Isle of Dogs | Weekly Photo #86

I hope you are all enjoying the mix of urban and natural landscapes I’ve been sharing lately. When I first started this weekly photo series, the vast majority of the photos I took and subsequently shared were of London but at the start of last year, those visits into the city slowed to a crawl and whilst I miss my trips uptown and can’t wait for them to start again, I’ve really enjoyed getting out into the natural landscape which, in these current times is far more accessible to me.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/300th Second | f/3.5 | ISO200

This week’s photo of the skyline over at Canary Wharf was taken from the Sky Garden, near London bridge. I took the shot towards the back end of 2020 during a short lockdown interlude, during which, I visited the Sky Garden twice as I wanted to give myself the best chance of walking away with a few good photos. Thankfully I did and you can see another picture taken from the same vantage point looking across West London here: Weekly Photo #79 - Cloudburst Over London.

It’s been years since I’ve looked across to the Isle of Dogs and it not be completely overwhelmed by a ridiculous number of cranes across the skyline. Surely, they haven’t finished building it, have they? Of course, I’m joking. London is and will be under constant change and although there are a few cranes dotted around this photo, it’s still quite a rare sight to see this view with so little construction and if you ask me, it looks fantastic.

Taken through the window, I needed to open up the aperture to hide the dirty glass and by using a cheap lens hood from eBay, I was able to block out any reflections from creeping into the image. A welcome side effect of having a wider aperture is that it lets more light into the camera, so my shutter speed was 1/300th second which, at 55mm, was fast enough to handhold without the fear of getting any camera blur.

Back in post, I decided on a slightly cooler tone and went about dodging and burning parts of the image to help balance the way the light hit the scene. Also, shooting through the dirty glass window did soften the photo a little so I spent some time working with local adjustments to add some of that clarity back to certain parts of the image using various tools such as texture, clarity and contrast sliders, at the same time, being subtle enough to ensure I didn’t overdo it and add any noise or degrade the image in any way. My last step was to push the photo over to Photoshop and use the High Pass filter to sharpen the final image.

This photo has a layered look from front to back which I really like and although it’s an epic cityscape vista with huge skyscrapers that stretch up beyond the horizon, the balance and mood of the photo portrays a strange but very welcome sense of calm when I look at this photo. I’m looking forward to printing this one.

I feel the change of approach needed to photograph subjects such as the natural woodland has already had a positive effect on the way I photograph London. It’s early days as I’ve only photographed the city a handful of times in the last 6 months so I haven’t had a chance to explore this train of thought yet, but based on the photos I’ve taken from my most recent visits, I feel I’m less dependent on the grand vista with epic light and I’m now finding more photos in less favourable conditions which I may have previously struggled with. I’ll probably talk about this again when I’ve had a chance to explore this further and trips to the big smoke start up again for me.

Stay safe out there.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Wintry Woodland | Weekly Photo #85

One of the very small but positive side effects of this wretched pandemic is how it’s encouraging us to explore the parks and woodlands right on our doorstep and ever since I started my woodland photography side-hustle, I’ve been spending much of that time close to home, forcing me to explore my local area, resulting in me uncovering a few hidden gems to wander with my camera within just a couple of miles from my house.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/6th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Last weekend, I visited one of these local woodlands on what was one of the most beautiful, wintry mornings I’ve had the pleasure to photograph. With the temperature at around -3 and an atmospheric fog passing through, what resulted was this beautifully picturesque hoar frost throughout the woodland and together with Holly (my dog), we spent a great couple of hours exploring the forest.

We roamed the woodland while taking a few photos as I went and after about an hour or so, we started to wander down this path and with the misty, frosty feel and pathway leading into the distance, I knew there was a shot to be had. So out came the camera which I used to line up the best composition and once found, onto the tripod it went. I deliberately placed the foreground trees on the left hand third with the path heading into the image and around the back of the trees on the right-hand third and with the tree standing alone in the midground, it subtly added some visual weight and balance to the overall composition. In an ideal world, the trees on the left wouldn’t be overlapping so much as it makes it look a little messy over there but if I tried to move and sperate the trees, the composition didn’t work at all so it had to stay as is. I don’t think it looks too bad really.

I went straight for my 55-200mm lens which is my go-to while shooting woodland. It’s a great focal length range, it produces sharp photos and it’s nice and light so doesn’t weigh me down too much. With the settings dialled in (see under the photo), I went ahead and took the shot.

Although it’s quite a simple photo, I really like the texture on the birch trees in the foreground and back in Lightroom, I made sure I preserved this along with emphasising the misty atmospheric look of the overall photo.

It was such an amazing morning and I was lucky enough to capture a few more wintry woodland photos during the morning and will share these soon enough.

Take care.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Photographing London in the Fog

A few weeks ago, I managed to get a morning shoot in London just before the latest restrictions came into place across the UK telling us to stay indoors and just as the weather apps predicted, I was greeted with some fantastic foggy conditions when arrived, so, with my Fujifilm XT2 in tow, off I went to take some photos.

Just a note on the format I chose for this post. Although it works just fine on a smaller mobile screen, if you can, do try to view the post on a larger screen as the pairs of photos in square format works best to tell a cohesive story.

After leaving London Bridge train station, I headed over to More London and took a few pics of the view towards City Hall and Tower Bridge before crossing London Bridge to capture some cool, atmospheric shots of HMS Belfast and Tower bridge along a misty River Thames.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 7 Seconds | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1.9 Second | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 24mm | 1/5th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1 Second | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/25th Second | f/5 | ISO500

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 17mm | 1/7th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Some of you may remember a few months ago I posted a lookup shot taken in the City of London shortly after the fog had lifted and although I was happy with the final image, I was still disappointed not to get the photo I originally wanted. So, not to risk missing it again, I quickly walked into the city to have another attempt at taking a lookup photo with the taller buildings disappearing into the mist and thankfully I made it in time. I took a few different compositions and below are two of my favourites from the morning.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/35th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/6th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Last but not least on this foggy photo walk in London, I ventured west to take a few pics around St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge. With these places photographed so much, I played around with the lines and frames on offer to present a few different views of these popular London subjects. I finished the morning across the river in front of the Tate Modern Museum to capture the popular view of the Millennium Bridge leading towards St Paul’s Cathedral with the famous dome disappearing into the fog.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/25th Second | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 24mm | 1/120th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1/80th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/150th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1/75th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 21mm | 1/25th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Bonus Pics! London Eye Night Photography

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if I should share these photos on this blog post as they are visually very different to those above but I decided to go with it as I really like the set but with only four photos, there’s not enough to justify their own dedicated blog post.

After my morning shoot in the fog, I headed into the office for my day job but instead of heading home at the end of the day, I decided to walk along the River Thames to take a few pictures near Westminster. So much great work has gone into upgrading the lights along the river and with the relatively calm water providing some cracking reflections, I decided to take this set of photos featuring different views of the London Eye and the South Bank.

In case you were wondering, that bright light to the left of the London Eye in the first image below is the moon passing behind. I tried a bracketed exposure to blend in later during post but it wasn’t to be.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 14 Seconds | f/14 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 28mm | 1/80th Second | f/3.2 | ISO800

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 18 Seconds | f/16 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 13 Seconds | f/16 | ISO200

I love it when a few hours of photography results in a good crop of photos to share and this platform is my own online gallery enabling me to showcase the photos in a format that I think works best. Hopefully, you agree and as ever, if you have any thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below.

Until next time.

Trevor

The Girl and the Dolphin | Weekly Photo #84

Hi there! So, the UK is back in lockdown (number 3) so, over the coming weeks, photography outings will need to take a bit of a back seat while we fight back this wave but apart from some decorating jobs that have suddenly appeared on my to-do list, I will use any time I have to work on other photography-related bits and pieces such as printing some more of my photos and writing the odd blog or two. If like me, you’re also having to stay indoors at the moment and looking for some photographic inspiration to pass the time, check out the list I made at the end of this post.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm F2.8 | 16mm | 1/20th Second | f/10 | ISO800

Here’s a photo I took during a sunrise shoot around Tower Bridge in late 2019. After taking some shots over the river around More London and City Hall, I crossed Tower Bridge to see what photos were on offer north of the river. I spent some time walking around St Katherine Docks and ended up at this popular viewpoint next to the Girl and the Dolphin fountain, which, when positioned correctly, adds some useful visual weight to the left-hand side of this composition and helps to frame the bridge somewhat. As the sun was rising above the horizon, it moved behind a thin layer of cloud which helped to diffuse the light, casting this warm reddish glow on the towers. I normally shy away from taking photos when the light is direct and harsh so the defused light worked well for me here.

Armed with just the 16mm prime lens I had to move around a bit and zoom with my feet to get the best composition available and although I would have liked just a bit more space to allow the top of the tower to breathe a little more, the focal length still works and emphasises the scale of Tower Bridge nicely in my opinion.

I didn’t have to do too much in Lightroom but I did pull back the saturation a little, lowered the exposure in the sky and used some local adjustments to dodge and burn parts of the image.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I will be making a list of things I want to work on during this current lockdown in the UK so for those that might be in the same boat, I thought I would share a few ideas as to how photographers can keep themselves busy while being stuck indoors.

6 Ideas to keep photographers busy in lockdown

#1 Print some of your photos

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you may already know that I think printing your best work is really important but instead of listing the many reasons why I think so here, pop over and give this blog post a read as I go into much more detail over there: Why every photographer should print their photos.

Whether you have a printer at home or not, this is a perfect time to prepare and print some of your own photos. If you have never printed your work, why not jump onto YouTube to pick up some tips to get the best-looking prints and find a local print lab, alternatively, if you’re already familiar with printing your photos, why not go one step further by designing a photo book or select some photos that look good together and create a cohesive wall display so you can unleash some of your best work from that hard drive and see it all in its tangible beauty.

#2 Start a small photography project

Literally, anything can be photographed and I think it’s really important to keep those skills sharp and muscle memories exercised so pick a subject such as your favourite colour while out on your daily walk or if you have another interest, see how you can incorporate your photography somehow such as still life photos of what you make or creative photos of the equipment you use. Think outside the box and have some fun with it but don’t forget point 1 above and have a think about how you could display or share the photos either by print or a social media account.

#3 Upskill and get inspired

Whether it’s a course offered by your favourite photographer, a YouTube playlist or a website such as Skillshare, it’s never a bad time to educate yourself and learn new skills that you can put into action with a lockdown project or when out and about again once the restrictions ease.

#4 Dig into your photo library to find or re-edit your older work

I’ve spoken about this topic a lot in the past because I think your photo library can be a treasure trove of unedited or abandoned photos that at the time didn’t suit your style or you lacked the skills or tools to edit the photo to its full potential, so, why not check back through some of those more memorable shoots and see what hidden gems you can find.

#5 Review your photo backup workflow

Ok, not too exciting but necessary all the same. What would you do if that one and only harddrive with all of your photos stored on it was to fail? Could you recover them? Can you afford the recovery service? If you’ve been neglecting to backup your photos recently, now is a great time to design a simple, foolproof way to protect your most cherished files. Check my blog post here to see my own backup workflow and some inexpensive ways to implement one for yourself: My Photo Backup Workflow.

#6 Get offline, relax and read a good photography book

Is that photography book that you brought and saving for a sunny day with harsh light still on the shelf gathering dust (I have three to read!")? Why not set aside an evening here or there to close the laptop, pour your choice of drink and find a quiet corner and take an hour or two out to read that book. Being in lockdown doesn’t mean life is any less hectic so it’s important to take time out and relax when the opportunity arises.

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Hopefully, the list of ideas above inspires some of you looking for photographic things to do while getting out to take photos isn’t possible. Feel free to contribute with your own ideas in the comments below.

Stay safe and well.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

The Performer | Weekly Photo #83

Welcome to my first Weekly Photo post of 2021! Last week I wrote a bit of a 2020 review which, along with some other bits and pieces, featured 9 of my favourite landscape photos I took over the last 12 months which included this foggy woodland photo I took in November. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you can find the post here: 2020 | A Photographic Review

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 0.5 Seconds | f/11 | ISO200

Misty or foggy conditions seem to be the holy grail for woodland photographers as it can help simplify the scene, add atmosphere and give the feeling of depth in a photo. So, when I first started to take woodland photography more seriously, it took a few months before I had my first taste of sustained fog that allowed me to explore the woodland and take a bit more time to seek out compositions as all of my previous foggy experiences were a bit rushed as the mist was quickly burned away by the sun.

What I learned very quickly was that when I was surrounded by fog, I could see compositions a little more clearly and I took more photos but translating a nice-looking scene into a good photo wasn’t any easier. My eyes quickly adjusted to the conditions and where I thought I could see a well-defined composition with just the right amount clarity in the subject, the photo regularly came out hazy and washed out, lacking any definition at all. Instead of the fog making my job easier, I found it to be just another element to manage in the scene and if I could find the right balance like this photo here, the photo came out ok but the vast majority of photos I took that morning had to be binned. Another woodland photography lesson learned, I guess.

So, after spending an hour or so wandering around the forest, I came across this scene which I was already familiar with and photographed last year when the scene was full of the golden colours of autumn. I liked the arrangement of the trees, the carpet of orange ferns in the foreground and the scene had just the right amount of fog to ensure the foreground had definition but enough haze to bring some nice atmosphere and depth.

I named the photo “The Performer” as when reviewing the photo, I was struck by how the arrangement of the trees appeared to show the tree near the centre of the image standing in a “ta-da” pose after performing some kind of show to the trees that look like the audience on the left and right of the frame. It feels a bit odd to anthropomorphise the trees in my photos but now I have, I see it every time I look at the photo so the name stuck.

Once again, I wish you all a happy and healthy new year and talk to you next week.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

2020 | A Photographic Year in Review

Wow, what a year it’s been! It’s been a tough one for so many people but you won’t find me complaining here as I feel I have got through it all so far relatively unscathed. Yes, I had to stay indoors, cancel some of my travel plans and home-school my children but I count myself lucky compared to many that have suffered devastating loss or our heroes on the front-line fighting back against this invisible disease on behalf of us all. As I said, I can’t complain.

Overall, it’s not been a bad year for me. My family and I still managed to get a holiday to sunny Greece during the summer, I’ve been able to continue working from home while using the time I would have spent commuting to continue focusing on my fitness and just the other day, ran my 1000th mile since the start of 2020.

So, what about photography? I started 2020 as I finished 2019 with some trips into London in January and February before it all changed. My camera went into hibernation during March, April and most of May and only really came out again from June but my photoshoots in London which I love so much have been few and far between ever since. Last year, I managed over 40 trips into London with my camera whereas this year I only just made it to 20 but thankfully I still came away with some photos I really like, three of which I’ve shared in my favourite 9 landscape shots of 2020 below.

Photographing the woodland

I would say the single biggest change I’ve experienced this year was my venture into woodland photography. It’s a photographic genre I’ve flirted with before but never really given it a good go. My photography style has always been about a significant subject in the landscape, be it a skyscraper in London or the piers along England’s south coast, but with the need to keep away from the crowds and remain socially distant, woodland photography was an obvious direction to take, but I have to say, trying to create interesting compositions in an otherwise random and chaotic environment was very new to me and a challenge to say the least.

That being said, I have stuck with it and after a few months of exploring my local forest and regularly coming away without a photo, I do feel I’m getting into a groove and finding my style so I’m very much looking forward to seeing what I can capture during the upcoming winter months.

I have absolutely loved reconnecting with nature and have really enjoyed the peace and tranquillity which has, without doubt helped me personally during the more anxious times this year. So, when life gets back to normal, I’ll certainly be continuing this woodland photography adventure.

Print and backup your photos!

During 2020, I released a couple of longer form articles and shared some useful information about two photography related subjects that I feel are incredibly important. I’ve been printing my photos for a few years now and whether you use a print lab or your print at home, I think there is so much to gain by creating printed versions of your photography.

Next up and although not quite as sexy as printing photos this one is equally as important. To some people, protecting their photos is a bit of a minefield, full of pitfalls, uncertainty and jargon, so I decided to share my own photo backup workflow in order to help others who might be struggling with their own.

9 of my favourite landscape photographs I took in 2020

Given the year we’ve all had, I was still pretty pleased with the crop of photos I took in 2020. I have around 20-25 keepers taken in London and across the South East and as I have done over the last few years, I have shared my 9 of my favourite landscape photos taken over the last 12 months.

For those I’ve already shared on my Weekly Photo page, I have included a link to take you straight to the post where you can read a little more about the picture.

Landscape photography in London

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/20th Second | f/10 | ISO160

Titled “London’s Burning”, this photo was taken early in 2020 during one of the most epic sunrises I have ever seen and a worthy inclusion in my top 9 photos. Find out more about this photo here: London's Burning | Weekly Photo #64.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/9th Second | f/11 | ISO160

Taken around More London, I had to get down low to get the strong lines that lead the eye over towards the recognisable shape of Tower Bridge and with the sunrise providing all of that amazing colour, I knew I had a keeper when I took this photo.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/6th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

As soon as the restrictions were lifted after the summer, I booked myself in for a couple of trips to the Sky Garden to capture London from the rooftops. I took this wide-angle shot of The Shard across the river and just love the way that iconic shape stands alone in the centre of the frame, towering over the surrounding buildings under those moody clouds which shortly after brought some heavy rain which you can see over on the right-hand side of the frame.

South of England landscape photos

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 1/20th Second | f/10 | ISO200

After deciding to photograph more around the south of England and less in London during the pandemic, taking a trip to the beautiful Bodium Castle was high on my list of places to photograph and I could not have asked for a better first visit back in May. The light was amazing and there was a light mist over the moat adding a special amount of atmosphere into the photo. Read all about it here: Misty Moat | Weekly Photo #63.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 18mm | 1/50th Second | f/10 | ISO200

I was after a photo of wild heather for some time and after scouting a few locations, I came across this beautiful scene in East Sussex during a misty late summer morning. Read all about this photo here: Late Summer | Weekly Photo #72.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/1250th Second | f/7.1 | ISO200

One I haven’t shared yet but boy what a morning I had over at Halnaker in West Sussex back in the Autumn. I love the way the scene was lit by the sun behind me, those dark stormy clouds adding some epic drama and to top it off, a fantastic double rainbow! I’ll talk more about this morning in an upcoming Weekly Photo post so stay tuned for that.

Woodland Photography

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/3rd Second | f/9 | ISO200

While on a sunrise shoot during a foggy morning in my local forest, I took this woodland photo of these Scots Pines amongst the ferns. Read all about this particular shoot here: Misty Dawn | Weekly Photo #78

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 86mm | 2 Seconds | f/10 | ISO200

Titled “Zigzag”, I took this photo in a local Forest and was drawn to the strong lines created by this interesting tree to the right. I wrote more about this photo here: Zigzag | Weekly Photo #80

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 0.5 Seconds | f/11 | ISO200

I had some great fun photographing my local woodland during a foggy morning in November and really liked the arrangement of the trees on the left and right of the frame. These trees almost look as if they are bystanders watching the performer in its “ta-da” pose in the middle. I love the muted tones, carpet of dull orange ferns and that mist is the icing on the cake. I’ll talk more about this photo in an upcoming Weekly Photo post in 2021.

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At this point, I normally talk about what I have planned for next year but to be honest, I just don’t know. Yes, I’ll continue to photograph London and the South East of England, I’ll continue to write my Weekly Photo posts and I’ll certainly be back photographing the woodland but other than that, with all that’s going on, we will just have to see what the year brings.

Thanks to all of you that have visited my website, supported me on social media and written to me with words of support and encouragement, it all means a lot and it really does motivate me to keep writing these articles.

I wish you all a 2021 that’s full of renewed hope, freedom and above all else, good health.

Until next year,

Trevor

Into the Clouds | Weekly Photo #82

First up, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and during these testing times, managed to take some time out and relax over the last few days. I’m writing this the day after Boxing Day having had way too much food and drink and taking what seemed like hours to build some Harry Potter Lego with my youngest. Although quieter than usual, we made the best of it and ended up having a nice couple of days.

Fujifilm X70 | 18mm | 28 Seconds | f/8 | ISO200

Although not quite as festive as last week’s photo of the Cartier store in New Bond Street, I thought I would round up the year with another photo of London taken just before Christmas a few years ago. If you look closely you can see the white Christmas tree over the river, underneath The Shard.

While in London I, I was travelling very light and had with me the great (and sorely missed) Fujifilm X70 camera. The X70 is a compact, pocketable camera with a fixed 18mm lens that took great quality photos which I’ve since sold to help fund my Fujifilm X-T30 but I long for Fujifilm to release an updated version as I would be first in line.

It was a misty, atmospheric morning with some low hanging cloud and after taking a few photos across the river, around More London I headed over Tower Bridge to take this cityscape vista of The Shard reaching up into the clouds. Along with the X70 camera, I had the Manfrotto PIXI tabletop tripod and a round screw-in Hoya 10-Stop filter so I used these to capture a 28-second long exposure which helped to smooth away the ripples in the water, soften the clouds and simplify the overall scene. Having re-processed the image for this blog post, I’m now really happy with the results.

Next week, I plan to release my yearly review of some of my favourite photos I took/released during a rather unconventional 2020 so keep an eye out for that on my website in the coming days.

Lastly, I just wanted to spend a moment to thank you all for your support throughout 2020. I know it’s been a tough one for so many people and I hope my posts have brought some of you just a tiny distraction from all the goings on and I truly appreciate the positive messages of encouragement I received from some of you throughout the year. It’s those very messages that push me to keep writing when my own motivation needs a little kick up the proverbial.

So, here’s to a 2021 that’s full of renewed hope, freedom and above all else, good health.

Happy New Year.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

A London Christmas | Weekly Photo #81

As I did last year with this photo of the famous Covent Garden Christmas tree, I wanted to share another festive themed photo so I re-edited this one I took last year along New Bond Street in Mayfair of the classy Cartier building wrapped in a bow.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/20th Second | f/4 | ISO800

I had planned to share a photo of London at Christmas featuring some lights or decorations taken this year and I did manage to make a trip into town to shoot around the West End before the restrictions were severly tightened around the city but I’ve not had time to sort through the photos I took so I checked back on the photos I took last year and found this one only partly processed and effectively abandoned.

I’m not sure if this is common amongst all photographers but even through this photo was taken over a year ago, I can somehow remember the morning vividly and seem to be able to recall where and when I took almost every photo in my collection. I remember walking from Green Park Station just as the rain started and wishing I had remembered a hooded jacked or umbrella but as I was on my way to work, I couldn’t just stand there taking photos getting soaking wet so I had to find cover and wait out the heaviest of the rain.

Once the rain had cleared, I walked along New Bond Street and stopped directly opposite the decorated Cartier store so, I grabbed the camera to take the shot. Even with my wide-angle 10-24mm attached to the camera, I knew this would be a tough shot to take as with my back against the wall opposite, I could only just fit everything in and having to point the camera upwards meant I needed space around the building to straighten the verticals in post processing so, I wouldn’t really know if the shot would work until I got it back home and started editing the photo.

If I remember correctly, the reason the photo was never quite finished was I just couldn’t get the lines to look even close to straight using the geometry tools in Lightroom but this time round, I had the guided upright tool at my disposal so I could now tell Lightroom what lines needed to be vertical and which were horizontal and like magic, the picture was straightened but with very little space to spare on this 3:2 crop. The remaining post-processing was cooling down the colour balance, desaturating the strong blues and reds and brightening up the iconic London Phone Box in the foreground.

I’ve spoken before about revisiting older photos as new tools and editing skills develop, you never know what potential you have lurking in your archive so I definitely recommend checking back on partly edited photos (you can filter these in Lightroom) to see what photos you thought had potential but couldn’t quite get right. As time passes, your skills will have developed and the software you use might now have a feature that solved the issue like it did for me.

It’s been a strange old year and one that most people will want to, but probably won’t ever forget so, with all that’s going on in the world, I do hope you can put that to the side just for a short while and enjoy the festivities as best you can.

Merry Christmas.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Zigzag | Weekly Photo #80

I took this photo a couple of months ago while I was exploring a new part of my local forest just as autumn was kicking into gear. I came across this funky looking tree while down in a bit of a valley and was drawn to how the trunk zigzags up from the ground and continue to do so all the way along the branches making it really stand out in this area of woodland.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 86mm | 2 Seconds | f/10 | ISO200

After spotting the tree and deciding to take the picture, I had to find the best spot to shoot it from. Although it may appear straight forward to just wander around to find the best angle, it gets a bit trickier in the woodland because as you move around, all of the elements change. The best angle of the tree may mean a more distracting background or the best distance away may mean you end up with other trees obscuring the view or encroaching into the frame. So, although I would have preferred it if the two trees on the left of the frame were not overlapping, from where I was standing, this was simply the best composition available to me at the time.

Speaking of those trees, I purposely kept them in and to the left to ensure the composition was balanced across the scene. To exclude them would mean placing the zigzag tree in the centre of the frame and I didn’t like that idea and I thought the moss-covered trunk nearest the camera added some more character and enhanced the feeling I was after.

Once I had the composition, I set up my Fujifilm XT2 camera and 55-200mm lens on the tripod and importantly, placed my circular polariser on to the end of my lens. The circular polariser is perfect for a scene like this as it takes off any glare and reflection from the trees while at the same time giving the green moss a real punch and with the green and blue ambient tones, it gave the overall image a cool, dark mystical feel which I like a lot.

I took a few different versions of this composition from landscape to portrait and even zoomed right in to capture the strong lines created by zigzagging branches which turned out really well. I might share it on this weekly photo series in the future. We will have to see.

With the festive season now in full swing and the lights up around a relatively quiet London, I plan to head into town this week to see if I can capture another Christmassy photo and if all goes to plan, I will share it next week. In the meantime, why not pop by last year’s post of the large Christmas Tree in Covent Garden.

Take care of yourselves!

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

A Christmas Gift Guide for Landscape Photographers

Christmas is just around the corner and if you have a landscape photographer in your life, then this list will help you find the perfect gift. No matter what the subject, there’s no shortage of Christmas gift guides out there and although there are plenty of gift guides for photographers, I have decided to share a list that has some gifts aimed squarely at the landscape photographer. No matter what your budget, this list will you help you from inexpensive stocking fillers to something a lot more substantial. This Christmas gift guide for landscape photographers will provide you some much needed inspiration.

If you have a strict budget in mind, I’ve made it easier by separating this list into 3 price brackets, under£20, under £100 and £100+, so without further ado, lets jump into my Christmas gift guide for landscape photographers.

Stocking filler Gifts under £20 for Landscape Photographers

Easy Off Unisex Skiing and Photography Gloves

Landscape photographers are a funny bunch. We like to be out in the great outdoors when it’s cold, misty and frosty and avoid warm sunny days so what better gift for a landscape photography at Christmas than a pair of Easy Off Gloves. These gloves are a perfect, inexpensive gift for landscape photographers as the index and thumb pull back allowing them to operate the camera without needing to remove the gloves, ensuring their fingers stay nice and toasty.

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Water Resistant JJC SD Card Holder

The photos we take are the single most important thing to us while on a shoot so it’s important we keep them safe so this rugged, waterproof memory card case is a perfect addition to any landscape photographer’s bag. Just check beforehand what cards the photographer you are buying for uses, just to make sure you get the right one!

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Thermos Stainless King Flask, Matt Black, 470 ml

I have one of these and it comes with me for all of my woodland photography adventures. It keeps my coffee hot for hours and doesn’t leak at all. A perfect gift for any landscape photographer to keep them warm on those cold, winter mornings.

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APUNOL 2Packs Head Torch, Rechargeable Waterproof Headlamp LED Headlight

Getting up for those sunrise shoots can mean some dark, treacherous walks across uneven ground to get on location so having a good head torch is a must to enable any landscape photographer to see and equally important to be seen in the dark. These head torches need not be expensive but being rechargeable, lasting many hours and having adjustable strength means this pack of two torches is a fantastic stocking filler gift for any landscape photographer.

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Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blower

This Giottos Rocket Air Blower is a must have accessory for any landscape photographer’s bag. It’s always better to remove dust and grit from your lens with a puff of air rather than a cloth to avoid scratching the glass and the one-way filter in the Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster ensures that dust and debris isn’t blown over your gear.

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Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod

If you check out my “Whats in my camera bag post” you will see I have one of these and carry it around in my lightweight kit. The Manfrotto PIXI is small but strong enough to support my Fujifilm XT2 and standard lens and perfect for any landscape photographer to support their camera in situations a full-size tripod can’t be used. From personal experience, I find it particularly useful in London as there are many places full size tripods cannot be used.

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Premium Microfibre Cleaning Cloths

Photographers can always use more microfibre cleaning cloths to clean or dry our gear and this set is a perfect stocking filler gift for your landscape photographer friend.

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Gifts under £100 for Landscape Photographers

Masters of Landscape Photography Book

If it’s inspiration you’re after then look no further as this book is crammed full of it and will make a great gift for any landscape photographer. It is a collection of the world’s best landscape photographers showcasing their work and sharing their “behind the photo” stories and technical information. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found it incredibly inspiring.

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Hoya 72 mm Pro ND 1000 Filter

This was the first 10-stop neutral density filter I brought and it got me hooked on long exposure photography. If your landscape photographer friend is looking to dip their toe into the creative world of long exposure photography then this is a great option. It’s a high-quality filter without any observable colour cast and at a fraction of the cost of the professional filter kits on the market. Before you buy, check the maximum thread size needed, that way it can be used for all of the lenses with a few cheap step-up rings.

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Instax Link Smartphone Printer

Ok, not strictly for landscape photographers but I just love printing on these Fujifilm Instax printers and have them on display all over the place. These fun, portable little printers allow you to print photos from your phone or tablet using their smartphone app while travelling, out in the field or even create an instant memento of you and your family or friends rather than have the photo stuck on the phone like everyone else.

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SanDisk Extreme PRO 128 GB SDXC Memory Card

Although not particularly sexy, all photographers need memory cards so these make perfect gifts for landscape photographers. Just make sure you check which cards your photographer friend uses so you buy the right ones. I’ve been using SanDisk cards for as long as I can remember and they have never let me down. SanDisk are industry standard so you can’t go wrong if you buy these.

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Peak Design Capture Clip v3

The Peak Design Capture Clip v3 is such a clever little device as it essentially acts as a third hand while out in the field taking photos. By allowing you to swiftly clip your camera to your bag’s strap or your belt, it frees up your hands while keeping the camera close by and ready to grab if a photo opportunity arises using the one-handed quick release. Unlike camera straps, it keeps your camera rigidly stable so it’s not flopping around. It holds over 200lbs. which means it can hold even the heaviest of camera + lens combinations, for any kind of photography.

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A Photobook Gift Certificate

If you read my blog, you will know I am a massive fan of printing photos. It brings them to life from a digital image on a screen to a tangible photograph you can touch and admire so if the landscape photographer in your life has a collection of images that need to be freed from the harddrive they reside on, then why not buy them a photobook gift voucher. Photobooks are a fantastic way to print a collection of photos and when I want to print my photos in the highest possible quality, I use Whitewall. They are not the cheapest out there but I feel they provide the best bang for the buck when it comes to balancing quality with cost. I’m not affiliated with Whitewall in any way, I just love the books I have made using their service.

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3 Legged Thing QR11- LG universal L bracket

The L-Bracket is such a useful gadget for us landscape photographers as it makes it easy to quickly switch between a horizontal or vertical orientation without adjusting the tripod at all. This for many is a bit of a game changer and I for one won’t go on a shoot without it. It may seem a little pricey for what is essentially an L-shaped piece of metal but think of it more in terms of how useful it is, not what it looks like. If the landscape photographer in your life doesn’t have one, this will make an excellent Christmas gift.

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Joby GorillaPod 3K

Sometimes a standard tripod just won’t do. It may be too big, too heavy or just not bendy enough. The Joby GorillaPod 3K is a great tool in a landscape photographer’s arsenal as it allows the camera to be supported on uneven ground or wrap around various objects. It also comes with magnetic feet, an advanced feature which allows you to stick the tripod to metal surfaces. All of this means getting that shot from a different angle or perspective and coming away with some unique photos. The Joby GorillaPod 3K can support the heaviest of mirrorless camera and most DSLR style cameras so you can’t go wrong gifting this to you landscape photographer friend.

£100+ Gifts for Landscape Photographers

Kase Wolverine Magnetic Circular Filters

First up as we move into the £100+ price bracket is the Kase Wolverine Magnetic Circular Filters. These innovative filters are made of both toughened glass and leave no noticeable colour cast but their real party trick is that they are magnetic rather than screw-in so they can be fitted and removed in a pinch and even better, stacked on top of each other. This set of filters includes a circular polariser to cut the glare and give photos a punch of contrast and various strength neutral density filters which can be used for streaky clouds of silky-smooth water. This set may seem pricey but when it comes to filters, quality is everything. As with the 10-stop filter mentioned previously, it’s important to buy the right size so make sure you get the set that is the same or larger than the maximum lens thread size, that way it can be used for all of the lenses with a few cheap step-up rings.

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SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 1 TB

Upgrading from a standard hard drive to an SSD like this will supercharge any photographers portable photo editing experience. Buying this drive for the landscape photographer in your life will save them so much time as they are lightning quick and all in a package not much bigger than a credit card.

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Canon PIXMA Pro 10S Printer

I mentioned before about how important I think it is for photographers to print their photos so although it’s on the more extravagant end of the budget spectrum, what better gift is there than a high quality A3 professional grade photo printer so their photos can be unleashed from that hard drive and experienced in all of their tactile glory. I have one of these Canon PIXMA Pro 10S printers and it really is an excellent printer so I can personally recommend it!

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Book a Photography Workshop

OK, no link for this one and without doubt this one will take a little research but for any budding landscape photographer, gifting them a spot on a workshop lead by one of their favourite photographers really is a top gift! So, what to do? First off, you need to find out who they follow on the usual social channels like Instagram or Facebook, who they admire and who’s work they have already brought. Then once you know, why not pop by that photographer’s website and see if they offer tuition or workshop sessions. If they don’t have anything bookable on their website, don’t stop there, make contact with them and see what they offer. If you pull this off, it could be quite a special gift.

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Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan

Last but not least is an Adobe Creative Cloud photography plan. If your landscape photography friend uses or wants to start using Adobe’s flagship photography editing suit, then this is the perfect gift for them. Whether they have an existing account or not, this 12 month subscription plan means a further 12-months of photo post processing joy!

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I know we landscape photographers can be a difficult bunch to buy for so I do hope this Christmas Gift Guide helps inspire you to find the perfect present for the landscape photographer in your life.

Cloudburst Over London | Weekly Photo #79

I hope those of you that follow my blog are enjoying the mix of urban cityscapes, landscapes and woodland photos I have been posting lately. I hear a lot about how photographers should have a level of consistency in what they photograph to build an identity and to a certain extent, I do, as I only shoot landscapes (both urban or natural), but I feel as a photographer, its far more important I take photos for me first and if others enjoy the work I share, then that’s a rather significant bonus. That’s why I try to split my time between the city and the natural landscape as for the time being at least, I love to shoot them both.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 21mm | 1/15th Second | f/6.4 | ISO320

This week I want to share a pic I took just a few weeks ago from the 36th floor roof terrace atop London’s Sky Garden. I try to pop by once or twice a year and capture some new views of the city as it’s a fantastic vantage point to photograph London and once again, I was not disappointed.

Check out these two photos I took from the same spot during a previous visit to the Sky Garden:

• London in the Mist | Weekly Photo #13

• Good Morning London | Weekly Photo #37

While up there, I could see a curtain of rain over to the south-west, resembling a cloudburst with the rain visibly falling from the sky and it was coming my way. Getting closer and closer by the minute, it worked its way across the city and with the dark moody clouds stretching out towards me, I knew there was a photo available to me, but that was only half the battle won. This was a technically tricky photo to capture!

Like most rooftop locations in London, when you visit the Sky Garden you have to be prepared to shoot through the rather grubby glass so to avoid dirt and spots showing up, I had to keep the aperture on the wider side at f/6.4 which also helped let in more light as the glass and dull moody weather meant the scene was a bit dark and the wider aperture allowed me to keep the ISO down at 320 which in turn helped keep the photo a little cleaner while still shooting handheld due to the restrictions on using tripods.

I composed the photo the best I could with the River Thames sweeping around the frame towards the rain and moody black clouds but being careful to avoid the building stricture from encroaching into the frame. It was tricky because I had to avoid the window frames and reflective light from between the panes of glass which, even a lens hood couldn’t resolve but once I had everything aligned, I took the shot.

I spent a few minutes taking some more photos, including a front facing photo of The Shard across the river which I really like and will share soon but within just a few minutes, the rains came and the winds increased so the viewing platform was closed for the evening and I had to make my way back inside.

Taking photos of London is usually all about the city streets, river and architecture so when the weather itself can play a part in my cityscapes like this, the story changes and the city steps back into a supporting role to allow mother nature to take the lead in an otherwise man-made, urban setting.

Until next time.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Misty Dawn | Weekly Photo #78

One of the things I hear quite a lot from people I talk to or the photographers I follow is that the restrictions on movement many of us have had recently means we have spent more time exploring and photographing local places we once might have overlooked and I think that’s one of the reasons for what appears to be a bit of a woodland photography boom that’s been happening. It may not be everybody’s cup of tea and might not always have the wow factor of the iconic location-centric landscapes but with a woodland in some form on most people’s doorstep, it’s an accessible genre of photography to try and I find it a great motivator to get outside, learn a new subject and most importantly, enjoy some peace and solitude while surrounded by mother nature.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/3rd Second | f/9 | ISO200

Having only starting this year, I still consider myself a novice when it comes to woodland photography, being able to see compositions, understand how the light interacts with the plants and trees and how to translate a scene that is pleasing to the eye into an interesting photo that tells a story. Like most genres of photography, there is no substitute for practice and experience and with woodland photography I lack on both counts but that doesn’t daunt me, it’s what motivates me to learn, improve and take photos that I would be proud to hang on my wall.

This photo was taken in my usual Sussex based woodland hangout in September. I’ve visited many times this year but given its size, I’ve yet to explore it all. On this occasion, I was on an early morning walk with my youngest daughter, who seems to be as excited to explore the great outdoors as I am so whenever possible, I gladly bring her along with me.

As we arrived at the car park, the forest was surrounded by dense fog with just a few metres of visibility and too thick to take any woodland photos. Frustratingly, after an hour or so, the sun began to burn through at rapid speed and it took only around 15 minutes to go from thick fog to a clear sunny morning, so I had time to capture just two photos which included some atmospheric mist and this shot of the Scots Pines amongst the ferns was the first.

I was drawn to the arrangement of the trees and the branch that seemed to be arching over the darker void in the background which adds some depth in the photo. By now, the sun was casting a defused light through the mist and onto the trees adding some life into the scene so I stepped back around 20-25 metres, mounted my 55-200mm lens to create a nice tight frame around the scene, being careful to avoid the bright sky and fired the shutter.

I wish I could say that all the work for this shot was done in camera on location but I would be lying, the photo still needed a bit of work in Adobe Lightroom to adjust the tones and colours to better reflect the conditions I experienced while taking the photo. I guess with time, the need to correct or improve in post will reduce as my on-location woodland experience increases.

Until next week

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Under London Bridge | Weekly Photo #77

Whether I’m photographing the high rises in the city or a misty woodland in Sussex, I tend to have two approaches to taking photos. On one hand, I will pack a bag with a selection of lenses, filters and a tripod and plod around my location, usually with a particular shot in mind usually coming away with a handful of photos of the given subject. On the other hand, I might be travelling light, with a single lens with me, where I just head off on a photo walk with the camera in hand and no fixed agenda, hunting for compositions as I go.

For more info about my gear, including my lightweight setup, check out this post: WHAT’S IN MY CAMERA BAG (2020 EDITION)

Both approaches have their pros and cons, such as when I have my tripod, I tend to slow down, spending more time in a particular location, maybe working on some fine art long exposures, or just waiting for that nice light to come to me, whereas when traveling light, I can be more agile, cover more ground and seek out more unique compositions as I go and it was during one of this photo walks in the city while traveling light that I took this photo of The Shard from underneath London Bridge.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1/50th Second | f/5 | ISO160

This photo was taken back in February while I was having a wander with the camera before heading into the office. I had with me my pocket rocket Fujifilm X-T30 camera and wide-angle 10-24mm lens which is a fantastic combination allowing me to travel light, stay agile and use the wide-angle lens to seek out and emphasise the dynamic shapes created by the city’s fantastic architecture.

As I passed under London Bridge just after the sun had risen, I stopped to have a play with the lines and shapes that frame this view of The Shard across the river. Along with London Bridge on the right-hand side, on the left, there is a metal staircase leading up to the road level and by getting in between these two and carefully framing the shot by resting the camera on the handrail, I snapped away and captured this shot.

In my last post here I talked about how I try to balance the composition and if you can imagine that the metal hand rail on the bottom left wasn’t in the frame, there would just be lots of empty space resulting in too much visual weight in the top right of the frame which just wouldn’t work so having both the bridge and the stairs frame The Shard from opposing corners, it solves that problem nicely. In addition, I particularly like how the triangle created by the underside of the bridge mimics the shape of The Shard but in the opposite direction creating a healthy amount of visual tension in the composition.

It was a very productive morning and I came away from the shoot with a nice crop of photos which happens every now and then when the conditions, the light and my photographic eye are in sync and it absolutely makes up for the many times I walk away from a shoot without any good photos at all.

Until next time.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Colour Wheel | Weekly Photo #76

I hope everyone is doing well. It’s been just over a week of what some are calling “Lockdown 2” here in the UK. In reality, it’s not quite as strict as the lockdown back in March as the restrictions are concentrated on indoor venues and we are still ok to venture out alone or with the family to spend time outdoors. This is good news for the majority of us who like to spend time outdoors and importantly those that need it as spending that quiet time out, alone or with family and away from life’s distractions and stresses is incredibly important when keeping your mental health in check.

What it does mean is that I won’t be visiting London for a few weeks while I continue to work from home. staying out of the city is the right thing to do at the moment and that side of my photography will just have to wait. In the meantime, I’ll keep rummaging through my photo archive for photos of London to share with you and speaking of which, here’s a shot of the London Eye I took before sunrise back in January, which, incidentally, feels a lifetime ago now.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm F2 | 16mm | 9 Seconds | f/7.1 | ISO160

I took this photo while out on a pre-sunrise shoot in Westminster during a mild, but rather windy morning in January. I wanted to capture a photo of the London Eye along with these colourful lights from a slightly different composition that I had seen before. The main issue I have with photographing the London Eye from Westminster Bridge is that the composition is hard to get right and you often end up lots of the visual weight on the right created by the buildings over at County Hall but a lot less going on to the left of the London Eye which leads to an unbalanced frame, so, as I stood on the bridge, I wanted to find a way to add some interest to the left-hand side and create a more balanced composition.

After a minute or two, I spotted the floating platform on the nearside of the Thames and importantly, the lights were on so I could use the contrast it created as a feature in the frame. By placing it on the left-hand, lower third of the image, it added that much needed balance and interest to the composition I was after. I set my small tabletop tripod upon a flat section of the wall that flanks the bridge and with my wide 16mm prime lens attached to my Fujifilm X-T30 camera, I dialled in the settings and took the shot. I wasn’t after a super smooth long exposure as I still wanted a little texture in the water so I went for an exposure time of 9 seconds which was just long enough to help flatten the water a little to make it appear less busy and emphasise those colourful reflections.

As I did in a previous post, I have annotated the final image which I hope will help demonstrate my thoughts on the composition and what I was trying to achieve.

I hope you find these annotated photos useful and as ever, I would love to hear your thoughts so drop me a comment below

Once I had this photo of the London Eye in the bag, I walked across the bridge and managed to capture another shot with the telephoto lens looking in the opposite direction towards St George Wharf just as the blue hour was starting to show. You will find that photo here City Glow | Weekly Photo #40.

I’ll be back with another photo next week but in the meantime stay safe and be creative.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Remembrance | Weekly Photo #75

I normally release my weekly photo stories every Monday morning but I’ve posted this week’s photo a day early as I wanted it to co-inside with Remembrance Sunday here in the UK and pay my own small tribute to this incredibly important day. I appreciate not all countries will observe Remembrance Day but hopefully everyone will appreciate it’s not about who did what and who’s cause was just, it is about remembering those that were lost to war and conflict throughout history regardless of the country they were from. It’s not political, it’s a mark of respect.

During World War One, most of the fighting took place in Western Europe and the previously picturesque countryside was turned into lakes of mud as they were repeatedly blasted by bombs and fought over. The landscape was bleak and nothing could grow with one notable exception, the bright, red Flanders poppy. This hardy flower managed to grow in in the thousands across the otherwise desolate landscape. In spring 1915, a Canadian doctor, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was inspired by this resilient flower and wrote the famous poem 'In Flanders Fields'.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 71mm | 1/6,000th Second | f/7.1 | ISO400

Back in June this year, I was on the hunt for locations to photograph a poppy field down here in the south east of England and I stumbled across this spot in Dover, beside the South Foreland Lighthouse. Located along the historic white cliffs, it’s a beautiful place with stunning views across the English Channel so along with another photographer buddy, we arranged to meet at sunrise to take some photos.

We arrived just before sunrise and quickly realised the sun would be rising in the direction we were shooting which was good in terms of getting some beautiful backlight on the poppies but it presented a challenge with photographing the lighthouse with so much dynamic range. We spent a bit of time wandering around the field, looking for some good compositions and once the sun had risen and moved a little over to the right, the dynamic range was a lot more manageable and I was able to get the scene exposed without the need for filters or exposure bracketing.

I took a number of shots while playing with the depth of field and as I reviewed the photos once back in Lightroom, I settled for this photo with the lighthouse rendered nice and sharp and the focus gradually dropping off as it got closer to the camera. Even though it’s clear what the flowers are, I just feel the out of focus foreground is easier on the eye and softens the overall scene.

Being such an iconic location along the white cliffs of Dover and such a recognisable symbol of remembrance and hope, I’m so pleased I was able to take it and share it on this important day.

In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' Fields.

~ John McCrae, 1915 ~

“Lest We Forget”

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Autumnal Woodland | Weekly Photo #74

Along with a trip to the Sky Garden in London, this week, I’ve been out and about on the hunt for some autumnal woodland scenes in my local forest. For the last few years, London and urban cityscapes have been my main focus and as such, autumnal colours never really played a big part in my photography but since venturing into the world of woodland photography, capturing those autumn colours has been high on my photography to-do list and as the colours only last for a couple of weeks, I’ve been travelling into the forest as often as I can to take my own autumnal woodland photo.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 105mm | 1/8th Second | f/6.4 | ISO320

So, on this particular morning, I set out while it was still dark and arrived at the car park just as the sun was rising and headed off into Ashdown Forest in Sussex. Unfortunately, as much as I hoped, I wasn’t blessed with a calm, misty morning, but I was still confident that even without that beautiful defused light, I could still seek out a woodland image that featured those bold, autumnal colours I wanted to capture.

My aim was to follow a pre-determined route through the woods and just photograph what caught my eye and an hour or so into the shoot I came across this spot that was full of these copper coloured ferns and orange and yellow leaves spread right across scene. It had just the kind of seasonal colours I was after so out came my tripod to set up the shot. The leaves appear to flow through the image from right to left until the point they arrive at the brighter silver birch trees, purposely placed on the left hand third to act as the main focal point and add some contrast to help break up the colour and give the eye a place to rest.

The challenge I had when taking this photo was the strong wind that was blowing through the forest. With the low light and gusts of wind, there was no way I was going to get a completely blur-free image so I deliberately kept my ISO lower at 320 and just embraced the motion blur that was captured in parts of the image, particularly around the ferns in the foreground.

So, with the circular polariser attached to break through any reflective light and give the scene an extra punch of colour, albeit at the cost of an even slower shutter speed, I took the shot.

Back in Adobe Lightroom, I worked on making a feature of the colours, being mindful not to move those sliders too far to the right and with a slight crop to remove a few distractions near the end of the frame, I was left with the final image you can see here.

I know photography like this is very subjective and this photo will no doubt split opinions, but I guess many of my photos do. If we all liked the same thing, life would be boring but I wouldn’t be staying true to myself and my photography if I just posted what I thought people wanted to look at. The only brief I have is to take photos I like and want to share and if it’s received well, that’s fantastic, but if not, then there is always next week’s photo to look forward too.

The weather forecast for the south of England is looking particularly wet and miserable this week and although time is running out, I remain hopeful that I will get another opportunity to head into the woodland and capture those autumn colours once more before they disappear for another year.

Cheers

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Rainy City | Weekly Photo #73

Here’s a familiar view of London, grey, dull and pouring with rain. For some, it’s a cue to get indoors to keep dry but for crazy people like me, I think it’s a great time to be wandering the streets with the camera, seeking out some creative photo opportunities.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF23mm F2 | 23mm | 1/250th Second | f/2.8 | ISO200

Before I head out with the camera, I tend to check the forecast so I‘m prepared for weather like this but as they say, you can’t predict the weather and nor it seems could any of my weather apps, as on this particular afternoon, there was no rain forecast, so I wasn’t exactly dressed for the occasion. Although I was lacking a raincoat, the good news was that I had my weather-resistant Fujifilm XT2 and XF23mm lens with me so even though I was going to get wet, my camera would keep on shooting without me having to worry about rain affecting the gear. So, with the rain falling, I set off towards the city to capture a few shots.

I spotted this view as I wandered towards London’s Bank station and although I was already familiar with the composition, the rain-soaked road added an opportunity to be creative and play around with some reflections. As I worked to refine the composition, I had great fun jumping in and out of the road to avoid the busses so it took a few tries and although I was soaked through, I got the shot I was after.

My aim was to use the huge 22 Bishopsgate building as the main focal point and place it on the left hand third. I also wanted to introduce some colour by using the London bus on the right and at the same time, keep the camera close to the ground so that the reflections were prominent in the foreground. As it was quite dark, I was shooting wide open which enabled me to keep the shutter speed up at 1/250th second and keep the ISO down at 200. Keeping the ISO low helped keep the shot clean of too much noise and the wider aperture and shallower depth of field helped keep the raindrops visible in the foreground but soft enough so they didn’t appear too distracting.

Back in Lightroom. I opened up the shadows just a bit on the right-hand side to brighten up the red bus so it stood out a little more. I also introduced some contrast in the foreground to emphasise those reflections and finished off with some tones and grading adjustments.

In between chasing some autumn landscape photos closer to home, I’m back in London for an evening shoot tomorrow so looking forward to seeing what shots I can come away with.

I’ll talk to you next week.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Late Summer | Weekly Photo #72

London has been my main focus of photography for a number of years now so photographing the natural landscape without an architectural focal point is all a bit new to me. I’m rediscovering nature again and trying to work out the best time to photograph the seasonal changes and seek out local places that have photographic potential is a challenge, to say the least, but one I’m certainly enjoying.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 18mm | 1/50th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Although there’s not much in the way of dramatic landscape locations down here in the relatively flat South-East corner of the UK, there’s still plenty of places for me to explore and take photos. There’s one particular place I’ve visited far more than any other and that’s the Ashdown Forest in Sussex. This beautiful area made up of part heathland and part woodland has an abundance of places to explore and is where I took this photo during a sunrise shoot a few weeks ago.

It took me a couple of trips into the forest before I got the right conditions for the shot I was after and when I did, it all came together with a cracking sunrise and some atmospheric mist across the low-lying ground. It’s not perfect as I had a few challenges, in particular, where to stand to get the best composition. You will probably notice the green fern in the foreground. I could have waded into the heather a little so it wouldn’t feature in the frame but I didn’t want to damage the wildlife (leave it how you found it!). I also would have preferred the sun slightly further away from the right edge of the frame but if I shifted the camera any further to the right, then the brighter area of mist down in the valley would be too close to the left edge. I couldn’t really win and as the sun had already cleared the horizon, time was not on my side and I had to take the shot. Although it’s not technically perfect and I had to compromise somewhat, I still really like the atmospheric mood and gorgeous light in the photo.

I used a wide-angle 10-24mm lens to take this photo and although this gave me lots of depth of field, being so close and focusing on the heather rendered the background soft and out of focus. To get a sharp image from front to back, I had to focus bracket this shot. While using all manual settings (exposure, aperture, ISO, white balance) I took three exposures, the first focused on the foreground, the second towards the middle of the frame and the last focused on the background. Later, in Photoshop, I used the “Auto-blend Layers” option to focus stack the three layers together to create this single image which is sharp from front to back.

It’s great to be out in the natural landscape, relaxing, recharging and keeping active and it doesn’t get much better than on mornings like this when the conditions are just beautiful. With Autumn just about to kick in, I’m looking forward to getting out there with the camera to see what photos I can take and as ever, if I capture anything worth sharing, I’ll post it here soon enough.

Check out a couple of recent blog posts featuring photos taken in the Ashdown Forest.

On Location Photographing Ashdown Forest with the XF23mm F2

Forest Bliss | Weekly Photo #58

Until next time.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Venetian Light | Weekly Photo #71

This is one of the most famous views in Venice and one I absolutely love. The winding Grand Canal which cuts through the city, lined with those iconic red and white striped mooring poles and architecture that spans a thousand years topped with traditional terracotta tiles. All of this leading to the main focal point of the domes that belong to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute or known simply as the Salute. Translated to Saint Mary of Health and finished in 1681, this 17th-century church was built as a votive offering to commemorate the end of a terrible outbreak of the plague and needed an astonishing one million wooden piles driven into the ground to support the weight of this ornate stone structure.

“To build a city where it is impossible to build a city is madness in itself, but to build there one of the most elegant and grandest of cities is the madness of genius.”

— Alexander Herzen

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 39mm | 1/20th Second | f/9 | ISO200

This photo was taken during my second visit to this jewellery box city in October 2018. I took a wider shot of this view from Ponte dell'Accademia with a single gondola on the water which you can find here Weekly Photo 11 | Solitary Gondola and as I said in my previous post, I got a bit lucky with the river traffic as I only had to wait around for 20 minutes before it cleared for a short while, allowing me to snap a few different shots of the city.

It was getting towards the end of the day and at this time of year, from this vantage point, the sun was going down almost directly behind me so the scene I was photographing had some gorgeous defused light falling on it as the sun was slightly obscured by a thin layer of cloud. Although being in October meant it wasn’t as busy as during the summer months, there was still plenty of people on the bridge and with the light levels getting lower, my shutter speed was getting slower and getting a sharp photo handheld was getting tricky. I could have opened up the aperture or cranked up the ISO but to get the best quality and depth of field, I used a small table-top tripod and rested it on the thick wooden rail that lines the bridge so I didn’t have to compromise the photo at all.

In my previous photo, the focal point was the gondola in the foreground but for this photo, it’s the Salute so I zoomed from 18mm to 39mm to bring the domes forward and make them more prominent in the photo. The diagonal line created by the buildings that line the canal on the right-hand side leads the eye in nicely to the Salute and the darker slither of buildings on the left help frame and add balance to the composition.

Considering how busy Venice can get in high season, the lack of river traffic and the cooler diffused light falling onto the buildings gives the photo a sense of quiet making the city seem almost sleepy, so I tried to respect that mood and reduce the contrast and colour saturation in post-processing. I think it worked out pretty well.

Until next week.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Blending Light in London | Weekly Photo #70

I cannot wait to get back up to St Paul’s Cathedral with my camera again. I love the 360-degree views of the city it provides and no matter how often I go up there, the different times of the year and the changing light conditions mean that there is always a fresh shot to be taken.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1.7 Seconds | f/6.4 | ISO160

I’ve talked about photographing from St Paul’s Cathedral in a couple of previous posts here:

• Western Towers | Weekly Photo #24

• Square Mile | Weekly Photo #59

For this photo, choosing a focal length was easy. I wanted to take it as wide as possible to capture the top of the roof and Western Towers so I used my XF10-24mm wide-angle lens on my Fujifilm X-T30 camera. No tripods are allowed at St Paul’s cathedral so I discreetly used a small table-top tripod I carry in my lightweight kit and rested it between the pillars that surround the Stone Circle to ensure the photo was sharp in these low light conditions.

What I particularly like about this photo is how a potential ordinary, monochromatic photo of the city is brought to life by taking it at just the right time to ensure there is enough ambient light to capture lots of detail in the buildings and sky but late enough for the city lights to add areas of interest and separation into the scene. Some situations will require a technique sometimes called time blending to get an effect like this. You take two photos of the exact same composition but at different times. The first photo to capture a brighter scene with lots of details and the second when it gets darker and the city lights are turned on. The two photos are then later blended in post-production so it shows the lighter scene with the city lights, like the photo here.

Thankfully, I was able to capture all the detail I needed in a single frame and later in post-processing, I focused on emphasising the brighter orange lights and desaturating the strong blue tones across the entire photo, all using the HSL sliders in Adobe Lightroom. There is one thing that bugs me though and that’s the big spotlight near the centre of the image. It’s too dominant and distracts somewhat. I tried toning it down a little but otherwise, I’ll have to accept it as part of the scene I was shooting.

I’m looking forward to getting back up to capture London’s rooftops and have already booked to re-visit the Sky Garden viewing platform next week. Fingers crossed I get a keeper and if so, I’ll be sure to share it here soon enough.

Cheers

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.