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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