Congregation

I managed to get out for a wander today so I once again went down to the local duck pond. There wasn’t much around while I down there so I didn’t spend very long at the duckpond. While I was there, a group of birds had congregated on a short bit of fence next to the pond.

To make the most of this composition I used an aperture of F8 to give a deep enough depth of field. I was using the camera in manual mode, so I also programmed a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second to remove any form of movement.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and lowered both the highlights and the shadows. I also changed the white balance and decreased the saturation; I did this to ensure the whites were pure. I didn’t change anything else as I am very happy with the effect that I had created.

I’m very pleased with how this photo has come out, wildlife and bird photography is defiantly my favourite form of photography. I will certainly be doing more of this in the future; hopefully improving my skills as I go.

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

Looking Through The Gaps

This photo was taken on my weekend walk. I walked past a small bush, but it had gap in the foliage which I thought could make an interesting composition. To create this composition I took the photo through this gap in the foliage.

I had the camera in aperture priority and I selected an aperture of F5.6, to reduce the depth of field. I also preselected the ISO sensitivity at ISO 400, which meant a fast enough shutter speed is enabled and the quality is also retained. I managed to use a shutter speed of 1/50^th of a second which was fast enough so I could hand hold the camera.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast and lowered the shadows; I did this to make the photo more dynamic as it looked a bit flat before. I didn’t change the colour tone or the saturation as i was happy with how the colours had been replicated.

I’m glad I got a chance to go for a photography wander, I keep trying out different techniques and I think my skills are slowly getting better over time. I’ll keep practicing as I’ve still got a long way to go.

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

Magical

This is another photo from my latest wander with Mat, through the local nature reserve. Mat takes time to set things up carefully, while I tend to have a guess, go for it then review the image on the camera screen and adjust the appropriate settings from there. Due to this, I normally end up leaving him behind.

As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I found a small clearing between two rows of trees; this is where today’s upload is set. While taking other photos, I struggled to see as a single beam of sun cascaded light into the clearing. At first, it proved to be a hindrance, forcing me to use flash, but after a while I decided to try to incorporate it.

I had to take a few shots to get the image right, as I wanted to make the image seem mystical, but didn’t want the shadows or highlights to clip. I used low-key gradation to make the image more dramatic. I used F11 as I wanted the entire photo to be in focus, but needed the extra light so couldn’t use anything smaller. I had to use a shutter speed of 1/50 at ISO 320 to let in enough light. I increased the contrast, hue and saturation in Photoshop. I also decreased the highlights and sharpened the image slightly. I love this photo; I feel it’s like the sequel to “Start Off Small” (2nd April 2012), as it’s a similar style, taken in a similar location. Winter sun is great for shots like this, as it’s always quite low, making it easy to capture something dramatic.

Bex
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Hanging Catkin

Once again I am uploading a photo from my trip out to the nature reserve on Tuesday. This one was taken on the same bush as the one I uploaded yesterday, but from a different angle. I was also aiming for a different effect. I wanted more of the bush to be in the final image.

To get the effect that I wanted I used a short focal length (20mm) so that as much was kept in the frame as possible. I also selected a narrow aperture of F11 to keep as much in focus while allowing the use of a medium shutter speed. I also used the flash to boost the contrast between the background and the subject.

To edit the photo, I boosted the contrast further to enhance the effect I was trying to create and I also lowered the shadows to make the photo more dynamic. I increased the colour tone and the saturation to make the greens more prominent and to give the photo more ‘punch’.

Hopefully Bex and I will have a chance to go out for a wander at some point over this weekend, if the weather is nice enough that is. Otherwise we might do some indoor photography instead.

Mat

Untouched

Mat and I went for a walk this afternoon, as, for the first time in a long while, it was actually sunny! We didn’t have very long so only walked through the local nature reserve. Mat was experimenting with flash, so I abandoned him and set off in seek of my own adventure while he set up his shots. I have missed taking macro photographs, but the bad weather has prevented me from doing so.

I normally end up abandoning the path in favour of fighting my way through trees and bushes to the most untouched areas; for this photo I did just that. I found a small clearing in the trees, which wouldn’t normally be seen unless you were looking for a gap. I stumbled through the gap, into a sort of hollow area between the trees. There were a lot of plants along the ground; this being one of them. I took a few shots at various apertures and decided that this was my favourite, as I liked that the front few leaves, the stem and petals of the flower were all in focus. I used flash in low-key mode, to make the scene look more dramatic.

I sharpened the image in Photoshop, to pick out details in the leaves and the hairs on the plant stem. I increased the contrast, and decreased the brightness, to make the image more dramatic. The increase of contrast made the yellow too bright, so I decreased the saturation. While trying to find the best level for the whole image, I tried under-exposing and really liked the effect.

I’m really pleased with the product of my walk. I usually have on and off days; an “on” day being where I’m pleased with a lot of the photos I’ve taken. Today was definitely a good day!

Bex
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