Not Always

My title is a follow on from yesterday’s title proclaiming that roses are red, in anticipation of today’s events. I hope you had a great day, whatever you chose to do. For me, my Valentine’s Day involved coffee, presents, getting stranded and causing myself unbelievable awkwardness.

Mat and I went into town today, stopping for coffee in our usual place. Today, however, the usually calm tree-lined town was awash with film crews, spectators and an awful lot of road rage! After coffee, we decided to investigate. I couldn’t see much as the sun was in my eyes, but asked the nearest person if they were involved, to which they said yes and told me what was being filmed. A cloud came over, at which point I realised I had been chatting to Gary Lineker for the past 5 minutes without realising! I then proceeded to think aloud saying, “Oh, you’re… you!” – not my finest moment I must admit.

It’s a long-standing tradition that my friends and I give each other gifts on Valentine’s Day and this year was no exception. My mother bought me a bunch of peach roses (my favourite flower), and Mat gave me a fish eye; something I have been eager to obtain for almost a year.

While trying my new lens, I started taking photos of my flowers, but accidentally caught them in the mirror. I decided I liked this so tried to make a point of including it. I have increased the sharpness and the saturation, but haven’t edited apart from this.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Bex
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Roses Are Red

It’s Valentines Day tomorrow! Hopefully you have something nice planned. I love having things marked on the calendar, as it gives me a theme to work towards. On the subject of themes, I would like to run a small competition. If you have something you’d like to see us cover more of, send an email to dailywandersblog@gmail.com with your name, and your idea for a theme. We’ll choose our favourite, then we’ll upload something which we feel suits it. But for today, it’s valentines!

I didn’t have a lot to do today, and the weather was miserable so I spent most of the day messing around with my filters and taking photos around the house. I found a small artificial rose from last year, which was dipped in glitter at the tips. I used macro filters equivalent to +6. I focused on the centre of the flower and used flash, meaning the edges were out of focus but produced spots of reflection where the glitter caught the light.

I have increased the contrast and sharpened the image, but otherwise I have left it alone. I’m pleased with this photo; I feel that working to a theme gives me better results, so I can’t wait for your suggestions!

Bex
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Distant Travels

I was looking through my computer again for some inspiration when I came across this photo which I had taken a while ago on a trip out. I like it because it’s symmetrical and the rails pass under the bridge and off into the distance.

For this photo I used the camera in aperture priority with the aperture set at F4.2; because the large distance between me and the subject meant the aperture chosen makes little difference to the depth of field. The camera coupled this with a shutter speed of 1/480^th of a second.

I liked the effect I had created with this photo so I decided against editing it. The composition was spot on what I wanted, and the exposure had been calculated perfectly. I thought if I tried changing settings I would spoil it, so I decided to leave it.

I’m planning a wander this weekend, maybe down to the duckpond if I get a chance and if the weather is good. Otherwise maybe I should do another indoor photo shoot.

Mat

Memories

I’ve almost run out of photos that I can upload to the blog, so I looked through my computer’s memory for some inspiration. I was looking through one of the albums from a family holiday in North Wales when I stumbled across this photo. This photo brings back good memories from all the holidays that we’ve been on.

This photo was taken before I seriously got into photography and so was taken on a digital compact in auto. I composed the photo so that two trees would create borders along either side of the frame, with the river flowing behind. I also like having the third tree in the centre of the frame because it splits the photo in two.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast, lowered the highlights and decreased the saturation. I increased the contrast because the original photo was looking quite ‘flat’ beforehand but I had to decrease the highlights to ensure they didn’t white-out. I decreased the saturation because I think it creates a more appropriate atmosphere for this particular photo.

I always enjoy holidays in Wales and I very much look forward to my next one, whenever it shall be. Creating special memories with special people.

Mat

Conversion

I was thinking earlier today that I hadn’t done a black and white photo for quite a while, so I decided that the upload I did today would be a black and white photo. I used a photo that I took quite a while ago; I knew it had good potential but I wasn’t sure how I could give the photo more punch.

I chose to convert this photo to black and white because the main interest was in the foreground and by converting to black and white would make it stand out more. Also by converting to black and white I could increase the amount of red which would create a lot more contrast between the clouds and the sky. I really like the effect of converting to black and white because it makes any photo look very different and some details that would normally be missed are made very clear.

To capture the actual exposure I used the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F7.1 and I focused on the bush in the foreground to make sure that it would in sharp focus. The camera selected a shutter speed of 1/125^th of a second to complete the exposure. I had preselected ISO 100 to ensure the image would have very little noise.

I really think converting this photo to black and white has made a huge improvement. With many photos, but not every, converting them to black and white makes an improvement. So by experimenting with black and white some interesting photos can be made, and details that haven’t been seen will reveal themselves to you.

Mat

Difference

It’s a bit of a treat for me today; my Internet hasn't been working well at home for the last few days, but I was determined to write a post. Presently, I’m sat in a local coffee shop with a large cappuccino, a blueberry muffin and my laptop.

I attended a family friend’s wedding a few days ago. After the service, the bride and groom left to have photos taken, leaving the guests to their own devices. As a creature of habit, I took my camera with me. While we were left to talk to the other guests, I walked around the small country church with my camera, and found a stairwell, approximately two feet wide maximum. As I was looking up, a man walked down the stairs. We started talking; it turns out that it leads to an office!

I tried to hold the camera as close to the central post as possible, to place the most focus on this and to use it as a lead in line. I also tried to include a few steps, the uppermost steps as a background, and the small window; I did this is order to give the photo context so it wasn’t quite as abstract. I increased the contrast of the image and sharpened it, to make it more eye catching. I also desaturated it, but not completely as I liked the slightly “washed out” look. I’m off to a concert tonight, but hopefully I will get chance to go for another wander soon!

Bex

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On-Looking

Following on my recent theme of birds I thought I should upload another photo of one today. I had taken this photo a while ago on one of the many wanders that Bex and I have been on. We had gone for a walk down to our local duckpond.

I was using the camera in shutter priority so I could make sure the photo was sharp and there was no motion blur. As I was using a focal length of 161mm I selected a shutter speed of 1/320^th of a second. As I was taking a photo towards the water I over-exposed the photo by +2/3 of a stop to keep the correct exposure. The camera selected an aperture of F4.5 with an ISO of ISO 250.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast as the photo was looking quite bland. I also cropped the photo down because I accidently managed to catch the head of another duck on the left side of the frame. After this basic editing I was pleased with the effect so I decided to not adjust anything else.

I’ve got plans to go out again over the weekend, weather dependant of course. So hopefully if I get a chance I’ll find something new and interesting to show you.

Mat