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

Nesting

This photo I took while I was on my photography wander with Bex. We were just leaving when I spotted a swan that was nesting on a little island in the pond. It had chosen a very good place for a nest as it was very sheltered.

To make the most of the composition I had the camera in manual mode again, and I selected a shutter speed of 1/400^th of a second and an aperture of F11. I chose this shutter speed as it was fast enough to freeze any movement and also fast enough to remove any camera shake as I was using my monopod to help keep the camera steady. I left the ISO in auto and the camera chose ISO 1600 to complete the exposure. I didn’t use my flash gun as the sky was rather cloudy at the time and therefore diffused the sunlight.

To edit the photo I cropped the photo down and also changed the orientation. I did this to focus the attention onto the swan, and I prefer the vertical composition. I also increased the contrast and the sharpness. I did this to give the photo some extra punch and to clear up some ‘fuzziness’ that the high ISO had created.

Hopefully soon we will get a chance to go on a photography wander. As the weather is really starting to improve again. So we should be able to catch some wildlife in the brilliant summer sun.

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

Flying Away

Again this was taken on yesterdays short wildlife photoshoot. I was watching a pigeon in one of the trees next to me, when suddenly it took off and flew away. Within minutes of this happening the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down! I think the pigeon had the right idea flying away. So I quickly stuffed my camera gear back into my camera bag and made off for some shelter.

For this photo I had the camera in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/640^th of a second selected and I was overexposing the photo by one stop, to ensure the bird was correctly exposed. The camera selected an aperture of F5.6 and an ISO of 3200 to complete the exposure.  I wasn’t using the flash gun because the sky was cloudy and diffusing the light adequately.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo looked straight from the camera. The exposure was spot on and the colours were replicated just how I wanted them to be. I thought if I tried to edit the photo I would spoil the effect I had created in camera.

I enjoy wildlife photography as it provides a different challenge to normal photography, with the subjects moving randomly and quickly you need to have quick reactions and the foresight to predict where they are likely to move to. I enjoy these challenges, which is why I try and go on as many wildlife photoshoots as I can.

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

Swan In The Sun

I took this photo on the recent wildlife photo shoot. I was quite impressed with how this photo came out, it is defiantly one of my favourite photos from the day. The sun was beaming down which made some very interesting exposure problems. The best way I thought to combat the exposure difficulties was by using my flash gun. I thought by using the flash gun it would help to lighten the shadow areas and to even the exposure.

I was using the camera in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/400^th of a second selected. I had also locked in an ISO of ISO400. As I was using the flash gun the camera selected an aperture of F13. I programmed the flash gun to over expose by three stops; so that it would give out the largest amount of power for the exposure. As I was using a shutter speed faster than the flash-sync’ speed of the camera I had to use the flash n the high speed sync’ mode. This mode sends out a rapid sequence of flashes so that at least one of the flashes happens while the shutter is open. The only downside of using the high speed sync’ function is that it uses the entire charge of the flash gun; so that only one photo can be taken at a time!

To edit the photo I increased the brightness a bit and lowered the highlights to ensure the highlights didn’t become clipped. I also cropped out some reeds that I had accidently included into the frame. After this I changed the white balance for a more accurate colour selection. I changed the white balance as the photo looked a bit too cool for my liking. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the rest of the photo.

I very much enjoyed my wildlife photography trip, I’m very pleased with the photos that I took. Hopefully both Bex and I will get a chance for some more photography this weekend.

Mat

Flying Off

I managed to get out for the wildlife photo shoot yesterday; I went through the nature reserve down to the duckpond. I managed to catch a lot of the local birds in the forest, and when I got down to the duckpond it was full of swans and ducks and moorhens.

There was a male mallard duck that was chasing a female mallard duck, the female mallard decided to fly off and I just managed to capture the male mallard chasing after her. I was already in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/640^th selected. I had left the camera in auto ISO, which the camera selected at ISO800. I wasn’t using the flash at this point as I needed to take a lot of photos in a series.

I didn’t edit the photo as I was happy with how the photo was straight from the camera. The colours where exactly as I wanted them to be. Faithfully reproducing the bright colours of both the male and female mallard ducks. The exposure was also calculated exactly how I wanted it to be.

I’m glad I got a chance to go out on a wildlife photography wander, I tried out some of the flash gun ideas I’ve been meaning to try out for quite some time. I shall upload the best of the photos that I took over the next few days.

Mat

Shining Through

I know I’ve uploaded some very similar photos recently; but I really liked a lot of the photos and couldn’t decide which to upload so I decided to upload all of them! This photo was taken on the return journey; we had paused for a short break to just watch the world go by. We were just leaving when I saw how the light was catching the leaves on the side of the hedge. I really liked how the bramble branch has been picked out by the light, and how the light shines through the leaves.

To make the most of this composition I used a medium aperture of F8, this gives a large enough depth of field without showing too much of the background. I preselected an ISO of 400 to enable the use of a fast enough shutter speed. I didn’t use the flash on this photo as it would have over powered the natural light and destroyed the effect I was aiming to capture.

I didn’t change anything during the editing stage as I was happy with how I had captured the image. The camera had calculated the exposure perfectly so I didn’t change any of the light levels. Also the colours had been replicated perfectly so I left them as they were.

Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go out for a walk again this weekend, if not then I’m sure I’ll be able to find some photos in my computer’s hard drive. Maybe I’ll look through some of our previous photography wanders.

Mat

Burgundy Leaves

I managed to get out for a photography wander this weekend, so once again I brought my trusty flash gun with me. I also took my tripod with me to hold the flashgun so I could use some off camera flash.

I spotted some dead leaves hanging from a tree that amazingly hadn’t fallen off despite all the wind we’ve been having! So I set up the flash gun on the tripod to the right and slightly behind the camera. I set the camera to fire the flash remotely; I took a few test shots and decided that the best effect was created without any flash exposure compensation. I had the camera in aperture priority and I preselected an aperture of F5.6 to ensure the depth field was short but the leaf was still sharp. The camera paired this with a shutter speed of 1/60^th of a second.

Editing the photo I decided to increase the contrast and boost the shadows, I did this to make the photo look more dynamic and to make the photo look less flat. I also reduced the colour tone, by doing this the reds become boosted and enhance the burgundy colours of the dead leaves. I didn’t change the composition else because I was happy with how I had framed the photo.

Overall I’m very happy with this photo, I like how I had framed the image and I really like the effect I had created with the flash gun. Hopefully I will get another chance to go on a photography wander at some point this week.

Mat

Brambles

Both Bex and I had some time off yesterday, so we decided to take a short walk around the local nature reserve. We were walking around when I spotted a small bramble bush; I thought that one of the ends sticking out made an interesting composition.

I had my flash gun and tripod with me so I set up the flash gun on the tripod to the right of the bramble bush; so that only the right side of the bush is lit up. I wanted to try this effect out because I have seen it before a few times and wanted to try it out myself. I used the camera in manual mode and selected a shutter speed of 1/40^th and an aperture of F8; I chose this aperture to ensure that only the bramble bush was in focus. I underexposed the flash by one stop to get the effect that I wanted.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and lowered the highlights to stop them from clipping. I also increased the colour tone to give the green leaves more punch. I also cropped the photo down slightly as there was some dead space to the left of the frame. Finally I converted the photo into JPEG format.

I’m very pleased with how this photo turned out, I like the moody effect the flash gun has made. I shall defiantly be experimenting more with different flash gun setups.

Mat

Angry Ducks

Following on from my recent posts I thought I should upload another photo from my walk down to the duckpond. I was watching a small group of ducks, and a few of the male mallards were fighting over the female mallard. I wanted to capture a photo of this but as they moved around I struggled to get a photo quick enough.

To capture the photo I used the camera in shutter priority and chose a shutter speed of 1/1000^th to ensure that all movement was frozen. I left the camera in automatic ISO selection. The camera selected an aperture of F5.6 and ISO 800 to complete the exposure. I framed the photo so there was an even spread across the frame.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and the shadows. I did this to balance out the exposure. I also used the noise reduction to decrease the amount of noise in the photo. I didn’t change the composition as I was pleased with how balanced the frame appeared. I didn’t change the saturation or colour tone either, because I was happy with how the colours had been represented.

I’m quite pleased with this photo but I think I still need more practice to capture the moment I wanted. Perhaps the next I go down to the ducpond I will get a chance to.

Mat

Flying High

I managed to get out for a walk today, so I went down to our local duck pond. I’ve recently purchased a Manfrotto monopod and though this would be the best way to try it out. When I got down to the duckpond I attached it to my camera and took all my photos with it on.

This photo was a bit of a happy accident; I was panning with the camera set in shutter priority and a shutter speed of 1/2000^th of a second programmed. I was following the bird and because of the metering I was using, (centre waited) the exposure was under-exposed. But because of this the bird becomes silhouetted against the cloudy backdrop.

To edit the photo, I boosted the contrast and lowered the highlights. I lowered the highlights so the clouds become more prominent. By increasing the contrast the silhouette effect becomes more dramatic. I didn’t crop the photo as I liked how the bird is surrounded by clouds and sky; I also like how the bird is flying across the frame.

The monopod came in very handy with all the photos, it effectively removed the camera shake from hand holding the camera. This enables the use of slightly slower shutter speed (1-2 stops), which is very helpful when there isn’t much light around. I will definitely be using my new monopod on future photography wanders.

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

Snow Problem

Perhaps I should apologise for the awful pun of a title now! But that’s not the only thing I should be apologising for; the last month has been awash with exams and coursework, and the blog has been pushed onto Mat for most of this month. Thankfully, I reached the deadline today so things should start to be a little more regular now.

In my area, most of the snow has melted and things are starting to return to normality. Most people are a bit sick of the sight of it, but I’m one of those that simply regress to the mentality of a 5 year old and carry on! On the first day that the snow arrived on my doorstep, I took my camera out on an all-day adventure. This is one of the first I took, and okay, it may be a little stereotypical painted Christmas card, but I can’t wait almost a year to upload it! I spotted this photo by chance, as I needed to mail a letter on my way out.

I used an aperture of F4, as I wanted quite a shallow depth of field. I boosted the highlights in Photoshop as I had under-exposed a little; this was intentional as it’s hard to control highlight clipping in the snow, and under-exposing eliminates this. Apart from sharpening the image, I haven’t done anything further to the image as I was pleased the original.

Bex
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Autumnal

I went for another walk today, as I had a free afternoon. I walked to a local spot that I visit frequently. In simple terms, it’s a long path which stretches for about a mile, lined with trees in parallel the entire length. It’s one of my favourite places to go. I didn’t actually have a “free” afternoon as such; I was supposed to be Christmas shopping! I managed to get all of my shopping done with some time to spare, so got a bus to the start of the road and walked the entire stretch with my camera.

The only major problem with lining the street with trees is that they aren’t evergreen and present an issue when you decide you wish to sit anywhere! By the time I got to the end of the path I still had a little time to wait, so I went in search of a bench. I found one, but it was covered in leaves.

I decided to try to take a picture of this, using a wide aperture to blur what was behind and underneath the bench and to focus on the front few leaves. I wanted to make the photo more interesting, so I pre-focused the camera before moving it. This had the effect of changing which part of the photo was in focus, drawing you into the picture. Apart from increasing the saturation in Photoshop slightly, I haven’t edited the picture as I wanted to keep the effect of using natural light and I liked the original image.

I never did get chance to sit down; I’m afraid I’m too easily distracted. It was a shame I missed my bus though- I blame the camera…

Bex
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Reeds Against The Trees

I got a chance to take some photos with my new flash gun today, and they all came out fantastically! Unfortunately I arrived home quite late so I haven’t had a chance to take the photos off the camera yet. So I’m going to use another photo from our recent trip to the duckpond.

I saw this group of weeds standing out on front of the background of trees, I thought that the contrast between the background and the subject made for an interesting composition. To make the most of the composition I use the widest aperture possible, which in this case was F4.5. This aperture gives a small depth of field and makes the subject stand out in front of the background.  I used a tripod for this photo as well as the others to ensure that maximum sharpness was retained.

I didn’t edit the photo because I was very pleased with how the composition had been captured. The exposure had been calculated perfectly so I didn’t need to change any settings. The effect of the photo I find to be very pleasing.

Bex has been suffering from computer problems recently, so I’ve been left in charge of the blog for a short while. She is trying to sort the problems out and will be uploading more of her fantastic photos very soon.

Mat

Natural Wildlife

This one of the photos that I had taken on my trip to the local duckpond earlier his week. One of the swans came quite close to the side so I thought I could get a close up of just its head. I thought by concentrating on a small area it would an interesting and different composition.

To get narrow field of view I used a focal length of 300mm; the maximum for the lens I was using. I had the camera in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/400^th of a second. To capture the correct exposure the camera used an aperture of F7.1; this also ensured that enough of the swan was in focus but with the background out of focus. I had to use an ISO of 1250 to enable the use of the narrower aperture.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast but I also turned down the highlights because the white feathers where starting to white-out. I also decreased the colour temperature to make the whites look purer. I also sharpened the photo a small amount to counter the noise that had been generated.

I really enjoyed taking photos at the duckpond, I really like wildlife photography. You have to be very patient, but it pays off because you get fantastic photos of animals in their natural habitats. The weather looks ideal for wildlife photography this weekend so if I get a chance I will be out again taking photos of whatever wildlife I can find.

Mat

Small Wildlife

I had this morning off so as I didn’t have anything to do I decided to go for a walk to the nature reserve to see what wildlife I could find. I’m glad I went because there was a lot of wildlife about; in particular there were a lot of birds around.

I heard this bird calling from one of the trees and I looked around until I found it hiding on a branch in the middle of the tree. I zoomed in to 300mm on my telephoto lens until I got the composition that I wanted. I was using the camera in shutter priority and I had selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second, and I over exposed by one stop. This gave me an aperture of F7.1 which gave me a large enough depth of field for what I wanted. I didn’t use the flash as I didn’t want to scare the bird away and it wouldn’t have been powerfull enough to reach the bird.

When editing the photo I cropped the photo to enhance the composition and I also adjusted the light levels. By cropping the photo I placed the bird into the top right corner, as the bird was looking down and to the left I feel that it creates a more open composition than before. I increased the overall brightness while bring down the highlights to control the sky. This increases the contrast by quite a bit as well which I think makes the photo a lot more vibrant while keeping the colours faithful.

I enjoyed my morning at the duck pond watching the wildlife around me. When I next get a chance I will definitely go down again to capture some more wildlife in its natural habitat.

Mat

Circular Explosion

As I said yesterday we had taken a lot of photos at the fireworks night, so I looked through for another photo to upload today. I looked towards the end of the display, they were using larger and brighter fireworks and the photos looked astonishing. This one of the best that I took during the evening so I thought I should upload it.

To capture the trace of the whole firework I slowed the shutter down to one second. So as the shutter was open the whole firework was captured. The camera chose an aperture of F3.9 to correctly expose the photo. I really like how the explosion of the firework was caught and the trails of it zooming off in every direction. I also really like the symmetry created by the circular explosion pattern.

I decided against changing anything because I really liked how the photo had been captured. The camera had exposed the image correctly so I didn’t need to change that. And the colours have been replicated so I didn’t need to change the colour temperature either. And I managed to frame the photo to get the best composition as well.

I’m glad I’ve been able to upload these two photos because i really liked both of them and there was no way I could choose between either of them!

Mat