2013 Weekly Photos - part 2

[Brownbear]

Thank you Geoff for the terrific detailed explanation. Even though I only have Elements and Lightroom, there is plenty here for me to learn from.

I enjoy following your thread because I always learn something new... Thank you.

[Geoff F]

I think Elements has the ability to use Layers and Masks; at least the later versions. Which would be all you need. The Smart Object option with CS5 is handy but there are other ways of doing these things, albeit fractionally longer timewise.

[Brownbear]

Thanks Geoff... Yes, Elements 9 has layers and masks and its all I need right now.

I think Elements has the ability to use Layers and Masks; at least the later versions. Which would be all you need. The Smart Object option with CS5 is handy but there are other ways of doing these things, albeit fractionally longer timewise.

[Geoff F]

Week 35 - Kissing a frog is supposed to bring good luck

If you want to test this old county tale - he is still waiting!



1/125 F16 Iso 200 flash used

I was set up for small insects with my 180 macro lens plus 1.4x converter on a tripod. So I backed off a little and did what I could.

[Letrow]

Nice composition for an impromptu encounter

[Cantab]

Geoff, this is a nice frog photo. You probably had to back up several feet and do it hand held? The $64,000 question: what type of frog is this?

P.S. I'm not sure if there's a British equivalent to the North American "$64,000 question".

[Geoff F]

When it comes to purchases in the UK, prices in £ are usually much the same as the similar item priced in dollars in the US.

So yes, the term from that old American Game Show $64,000 is still occasionally used. Didn't it start out as $64 because there was a limit on cash prizes, then gradually increased as regulation was relaxed.

I had to carefully walk around the frog to find a suitable camera angle but I was able to splay the tripod legs a bit to get nearer to ground level.

It was still there 'guarding its patch' after I finished shooting and moved on to more insects.

It is the standard issue British Frog (Rana temporaria) but they do vary a bit in colour.

There is an introduced species which lives in a small area of Kent and a couple of Toads.

[Geoff F]

Week 36 - Swans

Another tricky shot where I had to use my macro lens for an unintended purpose.

Those feathers need a lot of maintenance.



7D with Sigma 180 macro lens plus 1.4x converter. 1/500 F14 Iso 200.

The only option was to expose for the whites then try to recover the shadows during editing; which, once again, needed a merge of two different Raw conversions.

Time for a sleep - with two sentries standing guard.



1/250 F16 Iso 200. Lost a little bit of fine feather detail, which became worse after converting to lower resolution Jpeg.

[Geoff F]

Week 37 - Shower Clouds over Dartmoor.

Haven't photographed much this week. A few insects and fungi and one day there was a succession of heavy showers falling on the higher ground of Dartmoor which produced some interesting clouds.

Stayed dry here on the coast.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/400 F11 Iso 100.



1/200 F14 Iso 100



A bit of a mixture for exposure so all I could do was to expose for the bright clouds then recover something from the land during editing.

[Letrow]

The clouds come out nice. You did expose for the clouds and I wonder what you would have had if you had exposed for the sky instead though. This probably works best.

[Brownbear]

Truly beautiful, especially the first. I love the composition, colours and the beauty you brought out in the clouds.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for comments. I was wondering if the fields need a fraction more saturation; but too much looks wrong compared with the darker sky etc.

I had tried a bit of exposure variation. These were with evaluative metering, which includes an element of sky metering plus a slight exposure compensation to keep the clouds bright but not quite over exposed.

I think the brightest areas gave a reading around 230 to 240 which is just under the blowing point.

[Brownbear]

The colours of the field look beautiful and natural to me, as is.

[Geoff F]

Week 38 - Woodland Bridge

A few dull weather days recently here; so I have been struggling for inspiration. But today there was some hazy sunshine so I visited the woods.

I thought about photographing this rough bridge several times in the past, but couldn't find a suitable angle or lighting conditions, so I eventually just kept walking along the path.

Today, there was some gentle dappled sunshine and little wind so I stopped to try a few angles. All ideas were quickly deleted except this one.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/5 F11 Iso 400. Obviously on a tripod.

Exposure was something of a compromise between preventing the distant highlights from blowing but also having some detail in the shadows.

[Letrow]

I hear you on that bridge. It looks nice by the way. Always, when I am on holiday in the UK and walking in the woods I see these great looking little bridges, but getting the right photo/angle is always difficult. Seeing it with the eyes and seeing it with the camera sometimes differ.

[Geoff F]

Yes Peter, there are several of these potential scenes which I regularly consider - then walk on past. Until one day, the light will be perfect or something will change to give me an improved camera angle.

In this case, there is a sharp bend in the path on each side of the bridge so I had to step into some undergrowth and also chop back a few misplaced branches etc to get a clearer view.

I am on the volunteer work gang for this site so path clearing is part of my job.

[Geoff F]

Week 39 - Grey Day with bullocks

Another dismal day yesterday, and while photographing bees up a near vertical bank I saw a few bullocks slowly grazing their way past this seascape. But by the time I had slid down and changed lenses there were only a couple of them still in position. 'Hold that pose' just doesn't seem to make any difference to independently minded cattle!



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/500 F7 Iso 400. Whatever settings I used was going to be a compromise but I thought movement from the cattle and sea would be the limiting factor, so I used Shutter Priority and hoped for a sufficient aperture.

And a slightly closer zoom as the last ones walked past.



In this case, the dark bullock against the light was bound to cause problems. So this is another case of merging two different Raw conversions to create better exposure range.

Then, with darkening skies I started walking back to my vehicle, a mile away; and just beat the rain by a couple of minutes!

[Brownbear]

Hi Geoff,

I adore these two, with the 2nd image being my favourite because the white and black cow is looking at me and the dark cow is on the move. I really enjoy viewing these beautiful scenes...

[Donald]

Geoff - My apologies for not being a regular commentator on this thread.

Week 37 (The clouds) and Week 38 (The Bridge) are all wonderful images.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

Sometimes having to do a weekly photo can be a bit of strain when the weather etc is against me, and I start to fall behind timewise.

But it also forces me to always be on the lookout for a potential shot where I would otherwise have walked past.

Christina. That right hand bullock had stopped to scratch its neck on part of an old stone fence so I was watching to see if it would get into a better position when the black one, which had been the last of the line, walked past. Then right on cue, the neck scratching stopped and it looked in the correct direction.

But obviously only one chance for a shot.