Tree Top

Today instead of going to the nature reserve I ventured out a little further than normal. I found a forest that I’ve been to a few times in the past. There were lots of opportunities for photos the last time I went so I thought I would pay the forest another visit.

Towards the edge of the forest there was a small group of trees. So I thought if I got the composition right the trees could look very interesting. To create the most interesting composition I framed the trees so they were lined up along the bottom. I managed to get plenty of sky into the photo to create more of a moody atmosphere; it was quite a grey day today so I was aiming for a moody effect. As the group of trees was quite far away from the camera the aperture I chose would be irrelevant, so I selected an aperture of F7.1 which gave a shutter speed of 1/25^th of a second. I was using a focal length of 20mm, so the shutter speed was fast enough.

When editing the photo the only things I changed was the saturation and the framing of the photo. I increased the saturation to make the trees look greener as in real life. And to improve the composition I cropped out the right side of the frame, this has greatly improved the composition.

This small forest is brimming with photographic opportunities; this is just one of the many that I spotted in 30 minutes. Hopefully if I get a chance i will go back again and take some more photos for you all to see.

Mat

Misty View

I didn’t have much to do today so I thought I should go out for a wander. I went back to the place I visited earlier this week because there was a few photos that I thought I could improve on.

The first time I took this photo I had chosen quite a large aperture, I wasn’t convinced on the effect that this produced. So when I went back I selected a much smaller aperture: F10. By selecting this aperture the depth of field has been made much larger but the foreground detail isn’t completely in sharp focus; this is the effect that I was aiming for the first time I went out.

I didn’t need to do much editing to the photo, but there was a few details I wanted to change. I changed the brightness because the exposure was a bit too dull for the effect I wanted. Also I increased the saturation because I felt the trees and bushes could do with being a little greener.

I’m glad I went back today to redo this photo because I’m very pleased with the effect I had created. I will probably go back in the near future because there are many more photographic opportunities that are waiting to be taken.

Mat

Officials

We both took so many photos over the weekend, there are far too many to upload so we shall choose just the best to upload for you. This is one of the better ones that I took from behind the scenes at one of the many stages.

While Bex and I were waiting for the next act to get onto the stage; I decided to take a wander around the backstage area. While I was backstage I found two of the stewards planning how the next acts would be set up. They were deep in discussion so didn’t see me walking around taking photos, so I took one of them while they were deep in discussion. I was trying to get a snapshot of how busy and hectic, but at the same time organised and well run, the festival was.

To take the photo I used the flash gun, and with the camera in point metering and with an aperture of F9. I focused on the man’s face to ensure I got both of the stewards in focus, the flash gun helped to keep the skin tones warm and to lighten the shadows under the woman’s hat.

When I took the photo off the camera I decided that it didn’t need much editing. I only decided to crop the photo down and straighten it a bit. I cropped the photo to concentrate the attention onto the stewards and putting less focus onto the background. And I straightened the photo for obvious reasons, to ensure the vertical lines were truly vertical.

Because of all the rain we have had, we have had some local flooding. Bex and I thought it might make some interesting photos so if we have a chance we’re going to have a look tomorrow to see what we can find.

Mat

Fun of the Fayre

Today was the first day of the local festival that Mat and I are covering. Mat was busy this afternoon, so I was taking photos alone. The festival doesn’t officially open until tomorrow but was open to photographers and members of the press.

 As it was the day before, most people were in the midst of setting up their stalls as I was walking around the festival site. The site itself is divided into sections, with one of those sections being a children’s zone with decorated willow arches and sculptures (as seen in the foreground of the photo). A second attraction in the family friendly zone was the giant slide!

I was trying to capture the overall fun, bright and friendly atmosphere. To do this, I decided to walk to the bottom of the hill so I could capture both the willow arches and the giant slide.

Afterwards, I increased the cyan saturation and the contrast to make the scene brighter and to make the sky more vivid. I also sharpened the image slightly to make the details more prominent. I’m looking forward to the first full day of the festival with Mat tomorrow. An early night for all!

Bex

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Dramatic Red

I wasn’t able to go for a photography wander today so I looked through my computer for some more inspiration. I was looking through the photos from a fairly recent trip to the local duck pond, and I stumbled across this photo of some lovely red flowers.

This was one of the first photos that I had taken on the walk, we had just started arrived at the duck ponds and where looking around for photo opportunities. We walked round a corner and this red flower ‘jumped’ out at me. It was late evening and the sun was creating some very dramatic light effects. The light was focused directly onto the flower with the surroundings in shadow; I really liked this effect as it creates a very moody atmosphere. As it was quite late I had to take the photo with the aperture wide open (F4), which created a shallow depth of field. Also I had to use quite a high ISO to counteract the low light levels; this unfortunately added quite a lot of noise into the photo.

When editing the photo I reduced the overall noise and sharpened the photo. I also increased the brightness, I did this to emphasise the mood created by the lighting. Overall the photo has come out very pleasing I think.

Bex and I have planned to go out tomorrow, so hopefully we shall have some new material to upload for you very soon.

Mat

Aisles

Once a year in my local area, there is an “Open Doors Day”. This is when local places of interest let the public access all areas for a single day. Among other places, Mat and I decided to go to a church on the outskirts of town. It’s well known for the bell tower, which is what was open!

I walked up to the roof of the bell tower with my camera; the views were stunning but looked more like snapshots than photography. When reviewing my photos in the evening, I saw this picture. It was taken just before I went up to the roof. I was waiting for my turn, so decided to go for a wander through the main building. As I got to one end of the church, I turned and saw the archways. I noticed how the pews acted as lead in lines, as well as pillars.

I had to wait for 10 minutes to get a shot without any people at the back of it. I had to use a high ISO in order to avoid using flash. This meant that I needed to edit my picture in the evening. I increased the contrast and saturation to make the picture seem brighter without losing the colour. Afterwards, I used the noise removal tool to make the picture look clearer.

I’m really pleased with it; it was definitely worth the wait! I think it’s one of those pictures that you don’t realise it’s potential until you’ve see it on a larger screen.

Bex
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Writing On The Wall

I had a free afternoon today, so I decided to go for a photography wander in the centre of my local area. I found a small winding street that stretched past the back of a museum. As I followed the path I noticed that there were messages written on the walls, advertising the museum and some topics it covered inside.

I thought it looked dramatic because of the barbed wire and posts along the top of the wall. I used a wide aperture to blur the words as it got further away. This gave the effect of making the wall look endless. It was a cold and gloomy day, meaning that there was no detail in the background. I didn’t take the picture in black and white, but lost what little colour was in the sky, while the foreground was already monochrome. Before uploading I increased the contrast and sharpness of the image in Photoshop. This made the words stand out more.

I haven’t had a chance to go out for a long walk alone for a few weeks, and it was nice to be able to get into the town centre to do some more industrial photography. I think this picture works incredibly well, displaying the clear messages as intended, yet in a more dramatic way.

Bex

Turning Over a New Leaf

Both Mat and I were free today so we decided to go to for a mini photography wander. We didn’t have much time so couldn’t go very far; we walked through the local nature reserve. As usual I took mostly macro shots, and this is one of them.

I used shutter speed priority mode so I could under expose, making the picture seem more dramatic. Whilst under exposing, I also used flash. This picked out the highlights and shine of the leaf, and made the dark areas more prominent. Afterwards, I edited the picture by decreasing the brightness further and increasing the contrast. This made the colours too bright so I decreased the saturation.

I used the macro lens, which works incredibly well. I used a 45mm focal length, as the lens doesn’t focus at incredibly close distances and I wanted to capture the detail of all the channels and veins on the leaf.

I enjoyed going on a photography wander with Mat. We haven’t had chance to go together for a while, and I find my photos turn out better as we can suggest things to each other. I look forward to the next time.

Bex

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