Sunrise Over Beachy Head | Weekly Photo #131

I’ve already taken and shared a couple of pictures of Beachy Head Lighthouse in my Weekly Photo series here and here which were both taken down at sea level along the beach beneath the cliffs, but this is the first I’ve shared of the lighthouse taken from up hight, along the top of the cliffs.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 50mm | 1/1000th Second | f/9 | ISO200

Located on the far eastern edge of the South Downs in East Sussex, the cliffs at Beachy Head are pretty epic indeed. Well, epic for us here in the relatively flat southeast of England at least and standing as high as 162 metres (530 feet) tall, they are the highest chalk cliffs in England.

Back in March this year, I took a drive down to the coast in a bid to make my own version of this well-photographed composition of the Beachy Head cliffs and lighthouse. I had visited a few times before and knew my way around, so I headed straight to this spot, back up the hill towards Belle Tout which is the other, smaller lighthouse which sits on top of the cliffs rather than down at the water’s edge.

Arriving before sunrise and hopeful for a touch of colour, I found the sky over to the east covered in a thin layer of cloud but it was quite windy up there and the clouds were moving fast, so I remained hopeful for some nice light nonetheless. Bearing in mind how windy it was and how unstable the cliffs are known to be, I was careful to set the camera and tripod up a few metres away from the edge. It certainly looks like I’m closer in the photo but I did crop the photo a little and the foreground does open up a bit in front of me.

In terms of arranging the composition, it was pretty straightforward. With the tide out, I had both the coastline and the cliff’s edge providing some useful lines, leading the eye into the image towards Beachy Head Lighthouse which provides both a focal point and some much-needed scale into the image. With everything lined up and the clouds appearing to clear, all I needed was the sun to rise so it could cast some light across the landscape.

The pre-sunrise glow didn’t really amount to much. I mean it was pleasant enough with nice pastel colours, but as the clouds began to clear towards the east, I had a feeling the best light was yet to come. When the sun did rise, it still took a few minutes to reach the top and peek over the cliffs and as it did, the scene was fully engulfed by its beautiful warm light.

Dynamic range was the challenge here as the sun was now higher in the sky and a lot brighter. I wanted to retain some colour and detail in the clifftops and lighthouse and wasn’t looking for them to be silhouetted against the sun, so I needed the exposure to be bright enough to show the detail in those areas but not too bright that it left all of the sky over-exposed. Pushing my camera’s dynamic range capabilities as far as possible, I couldn’t avoid clipping the brightest area around the sun and with the settings you can see underneath the picture above dialled in, I took the shot.

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.

After The Rain | Weekly Photo #130

I love photographing London in or after the rain as the city takes on a different look and feel compared to when it’s dry and I enjoy taking advantage of the creative ways I can take photos when it’s wet outside. Along with talking about this photo I took shortly after a brief rain shower in London earlier this year, I’ll also share some top tips for anyone looking to explore their local town or city and make the most of their photography during or after the rain.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/400th Second | f/7.1 | ISO400

Some of my readers may remember when I took this photo on Queen Victoria Street last year and although it was forecasted to stay dry, I got caught in some torrential rain which was an occasion I wasn’t particularly dressed for. I did, however, have my weather-resistant camera and lens so even though it meant I would get soaked through, I was confident my camera wouldn’t and I could still get out into the rain and take what ended up being one of my favourite photos of London in 2020.

Fast forward to March 2021 and I once again found myself in the city with my camera during a rain shower that wasn’t on the forecast. This time around, I was out with my 18-55mm standard zoom lens which isn’t weather-sealed so, unlike last time where I could wander around in the rain knowing my camera would be ok, this time, I had to take cover as it fell. Thankfully it didn’t rain for long and I was pounding the pavement again in no time at all.

Being March 2021, the UK was still predominantly working from home so the streets of London was still relatively quiet compared to normal and as I wandered down an almost empty Lombard Street, I spotted this puddle by the side of the road. I’ve actually taken this photo of Lombard Street many times before and although I really like the fantastic lead-in lines at the bottom, the view down this traditional looking London street in the middle and the more contemporary Fenchurch Building at the top of the frame, I always felt it was lacking something. Thankfully, this time around, the rain shower brought the finishing touch and I took full advantage by crouching down and using this fantastic reflection of the Fenchurch Building in this puddle as foreground interest.

If this isn’t my best London photo of 2021, it will certainly be in my top 5.

7 Tips for photographing a city in the rain

As promised, I’ve shared below some useful tips to consider when photographing any town or city in the rain. The first few tips are centred around being prepared to shoot in the rain. Although they may seem like common sense, just remember, taking photos when cold and wet is not particularly fun and does nothing to stir those creative juices so don’t be like me and get caught out by the rain… twice!

#1 Prepare to get wet - If I wasn’t prepared to head into the streets during torrential rain then I would not have taken one of my favourite ever photos of London. As I mentioned above, rain wasn’t on the forecast and I wasn’t dressed for the occasion but boy would I have enjoyed that shoot a lot more if I wasn’t soaked to the bone. Don’t do what I did, make sure you bring the right jacket, shoes and even an umbrella so you can get out there take your pictures whilst remaining warm and dry.

#2 Invest in weather-resistant gear if you can - Knowing that your gear can survive a rain shower will do everything for your confidence to get out there and find photos in the rain, so if you can, consider a weather-sealed body and lens when you next buy one. If you don’t, it’s not all lost as you can buy inexpensive plastic housings/bags such as these from Think Tank. Although a bit more cumbersome, they will keep your gear dry. Alternatively, keep your expensive camera in the bag and use your smartphone as most have some level of water resistance these days but make your you check the specs first.

#3 Shoot from covered areas - Providing you can find the right subjects and compositions, photographing the wet streets while taking cover from the rain can be just as effective. So, if you find yourself out in the rain and lack the clothes or gear to make the most of it, see what you can photograph while you keep yourself lovely and dry sheltered from the rain.

The tips below are about getting the most from your photography while shooting your local town or city during or shortly after the rain.

#4 Take advantage of the empty streets - Most people head for cover when the rain falls and when that happens, you could be presented with some relative empty streets for a short while. So, if you have the right gear and dressed for the occasion, get out there and take advantage.

Top tip: With an app like Rain Today, you can even spot the rain coming down to the minute and get into position just before it starts giving you the best chance of taking that street or urban landscape photo without so many people in the frame.

#5 Search for reflections and puddles - Just like I did for this photo here, finding puddles and looking for reflections can transform your photos and elevate them into something really special. Remember, it’s not just about puddles as there are so many reflective surfaces in modern cities so keep your eyes peeled during and shortly after the rain has fallen.

#6 Look for umbrellas - No, this isn’t a repeat of tip #1, this is about including people with umbrellas in your photos. Some might say it’s a bit cliche but personally I love to see people with umbrellas in rainy street and cityscape photos. Oh, and I certainly don’t mean the bright yellow or red umbrellas you often see on Instagram (no judgement here). When I take photos of people walking in the rain, they can add an air of mystery and as they tend to hide the face, a touch of anonymity too. That’s certainly the feeling I get when I look at the photo below which I took on a rainy night back in late 2019.

#7 Photograph the reflections at night - Not only does the photo above show the story umbrellas can tell within your photos but the image also shows how good the reflections can be when the street lights reflect across the wet surfaces. So, as long as you remain safe and where possible go with at least one other person, why not head out into the rain after dark to see the streets illuminated by the city lights.

Top tip: Plan an after dark trip into town during a rainy December night and not only do you get the reflections from the street lights but you can also get some fantastic reflections from the festive lights too!

There you have it. Hopefully those tips inspire some of you to grab that camera and brave the weather next time it’s raining in your local town or city.

Also, don’t forget you can order a print of this week’s photo by clicking on the “buy this print” link below.

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.

Chaotic Colour | Weekly Photo #129

As promised last week, here’s an autumnal photo I took just a couple of weeks ago during a short trip to the Brecon Beacons in Wales. As mentioned in that previous post, I went to photograph the popular waterfalls along the Four Falls Trail but the Afon Mellte (River Mellte) and Afon Hepste (River Hepste) carve their way through some fantastic ancient woodland with an array of interesting trees so, despite some pretty miserable weather and flat light, I could not resist pointing my lens towards the trees and photograph some of the wonderful woodland they have there.

Before we get stuck in, I have some news. I’ve opened an online print store over on Etsy.com. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while, deciding where to host it and how to price the images and finally got around to setting it all up a few weeks ago. My plan is to offer all of the photos I post on my Weekly Photo series as prints but it’s going to take some time to get all 129of them up there, so if you see a photo anywhere on my website and you want to own your own print, drop me a message and I’ll get it added to the store in no time at all.

Here’s a link to the store https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TrevorSherwinPhoto, alternatively you can always find it in the menu at the top of this page.

I’m not going to lie, I found this an incredibly difficult scene to photograph and even now as I sit here writing this post, I’m pretty sure it’s tumultuous nature won’t appeal to everyone but all being well, by the time you get to the end of this blog, you will know why, at the very least, it appeals to me.

The main path that takes you from the car park, along the Four Falls Trail remains on the higher ground meaning for each of the four waterfalls, you need to take a separate path that descends down towards the water in the valley. I came across this scene as I was heading down the steep path towards the Sgwd y Pannwr waterfall which, between descents takes you through this small area of captivating woodland. I was mesmerized by how it looked and even though I knew that trying to find an orderly composition in a somewhat chaotic scene would challenge my relatively modest woodland photography skills, I just had to give it a go. So, after finishing up taking photos by the river, I headed back up to this spot to see what I could make of it.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 32mm | 1/3rd Second | f/10 | ISO200

So, what drew me to this scene? First off, it’s a very different type of woodland to those I typically come across in good-old leafy Surrey. With the rocks and moss across the uneven floor, the quirky shapes carved by the trees and the plethora of autumnal tones, it just felt a little bit special. I probably spent a good 20 minutes or more working out how best to take this photo and eventually settled on this composition you see here. Along with the interesting shapes and textures, the order amongst the disorder is the way the rocks on the ground create a natural path leading the eye in towards an area flanked by the “V” shaped trees and splashes of vibrant yellow tones on either side.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, the weather throughout my trip was pretty miserable and in between the rain, the light was flat and uninspiring. In an ideal world, I would have had some nice, defused light to bring out more of the vibrant colours in this woodland scene, but it wasn’t to be and I had to make the best of the conditions I was given both on location and back home in Lightroom when processing the final image. I had to be careful with the colours, making sure I didn’t overcook them. Some might be tempted to boost the yellows too much and force them to be what they might have been with better light. I chose to make more subtle changes, so the final photo represents the conditions I experienced on that very day.

Once again, please feel free to pop by my new online print store and have a good look around. I’d love to hear what you think so feel free to get in touch.

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.

Autumn Mist | Weekly Photo #128

The colours have finally turned and autumn is in full flow so, like many other landscape photographers right now, I’ve been out and about in the various local woodlands trying to make photographers of this year’s colourful display. I also made a quick trip west to the Brecon Beacons in Wales for a touch of waterfall photography and although the falls were my primary focus, I managed to snag some autumnal woodland images while I was there. That trip was awesome by the way! I’ll be sharing some of those pictures here soon enough.

While I’m providing updates, I’ve also been taking more intimate photos of the natural landscape which I’m calling “small scenes”. These photos focus on nature’s abstract shapes, patterns and textures which, in a good way is forcing me to look at the landscape in a different way and project I am really enjoying so far. I’m not quite ready to share any of these just yet but as soon as I am, maybe early next year, you will of course be the first to see them.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/13th Second | f/8 | ISO200

One of the few problems I have with this craft of mine is my editing backlog. I’m normally a few weeks (or sometimes months) behind as with only so much time available to spend on photography-related activities, I tend to prioritise my time spent out with my camera over post-processing. So, in keeping with the time of year and not having processed any of this year’s autumnal photos just yet, here’s one I took during a misty morning back in November last year.

This day was one of those rare occasions when the fog penetrates the forest and just hangs around for a few hours leaving plenty of time to explore and hunt down compositions without it being a race against time before the fog lifts. Although it’s been a year since I took this photo, I remember it well as it’s the same day I took one of my favourite woodland photos of 2020 which I called The Performer.

Along with those delightful autumnal colours, what caught my eye was how the composition includes two framed subjects, one in the foreground and one towards the back. In the foreground, we have that small cluster of vibrant yellow birch trees framed by the delicately slender branches encroaching the frame on the right-hand side, the golden ferns towards the bottom and the Scots Pine to its left. That tall Scots pine with its wavey branches help frame the smaller but no less interesting tree in the bottom-left corner of the image. The subtle orange leaves on that tree in the background complement the similar-looking tones in the ferns and very subtly add balance to the composition as, without that tree, most of the colour in the scene would be on the right, creating too much visual weight on that side.

As I said at the beginning, I’ve shared this photo from last year as I haven’t quite got around to editing any of this year’s autumnal woodland photos but to give myself a bit of a kick up the proverbial, I promise, next week I will absolutely share a woodland image taken in autumn this year.

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.

Summer Skies Over London | Weekly Photo #127

A quick disclaimer. I don’t typically talk about the editing side of photos in this photoblog but this week, I dive into a new “game-changing” feature in my processing software of choice, Adobe Lightroom. I appreciate this won’t be for everyone so if you’re just here for the photo, that’s cool. Just scroll to the end to see the final image.

A question for my fellow landscape photographers. How many times have you been out there on location photographing a fantastic looking scene, only to be disappointed by the resulting raw file when you get back to the computer and view it on the big screen? I’m sure I’m not the only one….. am I? When I first took this photo from Tower Bridge in London as the sun was setting back in July, the scene in front of me looked fantastic, the sky had colour and just the right amount of drama but when it came to reviewing the images back home, I ended up dismissing this photo.

The thing is, my patience for post-processing is quite short. If I can’t get the photo close to the finished product in a few minutes, I tend to move on. That’s not to say I don’t, on occasion, spend hours on a single photo but I need to see the potential pretty quickly before I decide to invest more time into it.

To help demonstrate what I’m talking about, I’ve done something which I very rarely do, I’ve shared the original raw file which you can see directly below. For those that might not be aware, the raw file is the digital negative and by design, look average straight out of the camera. It’s deliberately flat, lacking contrast, saturation and clarity so when it comes to post-processing, the image file has the most latitude possible for when those sliders are pushed and pulled left and right in your given editing software. When I got home, for some reason, I really struggled with this raw file, in particular, the sky.

Some more accomplished editors might take the image into Photoshop and perform some expert wizardry, use luminosity masks, and edit the photo with ease, others might just swap out the sky completely using Photoshop’s Sky Replacement tool, but I certainly don’t subscribe to that approach. I prefer to work with the pixels I captured on location but no judgment here. Each to their own I say.

Using local adjustments, I could get the sky close to how I remember it but the blend between sky and foreground just didn’t work, making the overall image look a bit false. After probably too much time trying to get it to work, I decided to cut my losses and move on.

So, for the last few months, this raw file has sat in my library, unchanged from my previous attempts to edit it.

Fast forward to just last week, Adobe released some great new updates to Lightroom, and one of the many updates was a new option that automatically detects the sky and creates an adjustment mask in just a few seconds.

For Lightroom users, you can now find the option as shown in the screenshot here.

This will save so much time. It means I no longer have to manually select the sky which is especially useful for photos like this where the horizon is anything but flat and requires far more intricate masking. I’m now able to select and edit just the sky with a single click and for someone who lacks the patience to do so manually or likes to do as much of the editing in Lightroom as possible, it really is a game-changer.

By using this new feature, I’m was able to add contrast in just the sky, without worrying about how this affects the foreground or needing to spend too much time masking around the various shapes on the horizon. The increased contrast in the sky has helped to separate the lower, darker clouds from those that are higher and brighter adding depth and interest up top. With the darker clouds being more prominent, they now provide a natural vignette around the Shard which I purposely placed dead centre in the frame.

I was also able to work on the white balance in the sky separately from the foreground. It’s obvious the image needed warming up a little, but when I pushed the sky towards the warmer tones to bring out those lovely sunset colours, the shadows in the foreground were too warm. I could have used the colour grading tools but again, these are global changes, affecting the entire image so local adjustments were the only option for me in this situation.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 12mm | 1/15th Second | f/11 | ISO200

With the potential for the photo now realised, I spent some more time making local adjustments to various parts of the image and to finish, I cropped the photo to a 2:1 ratio to remove some of the empty space in the foreground.

So, that’s the Select Sky tool. Not one I’ll use for every photo but when I need to edit the sky separately from the rest of the image, it’s a fantastic option to have available.

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.

Radiant Ruins | Weekly Photo #126

Although I enjoy the craft of photography and the ability to be creative with the landscape, photography is also my excuse to be outdoors, exploring, thinking, relaxing, recharging…all of the above and more. So, a few weeks ago, eager to be out the following morning, I was struggling for inspiration as to where to go.

The weather forecast wasn’t great for my style of photography. I tend to avoid clear blue-sky days and the woodland wasn’t yet on the turn from the late summer greens to the golden colours of autumn. What to do? Contemplating an extra couple of hours in bed, I considered for a moment not going out at all but that thought was short-lived. As I mentioned above, I don’t just go out to capture a photo, I need that time out there and photography is just one of my excuses for doing so.

After pondering for a while, I decided to take the opportunity to revisit Bodiam Castle, one of my favourite historic places in East Sussex. I’d been meaning to visit it again and just love the peace and tranquillity of the place first thing in the morning. With my photographic expectations low but enthusiasm for a morning walk high, I set off before sunrise the following day.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/550th Second | f/8 | ISO200

As I drove towards the castle, the light levels started to increase and the conditions were as expected with clear, cloudless skies but as I arrived on location, things could not have been more different. I found the castle surrounded by fog and boy, was it a sight for sore eyes. A real surprise indeed, as I’d not come across a single patch of fog during my entire drive down. Expectations were on the rise.

It’s not the first time I’ve photographed Bodiam castle in the fog. Last time though, it was much thicker with very little light filtering through and it took a good hour or two before the fog was thin enough to photograph the castle. Although I managed to take some photos I was really happy with, back then, I remember longing for some defused sunlight to filter through as I knew it would have been the icing on the cake. With the mist looking thinner this time round, the chances of catching some of that glorious light appeared much better. Leaving the car park with a bit more haste, I set off, walking the path that surrounds the caste in the hope of finding a new composition (well, new to me anyway).

Using some of the foliage to help frame my first composition, I spent some time photographing the castle with the sun behind me, capturing some of the subtle light bouncing off its solid medieval stone walls. I even managed to take a photo that eluded me last time around due to the heavy fog, so I was already pleased with how the morning was going so far.

Once finished taking photos with the sun behind me, I decided to continue around to see how the scene might look with the sun behind the castle. I don’t usually like the photos I take when the camera is pointing directly towards the sun but with plenty of mist still hanging around, the bright, harsh light from the sun was defused just enough for me to take a photo featuring a somewhat silhouetted castle in the foreground.

Compositionally, I placed the imposing castle to the right-hand of the frame so I could include the wooden walkway entering the scene from the left towards the castle’s entrance. I was worried this might leave too much visual weight on the right but I think I just got away with it as the tree entering the frame on the far left adds just enough weight to rebalance the composition to my eye at least. With plenty of ambient light, I was able to shoot handheld for this shot and by using my wide-angle lens I could capture the entire scene, including those fantastic reflections in the water. I dialled in my settings, exposing to the right so I could include as much detail in the shadows as possible but at the same time being careful not to blow out the highlights in the sky and went ahead and took the shot.

As expected, it was a beautifully quiet, early autumnal morning and photography aside, it felt great to be out there, but, with the unexpected bonus of having some perfect conditions for photography, I was so pleased to have set the alarm the previous night.

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.

Splash of Yellow | Weekly Photo #125

When I’m out in the woodland with my camera, I try to keep an open mind as to what I might photograph that day. I might have a particular subject or kind of image I’m looking to photograph but to avoid disappointment and to keep my expectations low, I tend to let the environment and conditions lead me rather than the other way round and if something else catches my eye, be it a strong composition, an unusual subject or interesting light, I will head over and to investigate and take it from there.

That’s what happened on this day when I photographed this yellowing birch tree in my local forest.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/8th Second | f/8 | ISO250

In November last year, I took an early morning walk in the forest to discover what was left of the autumnal colours. Winter was fast approaching and although I didn’t have a particular subject in mind, I wanted one last woodland shoot before the beautiful autumnal tones disappeared again for another year. The sky was thick with clouds and as the light levels increased, it became apparent that I wouldn’t be getting any good light on this outing and instead, it would be flat and lacklustre. Undeterred and with an open mind, off I went with my camera in hand to see what I could find.

I made my way up the side of a hill to this spot where I found a carpet of dead ferns and an abundance of Scots pine trees and although I was enjoying the subtle, muted colours of this late autumn landscape, I was struggling to find a photo. The brown colours across the forest floor and dull greens in the trees resulted in a lack of vibrancy and I was not feeling particularly inspired. Not willing to give up just yet, I pushed on and continued to explore the area.

As I walked, a splash of yellow over in the distance caught my eye and with the rest of the landscape deprived of any colour, this inordinately vibrant young birch stood there conspicuously amongst the giant pines so I walked over to investigate.

Establishing that this was probably going to be my only photo opportunity of the morning, I took my time, walking around the tree, looking for a way to frame it. This photo is all about the colour contrast and how the birch stands out so, not looking to overcomplicate things or try to wrestle something different from the scene, I decided to keep things simple. I chose this central composition you see here with the vibrant, yellow birch framed by the earthy tones on the floor and in the Scots pines on either side.

Being on the side of a shallow valley, I decided to take advantage of the hillside and climbed up, further away from the tree so I could use the opposing hill as the backdrop. Doing so meant that I could remove any sky from the frame, ensuring there were no bright distracting areas that would compete with the tree for attention. Being further back, I mounted my 55-200mm telephoto lens for a bit of extra reach, dialled in my settings and took the photo.

With the benefit of being able to view this photo on a large screen, I get to see all of that wonderful detail in the leaves and across the forest floor and that’s part of the appeal for me as this will look great printed. That being said, I know this photo doesn’t have a huge wow factor and certainly won’t do well on the socials when I share it but that’s ok and it won’t stop me from putting it out there. For me, this photo has a traditional, almost painterly look to it which certainly appeals to my taste but above all else, I like it and that’s why I am sharing it.

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.

Plethora of Colours | Weekly Photo #124

Although last week’s post was a little on the heavy side, I’m so pleased with the positive feedback it received. Many of you could relate to what I said and that proves just how important talking about difficult subjects such as mental health is.

In that same, rather long blog post, I also promised this one would be shorter and I intend to keep that promise and instead just focus on one thing. Autumn! This is the time of year many landscape photographers like the best because the slightly dulled greens of late summer turn into a plethora of vibrant yellows, reds and oranges as the leaves prepare to fall for another year.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 90mm | 1/4th Second | f/9 | ISO250

Also, at this time of year, sunrise starts to happen at a much more reasonable time than in the summer. Gone is the lack of sleep the night before and the godawful 3:30 am alarms! Instead, I can now wake up at 6 am and still be on-location before the birds begin to sing. Much better.

Last October, I went out to my local woodland in an attempt to photograph some of the changing colours of early autumn and I spotted this view. I would have much preferred that the path was flat or went downhill so I could make more of a feature of it but it wasn’t to be. I even tried the view looking back from upon the hill but that didn’t work at all.

What I did like though was the way the path was leading through this fantastic tunnel of trees and with the autumnal transformation well underway, I decided I needed to photograph those beautiful colours. Although I didn’t think there was a portfolio worthy photo here, if I tried hard enough, I could come up with a composition that worked well enough to come away with a nice enough photo.

I set the tripod up on the left-hand side of the path to allow what little of it there was to flow from right to left. Doing so allowed me to include those interesting birch trees on the right-hand side which also added some visual weight over there and to my eye, balanced the composition against the brighter area at the end of the tree tunnel quite well.

With the tripod as high as it would go to try to minimise the effect the fill was having, I dialled in the settings, waited for the leaves to settle between gusts of wind and took the photo.

Last year, we had strong winds almost non-stop during late October and early November which blew most of the leaves off the trees early. So, I’ll be out exploring the woodland again over the next few weeks in a bid to photograph some more of those beautiful autumnal colours and I’m keeping my fingers firmly crossed for the weather to stay mild long enough to do so.

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.

Positive Outlook | Weekly Photo #123

Ok, so you’re going to have to bear with me this week because as I sit here, starting to write this week’s post, I already know it’s going to be a bit of a long one but please stick with it as I hope for some of you, it will prove useful.

At the time of posting, yesterday being Sunday 10th October was World Mental Health Day and whether you struggle with this yourself or not, and let’s face it, most of us do to some extent, it’s a chance for people to contribute to this mission in any way possible.

This is my way.

Personally, I consider myself incredibly lucky that although I struggle at times with self-confidence, social anxiety and periods of stress, it is something I’m able to (on the whole) manage on a day-to-day basis. So many people are not so fortunate and have to fight with everything they have in their locker, every single day to overcome their own mental health issues and although I don’t come at this from a point of authority, I think it’s too important not to talk about in this week’s post. Thankfully, the issues I do have to deal with don’t take a front seat in my life too often but that’s not just down to random luck or just how I happen to be wired, it’s also because I am aware that I do need to look after myself, regularly checking in and taking stock with how I’m feeling within myself. It’s obviously not fool proof but it seems to be an effective approach that works for me most of the time.

As I’ve got older, I’ve prioritized certain aspects of my life which I feel helps me keep on top of things and photography is one of them. It plays a huge part in how I keep my mental wellbeing in check and along with the usual creative benefits this craft gives me, I also know it provides me with an outlet to be active, de-stress, take a break from the chaos of “real life” and be in the moment for a short while.

I won’t go into all the benefits photography (or any creative outlet) can bring to one’s mental health as I’ve previously written about it and although this article is a couple of years old now, the message it carries is still as valid today as it was back then.

It’s strange to think but I truly believe you can help your mental health literally anywhere and doing anything. As long as it makes you happy, helps with stress and allows you to take time out, being present in the moment then it really doesn’t matter what the activity is. Whether it’s scaling a mountain, working in the garden, having a walk in the forest or like me, being out with the camera, it can still be mindful, meditative, helping you to process, which, goes a long way towards improving your mental health and turning negative, overwhelming thoughts into positive, manageable ones.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm F2.8 | 16mm | 1/125th Second | f/4 | ISO160

I have photographed London for years. It’s where I cut my photographic teeth and although I knew back then that the craft was helping me get out into the great outdoors, or in this case, into the city, what I didn’t realise at the time was how good this was and continues to be for my mental health.

I absolutely love being in London around sunrise as the city takes on a totally different feel. Gone are the noises, the hordes of people and traffic and instead you get an almost privileged opportunity to experience a deserted city, having it (almost) all to yourself to explore and in my case photograph. It was during one of those quiet mornings, I took this photo of the Shard from across the Thames.

I was on one of my "keeping things simple” shoots on this particular day as I had just my smaller Fujifilm X-T30 camera and compact 16mm F2.8 prime lens. Although having the right gear with me on a shoot is important, I can’t describe how liberating it is to shed the load every now and then and head out of just a single camera and lens. After taking a photo of the Girl and the Dolphin fountain on the other side of Tower Bridge, I found this composition as I walked along the cobbled street in front of the Tower of London.

It’s a simple composition with the viewers eye taking a journey into the scene, along the path, past the ornate street lamp, to the tree which then leads the viewer around the top of the image towards the focal point, being The Shard. I love the fact that the lights were still on in the street lamps, the hazy diffused light and those interesting lines created by the tree branches. Getting as close as I could to the tree on the right and with my settings dialled in, I took the photo.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, raising awareness for mental health both in terms of treatments and prevention is so important and the one way we can all help is to talk about it openly, normalising the topic and recognise when you or someone you know needs support with their mental health. Here in the UK, we have some excellent charities such as Mind and The Mental Health Organisation who work tirelessly to raise awareness and provide support to those in need with a wealth of helpful advice and tools on each of their websites. Although these sites are UK centric, much of the information they share is helpful regardless of where you’re from but if you’re not from the UK and looking for something a bit closer to home, I’m sure most countries will have their own national charities which can probably be found with a quick google search.

If you got all the way to the end of this post, thanks for sticking with it and I promise, next week’s post will be shorter.

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.

Tree Tunnel | Weekly Photo #122

This beautiful tunnel of trees is Mill Lane, located in Halnaker, a medieval hamlet in West Sussex. This footpath formed part of an ancient track along Stane Street, a Roman road between Chichester and London.

People have been walking along this route for centuries and it’s due to that footfall and heavy carts being pulled along the road over hundreds of years that the road has sunk, creating this timeless, mystical looking holloway you can see here.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 181mm | 1/50th Second | f/3.5 | ISO1000

Knowing about this enchanting path for some time, in October last year, I finally got in the car and drove down to Halnaker to walk this path and visit the Windmill at the top of the hill. I left it as late in the year as I dared to give me the best chance of catching the golden autumnal leaves as they surrounded the path, but as you can see, I was probably a week or two early as the leaves hadn’t fully turned. In hindsight though, I was right to go when I did and you will read why shortly.

Weatherwise it was predominantly raining but the clouds were moving fast and every now and then the sun broke through and sent some of it’s gorgeous warm light through the trees, illuminating individual sections of the tunnel and when the light hit landed in the right place further down the path, a focal point appeared and the composition came together beautifully.

As I stood there towards the end of the tunnel, in between taking photos or cover from the rain, I found myself deep in thought, thinking about the ancient road, the people that would have walked it over the years going all the way back to Roman times. It was strange feeling nostalgic for a time I was never a part of but I got a real sense of the history here which, assuming this path survives for generations to come, I guess in a small way, I’m now a part of.

It was getting a bit later in the morning and having already taken a few photos without anyone on the path, it was starting to see a bit more footfall and amongst the few people out for their morning walk, this man walking his dogs caught my attention. Together, they looked at home in this rural scene so I decided to photograph them walking through the tunnel of trees. I didn’t have much time so I pre-focused on a point further down the path where the sunlight was shining through and I waited for them to arrive there, keeping my fingers crossed the light hung around for the few extra seconds I needed to take the photo.

I was already working hard to keep my shutter speed on the faster side as I was trying to avoid too many blurry leaves as they moved in the wind but it was pretty dark down there so I had to open my aperture as wide as this lens would go to let in as much light as possible and with an ISO of 1000, I managed to get it down to 1/50th of a second which was just about ok to keep the man and his dogs acceptably sharp.

Thankfully the light remained in the right spot and with my settings dialled in, it all came together and I took the shot you can see here.

As I mentioned before, it was still a little early in the season to catch those vibrant autumnal colours but shortly after this day, we had long periods of wind and rain and the moment the leaves turned yellow, they were blown off the trees. So, in hindsight, I’m glad I went there when I did as it turns out that was probably as good as I was going to get last year.

With the colours of autumn around the corner, I will probably visit again in a few weeks and I’m keeping my fingers firmly crossed for milder weather so that the leaves can hang on just a little bit longer for me.

Until next Monday.

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.

Woodland Brook | Weekly Photo #121

Before I get stuck in with this week’s photo, a bit of housekeeping. I know urban cityscape photography doesn’t particularly fit the woodland theme of this week’s photo but nevertheless and as promised, I published the first of my two-part blog which covered a photo walk I took in London a week or two ago. In part one, I take a walk along the Thames with my single camera and 23mm lens combo during a beautiful sunrise where I was gifted some wonderful golden light. Just hit the link or click on the thumbnail below to read the post, after this one of course :-)

I’ll be posting part two over the next week where I will be sharing how I configure the presets on my Fujifilm camera so, with one quick turn of a dial, my expose settings are set and I can focus on taking pictures without having to adjust the settings for each photo. And no, it’s not set to auto…hehe. Keep an eye out for that post on my blog here.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 15mm | 1/5th Second | f/8 | ISO320

Back in late Spring, I went for a walk in my local forest in a bid to capture some of the vibrant spring greens at a location I had come across on a previous visit some months before. On that previous occasion, I followed the same path along this brook during a cold, foggy morning and took this photo here which I called Cascading Brook.

Coming across this spot along the river I liked that there was a bit of foreground interest with the small waterfall and exposed roots on the near bank. The bend in the stream also worked well as it leads the eye around the frame, finishing at the fallen tree in the background which acts as a bit of a focal point, framed by the more conventional but equally important upright trees to the left and right of it.

Having only visited once before where the wintry woodland was expectedly dormant, I didn’t know how much life there would be on this occasion and although the woodland floor was still quite bare, there was still enough vibrancy in the fresh leaves to help tell the story of the time of year this photo was taken.

I perched the tripod right on the edge of the brook and mounted my wide-angle 10-24mm lens on the camera. I needed the wider focal length so I could include both the small cascade in the foreground and the fallen tree in the background without them being too close to the edge of the frame. Once my composition was right, I mounted my circular polarizing filter which I knew would cut some of the reflections from the water and add more pop to those already vibrant green leaves.

Back in Lightroom, I followed my usual workflow but in addition, I softened the image a little by reducing the clarity as I felt the overall look of the photo was too sharp and crisp for my taste. I also wanted to reduce the reddish tones in the rusty looking water as it was too distracting. I did this using an adjustment brush, selecting just the water and simply reduced the saturation in that area.

Having visited the woodland a few times in the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed the leaves are now starting to turn, which means just one thing. Autumn colours are just around the corner so, I’m sure I’ll be busy in the coming weeks exploring the autumnal woodlands with my camera and if I take anything I like, I’ll be sure to share it sometime in the future.

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.

A London Photo Walk Part One | Sunrise

A few weeks ago, I posted on my Weekly Photo blog that I was in a bit of a creative slump. Although I was putting the same amount of effort in, the photos I was taking were often average and my keeper rate was really low. I needed to change things up a bit.

I’ve been enjoying photographing the landscapes and woodlands around Sussex and Surrey over the last year to 18 months but I was sorely missing my regular trips into London. So, with the city now opening up again and, in an attempt to shake free from this state where I lacked creative inspiration, I got up early and caught the first train into the city.

Like many landscape photographers, when I head out with the camera, I tend to take a full camera bag with me. It holds my wide, standard and telephoto zoom lenses, my batteries, filters, tripod, etc. Needless to say, it gets a little heavy and although I don’t normally mind lugging it around with me, I do on occasion like to shed the load, taking just a small camera and lens out with me and that’s exactly what I did for this photo walk.

Armed with my small Fujifilm X-T30 and 23mm f/2 prime lens, I left the train at London Bridge and headed over towards the river, stopping along the way to grab a shot of the view along the walkway, flanked by buildings that frame Tower Bridge at the end.

I spent some time taking pictures around More London Estate using the lines, shapes and even reflections on offer there. The light was just piercing through the thin clouds creating a soft, hazy light, which is right up my street. I personally struggle when the contrast in scenes is too strong and much prefer to photograph in softer light which, if you follow either my urban or natural landscape work, you’ll probably see it as a theme throughout.

Having taken a few photos close to Tower Bridge at More London, a wandered west along the river towards London Bridge which hosts one of my favourite views of this fine city. I can rarely pass this spot without hopping up onto the bridge to take a photo and this was no exception. With this beautiful defused golden light illuminating this iconic view, there was no way I was going to walk on by without taking the photo.

Paying close attention to the position of HMS Belfast in relation to Tower Bridge, I made sure to line it up centrally between the towers to avoid any overlapping, keeping that area clean, ensuring the recognisable silhouette stood out over there in the distance.

I also had a decision to make regarding the exposure. With the bright sun just off to the left of this scene below, I chose to expose for the highlights, allowing them to clip just a little in the brightest area close to the sun rendering the overall photo a little underexposed which I knew could be sorted out later in post. With the sun being the brightest thing you’ll ever see, allowing it to clip (render white in the photo) is ok in my book as long as it looks natural.

With this shot in the bag, I went on my way, continuing along the river towards Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge.

I spent some time taking some pictures of the various views to be had from Bankside, just in front of the famous Tate Modern Museum. With the sun rising quickly, I was conscious that the light may soon become too harsh so I upped my pace a little, crossing the Millennium Bridge towards St Paul’s Cathedral as I continued to find and photograph the various compositions, some classic, others unique (to me) as I went.

After crossing the bridge, reaching the north bank of the river, I took advantage of the low tide and went down to the riverside where I took some more photos looking east towards The Shard and all of that gorgeous light.

Finishing up for the morning and part one of this London photo walk, I ended up on Queen Victoria Street which is just along the road from St Paul’s Cathedral. This spot provides a great view of the city near Bank station with 22 Bishopsgate towering in the background.

Along with the photos I took during a sunset walk along the Thames, in part two of this blog, I’ll be sharing how I set up my camera for shoots like this so I can focus on taking pictures rather than camera settings.

Stay tuned!

Trevor.

Urban Gold | Weekly Photo #120

Last week, after feeling a little uninspired with my photography, I decided to leave my heavy bag at home and head into London, a city I love to photograph and walk my favourite route along the Thames. Taking with me my Fujifilm X-T30 camera and 23mm f/2 prime lens, I took a walk with this lightweight setup along the South Bank from Tower Bridge to the Tate Modern museum and then across to St Paul’s.

It’s such a popular stretch of the river and I’ve photographed it hundreds of times, taking in the iconic views as well as seeking out some of the less obvious angles and vantage points. During this visit, I headed out before and after work, walking in opposite directions snapping away as I went. I ended up with quite a few photos that day and I’ve decided to share some of them across two on-location blog posts over the next week or two. So, keep an eye out for those.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm F2 | 23mm | 1/280th Second | f/5.6 | ISO160

Starting off at More London, near Tower Bridge, I wandered along the river and absolutely couldn’t pass by London Bridge without hopping on and photographing this famous view of Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast. I’ve shared a couple of photos from here in previous weekly photo blogs. Read more about them by selecting clicking on one of the photos below.

#55 FOGGY LONDON

#64 LONDON’S BURNING

There was a slight haze in the air and with the sun being up for around 45 minutes, it was just high enough to cast this beautifully defused golden light across the scene. It was just magical to witness and with the relative pre-rush our quiet, I was reminded why this is by far my favourite time to be in the city.

In terms of composition, I like the texture in the water far more than the featureless sky, so I placed the horizon in the upper half of the frame to avoid including too much empty space. I also paid close attention to the position of HMS Belfast in relation to Tower Bridge, making sure it lined up centrally between the towers to avoid any overlapping, keeping that area clean and ensure it stood out over there in the distance.

Next, the exposure. I decided not to bracket any of my photos as I wanted to keep things nice and simple during this photo outing so with the bright sun just off to the left of this scene, I focused on the highlights, allowing them to clip just a little in the brightest area close to the sun rendering the overall photo a little underexposed which could be sorted out later in post. With the sun being the brightest thing you’ll ever see, allowing it to clip (render white in the photo) is ok in my book as long as it looks natural.

With the composition and exposure all set, I took the shot.

As I mentioned, I have a bunch of photos from my day in London that I plan to share this week but, in the meantime, here’s a post from last year when I took my small Fujifilm X-T30 camera and 35mm prime combo out, following a similar route along the Thames at sunrise.

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.

Exposed | Weekly Photo #119

Last week, I talked about how I was in a bit of a creative slump with my photography and was struggling to feel inspired by the photos I was taking. In the post, I mentioned how some people when in the same position will put the camera away and physically step away from it all while they recharge their creative battery. Others including myself may continue to get out to the places they like to shoot, mentally stepping away to take the pressure off but keep the camera close enough, just in case an opportunity presents itself.

Well, this week I did just that. Leaving most of my kit at home, I headed to my favorite city in the world with just a single camera and lens in my bag and explore London without any pressure on myself to take a single shot.

For those that have known me for a while, London is where I started taking photos, it is where my passion for cityscape photography began and I just love being up there, especially on a warm summer’s day and although I would have been fine with an empty memory card, by the end of the day, my card was full and I had a great time snapping away as I walked around this familiar place.

Although I’m not there yet, the time I spent in London went a long way towards getting my photographic mojo back! I plan to share the photos I took in a dedicated blog post very soon so keep an eye out for that!

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 12mm | 1.5 Seconds | f/10 | ISO400

A few weeks ago I took this photo on a foggy morning on my local woodland. The conditions were perfect for adding a bit of atmosphere to the lush green, early summer foliage and I took no time at all spotting this composition on a bank, close to where I was walking.

What initially caught my attention were the exposed roots of these tall beech trees which look to me like skeletal feet at the bottom of a huge pair of legs belonging to a giant bird-like creature high above me, clinging onto the bank, claws dug into the ground. Yeah, sometimes I let my imagination run free but it’s all good fun.

With those strong roots and vibrant greens in the misty background, I decided to stop and compose the shot. Getting low and somewhat close with my wide-angle 10-24mm lens, my aim was to make the exposed roots the clear subject in the frame with everything else playing a supporting role. Adjusting the composition by moving left and right, I wanted to keep the roots towards the left of the frame while ensuring any overlapping trees in the scene were kept to a minimum. Overlapping trees can often disrupt the flow of a woodland composition as the aim is usually to simplify the normally chaotic scene in front of the camera and one way to do this is to ensure there is a nice separation between trees where possible.

With my camera lined up, I mounted my circular polarising filter to cut out the reflective glare on the leaves and then dialled in my settings to take the shot.

Back in post, I adjusted the tones to bring out some of the colour in the woodland floor and give the greens a little punch. I then took the photo into Photoshop to add a touch of glow to the brightest areas using the Orton effect and then back to Lightroom for the finishing touches. The areas at the very top and bottom of the image weren’t adding much to the photo and I feel it looks stronger in a 2:1 letterbox aspect ratio.

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.

Veterans | Weekly Photo #118

Photographically speaking, I’m in a bit of a slump. It feels like such a long time since I’ve stood behind the camera feeling that buzz of excitement that I’ve captured a banger and can’t wait to get it home and see the photo on the big screen or maybe even printed. It seems every time I head out at the moment, the conditions are dull and uninspiring so I’m really having to dig deep to get even an average looking photo. As a result, I’m lacking inspiration and not feeling much love for my photography at the moment.

But what to do? Well, one thing I’m a lot better at these days is reminding myself that “it’s just photography”. I do it for the love of it, not because I have to. This helps remove any unnecessary pressure I put on myself while I’m out in the field with my camera. Next up, I remind myself that this is just a natural process and all creatives will, at some point go through this and they will either wait for the slump to pass on its own, or like me, just remove the pressure to get the camera out and just get out there and enjoy the great outdoors and just be there, ready for when inspiration hits once again.

I appreciate that’s not a particularly positive opening to this week’s blog but I want to keep this blog as open and honest as I can and having been through many peaks and troughs with my own photography over the years, a veteran if you will, I wanted to share with you how I tackle these inevitable slumps by removing any pressure on myself to take photos, being content with just being out there exploring, surrounded by mother nature.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 28mm | 1.5 Seconds | f/8 | ISO400

If I’m in a trough right now, then back in June when I took this photo, I think that was more of a peak. Morning after morning I had beautiful conditions to photograph the woodland and although I couldn’t make the most of it on every occasion (I still consider myself a woodland photography novice) I did manage to grab a healthy crop of photos nonetheless.

This photo was taken in a National Trust woodland in Kent, just 25 minutes from where I live. It’s not particularly large but with a nice mix of trees and being rather exposed up on the Kent weald it gets its fair share of the changeable weather from misty mornings and if last winter is anything to go by, plenty of snowfall.

After starting off in the eastern side of the woodland, the fog was so thick and the foliage so dense, I didn’t have enough light or visibility to seek out any useful compositions. I wandered around for a good hour, hoping something would catch my eye, but this part of the woodland was giving nothing away that morning so I decided to change things up and head across to the western edge in the hope of something different. The western side of the woodland is a little more exposed and has more open areas which I hoped would allow more light to shine through and help with finding a nice composition.

I decided to head to this spot as I had photographed it before during the autumn and I really liked the strong, interesting shapes of these veteran trees that appear to stand guard on the edge of a clearing. As I arrived, I was welcomed by this beautiful scene with hazy light shining through the thinning fog, creating this fantastic soft light illuminating the side of the trees. Things were looking up so out came the camera and tripod and I started to dial in the composition.

I really like the depth in this scene created by the mist on the left-hand side and the trees getting gradually softer as they get further away from the camera. That along with the strong, partly silhouetted shapes of the trees to the right, I dialled in my camera settings and got to work. I took two or three different compositions in the end and this is one of my favourites from the morning’s shoot.

Until next week (where I hope my slump will have improved somewhat).

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.

Into The Void | Weekly Photo #117

Boy, do I miss spending time in London. I’ve visited a handful of times in the last few months but nowhere near as much as I’d like. This is predominantly due to the various lockdowns and restrictions we’ve all been subject to but more recently, while I’ve had the freedom to venture into the city, I’ve chosen to focus my photography (excuse the pun!) on woodland and the natural landscape.

At first, this was due to necessity as I either needed to find something else to take photos of or I stopped altogether until this whole saga has blown over, but I’ve since grown increasingly fond of this new subject and although I’m not going to stop photographing London in the long term, I feel I still have lots more to do and improve upon while out taking photos in the woodland or along the Sussex coast.

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

This is a photo of London I’d been after for a while. I wanted to take a look up-photo of the high-rise buildings in the city on a foggy day and I actually came really close to getting it when I took this picture here back in March 2020. Unfortunately, on that day I wasn’t quick enough and the fog lifted as I was making my way into the city, but later the same year, it all came together.

After arriving in a foggy London at sunrise (although the sun was nowhere to be seen), I started off on London Bridge. I knew time was against me, but I just couldn’t resist spending a few minutes taking some atmospheric photos along the River Thames before heading into the city to capture that picture I had been hunting down for so long. You can see some of those photos in the blog post I’ve shared below.

Once on location and surrounded by these architectural giants, it was time to hastily set up the camera before the fog started to lift even further. I spread the tripod as low to the ground as possible and mounted my Fujifilm XT2 camera with a wide-angle 10-24mm lens. By getting as low as I could along with using the wide-angle lens, I could include as much of the surrounding buildings as possible, elongating those lines that draw the attention from the corners, all the way up and into the misty void above. I rotated the camera around, purposely placing the buildings into the corners which provided a much better composition to my eye.

With the camera so close to the ground, pointing directly up, even with an articulated screen, I had to get down low, almost laying down next to the camera to see what I was photographing. This is where having the Fujifilm X-series comes into its own as all of the main camera controls can be accessed through the analogue dials rather than digging through menus so even in awkward positions like this, I could still adjust my settings with relative ease. I must have looked a sight to the early commuters passing by as they headed into the surrounding offices but sometimes you’ve just got to ignore the strange looks when the photo you’ve been chasing for so long is on the cards.

I like the contrast offered by the darker foreground set against the bright foggy sky and along with the almost monochromatic look of the photo, it has a bit of a high key black and white feel to it which I think works quite well. My only real complaint (which I could do very little about) is the empty space up in the top left. I would have liked that building to be taller to help fill the space and add balance, but you can’t win them all!

As I mentioned above, I took a handful of photos while out in London on that foggy November morning and I shared more of them in this “on location” blog post I wrote below.

Whilst I’m still almost exclusively working from home, I suspect I will continue exploring and photographing the natural landscape but I suspect it won’t be long before I am needed back in the London office more regularly and I think it’s then that I will be back photographing the city more often, hopefully bringing with me some of the new skills and techniques I’ve picked up during this extended hiatus.

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.

Misty Path | Weekly Photo #116

I’ve been quite busy over the few weeks and although I’ve been out with the camera here and there, photography has had to take a bit of a back seat during this time. Towards the end of July, I spent a week with my family in the beautiful county of Cornwall, down on England’s south coast. Although it was predominantly a family holiday, I did get to take the “proper” camera out for a couple of sunrise shoots both in the woodland to photograph some small waterfalls and along the coast to capture a snippet of Cornwall’s fantastic shoreline.

Shortly after returning from a rather active week in Cornwall, we travelled to Crete for 2 weeks of r&r in the sun. Although I’ve been to Greece a few times in the past, it was our first time visiting Crete and what little we saw of the island, it was incredibly beautiful. I rarely travel without my camera and this was no different so again, as I did in Cornwall, I ventured out a few times to take a few landscape photos while I was there.

I have lots of photos to process but I hope to share one of two of them here soon enough.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 12mm | 0.4 Seconds | f/9 | ISO400

Back to this week’s photo.

When I started taking my woodland photography a bit more seriously, I avoided including footpaths in my photos. I felt all my woodland photos should be 100% natural, unspoiled, and without evidence of man. Although that's still the case for many locations I photograph, I quickly realised that this didn’t always tell the full story of the woodland I was in and how not only are they important to the plants and animals that live there, but these spaces are also important to people too, and if we look after them properly, the subtle marks we leave on them, such as these trodden pathways are also important to include when telling the full story. These days, I can’t get enough of them as compositionally, they work well to lead your eye through the frame and into the photo.

I took this photo in a local woodland just minutes from my home. It’s a varied woodland, set upon a hill along the North Downs (AONB) and although not particularly high (250ft), it does seem to get its fair share of misty/foggy conditions when the clouds are low. Being so close to my home and with a good chance of mist and fog, I often visit this woodland with the camera. Here are a couple of photos I’ve previously shared from this location:

• Garlic Hill, taken back in the spring.

• Chaotic Rhythm, a tangled, misty scene I photographed back in the winter.

On this wet, foggy day back in late spring, this group of trees in the distance caught my eye. I liked how they looked surrounded by the mist, so I decided to set the camera up, using the path as a part of the composition leading the eye towards the trees. Stepping off the footpath to the left, to allow the path to enter the frame on the bottom right, I felt there was too much visual weight on the top right-hand side caused by the larger tree closest to the camera. I needed something to balance the composition and I solved this by getting low to the ground to include these vibrant green leaves on the bottom left corner which did the job nicely.

With the camera on the tripod around a foot off the ground, I mounted my 10-24mm wide-angle lens. I chose to go wide for this shot as the leaves in the foreground would appear bigger and more of the footpath would be included in the frame to the right. I also used a circular polariser filter as the reflections created by the wet leaves were a little too distracting and this filter is perfect for cutting out those reflections while at the same time, making the colours pop.

With the foreground so close to the lens, even with a smaller aperture, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get the shot acceptability sharp from front to back, so a focus stack was needed. I dialled in the settings (see under the photo above) and took three or four separate shots, each one focused on a different part of the image.

Back in post, I used Photoshop to blend the mages together using the “Auto-blend layers” option, creating a single photo that is sharp from front to back. There was a bit more to it, as some fine-tuning was needed to correct some issues with the blend as it was a bit gusty and the branches had moved a bit between exposures, but it was straight forward enough, and I’m really pleased with how this one turned out.

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.

Clifton Bridge | Weekly Photo #115

Last year, I spent a long weekend with my family and close friends in Bristol which, for those not familiar with where that is, it’s a city in the southwest of England. Although it was a family trip, I did manage to sneak out with the “proper camera” a couple of times, one being to photograph the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge. Being a spur of the moment decision to head out, leaving no time to plan, this Grade I listed building, a symbol of Bristol often seen on postcards was an obvious choice.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 20mm | 8 Seconds | f/10 | ISO200

Once parked and on location, I hunted around for a good vantage point and eventually went with this one here which places the Clifton Tower on the left-hand third with the bridge deck heading off into the distance across the Avon Gorge. With what would end up as the best light fast approaching, I hastily set up my tripod and camera and carefully lined up my composition. With so much dynamic range between the bright cloudless sky on the horizon and the dark shadows down the gorge, I needed to bracket the exposures to make sure I captured as much detail as possible, which I could then blend together later in post.

As I stood there firing off the shutter, it dawned on me that nothing was crossing the bridge. Not one car or pedestrian had crossed in the 10 or so minutes I’d been standing there. It turns out I had picked the perfect time to photograph the bridge free of vehicle and foot traffic as it was closed for routine maintenance. What a stroke of luck!

Although the final photo looked ok, there’s actually a lot more going un under the hood. Not only is this a bracketed exposure blend, but it’s also a time blend, as after I’d merged the 3 bracketed exposures together and finished up with the edit, the photo was still looking a bit flat and to my eyes, was missing a finishing touch. That’s where the time blend comes in.

Back on location and not long after I took the three bracketed photos, the light levels dipped and the streetlights on the bridge turned on. During this time I had continued to shoot, keeping the camera in the exact same spot meaning I could seamlessly blend the lights into the bracketed exposure I took a few minutes before which worked really well and injected a touch of much-needed life into the final image.

During this trip to Bristol, I made one other trip out with the camera and paid an early morning visit to Burnham-on-Sea to photograph the well-known lighthouse on the beach. Although the tide was out, I had some beautiful sunrise conditions with some pastel magenta colours in the sky. I’ll be posting that photo here very soon.

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.

Museum Ship | Weekly Photo #114

I’ve mentioned before that when I take photos of subjects that look like they have a story to tell, I almost always do a little research to learn more about their history. I say “almost always” as I’ve photographed HMS Belfast numerous times and shared one or two photos of her on this blog but this is the first time I’ve gone to the effort of actually reading up on this Town-class light cruiser’s epic journey, from her launch in 1938, her life in the Royal Navy to eventually docking here, along the Thames in 1971 and seeing out her retirement as a floating war museum.

You may notice I refer to HMS Belfast as “she” or “her”, here’s why: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-do-ships-have-a-gender

HMS Belfast: A very brief history.

After her launch, HMS Belfast was almost immediately thrust into action after the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1939, she was struck by a German mine and was seriously considered being scrapped, however, there was a change of heart and she sat out of the war for 2+ years while receiving extensive repair and upgrades to firepower, radar and armour and off she went again in 1942 to play her part. Involved in operations to escort convoys to the Soviet Union and playing an important role in the Battle of North Cape, arguably her most notable involvement was in the 1944 Operation Overlord where she supported the famous Normandy Landings.

After seeing out the Second World War in the Pacific and later involved in the Korean War in the early ’50s, HMS Belfast was put in reserve in 1963. The warship’s final battle was for her own survival as in 1968 the government decided to scrap the ageing warship. Thankfully, after much negotiation, in 1971 the ship was eventually handed over to the HMS Belfast Trust and moved to this spot along the River Thames and opened up to the public. HMS Belfast became a branch of the Imperial War Museum in 1978 and to this date remains one of the more popular tourist attractions in London.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belfast

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF18-55mm | 20mm | 3.7 Seconds | f/11 | ISO160

It was a fantastic morning for photography in London. From the moment I got off the train and walked over to More London, I knew there was potential for some nice sunrise cityscapes of London. I spent some time over there photographing Tower Bridge using one of the sculptures that belonged to the “Full Stop” art installation as a foreground. You can see the final result of that photo and more about the art installation here: London “Full Stop”.

Finished at More London, I walked west along the Thames to this spot, which provides a great view of 3 London icons, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, and HMS Belfast. At this point, the sun had risen and although there was still plenty of cloud about, some sunlight was shining through and lighting up the side of the ship, helping it to stand out amongst the shadows in the foreground and be the main point of interest in the composition.

I was travelling light that morning, with only my Fujifilm X-T30 camera, 18-55mm standard zoom lens and screw-in 10-stop ND filter and my small Manfrotto Pixi tabletop tripod (see all of my camera gear here). I used the 10-stop filter to smooth the water a little and the small tripod rested on the ground to keep the camera steady.

Shooting fully manual as I usually do in these situations, I dialled in the aperture and shutter speed, keeping the exposure as bright as possible to bring out the details in those dark shadows but at the same time being careful not to blow out the highlights (also called exposing to the right or ETTR), I went ahead and took the shot.

Sunrise is by far and away my favourite time to be in London with my camera but during the summer, it gets light long before my train arrives in the city so it will be a few months before I get to experience it once again and I can’t wait!

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.

Cold and Alone | Weekly Photo #113

One from the archives this week. In fact, this is now the oldest photo I have in my collection of landscape photos. It was taken back in February 2017 and I know that’s only a few years old but I only really started to take photography seriously in 2016 and at that time, my lens was almost exclusively pointed at London’s epic cityscape so I rarely ventured into the natural landscape and when I did, the photos I took back then weren’t particularly good.

Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 36mm | 1/30th Second | f/7.1 | ISO200

In 2017, unless I was heading into the city, I rarely drove far to take photos which is why it comes as no surprise that this photo was taken in a field just 5 minutes from my house. Although I wasn’t big into photographing natural landscapes at the time, I had a bit of a fascination with this local field and still do. It has a few interesting trees, used to grow a variety of different crops and during golden hour and sunset, it provides some great photo opportunities, just like this one here.

One cold February evening back in 2017, I was driving home through the narrow country lanes that run alongside this field and from the bottom of the hill I spotted this tree, standing alone in the landscape at the top and with these high wispy clouds creating an interesting backdrop, I decided to pop home, grab the camera and head back to the field.

Fast forward 20 minutes and I’m back, tripod up and my since retired Fujifilm X-T10 mounted on top. It was a straightforward, almost graphical composition and the strong silhouette of the lone, leafless tree at the top of the hill provided it with a fantastic focal point. With the horizon subtly rising towards the right-hand side, to my eye, keeping the tree on the left-hand side would produce a more balanced image. With the sun already set, the sky was filled with these subtle pastel colours which complemented the greens in the foreground nicely and with everything lined up and settings punched in, I fired the shutter. Being a rather cold February evening, as soon as I had the shot I wanted in the bag, I didn’t hang around. I packed up and made my way back home.

One mistake I did make was focusing on the tree in the background but setting a relatively small aperture. This led to a slightly soft foreground. It’s not so bad that it ruins the photo but it does bug me a bit, even to this day. Nowadays, I would know to close down the aperture a few more stops, check the image on the back of the camera a little more closely before leaving or I might even focus bracket but as I said it was all still a bit new to me and mistakes like this were more common back then.

I’ve visited this field numerous times since. The last time was just the other week and I managed to capture another lone tree but this time with a dark stormy rain cloud over the field which was covered in vibrant yellow rapeseed. I really like the photo and for sure, I’ll share it with you sometime soon.

I’m thankful for having a couple of spots like this close to home meaning I don’t have to drive an hour or two to take a photo and I can react quickly to changes in the weather, visiting time and again to scratch that photographic itch.

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.