edited the photo I decided to increase the brightness, this has the effect of making the white clearer. I also made the shadows darker, this focuses the attention onto the plant itself. Also I cropped the photo so that the plant was towards the left part of the frame, I think this enhances the composition of the photo.

Overall I think the photo has worked very well, and I’m quite pleased with the editing that I did. I will try to find out what plant this is, if I find out I shall let you all know.

Also a quick congratulations to everyone who received their GCSE results today, I know you all worked very hard to get the grades you received. So very well done to you all.

Mat