Happy snap

Frozen lock keepers cottage.

A bit of a picture postcard pic today I'm afraid, reminds me of the kind of photo you put together in a 500 piece jigsaw, but with being so busy lately it's from the leftovers of a few weeks back.

ISO100, 23mm, 1/40s, f/11, circular polariser

colour balance

Sleigh ride home

A father pulls his daughter homeward on a sleigh in the snow. Wasn't going to post this, but with some processing and a square crop it's grown on me, with a couple of things I really like about it.

ISO400, 400mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, +2/3ev

Noise reduction, cropped, desaturated, added a transparent highlight blur vignette

Just another..

Just one last post from my last batch of photos, I wasn't going to blog it but have finally decided to grant it a showing thanks to it's wintery ethereal qualities.

ISO640, 35mm, 1/50s, f/11.

Levels, curves, desaturated blue channel, noise reduction.

Another photo taken in the blanket of snow from a couple of weeks ago.

ISO160, 16mm, 1/30s, f/11, +1/3 ev, circular polariser.

Curves, levels, cropped, colour balance (foreground), cloned out footsteps (foreground).

Might be a bit of a break for a while as I am moving and decorating for the next couple of weekends. If I do get a chance to get out and take anything I'll post it up.

White Christmas

Taken on a Christmas day walk through some local fields, tree shadows cast across an untouched field of snow by the low midday Sun. Not quite as clean and simple as I would have liked, but I do like the shadows, glistening snow and tiny walker in the distance. I chose a mid-range aperture as a balance between decent depth of field, avoiding too much star-burst effect on the Sun and avoiding any lens flare.

ISO100, 16mm, 1/100s, f/13, circular-polariser.

Colour balance adjustment and cloned out a telephone cable.

Winter Birds 4

The fourth and final photo in my mini-series, a Kestrel hunting from a frozen tree in the morning mist. Not rating highly in colour or detail, but in atmosphere and simplicity I think it makes it worthy of posting up. It was -11°c this morning and the mist was freezing onto everything, the metal legs of my tripod were sticking to my scarf and gloves it was so cold, how birds can continue to function in these conditions is amazing. The mist diffusing the light created a natural vignette which works well when cropped square.

400mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO200, cropped, levels, desaturated

I must confess to annoying myself on the day I took this photo. I was walking along approaching a river bridge when I saw something colourful on a frosty branch just to one side, less than 5 meters away. I had my zoom lens on and camera at the ready, but stood for several seconds trying to figure out what it was - was it a kingfisher? It was so still that I started thinking it was a childs glove.. or even a dead kingfisher.. then in an instant it turned its head and flew away. Ouch! I've missed some photo opportunities in my time, but that was a corker! Nothing like learning the hard way.. again!

Winter Birds 3

The third shot is another Robin, this time searching the undergrowth of leaves, ivy and snow.

The skies were heavy with fog, not ideal lighting this time, but not a bad shot.

220mm, 1/400s, f/5, ISO1250, noise reduction

You might notice I've been shooting quite a few of these using auto-ISO (from the 200 and 1250 settings that aren't in the default manual ISO selections). I've found that generally it works really well on the 50D usually picking an ISO setting that allows me to concentrate on the other settings (focal length, aperture, shutter speed). I only really set it manually when I'm either requiring a higher than normal shutter speed to freeze movement or I have the camera stabilised on the tripod or a handy fence or post etc. Of course I still need to keep an eye on it and lower is always better, but with the quality of noise reduction software these days I find myself worrying about it much less lately. It's still nice to know I have the knowledge to judge which ISO I should be using if I need to though!

Winter Birds 2

Happy New Year! Wishes for a good 2011 to everyone!

Next up and probably my favourite of this mini-series of bird photos, a Wren foraging amongst a snowy patch of hedge line. Low winter Sun providing the soft, warm light, reflecting off the snow and elevating the shot significantly.

400mm, 1/640s, f/10, ISO200, cropped