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Another image from a snowy morning walk in Watermead Park in January. There are three things I like about this image - firstly, the pink glow, secondly the overall tones, but most of all I like how much the snow has utterly transformed this little section of river. Normally this is just a tangle of bushes and thorns, and admittedly this is still a messy composition, but the snow hides many of the scenes sins.
For me, setting the correct white balance when taking shots like this is a bit of a nightmare - if not done correctly (or if you leave it up to the camera to decide) you can easily end up with lots of dull or blue snow. This time I used the camera’s Custom White Balance feature, which involved taking a shot that contained just snow, then choosing that image as the one for the camera to base the white balance on.
This is technically incorrect for a couple of reasons:-
- Ideally I should have used a piece of 18% grey card (or so I’ve since read)
- Snow isn’t really white
I found the results to be incredibly accurate initially. However, as I’d set the balance based on an image taken just before dawn my white balance drifted away from reality as the sunlight brought with it a change in colour temperature. This slight drift away from reality is partly responsible for the tones of this shot.
Posted in landscape, sunrises.
Tagged with pink, riverbank, snow, trees, watermead park.
By Andy
February 15, 2010
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.
Posted in landscape, sunrises, trees.
Tagged with bradgate park, old john, snow, tree, winter.
With Cropston Reservoir being the location of my first sunset shot, it seems fitting that it was also the first place I sat with my camera and waited for the sun to rise.
I’m not really very good at getting up in the morning, but with the sun rising a little later now (7:22am on the morning this was taken) I figured now was as good a time as any, before Autumn turns into Winter and it becomes too cold to use the camera without gloves.
I took a few shots before this one, with just the ND4 grad on, but the foreground was too dark - I wanted the sunlight to be casting a night glow on the boat. I popped to my bag to get the rest of my filters but unfortunately I’d left my filter wallet open and they were all covered in condensation. I had a frantic couple of minutes trying to get the ND8 grad dry and smear free before the run rose too high in the sky.
Technical info : Sigma 18-200 lens at 21mm, 1/20s, f11.0, ISO100, ND4 and ND8 grads
Posted in sunrises, water.
Tagged with boat, cokin, cokin nd8 grad, cropston, filter, leciestershire, print, reservoir, sunrises, water.
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