Burning Lights

I managed to get out on a photography wander tonight, I was in our local town for the afternoon. It started to get late into the evening and the sun and hidden behind the horizon for the night. One of my aims was to capture some of the street lamps after day; as I thought the light would make an interesting composition.

To make the most of the composition I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F5.6 selected, as this gives the best combination of narrow depth of field and still allows a moderate shutter speed to be used. I didn’t use the flash as it would spoil the lighting effect that I was aiming for.

 To edit the photo I used the noise reduction tool to try and reduce some of the noise created by the high ISO. I also increased the contrast to give the photo a bit more punch. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy how the colours had been replicated and I like how I had composed the photo.

Hopefully I will get a chance for some more photography at some point soon. As I’m a bit low on photos, and I would like to make the most of the good weather.

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

Bright Horizons

Mat and I went for a walk today. Having had other things to do in the morning, we didn’t leave until late afternoon so didn’t make our way back until the sun started to set.

There is a field, near to where Mat and I live. In this field, a pond has been built, with a small fence to keep dogs from destroying the habitat, and seating inside the fenced area. On the way back, we decided to stop for a rest so sat down next to pond. I looked behind, and could see the sun setting behind the trees. I loved the pattern of the pink clouds in the sky, and the bright stripes of colour. I decided to include a tree in the foreground, as I thought the image would look uninteresting, as there would be no foreground without this. However, I decided to keep it to one side, as I wanted the focus to stay primarily on the background.

I increased the contrast and decreased the brightness in Photoshop, to make sure that all of the foreground detail was lost. I also decreased the hue and increased saturation to make the pink tones appear more prominent. I also sharpened the image slightly, to emphasise the individual branches of each tree and to pick out the individual clouds.

Bex

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Experimental

It feels like an age has passed since I last wrote a post; so much so that it almost feels unnatural writing one this evening. I must apologise on behalf of my ludicrously unreliable laptop, and blame it for my absence. In the mean time, I have found myself busy with other pursuits. This afternoon, I was invited for a meal at a family member’s house. It was their birthday, so I took a camera with me. In the evening, once presents had been opened and cake eaten, I noticed that the sunset was stunning and decided to try to capture it. I wasn’t content with the “conventional” photo so set about making it more original.

My relative lives in a rural area of the town, which is why the sunset could be seen so vividly; however, there is a small road running along the bottom of her garden (behind the trees). I used a shutter speed of two seconds, briefly pausing on the tree on the left, before moving to focus on the right. While focusing on the left, a car drove through the photo; I tried to track the headlights.

I have increased the contrast, while decreasing the brightness in Photoshop. I have also sharpened the image and created a slight vignette around the edges. I love how the image turned out; this is the first time that I have experimented with a double exposure-style image, and I think it worked well. I am also very pleased that I managed to capture light trails from the headlights of the car so well. Normally, I find that employing more than one technique makes the composure seem a little sloppy, but there are some exceptions and I think this is exactly that.

Bex
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Chasing Light

It was a little warmer today; not noticeably, but enough to make rain fall in place of snow. I took my camera out with me but it spent almost the entire day in my bag, as I was afraid of it getting damaged. Around half past five this evening, a family member gave me a lift to the radio studio so I didn’t have to walk! I still had my camera with me and had been looking at the few photos I had taken that morning. I started messing around, as I liked the regularity of the street lamps. The shutter speed was a little too slow, blurring the lights slightly. This gave me the idea to slow the shutter speed further, to create light trails.

I used a shutter speed of 2.5 seconds, and incredibly, I managed to hold it still! It made light trails a little more interesting by taking the photo while we were driving, as it produced two trails; the lower being passing cars, the higher being street lamps. I’ve sharpened this photo as well as increasing the contrast slightly, but I tried to leave everything else.

I love how you can clearly see the road, and if you look carefully, a bridge in the background. I’m especially pleased with the lower light trail; I love the way it tapers off. I didn’t get chance to take many photos on this subject, so had to make the best of the situation I was in. Despite this, I think I managed quite successfully and will have to try this again soon!

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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Sea View

I was looking through my laptop this morning, trying to gather inspiration for a photography wander in the afternoon. As it happened I never actually got chance for my walk, but during the process of looking for inspiration one image caught my eye particularly- this one!

I took this picture a few months ago, during a recent holiday to the ­seaside. On the evening of the first day, I walked out onto my balcony to take in the scenery. As I looked to my right, I spotted the peach coloured clouds of the sunset and decided to take a photo.

I had to do a little post-processing, but only so much as straightening the image and cropping it slightly; it had all the small and inexcusable errors of a snapshot! I didn’t edit anything past this as I liked the original image, and didn’t want to lose the natural colour.

Admittedly it was more of a snapshot than a photograph, but I absolutely love it! I really like how the stone walls of the other balconies are painted white and pick up the colours of the sunset. I love how the balcony walls act as a frame. I also like how the Perspex at the end adds a final piece of interest to the picture, making the whole sunset image more curious.

Bex

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Finer Details

I’ve been dealing with all my work that I’ve had to catch up on after my weekend away, so I haven’t enough spare time to go out on another wander. This serves as an advantage as well as a disadvantage, as I have plenty of photos left to share from my holiday!

I took this particular image the evening we arrived; I had a free day so travelled in the morning. I arrived at around 2pm and sat by the beach with a coffee. At about half past 4 I checked into the hotel. The sun was just beginning to set, and was starting to appear under the band of cloud, bathing everything in an orange haze. This picture was taken from the balcony of my room.

I used a starburst filter in conjunction with a neutral density filter to try to reduce the brightness of the image. This meant that I didn’t lose any detail in the picture, but also added interest to the photo. I love how there are smaller starburst effects along the middle section of the cloud, as well as the main beams from the sun.

I like how once you get past the face value of the picture, you begin to notice minute details such as the smaller starburst effects, and the ripples in the ocean that have been lit up by the sun.

Bex
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Vibrant Skies

I really wanted to take a sunset photo, so this evening I went out with my camera to hunt down the sunset. The weather was perfect for taking sunset photo because there was just the right amount of clouds.

To get the best effect I used a medium aperture (F10), by doing this the whole scene was in sharp focus. 

Also I used point metering and metered off the sky and underexposed by 1/3^rd of a stop. This combined effect puts the foreground into silhouette and makes the sky look really vibrant. I thought the most interesting composition would be if I had the foreground in the bottom of the frame with the sky being the most dominant part.

I thought the photo could do with some editing so I changed the histogram, I made the highlights brighter and increased the contrast, this made the sky even more vibrant. Also I cropped out some of the top of the frame; I did this because the sky was over dominating the photo. With this editing done the photo looks much better now.

I’m glad that I’ve finally got a good sunset photo, hopefully I’ll be able to take some more in the future.

Mat

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

Silver Lining

I haven’t been feeling very well the last few days, so I haven’t had chance to go for any walks. Last night, I was feeling a little better so decided to go for a late evening photography wander. I walked to the top of the hill in the local nature reserve and sat down to watch the sun setting. I wasn’t hoping for much, but it was absolutely stunning!

I increased the red and the contrast on the camera itself. When taking the picture, I under- exposed by two stops to make the colours stand out more. I didn’t use a lens hood, so got lens flare (purposely). By exposing for the colours in the sky, the foreground has gone black; I think it works incredibly well as it gives the picture contrast. I like how you can see a bit of the foreground at ground level, even if you do have to look closely. I think it adds a bit of interest and mystery.

I love taking pictures of sunsets; the silvery clouds and the blacked out foreground contrasts against the colours of the sky incredibly well. When it comes to sunsets, every cloud does have a silver lining!

Bex

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I do like to be beside the seaside

This is another photo from our tip to Weston. We enjoyed it so much and took so many photos. The beach was packed with people, mainly sun-bathing and soaking up the sun. I wanted to take a photo that emphasises how crowded the beach was.

We decided to go for a walk down the pier to see what it was like after the re-build.  I borrowed Bex’s camera for this photo so that I could use a really short focal length for a true wide-angle photo. I wanted to get as much into the frame as possible, because this would show how busy the beach was. I like how the sea curves round to the edge of the frame; it makes the beach look like it goes on forever. Also having the buildings on the left it frames the photo very well; with the beach being contained between the buildings and the sea. Having the beach in the middle of the frame helps to create the over-crowded effect that I was trying  for.

In the editing stage I increased the colour temperature to create a warm and ‘sunny’ effect to the photo. I also cropped the photo a small amount; I did this to aid the overcrowded effect. I liked the photo straight from the camera so I didn’t change anything else. The camera exposed the photo perfectly; the sky didn’t white out and the shadows still have a lot of depth to them.

Another message from Bex, she says that her holiday is really fun and she's having a great time. She adds that she misses the blog very much and can’t wait to get back and upload some photos from her holiday.

I hope your all enjoying the sun. I think the weather is going to turn very soon; so I would get out and enjoy the sun while it lasts if I was you.

Mat

Out to Sea

I didn’t get a chance to go out today so I thought I should look in my computer for some inspiration. I found this photo from a holiday a few years ago. The photo was taken with a compact camera so the quality isn’t fantastic, but I think its good enough for an upload.

The photo was taken towards the late afternoon, so I could create a more natural photo. Also with the sun behind me I didn’t get any bad reflections from the water. I underexposed the photo to retain detail in the sky; this also darkened the shadows on the rock which gives a pleasing effect to the photo.

As the photo was taken on a compact camera it needed some editing to get it up to a good enough standard for the blog. The photo was quite ‘flat’ straight from the camera, so I increased the saturation and the contrast. I like the effect that this gives the photo, it makes it seem much more realistic.

Now after a fantastic weekend, it’s back to normality. Hopefully the sunny weather will stay around, but otherwise it was very nice while it lasted.

Mat 

Confetti

Mat was left in charge of the blog yesterday; I had a party to go to! As I sat down to our meal I noticed the table decorations- cups filled with different sweets and confetti over the table. I left the camera on the table while we were sat down, and I pressed the shutter just to see what happened.

This is how I’ve got some of my favourite shots (e.g. Start off Small- 2^nd April). I’m pleased with how well it worked, and I love the perspective of taking it from the tabletop.

It was quite dark so I had to use flash, which I think can sometimes ruin a shot, however I think it worked quite well here. I really like how the photo turned out. I had a great evening; hopefully you did as well.

Bex

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Sunset skies

I know this is a photography blog, but today I’m allowing myself an exception and instead I’m uploading a snapshot.

For most, today has been a day of street parties and celebration- but not for me, as I enjoyed a relaxing day after a busy weekend. This evening I went for a walk, stopping once I reached the top of a sizeable hill to watch the sunset. I love walking, and the view from the hill is amazing as you can see the whole of the nature reserve from the top. At the top of the hill, it’s flat and about the size of a field so it’s an amazing place to go for some quiet time.

The colours of the sunset this evening were stunning. I took this photo with a macro lens as I was expecting to take mostly close ups. I upped the contrast on the camera, but reduced the sharpness to get a softer effect. I love this picture, and I’m really impressed with how the colours came out.

I hope you had a good day and enjoy yet another day off tomorrow!

Bex

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