Extremely cold and foggy day today - the fog never really lifted all day. I went for a walk up Beacon Hill (the highest hill in Leicestershire, which might sound impressive unless you’ve ever actually been here). I was snapping like mad all the way up, and this is my favourite of the bunch.
At the top of Beacon Hill the grass was actually frozen in a beautifully odd way - I think the mist must have continuously condensed and frozen on the wet side of the grass, causing these odd rectangular shapes to appear:
Technical info #1: iso 200, f/3.5, 1/180s handheld
Technical info #2: ditto.
Posted in details, landscape.
Tagged with beacon hill, leicestershire, mist, winter.
Had a couple of hours shooting at the St Mary & St John parish church in Rothley, Leicestershire. The only shots I liked enough to keep were the stained glass details, but the colours have come out particularly well I think.
Not sure what this chap’s name is, but he doesn’t look too cheerful. I started out by taking wide angle pics (like I have before) but the church didn’t really lend itself to them - or I was off my game - so I got out my sigma 70-300 and took lots of detail shots instead. Good job my tripod goes up to about 7 foot tall, as it helps to reduce the angle.
Technical info: iso 100, f/11, tripod, 3 shot HDR processed in photomatix pro
Posted in architecture, details, hdr.
Tagged with church, parish church, rothley, stained glass.
I go camping every year with some friends, and we found a gorgeous campsite near Chepstow, right next to Offa’s Dyke, a great frontier earthwork built by Offa, King of Mercia from 757 to 796 A.D.
It’s a splendid campsite with an honesty box, looking out over a gorgeous wooded valley. I wouldn’t be surprised if we return next year.
We had a great time, and I earned the mockery of my campmates by taking my camera along and getting up at dawn with my tripod to take pictures of the site.
Later on, I redeemed myself by getting this picture of Little Dave failing to catch a ball in quite a spectacular fashion:
Pic 1 Technical info: iso 200, f/11, tripod, 3 shot HDR processed in photomatix pro
Pic 2 Technical info: iso 200, f/4.5, 1/800s, handheld
Posted in hdr, landscape.
Tagged with camping, catch, chepstow, dawn, fail, hdr, offa's dyke, photomatix, wales.
This was one of my first flower experiments, back in 2007 - I’d forgotten all about it until just now. It was taken using natural light in my front room with my macro lens. I tweaked the contrast a bit after the fact to increase the blackness between the petals, and I love the result.
Technical info: iso 100, f/22, 20 second exposure, tripod.
Posted in details, macro.
Tagged with flower, macro, red rose, rose.
On the one hand, this image is sickmakingly saccharine, but on the other… the colours are nice and I like the odd composition. It’s me and Ali, at the top of Helvellyn (the third highest mountain in England) this February.
We had to climb along Striding Edge to get there:
Which for a man who doesn’t like sheer drops, was a somewhat eye opening experience. I was crawling across it like Gollum, whilst Ali virtually skipped along. We then had to contend with a 45 degree (or more - bloody steep anyway) slope covered in snow with a cliff behind us to get up to the very top. It’s a miracle I didn’t just crouch down and start rocking to and fro like a mentalist.
Summit pic: iso 400, f/17, 1/1000s, handheld.
Striding Edge: iso 400, f/17, handheld 3 short HDR processed with photomatix pro.
Posted in lake district, landscape.
Tagged with Add new tag, colour, colourful, colours, cumbria, drops, hdr, helvellyn, lake district, love, mountain, photomatix, ridge, romance, snow, striding edge.
I love snails - they manage to be both freaky and familiar at the same time. This little chap was crawling down the top of my rough wooden fence just after I got my sigma 70-300, and I took so many pictures of him he forgot where he was going and ended up facing the other way.
Technical info: iso 400, f/8, 1/400s, handheld (the high iso and shot speed were because I was shooting at 190 mm, and had no tripod at the time, so camera shake was a bit of a nightmare).
Posted in animals, macro.
Tagged with garden, helix aspersa, macro, snail.
Mooching around Loughborough fair is an odd experience with camera in hand - you are surrounded by interesting imagery but it can be extremely hard to choose what to take photographs of. The result is normally that I end up with lots of poorly composed images of bright lights and rides that don’t really do anything for me.
I snapped this one in a very offhand way as I was forced down a crowded street in the usual surge of fairgoers - something about the simplicity of it pleased me. After cleaning it up a bit and straightening it I found I really liked the result.
Technical details: iso 200, f1.4, 1/750s handheld.
Posted in details.
Tagged with Add new tag, bright, change, compose, fair, fairground, light, lighting, loughborough, neon, photograph, photographs.
There are lots of nice old bridges like this on the stretch of canal between Loughborough and Barrow. If you go down on a weekday, it’s common to travel the whole stretch without seeing another person, which is always a joy.
Loughborough itself isn’t the most attractive of towns, so it’s gratifying to be able to escape into some proper countryside with about 10 minutes cycling.
Technical info: iso 100, f/22, tripod, 9-shot HDR processed in photomatix pro.
Posted in bridges, hdr, landscape.
Tagged with bridge, canal, hdr, loughborough, photomatix.
One from my recent holiday in Saint Ives, Cornwall. I got my feet a bit wet when taking this one, but I think it was worth it.
Technical info: iso 100, f/32, tripod, 3 shot HDR processed in photomatix pro
Posted in hdr, landscape, skies.
Tagged with bay, beach, cornwall, hdr, photomatix, porthmeor, saint ives, sea, sky, sunset.
Another picture taken on the track leading from Wetton in Derbyshire down to Thor’s Cave and Manifold Valley. The sun was just sinking down towards the hills and poured such a delicious golden light over the ancient rutted track that I had to try and capture it. The photograph is far from perfect, but does have a pleasant atmosphere to it I think.
Technical info: iso 100, f/17, handheld, 3 shot HDR processed in photomatix pro
Posted in hdr, landscape, skies.
Tagged with dales, derbyshire dales, hdr, lighting, manifold valley, peak district, photograph, thor's cave, track, wetton.
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