Happy Halloween

To celebrate the official end of summer, the festival of the dead and my birthday, here is a quick shot of this years pumpkins. ISO 1600, -2ev exp comp (eval metering) and a dose of noise reduction. I might try and do a properly staged tripod shot over the weekend, if I get time.

The festival originated from an ancient Celtic festival first recorded in the 9th century, where it was believed that the spirits of all the dead from the previous year would come looking for someone to possess, to achieve life after death. To avoid this fate the living resorted to dressing up as witches and ghosts, lighting lanterns and leaving offerings of food on their doorsteps.

The tradition of going door to door asking for food or money was an old tradition practised in Britain and Ireland, with the American custom of saying trick or treat only becoming common over the last 30 years.

Originally the Celts used carved turnips as lanterns, pumpkins became the vegetable of choice when the commonwealth colonised North America where turnips weren't so common.

Dirty screw

Not exactly in-keeping with my current trend for landscapes, nature and wildlife, it's a gritty, abstract macro shot today. Taken with my trusty Sigma 105mm Macro lens in my garden, after wandering around and being dismayed that all the flowers had died off I found myself determined to find something that would make a good image. Sometimes my favourite photos are taken this way, with a little perseverance and pushing my eye for a shot beyond my imagination.

Pretty much straight from camera this one with just some sharpening. Since the weather was wet and cloudy, but bright, it already had the great contrast with the help of -1 ev exposure compensation. An f/2.8 shallow depth of field thanks to the lens and lots of great texture and subdued colour thanks to the subject.

Stourhead

Visited Stourhead at the weekend. Was beautiful with the trees getting their autumn colours and some great dappled Sunlight. I always try to avoid the muddied paths to the common viewpoints, searching for something vaguely different. This was the only landscape shot I took, looking down on the Temple of Apollo from above, decent colours, textures, contrast, framing and a bonus tourist in the perfect position to illustrate the scale of the shot.

Best seller

It's been nearly two weeks since I posted a church photo! I must be slacking.

Always nice when someone leaves an old tattered bible hanging around an old stone window, especially when I happen upon it when the Sun is at such a good angle through the stained glass window.

Some dodging, burning to bring out the light and texture, and a selective lightening blur to bring the highlights alive.

Swan Lake

Water glistening like stars as a Swan takes to the sky

Lacock Abbey

A window at Lacock Abbey reflecting dawn Sunlight through the morning mist, while the first deep frost of the year encrusts the grass.

Straight from camera except for noise reduction.

Had a great day on saturday, photographing the wedding with Paula, went really well and am very pleased with the shots we got, given the time constraints and conditions. Lots of processing still to do, but will post some shots here at some point, if the happy couple agree to it.

Geese, a duck and some luck..

Canada geese scramble to the skies en-masse, side lit by the setting Sun. It was a slightly difficult decision to convert this to greyscale, since their wings caught glimpses of glowing orange light, but the emphasis on shape and tone that mono brings really plays to this images strength.

Duck coming in to land, lit by the setting Sunlight.

Finally, I have another wedding photographer assignment tomorrow. Plenty of preparation, a handsome bride and groom and a beautiful venue will all help, but all wishes of luck gratefully accepted. Not least with the weather, which looks slightly mixed at the moment. Either way it should be an exciting day!

Sunrise

Taken at Sunrise on the way to work.

Was taken in landscape orientation, but this crop included all the best bits, so it has undergone a fairly radical chop from either side.

Creeping Crimson

A stone gatehouse window being over-run by the clawing, tendrils of a magnificently scarlet ivy.

Gothic Marble

I guess I should have held this one back until All Hallows Eve, but I just couldn't help posting it.

Maybe it is time to worry when I visit a beautiful country manor house, with stunning Victorian garden and my favourite photo is of a winged skull from the chapel!

Lit perfectly by cloudy window light, emphasised slightly with some subtle dodge and burning.

Midnight Express

Was out train spotting again last week and another two chances to catch the mighty Bittern passing by. In the end the weather and poor light scuppered both opportunities. However, with poor light comes high ISO and some nice old fashion noise, so I've decided to stray from the path of minimilist photoshopping and really go to town on this one. A sky import (taken afterwards), plenty of levels and curves layers, some dodgy burning, sharpening and of course de-saturating.. and we have a nice moody shot that kind of captures some of the spirit of the beast.

Corsham

With Autumn very much upon southern England it's time for another grapple with the task of photographing the migrating Canada Geese at the local lake in Corsham. I didn't get what I wanted last year, so we'll see what I can get this year. So far just a distant snapshot (with great reflections)..

.. and a young Great Crested Grebe against the reflected colours of the autumn trees behind. Again, not technically good, but nice colours.

Westbury Sunset

Panorama of Westbury White Horse, Wiltshire.

Taken on the 24th September, when the Harvest moon was rising in the East at the same time as the last summer Sunset faded in the West. However, with clouds obscuring the eastern skies I had to settle for this angle.

Was all a rush in the end, since a passing storm was throwing up amazing rainbows. I spent precious time trying in vain to find a nice spot with the rainbow and white horse in, before I gave up and headed up onto the ridge for the Sunset.

Is a composite of 14 images, 7 exposed for the sky, 7 for the land.

Salvation

Wilton Windmill at Dusk.

The only working windmill in Wessex, it was built in 1821 alongside the busy Kennet & Avon canal and produced flour for 100 years, until steam technology made it redundant. Renovated in 1976 it once again grinds wholemeal flour, while looking stunningly beautiful at the same time.

I see the light!

Sunset over St Marys Church, Great Bedwyn. Taken in a hurry as the skies glowed gloriously, thankfully with camera and tripod handy I took a bracketed trio of shots and composited two exposures. There is no colour saturation adjustment in this image, just; levels, curves to increase contrast on the church, sharpening and some dodge & burning on the gravestones.

The church itself was built between the 11th and 13th century on the site of an older church and has some of the heaviest bells in Wiltshire, with the Tenor bell weighing over a tonne.

In the garden

Taken in the back garden using my trusty macro lens and tripod.

Amazing colours and patterns, unfortunately I can't identify it as a specific species, despite the unique looking spike.

The Final Four

The last of the Cornwall photos, including 2 alternative images from previously posted shots.

Penbreth cove

Newlyn dock

Harbour at Dusk

Glorious England

Nothing special about this photo, just a simple tribute to the beauty of the English coast.

Penberth

Cornish fisherman returning home with his haul.

One of my favourites of the holiday: Early morning and a fisherman hauls his boat back up the cobbles of Penberth cove after gathering his lobster pots. I like several of the photos I took on this morning, but I think this is probably the best.

Harbourside

Three more shots from Cornwall. Harbourside Ropes, taken at Mullion. Doesn't quite have the feel I was expecting from the shot, but is interesting enough.

House Martin chicks scream to be fed by the incoming parent (which is unfortunately distorted, because my on-camera flash wasn't up to freezing their swift movement)

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Fishermen at Polperro (either that or actors paid by Cornwall tourism to look like fishermen!). A little cluttered, but I like all the layers, textures, colours and details all in one shot. A compact encapsulation of Polperro, rather than my previous sweeping panorama.

Moonrise, Sunset

Tonight sees the last Sunset of the summer in the northern hemisphere, which this year happens to be in conjunction with the rise of the Harvest (Full) Moon, with both events happening at the nearest time to each other in decades. As you can see from the image below (link to TPE is in my links list on the right), the Sun sets at 7:05pm almost exactly to the West and the Moon rises at 7:07pm almost exactly to the East, so at some point - cloud permitting - the horizon should be lit in a complete 360 degrees (regardless of location on the globe - unless you're reading this from one of the poles!).



Good luck to anyone off out to view or photograph it!

Kite-surfer Sunset

I couldn't resist this backlit kite, set alight by the setting Sun in front of dramatic dark clouds. I took quite a few shots here, obviously quite a tricky lighting situation and fast moving subject, but didn't quite get what I was looking for in the end. Many shots too dark or too light, despite bracketing, as the Sun slipped in and out from behind the clouds. Still, a nice photograph though.

Coast Path Rainbow

Not usually my thing to colour pop, but this photo was crying out for black and white conversion, with the grasses, textures, storm clouds and house on the horizon. However, it's surely a crime to remove the colour from a sacred rainbow, so I think this works. I also cropped square to keep the frame nicely balanced and composed.

Dartmoor Sunset

The heart of Dartmoor, taken hand-held as I didn't have a tripod to hand, bracketed exposures combined and noise reduction applied.

Cornwall Panoramic for starters..

Got back from Cornwall last weekend, plenty of photos taken and was pretty lucky with the weather except for the mornings where early morning fog or rain showers put pay to any plans for a Sunrise. I will try and get some photos processed this week, but to start things rolling I have this panorama of Polperro taken on the second day of the journey down...

Auto 9

The last of my automated posts and a macro shot today. A little-brown-jobby (unknown) perches on a nettle leaf, the Sunlight at just the right angle to catch the ridges in its wing. The fore antenna nicely held aloft so is still within the focal plane, which is nice.

With any luck a deluge of Cornwall photos will follow fairly shortly.. even if they are foggy landscapes, tourists eating pasties under umbrellas or waves smashing into stormy coastline. Fingers crossed for at least 1 or 2 nice scenic landscapes though..

Auto 8

A simple snap posted in honour of the glorious English apple. The juice of which I shall certainly have drank by this stage no doubt.

Not much to say about this photo.. fallen apples under an apple tree. Taken just before raiding it and turning it into apple sauce and jam!

Auto 7

By my prediction it will be belting down with cold, wind-blown rain by now, with possible flooding by today. So here is a reminder of the summer we had! A hoverfly on one of the wild flowers in the garden underneath the summer Sun.

If I'm by some miracle still Sun bathing in Cornwall at this point I shall be very happy!

Auto 6

A portrait landscape today. I find myself wanting to like this photo, but not being able to. Makes for a nice thumbnail, but looses something a full size. Can't really put my finger on it either.. composition is .. okay. Has colour, interest, focal point, bit of a lead in, reflections etc.. but for some reason, it just doesn't work for me.

Posted anyway, in case someone out there actually does like it..