Apologies for the delay

What better way than to announce a delay than echoing the British rail system!  Doesn't look like my house move is going to go ahead any time soon, so the back log of photos isn't going to be flooding onto the blog any time soon either unfortunately.  

I will try and get back to posting up some photos as regularly as time, events and weather allow from work.

Below: the Bittern steams through Chippenham, causing a delay to the lunchtime Paddington to Bristol train.

Heavy rain persuaded me to just shoot it from a relatively sheltered urban location, but did add some nice dark clouds as a replacement background.

ISO1600, 35mm, f/6.3, 1/640s, -0.3ev, noise reduction, levels, curves, cloned out rubbish

Excuses, excuses...

Wow, definitely the longest break with no post on here, I apologise!

Back safe from another motorcycle tour to Iceland this time, along with 

a suitably silly amount of photos taken.

Had a slight issue getting some images off of an old 8Gb Kingston card, but all downloaded now.

However, we are also mid-house move, with everything in storage and on hold until the process goes though, 

so any serious tour photo processing is going to have to wait for a while longer, unfortunately.

Nice to see the UK finally getting some decent weather, even if it is mixed in with a little wind and rain. 

I've not taken many photos since getting back, but I did like this one, pure summer and magical light.

Ramped down the exposure balance (didn't need to switch to manual mode to get what I wanted) and played with focal length and composition to get a nice lens flare before the Sun dropped below the horizon - something I'm still getting used to after 24 daylight!!

ISO100, 135mm, 1/250s, f/6.3, -2ev, straight from camera

Motor-racing

Some photos from a free day out at Castle Combe Race Circuit a few weekends back. 

 I love motorsport and had a great day, but find photography a poor medium to capture this kind of event. Nice to photograph something completely different, but I feel like my photos also lacked action or atmosphere. 

ISO200, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/400s, -0.3ev 

ISO100, 105mm, f/4.5, 1/200s, -1.3ev

ISO100, 180mm, f/7.1, 1/50s

ISO200, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/800s

ISO200, 300mm, f/8, 1/320s, -0.3ev

Test trails

Finally a test run to start getting to grips with star trail photography!!  

Clear sky - check.  No moon - check.  Full batteries - check.

Nothing else more important to do - fail, but to hell with it anyway!

Learned quite a few lessons which was the main objective and considering it 

was a limited time, work-night session I'm relatively pleased with the potential it shows.

The MoD laid on a fireworks display over Salisbury plain to keep us entertained which was nice of them, although the thuds of heavy artillery may have been a little excessive for the occasion.

115 x ISO200, 16mm, 30s, f/8, stacked, noise reduction,  cloned out hotspots

Space Bridge

A bit of Friday funkiness with a 360 degree conversion of my Vasco de Gama bridge photo, 

which I think turned out brilliantly!

Black and white

St Anne's church near Lacock.

Not actually very old at all (mid 19th century) and a mish mash of architectural styles, but still a great subject for a dramatic black and white photo, especially with the dramatic skies of late. 

Shot with the Sun behind the tower and bracketed plus/minus 1.3ev to grab both highlight detail in the sky and shadow detail in the foreground, combined manually in Photoshop, with levels and curves used to bring out the foreground texture and contrast.

ISO100, 16mm, f/5, 1/250s, composite, levels, curves

Skylarking

A trio of photographs of the critically endangered Skylark, the population of which is estimated to have dropped by up to 90% in 30 years due to changes in farming intensity.  The top shot makes for a nice image, but Rape seed fields are one of the causes of the decline since Skylarks nest amongst crop fields and Rape seed grows too fast for them to complete their seven week nesting period.

The second shot has a nice natural blur vignette effect thanks to the narrow depth of field and some foreground foliage, which really focusses on the bird while still showing the surrounding habitat.  The in focal plane Hawthorn Fly was a lucky bonus. Straight from camera which is always nice.

The last image is of the male Skylarks famous vertical hovering display and song, taken almost into the Sun which has lit up the edges of the wings.  Shot at a high ISO as I was trying to capture them flying amongst the Rape seed fields when this one flew up.  Apart from a crop and some post-production noise reduction, the image is straight from camera again.

ISO100, 560mm, f/8, 1/800s, -1ev, levels

ISO200, 560mm, f/8, 1/1000s, -2/3ev

ISO800, 490mm, f/8, 1/4000s, -1/3ev, noise reduction, cropped

Going with the flow

If there's one photo cliché that I find hard to resist it's flowing water and long shutter speeds.  

Without my tripod and ND filter I resorted to ISO100 and the narrowest aperture which isn't ideal for lens performance, but it worked well enough - one of the few times when a "fast" lens (16-35mm f/2.8 II) is a drawback.  Hopefully the next waterfall photos I post will have been done properly!!

I bracketed three exposures to keep the sky from being totally burned out (could have done with wider bracket though).  Half a second for the main exposure created a nice level of blur and I managed to hold it pretty still even without any Image Stabilisation on my lens.  

A nice image, but can't help feeling it would be a great scene for a themed portrait shoot, 

maybe a medieval maiden shot in the style of John William Waterhouse.

ISO100, 16mm, f/22, 1/2s, -1ev

Great Crested Grebe

Wasted some time sat by a lake in the Sun on Sunday,

blessed by the company of this fine Great Crested Grebe.

Sunny enough to attach the 1.4x teleconverter for a bit of extra reach, however with the best light coming when the clouds edged overhead the ISO was strained a little.  Overall I'm pleased with the image, I cloned out some floating debris to match the cleanness of the composition and I love the colour contrast, reflection and soft ripples of the water.

The second shot is from a sequence taken as it appeared with a large fish, unfortunately the light was pretty poor under full cloud and it decided to whisk it's prize away from me.

ISO1600, 560mm, f/8, 1/500s, -2/3ev, noise reduction, cropped, cleaned, levels 

ISO1600, 560mm, f/8, 1/1000s, -2/3ev, noise reduction

Graveyard Life

A Robin hunting from the tops of gravestones in front of a gorse hedgerow.

I'm not convinced the nice backlit rim lighting and interesting shadow outweigh the lack of a catch-light in the eye, but the pose, texture and colourful gorse flowers add something to the mix.

I very rarely stack different white balance images together, but with the cool shadow and warm sunlight I couldn't find a colour balance that suited both, just one of those times when a bit of Photoshop makes a photo more like what the eye sees.

ISO500, 560mm (teleconvertor), f/8, 1/1000s, -1ev, selective colour balance, levels

Floods, fields of gold and a supermoon.

Flood creating white water as it crashes straight over flood defences.  I took a few slow speed shots, but this one had the best details and painted quality.

ISO100, 35mm, f/22, 1/6s

Fields of gold, as rape seed laps up the weather for a bumper crop.  

I shot from this same spot a few weeks back, but never posted. I felt the hedge lines, tractor crop lines and old style telegraph poles added flow and interest, but it was still lacking.  However this time the sky was a lot more interesting, the flowers were denser and I had time to wait a while for a splash of sunlight to break through to add contrast and depth.

ISO100, 24mm, f/10, 1/160s, -0.6ev, circular polariser, cropped, levels

Any grand plans I had for the weekends' Super Moon were scuppered by cloud unfortunately, 

but I still like the colours and detail enough to blog it as a "nice failure".

ISO1600, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/250s, -0.6ev, noise reduction, levels, cropped, vignette

Woodland Wildlife

ISO1250,105mm,f/7.1,1/200s, -2ev

ISO200, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/640s,-1ev

ISO400, 105mm, f/2.8, 1/3200s (oops), -1ev

Some shots of the critters making the most of the shelter that local woodlands offer from the Spring rain, including a vigilant female Mallard duck sitting in her unusual nest site.

While below the flooded river Avon rises right to the top of the usual 8 foot bank, bad news for this years project KFC and obviously devastating for the Kingfishers that were nesting nearby.

Window to the Soul

Apologies for the failure to post again last week, on closer inspection the other photos I had lined up to post fell into the reject pile.  With a lack of outward looking images, I turned my lens to look inward...

Forest Pheasant

A cock Pheasant perches atop a mossy tree stump surveying a sea of bluebells.

Something of a field craft success for me, managing to sneak into position for this shot, especially with the sound of shotguns ringing in the distance.  Was on the lookout for deer, but this chap made for a much more colourful shot and another first for my check list.  

The early covering of bluebells made for slightly different landscapes too, since usually the trees are green with new leaves, but are still relatively bare this year.  I will blog more shots through the week..

ISO160, 400mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, -0.7 ev, cropped

Get orf moi laaannd!

Probably the best protected farm in the land, British army Apaches practice over Wiltshire,

scuppering any plans of insurgents terrorising the local sheep.  Thankfully the MoD seemed not to mind me

sitting on Pewsey hill fort with 560mm of lens pointing at their toys while I ate lunch in the Sun.  

You never know, it might even be HRH Prince Harry checking me out through his scope!

(I swear that gun looks like it's pointing my way in the 2nd shot)   :)

A bit of Photoshop fun for the 2nd image. 

Photo-nephology

ISO200, 33mm, f/13, 1/60s, -1.3ev, circular polariser, desaturate, levels, curves, vignette, noise reduction

ISO100, 21mm, f/13, 1/50s, -1.3ev, circular polariser, cropped,  levels, curves

ISO400, 16mm, f/6.3, 1/50s, -1ev, circular polariser, noise reduction, levels,curves, vignette  

Three shots taken down a lane that I travel down all the time, but never actually look for possible shots.  With some great cloud formations in the evenings lately I challenged myself to taking some shots locally instead of slipping into a "nice sky, if only I was at .. " (somewhere more overtly photogenic) mindset.   

Have a cracking Easter!

Spring Life

Three shots from the weekend, making the most of the false summer while it lasts.

A Grebe in the first shot, taken at ISO800 because I'd been taking other photos when it floated past, always quite tricky to decide how to crop these reflection images, but the centred subject won out.

My resistance to taking macro photos collapsed for the second shot, as bee-flies are everywhere at the moment and look great against a splash of colour.

The third is a fun shot which just took a little waiting for the lambs to direct their overloaded energy levels in the right direction, past a sign for a cross country run.

ISO800, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, -2/3ev, cropped, noise reduction

ISO200, 105mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, -1ev, noise reduction

Playing with fire

Playing with incense smoke for an hour last week.  I was attempting a slightly different idea, but that didn't work out, so I decided to just go ahead with some normal smoke trails anyway.  I usually like the simpler compositions of this type of image, but I like elements of each of these exposures and they worked best as a merge, rather than a quad.  I find it quite a mesmerising image following all the smooth curves, spirals and coils, hopefully all the details outweigh its busy composition

ISO100, 29mm, f/5.6, flash, levels, noise reduction, cropped, 4 exposures

ISO100, 29mm, f/5.6, flash, noise reduction, cropped

Smoking girl with a curl

The second image is a freak smoke formation of an 50's movie star, 

complete with arms, curly hair, dress, shawl, neck and nose.

Night Life

Orion and Jupiter in the sky above St Andrews church Chippenham.

Taken from Monkton park, which was still relatively busy thanks to the mild evening and proximity to the weekend.  It's always easy to feel a little vulnerable carrying expensive camera gear around urban areas at night, but it felt pretty chilled out and there is something reassuring about having a few kilos of metal tripod handy.  Having so many windows lit up was a bonus, but the reflection in the river didn't add as much to the image as I imagined, so it's been mostly chopped.

ISO400, 16mm, f.9, 30s, tripod, cable release, mirror lock up, cropped, noise reduction

Cottage in the mist

ISO100, 35mm, f/13, 1/3s, tripod, cable release, shutter  lock up, cropped, noise reduction

A misty sunrise with plenty of subtlety (too subtle?).  

It was an impulsive sunrise rather than a planned one, so the scene isn't the best, but the depth, smooth tones and pastel colours are worthy of posting

.  

HMS Royal Arthur

Had a quick scout around the nearby HMS Royal Arthur at lunch break last week. An MoD training base built after WW2, famous for having trained Prince Phillip (Duke of Edinburgh), but left derelict since 1993, it has been overtaken by vegetation and graffiti. A very interesting site which I will definitely re-visit soon.

Warm up

Dismayed with my continuing lack of photographic inactivity I decided to get my motor running last night and headed out to the highway, looking for adventure and whatever came my way. Rather predictably it was a highway full of cars and not much else, not a single lit up church or patch of clear sky in sight. So I decided to just do a practice run of a straight forward light trail, which turned out to be warranted, as I had forgotten to pack my head torch and tripod mounting plate?! Rusty to say the least. So with my camera bungeed to the tripod I fumbled around in the dark and took a few shots, using the distant glow of Bristol to brighten the dull sky. Lessons learned and brain refreshed, hopefully I'll get somewhere slightly more exciting sometime soon ...

ISO100, 16mm, f/8, 90 seconds, tripod, cable release, mirror lockup

Up periscope

ISO400, 560mm (400mm + 1.4x teleconvertor), f/8, 1/800s, -1/3ev, cropped, noise reduction

A mad march Hare pops its head above the grass-line in a local field, while a whirlwind of four buzzards circle in a thermal nearby.

Pic 'n' mix

A clear out of some images that didn't reach the blog over the last few months, possibly the most diverse mix of shots I've ever posted!?

Camels ahead - road sign, Morocco

Winter Walkers - Chippenham (home town)

Every sheep has a golden lining - Sunrise

Relaxing at Lisbon fashion week

Roman temple - Volubilis, Morocco

Seagull sunset - Wales

Symetrical archetecture - Lisbon, Portugal

Sunrise panorama with village chimney smoke trails