Iceland pt.1 - Germany

Two photos from our Iceland motorcycle trip last year (at last).

France, Belgium and Holland were blitzed in a day, with a rainy night in Arnhem (of Operation Market Garden infamy) - so no photos to speak of. 

These photos were taken during two brief stops in Germany, on our ride up to the top of Denmark to catch the ferry.  The first on an overnight stay in the medieval town of Lubeck and the second from a lunch break in Bremen.

Despite the RAF doing a pretty effective raid on it in WW2, Lubeck still has more than
its fair share of beautiful old buildings, surrounded by the river Trave, it's a real gem to visit.  We passed through on the day the German football team qualified for the next stage of the Euros and joined in with the celebrations and horn beeping. 

The next day wasn't quiet so jolly (at least at the time), riding up Denmark in a massive rainstorm.  Photography was not a priority!

Reflections in Lubeck, Germany
ISO 800, 17mm, f/4.5, 1s, -1.3ev, braced on a fence post, noise reduction

Architextures - Bremen, Germany
ISO800, 180mm, f/11, 1/250s, -1ev, levels, mono
 

Nothing quite like a January morning in the lakes

Two more shots from the Lakes, the first of Ashness bridge, lit up by the Sun, just creeping around to shine down into the valley.  Photographed many, many times, but I couldn't resist with the distant snow, glowing amber bracken and pure azure skies.

The second is another single frame of the northern fells from the slopes of Skiddaw, my primary
thought was to capture the sunrise Sun and mist in my previously posted panorama, but I like
this composition too.  Looking like serious mountains with the snowy peaks, with the silhouetted misty treeline in the foreground, then leading diagonally up to the glowing sunlit snow in the distance as a focal point I think it balances simplicity, structure and interest.  I'd consider a crop of some of the left side and sky, but left it "straight from camera" instead, since I'm attempting to lean away from Photoshop as much as possible these days.

Ashness bridge Jan 2013
ISO100, 32mm, 1/50s, f/9, -1.3ev, tripod, mirror lockup, cable release, circular polariser, levels

Misty Mountains
ISO100, 105mm, 1/200s, f/9, -1ev

North West fells from Skiddaw

 

Snow capped mountains catching the early morning Sun as the valley warms

and a mist starts to form over Braithwaite. 

 

Taken as a composite of 11 portrait oriented images using manual mode to keep exposure consistent,

then combined in Photoshop. 

 

Even this method is feeling old fashioned now, as my partner's new

Lumia shoots great 14MP panoramas all in camera.  Very impressive technology, even handling high dynamic range panoramics, straight into the Sun, really well. 

 

Plenty more to come... I'm off for another walk in the snow...





ISO100, 100mm, f/9, 1/320s, -1ev, composite of 11 images

Three Bird Post

Back from a winter visit to the Lake District which was very nice and suitably picturesque. 
Still to process those photos at the moment, but while I tweak my PC settings and get back in the swing of posting on here again, here are three more bird photos..  Two taken today in the snow..

Hopefully will get out in the snow again tomorrow followed by some Lake District photo processing this weekend..

Gorse Robin
ISO1600, 365mm, 1/250s, f/5.6, -0.3ev, noise reduction

Snow Kestrel
ISO640, 560mm (teleconverter), 1/1000s, f/8, noise reduction, cropped

Snow Robin
ISO320, 275mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, -0.6ev, noise reduction, levels, colour balance (remove blue)

35mm Oil Painting

 

Photo or oil painting?

ISO800, 220mm, f/9, 1/800s, -0.6ev, selective levels

 

Another steam locomotive shot taken locally, just north of home.  Running late, by the time she swept through there was quite a gathering of curious passer-bys, most were amazed that that they still run and that it's not an openly advertised event. 

 

Note:  Just google UK Steam for all mainline steam loco activity. 

 

With the hazey, cloud filtered sunlight, muted winter colours, classic grey clouds and a bit of high ISO noise I couldn't help but play on the image looking somewhat like a Constable style oil painting.  I left in the noise and added a dose of levels to darken areas with a large soft edge brush.  I really like the effect, especially given it's only slightly photoshopped (levels took about 20 seconds to do).



Back up to speed in 2013

Happy New Year!  What a strange year 2012 turned out to be, absolutely tonnes of change for me since riding my motorcycle around Iceland, hence the embarrassingly woeful blog count.  However, I am now settled into a new home, with a new car, a new job and a new PC to aid my main new year resolution - to get back taking photos, exploring, shooting new things, blogging as much as possible (including the few things I have photographed over the last few months) and generally getting back to it.   Who knows we might even see a new piece of photographic kit joining the bag this year!

Starlings swarming past the full moon

ISO 1600, 400mm, f/8, 1/160s, -0.6ev, noise reduction

After walking through muddy fields in search of inspiration for a couple of hours, it was when we arrived back to xmas base camp that we had the pleasure of witnessing this spectacle.  Thousands of starlings swarming overhead with a haunting sound of a million feathers in the night air.

 



Autumnal Robin spying its prey

ISO1250, 330mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, -0.6ev, noise reduction, cropped

 

Night station

ISO800, 34mm, f/8, 8s, -2ev, noise reduction, cropped

Waiting on a foot bridge for a steam locomotive to pass through, I like the colour and composition of this shot.  Unfortunately for the reader, the steam loco was just good fun rather than a photo opportunity!

 



 

Winter fisherman

ISO100, 100mm, f/4.5, 1/1000s, -1ev, cropped

A fisherman bags his reward for fishing on a bitterly cold day, the stark winter trees reflecting their subdued colours in the still water. 

 

 

 



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