Tolkien haunts - well a bit of them

[ajohnw]

I visited Sarehole Mill and Mosley bog today. The bog wasn't too successful, lots of woods and a darker day. Have to go again some time. In search of Tolkien's old oaks. Bit more luck at Sarehole Mill.

Tough place to photograph as it;'s a heavily built up area now and access is a bit limited.

E-M5

The mill building itself.



I thought this might make a photo



Had to take a shot of the steam engine that drove it at some point but a maybe 10 sec exposure and a window caused the usual problems. Shot through a hole in a wall.




Lastly a 100% resolution crop of a heron taken at 300mm with the Oly 75-300mm.



One day I will find one I can get closer to.

John
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[HaseebM]

Nice images, like the steam engine one in partiuclar.

[bnnrcn]

Nice series John

May be you can make #1 look better with some more PP. When I decreased the brightness in the sky the white clouds apperaed. So if they are there, it is better to make them appear. IMO water is too bright too and it needs re-touching.

I like the composition and colors very much in #2

I couldn't figure out what kind of water it is in #4 because it has very interesting color.Nice composition though.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[ajohnw]

The heron is on the same mill pool Binnur but sky reflections at 180 degrees and I would guess the breeze has push more leaves etc up there. The water looks to be very shallow. It's very deep at the building end.. I posted it as for 100% crop it's not bad really and the lens like most zooms is past it's best at it's longest focal length.

Don't know about the sky. I can get some blue that wasn't really visible.



The water is pretty black so reflects rather well at this end.

I'll probably visit again later in the year - no tourists and if in school holidays no kids with any luck.

John
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[bnnrcn]

Those small bits are leaves in shallow water in #4 then, now it makes sense,thanks for the explanation John.

Edited #1 looks better.You have blues in the sky in the original too and I can see them. If it was my image I would actually be more aggresive about the sky and bring out some more of the white clouds and blue. Very nice place indeed , worth visiting again

PS. Water improved in your edit too.

[John 2]

Nice series John - and interesting dialogue. I know what you mean about getting closer to a Heron. I know of four locally and never get closer than about 100yds.

[IzzieK]

I love this series John...the first one was my favourite until I saw pink flowers. I like the reflections of the first shot and the texture and colour of the flower in #2. The machinery is most interesting. I do not like the heron much as it looks plasticky...Sorry Mr. Heron...

[ajohnw]

Thanks folks.

I feel I might have liked the flower shot more if I had positioned myself lower down but the other back gound would have been distracting.

There was no way of getting the entire steam engine in with the lens I used and 9mm at that distance would have caused massive distortion. It was ok on the building as I expected.

It seems there are a number of herons knocking about around B'ham these days even in one of the central parks - have to see that as the pools aren't that big. It flew off shortly after the shot was taken and came closer - wrong lens on. Sorry it looks plasticky but I haven't done anything to make it like that. It's sooc jpg, sharpened, curves and a little bit of tone mapping to bring out the shape a little without changing the colours. It just boosts low level contrast a little. Middle range contrast less and high contrast none at all.

It would be nice if the people who produce wonderful bird photo's posted the full sized image occasionally so people could see if the amazingly priced gear really does give better results. According to the exif this was taken at 56m - hope it's the correct one, it should be, as I took 6 without the digital zoom on, didn't like the bird pose on the others plus some slight shake on some so this is a better result. It appeared to be feeding so kept moving it's head around.



John
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[wtlwdwgn]

Nice series John. The bright window frame in #1 keeps drawing my eye away from the rest of the image. It looks like a focus confirmation square. It is a nice composition though. I like the the steam engine shot. I suppose you could burn in the skylight some but overall it's just fine. Don't you just hate it when you have to return to such a lovely spot?

[Wavelength]

Excellent collection