Swan On Swithland Reservoir

 sunsets  No Responses »
Jun 182009
 

Swan On Swithland Reservoir

The light just after the sun has gone down can make for some really remarkable shots – Ok, sunset shots can be a bit cliched, but searching around (or waiting) for a bit of foreground interest can make all the difference.

If you are lucky and have a steady hand (or a lens with optical stabilising) you can get good shots at a low ISO without having to bother with a tripod (although using a tripod is recommended for sharper images). This shot was hand held as that is just how I prefer to take photos – I like to feel like I’m involved, rather than controlling a piece of machinery :)

I like this location as the expanse of water makes for a great reflection on a still day but despite the colours being pretty it really needed something extra. Fortunately after about 5 minutes a swan started to come towards the shore.

Technical details:- Cokin P121 ND4 Grad, ISO200, 1/15s, f/16.0, 20 mm

Railway Bridge

 stock images  3 Responses »
Jun 052009
 

Railway Bridge

This was taken earlier in the year, when the school was closed for a few days due to snow. We all went out to build a snowman and found a small disused bridge over the Great Central Railway that we’d not noticed before. It was covered in graffiti and the colours looked quite striking against the snow, but it wasn’t that interesting on its own so became the backdrop for a rare family photo.

I overexposed this shot (by 1 to 2 stops) for two reasons:-

  • Shots that feature snow generally need to be overexposed anyway, otherwise the snow comes out looking grey rather than white
  • I wanted to lose the snow-laden grey sky which would have made the top half of the shot look muddy

This didn’t work entirely as planned because I did get a small amount of vignetting in the top corners of the shot, but I corrected this by placing the photo on top of a white background layer in GIMP and then erasing the offending bits from the photo to reveal the white background beneath.