It's Good to be Able to Photograph Early Signs of Spring.

Despite the persistent cold and wintry weather this year, flowers continue to put a brave face on things.  Crocuses are a joy to see and something I enjoy photographing. I wanted to capture three different aspects of the displays of crocuses: wide angle, extreme macro and pictures showing a mass of colour and only one bloom sharp

For this shot I used a 10-20 mm lens at 10mm and placed the camera more or less on the ground.  Live view was a help here.

For this shot I used a 150mm macro lens with an extension tube fitted so that I could get in close to the heart of this flower.

I used my 10-400 lens here with 2 extension tubes attached so that I could get in close and compress the flowers.  The long lens with tubes attached meant that I could use differential focusing to isolate one flower.

Another shot using the 100-400 with extension tubes.

Project 15: planning your portfolio; the final cut.

I have photographed a few locations for Project 15 but settled on this location of Moggs Hollow on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds.  It was a toss up between one of my other locations.  Both had good winter conditions but the other had a fabulous display of oilseed rape for the spring picture.  In the end though I felt that Moggs Hollow came out on top for the summer and autumn shots.  My other location had an ash tree in the foreground which resolutely refused to change colour and did, in fact, lose its leaves one windy night whilst still green.  I found it a surprising challenge to get the framing spot on for every shot but feel that I have made a reasonable job with these four images.

Winter

Early in the morning after one of the February snow falls from 2012 I went out into the Lincolnshire Wolds a short distance from home to take snow pictures for project 25 and also hoping to secure winter images for  assignment 1. I selected this shot as I felt that it had a cold wintry feel to it, especially as there is a grey rather than a clear blue sky. I framed the shot so that the hedge began in the bottom right and then snaked in a pleasing s-shape, hopefully leading the eye into the shot to the wood and distant hill on the horizon. The hedge also provides good perspective.

Spring

After assignment 1 I thought that this would be a good location for Project 15.  I knew that no vegetation would grow up that would obstruct the view.  I took this spring picture at 6.00 am one May morning when I knew there would be good side lighting.  I checked the winter shot on my Iphone to ensure that I had the same framing using the bare ash tree branch and the hedge to the right of the shot to orientate it. I think there is a huge difference between the winter shot and this one.  The hawthorn or May blossom and the fresh green of the crop indicate that this is spring.

Summer

Another early morning shot; this time 4.47 am in order to catch the golden hour and have good side lighting.  I haven't managed the framing quite as well as I would have liked with there being a slight gap between the tip of the bare ash branch and the edge of the frame.  I like the light on the ash tree, however, and the height of the broad bean crop and the poppy at the edge of the beans differentiate it from the spring shot.  I find summer a difficult season to represent.  Unless summer flowers are used it tends to be just green!

Autumn

Another early morning shot taken in October.  Gone is the summer broad been crop and the field has been resown.  Although the ash tree remains resolutely green, the hawthorn hedge has taken on the rich warm colours of autumn, enhanced by the golden early morning light.  The red hawthorn berries also indicate that this is autumn.  I am relatively pleased with the framing but again there is a slight gap between the tip of the bare branch and the edge of the frame.

Final Portfolio

Ever since the first assignment in this module I have been looking for opportunities for and taking photographs representing each of the seasons for my final portfolio.  During this time I have gathered together an incredibly large collection of images from which to choose.  In order to help with the editing I decided to look for images based on a theme.  For Project 28 we had to portray Intimate Landscapes inspired by the work of Eliot Porter.  My research into Ansel Adams for assignments 4 and 5 revealed that Adams also liked to take Intimate Landscapes.  With this in mind I decided to make Intimate Landscapes the theme for this final portfolio.  Previous blogs show many of the images I have been considering and so here I include my final selection.

As this is the culmination of 15 months work I have also decided to print these photographs at A3+.

Winter

This was a photograph taken last winter (February 2012) for Assignment 1.  I chose it then, and now, as the strong side lighting gave texture to the snow, emphasising its banked nature.  I also liked the dark brooding sky.  As suggested by my tutor I have cropped it  a little and warmed it slightly to make it less blue.

This is another picture from Assignment 1.  One morning  in February 2012 whilst we had snow, we also woke to thick fog.  Thinking that this would provide more and different winter pictures, I visited a local wooded parkland.  I had photographed this scene a few weeks previously but, although in the middle of winter, the bright late afternoon light and leaves still clinging to the beech trees didn't provide a wintry enough atmosphere.  This morning was different, however, snow and fog providing the missing ingredients.  I chose this particular avenue of trees as I felt that, as they disappeared down the hill, they provided perspective despite the fog.  I think the fact that we cannot see the far distance lends a sense of mystery.

I took this photograph in January this year whilst at a favourite bird photography location.  The weather was bitterly cold.  I was attracted to this old sluice and the fencing either side of it as well as the dead reeds in the drain.  I like the way that the drain leads the eye into the picture and provides perspective. There is really something special about this spot on a bleak winter's day.  On 18th January it was grey and still with the first flakes of snow swirling down from the sky.  The land was covered with a blanket of old snow with the longer, dead grasses and umbellifers poking through.  Flooded areas and most drains were frozen but I could hear the gentle trickle of a cleared drain still running.  Every so often a barn or short eared owl flew moth like as it hunted over the carrs.  Magical.

Spring

Snowdrops are always the very first sign of Spring and I felt that I had to include a shot of some.  It was taken early last year in our local churchyard.

Spring is a time for woodland flowers before the leaf cover of summer shuts out the light.  I took this shot in  a wood on the outskirts of Grimsby.  Every year there is a wonderful display of wood anemones.  I took several versions of this picture and, in fact returned for a second visit as I wanted to take this one which excluded the sky and made it mor intimate.

A wood in spring is a magical place and primroses an iconic spring flower.  I chose a wide angle and a very low point of view for this shot to make the primroses the main focus whilst at the same time including the woodland habitat.  I excluded most of the sky to keep it an intimate landscape.  I like the way the path leads the eye into the picture and provides perspective.

Summer

I have always loved ox-eye daisies and love to see great drifts of them waving in a gentle summer breeze.  I took this shot last June at a local nature reserve.  I was there photographing broad bodied chaser dragonflies and was privileged to watch and photograph one of the most wonderful wildlife spectacles I have ever seen (see other photography 03 in the blog).  The pond was just behind me when I took the shot and the daisies were the icing on the cake.  I had been looking for a scene such as this for some time.

To me summer means poppies.  I found this field late one summer evening when I had been out photographing (or trying to) hares.  I hadn't planned on any landscape photography and so only had my 500 and 100-400 lenses with me.  I couldn't pass this opportunity up, however, and made the picture with the 100-400.  I made the most of the lens's potential for differential focusing and selected a wide aperture to isolate this one bloom with a sea of red behind it.

A scene we see very little of these days.  These are a collection of old fashioned cornfield weeds which have more or less been eradicated by modern agricultural methods.  It seems to be a fashion nowadays, though, to plant these artificially, a trend that I wholeheartedly endorse.  I notice this winter that a wide local grass verge in Grimsby has been scarified and I am hoping that we shall have a colourful display this summer.  If si I shall be there. 

Autumn

I love autumn.  There seem to be so many opportunities for landscape a photography   This shot of autumn beeches was taken in a local woodland last November.

Not a morning most people would single out for photography.  It was grey misty day but very still.  I saw this pond and the reflection when driving out into the Lincolnshire Wolds for a day walking.  I returned later in the day for another look but a breeze had set up and the reflection had gone.

A wonderfully mist early autumn morning in a glorious stretch of parkland.

Project 15
I have photographed a few locations for Project 15 but settled on this location of Moggs Hollow on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds.  It was a toss up between one of my other locations.  Both had good winter conditions but the other had a fabulous display of oilseed rape for the spring picture.  In the end though I felt that Moggs Hollow came out on top for the summer and autumn shots.  My other location had an ash tree in the foreground which resolutely refused to change colour and did, in fact, lose its leaves one windy night whilst still green.  I found it a surprising challenge to get the framing spot on for every shot but feel that I have made a reasonable job with these four images.

Winter

Early in the morning after one of the February snow falls from 2012 I went out into the Lincolnshire Wolds a short distance from home to take snow pictures for project 25 and also hoping to secure winter images for  assignment 1. I selected this shot as I felt that it had a cold wintry feel to it especially as there is a grey rather than a clear blue sky. I framed the shot so that the hedge began in the bottom right and then snaked in a pleasing s-shape, hopefully leading the eye into the shot to the wood and distant hill on the horizon. The hedge also provides good perspective.

Spring

After assignment 1 I thought that this would be a good location for Project 15.  I knew that no vegetation would grow up that would obstruct the view.  I took this spring picture at 6.00 am one May morning when I knew there would be good side lighting.  I checked the winter shot on my Iphone to ensure that I had the same framing using the bare ash tree branch and the hedge to the right of the shot to orientate it. I think there is a huge difference between the winter shot and this one.  The hawthorn or May blossom and the fresh green of the crop indicate that this is spring.

Summer

Another early morning shot; this time 4.47 am in order to catch the golden hour and have good side lighting.  I haven't managed the framing quite as well as I would have liked with there being a slight gap between the tip of the bare ash branch and the edge of the frame.  I like the light on the ash tree, however, and the height of the broad bean crop and the poppy at the edge of the beans differentiate it from the spring shot.  I find summer a difficult season to represent.  Unless summer flowers are used it tends to be just green!

Autumn

Another early morning shot taken in October.  Gone is the summer broad been crop and the field has been resown.  Although the ash tree remains resolutely green, the hawthorn hedge has taken on the rich warm colours of autumn, enhanced by the golden early morning light.  The red hawthorn berries also indicate that this is autumn.  I am relatively pleased with the framing but again there is a slight gap between the tip of the bare branch and the edge of the frame.

Assignment 5: in the style of an influential photographer; final submission, Ansel Adams.

Choosing my images for this assignment, processing them and converting to black and white was only half of the challenge.  The second part was the printing.  I thought printing in monochrome would be easy, but not so.  With my new printer and the use of ICC profiles printing in colour was becoming  reasonably straightforward.  When I researched black and white printing with the new Epson 2880 I discovered that I shouldn't use ICC profiles but allow the printer to manage the process choosing the Advanced Black and White option in the printer driver.  This opened up another window which allows the choice of how the printer will print the image.  There are several presets that can be used: for colour tone neutral, cool, warm or sepia can be chosen; tone can be light, normal, dark, darker or darkest.  There are also sliders to control brightness  contrast, highlights and shadows as well as a tone wheel that allows a seemingly infinite fine choice of tone and colour.  Rather than use one of the presets I experimented with the tone wheel until I achieved a result with which I was satisfied and which I felt gave a print similar to Ansel Adams rich black and white images.  I have chosen to print my photographs on Permajet Oyster paper as I felt that it had the smooth textured quality that Ansel Adams looked for and also responded well to the rich black and white format.  I experimented as well with Fotospeed Platinum Gloss but was not so happy with the results.

As mentioned in a previous blog for Assignment 5, the research of Adams' work for my critical review for Assignment 4 gave me a clear idea of his style which I repeat below.

 An important aspect of his style, certainly after he had rejected the Impressionistic style of photography and embraced the new Modernist style, was that images should be pin sharp from front to back. They were free of grain and printed on smooth papers. His images varied from close-up intimate landscapes full of detail to expansive wide- angle shots. As he developed his style he gradually lowered his horizons and made the most of dramatic skies, even making them the subject of the photograph. He liked to photograph water in all its forms, especially crashing waves and surf and mountain rapids and dramatic waterfall. He also liked to take really close-up images of nature with a great amount of detail. There were rarely any people in his landscapes. I have, therefore,chosen images that fitted the following criteria.

• wide-angle landscapes sharp from front to back, possibly with a high horizon
• images with a much lower horizon and a dramatic sky
• photographs of water such as breaking surf and rapids using short exposures to freeze the motion
• more intimate landscapes
• close-up shots of nature full of intricate detail 

 Wide-angled landscapes, sharp throughout and with a high horizon.

Winter conditions on Derwent Edge, Derbyshire. I converted the picture to Black and White in Lightroom and next used an ND grad to reduce the exposure in the sky by 1.5 and also reduced the highlights further. I also slightly increased the contrast and the clarity. I then used the adjustment brush to reduce the exposure on the ice on the path in the foreground. Finally I adjusted the sliders in the Black and White mix until I achieved a result that I was happy with.

Winter on Worlaby Carrs, Lincolnshire. I used a wide-angle of 24 mm and f16 to achieve maximum depth of field. A tripod, mirror lock-up and cable release were used to assure sharpness with the 1/40 second shutter speed. Conversion and adjustments made in Lightroom. I used an ND grad to balance the exposure in the sky.

Earl Crag, Upper Airedale. Taken with a Canon G10. 6.1mm @ f8

Images with a much lower horizon and a dramatic sky.

Lincolnshire Wolds from Bonby Carrs. I was out photographing birds down Carr Lane, Bonby when I noticed that some wonderful clouds were building up over the Wolds. I realised that this would make a suitable image for this project. I took both horizontal and vertical formats placing the horizon low in both. Although the vertical shot made more of the lane leading the eye into the shot I felt that this one made more of the sky. Conversion was done to Black and White in Lightroom and adjustments made as described above.

One late afternoon last autumn I visited Tetney Marshes to look for some landscape opportunities as the light was particularly good and the location is very close to home. I watched these huge cumulo nimbus clouds build up and decided to make the sky a subject of the photograph and so placed the horizon very low in the shot. Conversion and adjustments made in Lightroom 4.

Barn and Sky, Lincolnshire Wolds. I found this barn whilst out looking for suitable images for this assignment. As the sky was really dramatic, I framed the shot with a low horizon to make the most of it. Again Black and White Conversion and adjustments made in Lightroom 4.

Photographs of water such as breaking surf and rapids using short exposures to freeze the motion.

Breaking Waves, Mallorca. On this particular day the sea was particularly rough following an overnight storm. Watching the waves crashing onto the rocks at Calla San Vincenti, I realised that it was a great opportunity for a short exposure shot and set the shutter speed to 1/4000 second to freeze the motion. Ansel Adams had to wait for the 'Decisive Moment' to fire his shutter; I was fortunate to be able to use High Speed Continuous drive.

I took this shot on the Watkin Path up Snowdon. The waterfall was impressive as the river was full with flood and meltwater. I framed the image so that the upper part of the fall led the eye up to the south ridge of Snowdon in the background and also down to the boiling water in the foreground. As Adams did I exposed for the water to ensure that I retained as much detail as possible. I used a shutter speed of 1/640 sec in order to freeze the water and an aperture of f8 to keep everything reasonably sharp.

More intimate landscapes.

Light shining through trees in a local Woodland. Sky excluded. Conversion and adjustments in Lightroom 4.

Light shines through beech trees in a local woodland. Conversion and adjustments in Lightroom 4.

Close-up shots of nature full of intricate detail.

Wall Detail, Derbyshire. I liked the detail in this wall in Derbyshire at New Year and thought that it would make a pleasing Black and White in close-up. My inspiration was the Surface and Texture images in From The Mountains to the Sea Exhibition.

I was attracted to this dead Umbellifer head during the cold weather in early January this year. I chose my specimen carefully and found one that had a dark background and was backlit. I was pleased with the detail in the head and on the stem.