Monday 30 May 2016

Late sun through leaves

These images were a quick grab as I noticed the evening sun slanting through leaves on my patio, and knew that the light would change very fast.




Tuesday 17 May 2016

Paeonies

There's something about paeonies that makes them very difficult to photograph well. I think it's to do with the glossy surface layer of the petals and the way that light bounces around inside that layer as well as being reflected off it.

This time last year I attempted to get photographs while the paeony in my front garden was in flower. I failed abysmally, as I got red flares off the petals whatever I tried. I was somewhat mollified when the TV coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, around the same time, had images of paeonies in the gardens there, all showing the red flares that I'd struggled with. If the professionals with their expensive and sophisticated cameras were struggling, then perhaps my efforts weren't so bad after all!

The first flower is now out in my garden this year, so I've tried again. This time they are slightly better - photographed late in the afternoon under cloud cover. These two are almost presentable. They were fairly quickly done, hand-held, on my little Sony compact, so they encourage me to get out the big camera and the tripod and try again over the next couple of weeks as more flowers come out.



Monday 16 May 2016

Farewell to Gormley's 'LAND'

In June last year I posted some images taken in Lowsonford, Warwickshire. The Landmark Trust was celebrating its 50th anniversary and had commissioned sculptor Antony Gormley to create an installation - 'LAND' - consisting of five sculptures, one of which was at Lowsonford.

Last weekend the year-long installation was dismantled and removed. I went there late on Saturday evening to take some more photos before the sculpture was taken away. I was surprised at the lack of visible weathering on the metal after 12 months outdoors.








Tuesday 10 May 2016

Last of the bluebells

Since this expedition, we've had 24 hours (and counting) of intermittent heavy rain, so that may spell the end of the bluebell display this year. They won't be gone completely,but they will start going over.








Bluebells at dusk - close-ups

I've been persisting with the bluebells! This time, early evening, soft diffuse light, a tripod . . . but, unfortunately, high ISO as a persistent breeze moving the flowers about ruled out long exposures.







Sunday 8 May 2016

Bluebells too

After massed bluebells in the woods, I took a few close-up shots in my garden






And one anemone (which I think I like the best of all the images in this post):


Back to the woods

So, here is a conundrum: I have my screens calibrated, so everything should look the same however I view it. I export photos specifically for viewing on the web . . . but of course I don't know exactly what Blogger does as it imports them. Here are some other images from my trip to the woods in overly bright sunshine. On my laptop they seem to me to be over-contrasty, over-saturated . . . but on this website, on my desktop screen, they look OK - I'd be very interested to know how they seem to you, especially as compared to my previous post.











Saturday 7 May 2016

Attempting bluebells

The bluebell woods near my home have been in fine show . . . but have proved frustrating to try to photograph. When I was able to go and spend time there, there was still strong sunlight through the trees, creating harsh and difficult contrasts. At a time when I thought the light would be softer, and I was free to go there, we had thunderstorms!

The photos I did get were difficult to process and - even more frustratingly - they look somewhat insipid on this website, after I'd laboured to get them appropriately coloured and saturated on my laptop.

So, if the heavy rain hasn't ruined all the flowers, I hope to get one more chance if there's better light to work with at a possible time for me. If that doesn't come together, then I shall have to wait until next year!






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