Digital Photography by Andy Stafford
One of the most boring and time consuming tasks that comes with any serious amount of photography seems to be dealing with the large amount of files (and the amount of disc space that they take up). I try to keep two backups of all my images - at the moment I’m finally archiving them all to DVD, chronologically, but I’m also taking the opportunity to get rid of some rubbish and duplicates.
Often I’ll take a couple of shots of something and then notice a distraction in the frame, or I’ll increase the exposure time to get a little more light into a scene. At about 15MB a time all these extra shots add up and despite going against the “never delete your raws” mantra, hanging on to all these extra versions doesn’t really serve any great purpose, other than helping Western Digital stay in business.
The above image is from January 2010 (I’m about 6 months behind with my tidy up at the moment and my progress is constantly hampered by the arrival of new images which I’ll briefly scan for favourites and then ignore for a few months) and was taken on a frosty morning out with John Houghton
This was one of the last shots that I took with my Canon 450D and despite having been back since with my other camera, this was my favourite sunrise shot from this location - mainly due to the good fortune of the cloud picking up the pink glow of the rising sun, which is then also reflected in the ice.
Technical info: ISO100, f/16, 11mm, 1.3s, Cokin ND4 soft grad
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Posted in landscape, sunrises.
Tagged with canon 450d, clouds, cokin, filter, sunrise.
Two views of Old John, in Bradgate Park, taken less than a month apart in December 2009.
There are so many dreadful images of this building, and it is such an uninspired choice of location perhaps because it is so often photographed, but I still see it as a bit of a challenge.
This is my favourite of my shots that feature Old John - I prefer the building to be in the distance, that way its slightly easier to hide how uneven the structure is - even then I have to spend a long time trying to work out if my shot is level.
The heavy cloud cover here (and use of the Cokin ND4 soft grad) allowed me to get a nicely balanced exposure, retaining a lot of the rich late autumn colour.
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No photographers collection should be without at least one picture of Old John in the snow 
This was snapped on the way back to the car after an early morning start. I’d never really noticed this path before, but the light sprinkling of snow picked it out perfectly.
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Posted in landscape.
Tagged with bradgate park, canon 450d, leicestershire, old john, sigma 17-70mm, snow.
Taken on a recent family holiday to Cornwall.
This beach was a lucky find - we were just looking for sandy bits on the map because our eldest wanted to go to another beach before we returned home. This is a great location though - it has caves, great sand and a really dramatic rock structure at the entrance to the beach featuring enough rock pools to keep the kids entertained for hours (if the tide is out).
This shot was taken from one of the caves accessible at low tide on the south side of the beach.
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Posted in b&w, landscape.
Tagged with b&w, beach, cornwall, sea.
Not the first image I’ve published from the this location and almost certainly not the last.
Stone Circles can be very hard to photograph with pleasing results, possibly because they look very plain, but also because often they don’t stand out well from their surroundings. What looks fantastic in an isolated location can end up looking like just a few rocks stuck in a field when photographed.
The day of our visit to Scorhill though things were very different - the light was great thanks to bright sunlight occasionally breaking through thick black cloud, the ground was wet with puddles forming and the grass was dry, giving the stones chance to show up against the background.
All I had to do then was try to get the composition I wanted and keep the kids out of the frame
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Posted in b&w, landscape.
Tagged with clouds, dartmoor, devon, standing stones, stone circle.
Another old one. This time from October 2009, taken with the Canon 450D and the Sigma 18-200 lens.
When I took this I stacked the Cokin ND4 and ND8 grads so that the water in the foreground would be smooth and bright and the light from the setting sun would be correctly exposed. I didn’t really like the result when viewed “in camera” though so I didn’t carry on. On reviewing the images I changed my mind - it might not have been an entirely faithful reproduction but the result was quite striking.
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Posted in filters, sunsets.
Tagged with canon 450d, cokin, cossington, leicestershire, nd4, nd8, sigma 18-200.
It seems a long time since I posted any new photos - there are a number of reasons for this
- I’ve been on holiday
- I’ve been too busy taking them
- So many other things to do
I think I’ve got a decent crop of new images now so time-permitting I’ll be posting a lot of new ones over the next few weeks.
This was taken during a gloriously wet and windy holiday in Cornwall in late March/early April. Much to the kids annoyance we always like to cram in a few quick visits to some stone circles. Most of the time these places don’t make for good photographs but today everything was just right.
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Posted in landscape.
Tagged with dartmoor, devon, standing stones, stone circle.
Another one of many images taken using the Canon f/1.8 50mm lens when I first got the Canon 5D. I’d had the lens for a while but I never really liked using it on the 450D - the 1.6x crop factor of that camera made it the equivalent of an 80mm lens and that was too long a focal length for me. On the full frame 5D however it was a revelation - very sharp with very little distortion and aberration. A great value little lens.
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Posted in landscape, trees, water.
Tagged with 50mm, leicestershire, snow, water, watermead park.
A couple of old shots again today, as I continue working though last year’s images with a view to making some of the better ones available as prints (and just generally sharing some of the others that had been languishing on my hard drive).
These were both taken on an overcast afternoon on a footpath just outside Brocks Hill Country Park in Oadby, a few days after I’d got my Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens. I find it hard to ignore the combination of crops, tractor tracks and trees and many of my images from this time were similar to this, as I tried to find a composition I liked (and I imagine there will be a few this year also).
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Posted in landscape, trees.
Tagged with cokin, crops, leicestershire, nd grad, sigma 10-20, tree.
A small amount of snow just before Christmas gave me the ideal excuse to get up nice and early on a Sunday morning to go to Bradgate Park. When I arrived, long before sunrise, there were only two sets of prints leading into the park from the Old John car park - someone taking their dog for a walk.
The sunrise itself was rather uneventful - a cloudless sky, a bit of a glow and then the sun appearing - not really my favourite. Perhaps I could have made more out of it if I’d prepared (or had more imagination) but it was pleasant enough just to be there in the fresh snow.
While the light was still good I headed to one of the places I’ve been meaning to visit at daybreak for sometime and got the shot above. This is just as it was taken - no filters, no post processing, just good old fashioned sunlight.
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Posted in landscape, sunrises, trees.
Tagged with bradgate park, old john, snow, tree, winter.
Despite the media hype about the “big freeze” we had very little snow really in Leicestershire this January - although I tried to make the most of the 3 or 4 decent snowfalls by nipping out early in the morning each time to get a few shots. It was worth it too, not just because I got some good shots, but because I’m a big kid and you can’t beat getting to the snow before everyone else
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Posted in landscape, trees.
Tagged with leicestershire, path, snow, trees.
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Two old images today, both of the same subject, taken on the same day.
When I got my first DSLR in late 2008 I didn’t really consider just how much space all these raw files where going to take up, and I certainly didn’t think about organising the files - each outings images just went in a folder and I processed the ones I liked the most. As you can imagine, when you use the camera a lot it doesn’t take that long before this gets messy, so towards the end of 2009 I started having a bit of a tidy up. This also gave me chance to review images that I’d missed first time around - things that I’d overlooked in favour of different compositions.
The day these photos were taken was a bit of a breakthrough day for me - prior to that I’d been trying too hard to become “a photographer”. I was too obsessed with composition and trying to take “great photos” but I hadn’t the learnt the things that I now find more important, the non technical things like enjoying the beauty of your surroundings and trying to capture some of what you feel in the scene.
The photo below was the one I chose from this scene at the time but when going back through the shots I found the one above, with its open space and gentle ripples, which I now like far more. It just goes to show how important it is to review your old shots
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Posted in filters, landscape, water.
Tagged with boat, cropston, leicestershire, print, reservoir, ripple, water.
I’ve must admit I’ve been neglecting this blog a little lately - mainly because I’ve been too busy just enjoying taking photographs. On the plus side though, I’ve built up a nice backlog of photos to work through
It’s been reasonably snowy here for the past week or so, and having just picked up a second-hand Canon 5D Mk 1 I’ve been making the most of this by getting up early and going to our local park. The image above is of a well photographed landmark in the park showing the final scene from Shakespeare’s play of King Lear. I’ve always put off taking any photos of this, and indeed this is hardly the most adventurous composition but there was something about the light and colour that made me stop here this morning.
The snow lying on the figures had also added extra depth to them, which seems more emphasised by the narrow depth of field.
The vignetting in this shot is caused by using the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens on the full frame 5D camera at a wide aperture setting - it goes away after about f/4. I could have corrected it but I think it adds something to shot.
Technical info : 1/100s, f/2.8, 50 mm, ISO 1600
Posted in landscape.
Tagged with birstall, ice, lake, leicestershire, snow, watermead park.
One of my favourite locations for both sunsets and getting a bit of peace and quiet - although the mood was spoilt a bit by people shooting nearby when I was there last time
There is quite a prominent bit of foreground at this location which is shot very often, indeed I’ve done so myself on a number of occasions, but this simple view across the gently rippling water as the sun sinks behind the trees is my favourite.
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Posted in landscape, sunsets, water.
Tagged with cropston, reflection, reservoir, sunset, water, winter.
We spent ages trudging through the heather on Eyam Moor trying to find this stone circle, in the end we found it by accident just after we’d given up. The sun, which had popped out from behind the clouds a few times during the afternoon, made a brief appearance to light up the heather.
I should perhaps have taken some shots of the stones, but I got distracted by the light on this piece of grass.
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Posted in b&w, landscape.
Tagged with b&w, grass, monochrome, moor, stones.
By Andy
December 16, 2009
Taken on a recent visit to Yorkshire with Dan.
Whilst many people moan about dull weather and cloudy skies I quite like an overcast day when I’m out in the countryside like this - perhaps you have to think about taking a different type of shot but I find it adds to the feeling of space and emptiness of this type of environment.
The light is also more diffused, which means that not only can colours be more faithfully reproduced than in direct sunlight but it also makes it possible to capture greater detail on the ground without having to worry as much about blown highlights in the sky.
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Posted in landscape.
Tagged with clouds, fence, grass, moor, moorland, yorkshire.
The weather has been a bit variable to say the least over the past few days - but then I’ve been too busy to take any photos anyway so it’s not bothered me that much. The sun was out for a while this afternoon so I took a late lunch and headed to Bradgate Park as the late afternoon light is really nice on the bracken.
Old John wasn’t my intended subject for today - as you can imagine this local landmark is much photographed - I had planned on walking straight past but the light was too nice to ignore so I took a couple of shots handheld and carried on my way. I managed one other shot before it started raining again
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Posted in landscape.
Tagged with bracken, bradgate park, folly, golden light, leicestershire, old john.
By Andy
November 24, 2009
My first new image for a couple of weeks
I’ve been incredibly busy with a few things recently - work, getting prints made, cleaning up and reappraising some old shots - and I just haven’t had time to update this blog. I’ve got a few things that I want to upload but it’s finding the time to get everything done. I’ve only been out once with the camera in the last two weeks - I normally go out every 2 or 3 days - but at least I got lucky with my timing and choice of location here.
The above shot was taken at Beacon Hill, near Woodhouse Eaves in Leicestershire. I’ve previously avoided this location (although the fact that there are a couple of other shots from here on this blog would seem to indicate otherwise) but decided to try it as I was short of other ideas (and time).
Initially I was disappointed by the mainly clear sky but moments after the sun went down a blanket of fog began to fill the valley below. The remaining sunlight lit the fog in patches as it drifted towards me. All I had to do then was try to find a composition I was happy with before the moment was gone - whilst keeping an eye on the nearby cows to make sure they didn’t get too interested in the camera bag I’d discarded on the floor.
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Posted in landscape, sunsets.
Tagged with beacon hill, cokin nd8 grad, fog, leicestershire, mist, rocks, sunset, tree.
By Andy
November 15, 2009
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It was about an hour before sunset when we arrived at this location, and the light had just taken on the golden hue we had hoped for. After a bit of wandering around trying to find somewhere to make the most of the light I settled on a nicely constructed platform that was probably intended for fishing and took a couple of shots of the scene above. It was quite pleasant, but a bit bright and there was no interesting foreground to speak of so, as I had a bit of time before sunset, I thought I’d give the Cokin P151 - Gradual Fog 2 filter a try.
I popped the camera into Live View mode and slid the fog filter into the P-Series holder. The fog filter is graduated - foggy at the top and clear and the bottom, fading gently between the two states - and using Live View enabled me to see accurately where the effect was going to begin. If the effect started too low or too high in the picture it wouldn’t look natural.
This was the shot as it came out of the camera…
I liked the effect but found it a little too bright and unrealistic so I just made some minor curve adjustments to improve the overall balance.
Posted in filters, landscape, sunsets, water.
Tagged with cokin, filter, fog, print, sunset.
This shot is was taken one lunch time in Autumn. I’d gone out a few days earlier in search of rich autumnal colours but I didn’t really see anything that I liked. When I found this scene I was intrigued by the light more than the colours and knew it could look really striking in black and white.
Unfortunately it was windy and the end result had some movement in, so I made a note to come back again when conditions were better.
This retaken effort was processed in exactly the same way as the original but fortunately none of the leaves are blurred
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Posted in b&w, trees.
Tagged with b&w, fence, monochrome, path, trees, tunnel.
There, I’ve said it. It’s probably incredibly unfashionable in this age of digital - in fact I often see people on forums etc discussing selling their grad filters because they have abandoned them in favour of exposure blending - but they are currently my preferred method of attempting to balance exposures.
An ND (Neutral Density) grad (Graduated) filter is basically just a piece of plastic that is dark at one end and clear at the other - the dark part of the filter is positioned over the lighter portion of the scene, reducing the light variation (dynamic range) of the scene so that it can be captured without any loss of detail.
Drawbacks
As with other methods used to make your camera faithfully reproduce a scene with a wider dynamic range than it is capable of, ND grads certainly have their drawbacks:-
- The line between the clear and dark parts of the filter is a straight one (albeit with a slight fade/graduation to make it less noticeable). Rarely will a scene have a simple, straight line transition between dark and light so you end up having to compromise and perhaps hide the transition somewhere you hope the viewer won’t notice it
- Getting the gradient to start in the correct place takes a bit of practice - if it starts too low some of the foreground with appear slightly darker - if it starts too late the brightness of the sky might appear uneven.
- Like all lenses and filters they need to be kept clean - and as I swap them around between filter holders I have a tendency to drop them
With so many negative points, why use them?
Other methods of exposure balancing (such as exposure blending or HDR) require multiple exposures of the same scene, which realistically means using a tripod. I have a tripod, and I use it a lot, but I don’t always carry it - when I’m out with the family it’s an unnecessary burden - and sometimes I make the decision not to use it at all as constantly relying on it can lead to a lack of invention. A set of grads takes up very little room in my camera bag.
Processing time. Other techniques may only take a matter of minutes when you are skilled at them but if I’m taking an afternoon’s worth of casual shots I want them all to look their best with minimal editing.
An Example
These two shots, taken at sunset in Bradgate Park show the subtle but pleasing effect of using the Cokin P121M (ND4) grad. The first shot was taken without the filter. As you can see, the foreground is quite dark.
Technical info: ISO100, 18mm, f/22, 0.5s
The second shot (below), with the filter in place produces a much more even result.
Technical info: ISO100, 18mm, f/22, 0.6s
No further processing has been done to either image. As you can see from the technical info, the second shot was exposed for slightly longer (0.1s) which allowed more light from the foreground to be picked up by the camera sensor, resulting in a more even looking photograph.
Posted in filters, tutorials.
Tagged with cokin, filter, gradient, kood, nd grad, neutral density.
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