Branching Pathways

I got out for another photography wander today with Bex. We went into our local town again, and went for a walk around our usual places. We were walking along a path on the way to a cafe that we like when I spotted a few small branches that had fallen onto the path. I thought they made an interesting composition.

To make the most of the composition I had the camera in aperture priority with an aperture of F5.6, as this isolated the closet branch from the rest of the scene. I left the camera to select both the shutter speed and the ISO, for this exposure the camera selected a shutter speed of 1/40^th of a second and an ISO of ISO 6400 to complete the exposure.

To edit the photo, the only thing I did was to increase the contrast, I was happy with the rest of the photo so I decided to leave it the way it came out of the camera. The composition was as I wanted it to be, and the colours had been replicated accurately so didn’t require any editing. Also the exposure didn’t require any changes except for the increase in contrast.

I’m really glad that both Bex and I had a chance to go out with our cameras today. We haven’t been out with our cameras together for quite a while and I was in need of taking some new photos. So I will have a few new photos to upload to the blog over the next few days.

Mat

Delicate

I love this time of year, because the yellow flower of the dandelion has gone, and the seeds are left behind. Their seeds are very good for many things- wishes, telling the time, and of course, photography!

This is another photo I took on my photography wander a few days ago. I’m amazed that I managed to take this photo; it’s incredibly hard to hold a D-SLR with one hand!!! However, I’m pleased with the result, especially how sharp it is!! This is one of those amazing photos that you feel wasn’t successful, but looks great on a laptop screen!

I haven’t edited this image, as I was really pleased (but surprised) at the result. I also tried to blow the seeds away, but I’m not convinced with these images. I shall edit them and see.

Bex

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Triumph

Since I took up photography as a hobby, I have seen many close up shots of insects, and have wanted to achieve this myself. I have been lucky with a few shots, such as a dragonfly. However, my biggest challenge was trying to capture a butterfly, as I almost never see them.

I took my camera with me a few days ago, and went for a mini photography wander on my way home that evening. The nature reserve was incredibly quiet, which surprised me, as the weather was glorious! I spotted a butterfly after I had been in the nature reserve for only a few minutes, which annoyed me, as I didn’t have my telephoto lens with me. The butterfly settled on one leaf, so I carefully climbed into the bush, as I was determined not to miss the opportunity! I managed to get incredibly close, and took at least 10, I was determined that I would not be disappointed when I got home!

To enhance the image, I darkened the highlights where I had slightly over exposed. I then increased the contrast, and decreased the brightness slightly. Finally, I cropped the image, to make the butterfly more central. I also sharpened the image, to make the individual hairs and the eye of the butterfly more prominent.

I called this photo triumph, as I feel that two years of patience and climbing through nettles has paid off! I’m incredibly pleased with this image; I finally achieved what I wanted, and I’m over the moon with the result!

Bex

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Steam Traction

Following on from my most recent post I thought I would upload another photo based on railways. I wanted to use a photo of a railway but with a bit of twist. So I thought I would look back through my computer to one of the many holidays that I’ve been to in Wales. On this particular holiday we paid a visit to one of the preserved railways, I wanted to give this photo a bit of a twist by making it look more vintage, a bit like an old style postcard.

The engine is a manor class loco as used by the Great Western Railway (GWR), just in case any wants to know! I used an aperture of F16 to ensure that as much of the photo is in focus, the camera then selected a shutter speed of a/125^th of a second and ISO 100 to complete the exposure. I composed the photo so that the engine was in the right third of the photo with the rest of the train extending through the photo to the left hand third.

To edit the photo I increased both the saturation and the colour temperature, this gives the photo an older appearance and makes it looks like an old fashioned post card. I like this effect; the photo looks exactly as I wanted it to when I came up with the idea. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with everything else.

I’m very pleased with the effect I created with this photo, I like the character that old photos and old postcards have; and that was what I was trying to replicate with this photo.

Mat

Off To Work

Sorry I haven’t done a blog post recently, things have been going crazy, but are slightly better now and I finally managed to get out for a short photography wander. The weather wasn’t amazing today so I decided to pay a quick visit to our local railway station.

It was quite early in the morning so the station was full of commuters on their way to work. I thought the busy atmosphere would make an interesting composition. I was waiting for one of the commuter trains to leave when I saw the guard making his way down the platform, I thought it would make an interesting composition if I could isolate them as they talked to each other.

To isolate them I used an aperture of F8 to ensure that both of them were in focus but to still make sure that the background was still out of focus. I had to use quite a high ISO to ensure that the shutter speed would be fast enough, as the camera was in aperture priority the camera selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second.

To edit the photo I cropped the photo down to focus the attention onto the driver and the guard. I also increased the contrast while lowering the highlights to reduce the effect of the highlights being blown in the sky. I didn’t change anything else as I was happy with the rest of the photo.

I’m glad I had a chance to go out for a photography wander today, even though the weather wasn’t great I still had a good time and took a few good photos at the station. Hopefully I will have another chance sometime soon to take some more photos.

Mat

Sweeping

I find that some types of photography are easier than others; for example, I feel that macro shots are my strong point- however, when it comes to landscape photography, my skills leave a lot to be desired. I have seen images in magazines of sculpted fields, with ridges running down one side and trees that seemed to have been placed as props for that specific photograph. Until now, I very foolishly assumed that these images had been the victim of a very heavy-handed approach to Photoshop, and that in fact, you would never find these sweeping landscapes with rolling clouds and perfectly placed shrubs- I was wrong.

I visited a photography exhibition on the second floor of a university, situated opposite a country park. The intention of the visit was to inspire my own work, but the visit ended with me at the window with my trusty Olympus in hand! While in one of the rooms, I noticed ridges in the ground that I had never seen from the road, with these idyllically placed trees. It is rare that I have such a chance, so made the most of it and took the photo from a range of angles. While doing so, 3 deer appeared almost from thin air. I only had my wide-angle lens with me, but this appeared to be a blessing in disguise as it made me think more carefully about composition.

I achieved the effect that I was looking for, but it was a gloomy day, and the image felt washed out. I darkened the shadows to make the tones of the clouds more prominent, then increased the contrast and decreased the brightness of the whole image. I decided that I preferred almost completely de-saturating the image, as it gave the effect of an old photo. To play on this idea further, I over-sharpened the picture, and added noise. I’m pleased to have finally taken a decent landscape shot! Practice really does make perfect.

Bex

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A Hands-on Approach

Throughout the second day of the festival, the local zoo brought all manner of creepy and crawly to show the crowds.

I was talking to one of the organisers of the zoo, and she showed me a few different creatures- needless to say I avoided the spiders!! One of the things she showed me was this mantis. She was very obliging, and even took it out of the box for me to take a photo. The insect itself was a stunning yellow colour, a similar shade to that of a pineapple. However, this didn’t come across well in the photograph, as the lighting was wrong and the camera struggled.

When editing, I was trying to find an amount of saturation that complimented both the skin tone, and the colour of the mantis. I tried reducing the saturation, but decided I liked the photo almost completely de-saturated. I say almost, because I like to have some colour left, which gives the grey tones a tint. Having done this, I increased the contrast and decreased the brightness to remove any remaining details in the background (having used flash). I have also sharpened the image, more as a habit.

This is one of the images I am most pleased with from festival weekend, as it was a nice break from a more journalistic style of photography, as well as a nice break from the sun!!

Bex

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