Project 52 - Weekly Photos from Geoff F - Part 4

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments, Sandy. The golfers was a quick shot. I was set up for seascapes then thought I ought to have a go at them which meant quickly getting into a position which included three widely spaced people with a hint of action and the sky. Although there was sunshine it was rather cold (at least cold for me) and a fresh wind.

[Geoff F]

Week 48 - from the bird hide. A calm and sunny morning tempted me to try a local bird hide. Not much bird life though and most of what was there kept its distance. Then a flock of Canada Geese slowly walked across the marsh, one behind the other.



7D with Sigma 150-500 Sport lens 1/640 F8 Iso 500

And looking down the creek



Canon 24-105 lens 1/160 F10 Iso 250. Merge of three bracketed exposures.

[Geoff F]

Week 49 - The Coast Path near Bolt Head. A few hours of sunshine between the typical UK dullness and rain tempted me to try a coastal walk, but a rather poor and continuously changing light. had me frequently changing lenses and camera settings.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens 1/320 F11 Iso 400 merge of two bracketed exposures

Increasing clouds, once again.



1/200 F 11 Iso 400 merge of two bracketed exposures.

[Geoff F]

Week 50 - Another half a day of sunshine A few more bright hours before more rain arrived so I took a quick walk along a path beside the harbour. to Snapes Point. Wind and rain again today.

Batson was originally a small separate village at the end of a creek



7D with Canon 24-105 lens 1/400 F9 Iso 400 merge of two bracketed exposures

Shower over Dartmoor, seen from the Snapes Point Path



1/320 F9 Iso 250 merge of two bracketed exposures

Boats in Salcombe Harbour



1/125 F9 Iso 250 merge of two bracketed exposures

Poolworthy Point seen from Snapes Point. This is as good as our autumn colours become. When the leaves start to turn brown they are blown away by the wind.



1/80 F11 Iso 250 merge of two bracketed exposures.

[Geoff F]

Week 51 - West Charleton Marsh. Tried another local bird hide although not a lot of interesting bird life and rapidly changing light which varied between bright low angle sunshine and dark clouds.

Looking across the marsh towards West Charleton village.



A Great Spotted Woodpecker paid a visit to the feeders.

[Geoff F]

A Kingfisher briefly perched on some debris in the estuary side of the marsh but the camera and light angle were wrong. However, I tried a quick snap which is lacking in most requirements.

[Geoff F]

In a second editing attempt I managed to slightly reduce the image noise and improve details but it definitely isn't a prize winner.



What has happened to the Adobe Camera Raw Denoise filter? It was initially slow but gave good results after about 5 minutes for a 5,000 pixel image (long side). Now it takes at least 20 minutes per image which is too slow to be of much use.

[Geoff F]

Thinking again about the Charleton Marsh image. Maybe crop slightly tighter at the top, without losing too much dark sky and a balancing amount from the left side?

[billtils]

Yes

[Cantab]

Hi Geoff,
Congratulations on the Kingfisher photo. They are not the easiest bird to photograph.

The kingfishers in my area are belted kingfishers and look somewhat different from yours. What is the species in England?

Although I'm subscribed to yours and several other threads in CiC, I no longer receive email notifications of new posts even though I've logged on to CiC on many occasions. So I have no idea what the issue is.☹️

[Geoff F]

Hello Bruce. European Kingfishers have the scientific name of Alcedo atthis and are fast flying little birds which seem to change colour depending on the light angle and frequently appear to change from vivid blue to bright green although my light angle appears to have some almost black colours.

Here is my second attempt at the Charleton Marsh scene



Antonio has also complained about the lack of auto notification.

Slow forum: is there any hope for improvement?

I tend to manually move between posts so haven't noticed any problems.

[Geoff F]

Week 52 - Bolberry Down. Last week we had a few sunny days, although with a rather hazy light. So I had a look at part of the coast path.



These old stone slabs had made a fence for hundreds of years but they are being replaced by modern sheep proof wire netting and some traditional hedge plants. I wanted to capture the scene and tried several angles, most of which didn't work well. This was the best angle but the light angle was still problematic. A merge of two bracketed exposures plus a bit of editing but I'm not completely satisfied with the result. Probably another of those 'I didn't think it would work but I had a go anyway' situations. At least it will make a historical record of work done by the maintenance team.

[Cantab]

Geoff, does the coastal path in your area go on more or less indefinitely? I have friends who went on a walking trip along coast walkways in Cornwall several years ago. Living here at the end of an island, there's lots of coastline but no significant walking paths (as distinct from serious wilderness hiking).

[Geoff F]

Hello Bruce, Yes the South West Coastal Path covers most of the coast along Devon and Cornwall although there are a few questionable parts including ferries which only run during the summer and a river which has to be forded at low tide, wearing suitable wellington boots or rolled up trouser legs. Coastal erosion has caused a few stretches to be redirected inland. Other parts of the country have incomplete coast paths but coverage is gradually increasing.

You have to be fit to walk along some of the more rugged areas although there are stretches which are 'wheelchair friendly'.