More Bales

There was some really nice light this evening so I dashed out to my nearest field that I knew had some hay bales in it. Nothing extraordinary really but it was nice to be out doing a landscape, I'm doing quite a lot of strobist type shots at present and hope to post some soon. As always with my landscapes I did a mono conversion and decided it was slightly better but there wasn't much in it. I used my trusty 3 stop ND grad filter but thought it was a bit strong so I brought the sky back about a stop using the local adjustment gradient in Lightroom. The exif was my safe 16mm, f/16, ISO 100, 1/6 sec, I forgot to take my infrared filter with me, must remember for next time.

Emley Moor Mast

I've recently been asked by a few people if I had any shots of Emley Moor Mast so I thought I would head up there and see what I could get. I did have a few older shots but wanted some new ones really. These were two of my favorites.

The first was my standard 16mm wide landscape that I like doing, with a 3 stop graduated filter to keep the sky from being blown out. I really liked the sunburst but wasn't a great fan of the bits of glare here and there so I had to clone out a couple of spots. I did have my polariser on which isn't much use into the sun, these add to the glare so I've only myself to blame. The second one was a telephoto landscape taken at 100mm, it has the effect of compressing the elements and obviously the mast is more prominent.

Landscapes Part 2

A similar one to yesterdays post with slightly different colours used during the mono conversion. I had to wait a while for the light to be right. Again processed in LR for clarity and spot removal, I really need to give the sensor a bit of a scrub! This one was taken in aperture priority, as most of my landscapes are, exposing for the land and using a 3 stop graduated filter to keep the clouds from blowing out.
The data was ISO100, f/16, 16mm 1/13 sec. Hopefully I'll process some lake shots today and resist the urge to turn them sepia!

Yorkshire Dales

Just got back from a few days in the Dales and the Lakes, not the greatest of conditions for landscape photos unfortunately, We did a nice walk around Buttermere taking in a few peaks. It was blowing a hurricane on the top of high stile so our descent was a bit hair raising. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm just bad at assessing risk, ironic considering I used to be a risk assessment consultant. Anyway, I got this one just north of Ingleton during a break in the clouds, I kept the sky under control with a neutral density graduated filter. The exif data was ISO100, 17mm 1/15 at f/16. Ingleborough is in the distance. The raw file was processed in Lightroom, adding a little clarity and a slight tone curve to increase the highlights. I burnt the clouds in CS3 and added a tinted BW adjustment layer.

Graduated Filters For Landscapes

Hi Folks, I've just been testing some new neutral density graduated filters and thought the comparison might make a good post for those considering buying some grads. I would say if you do a lot of landscape work, these things are essential. You can use HDR but it's extra work and results can be very hit and miss. Grads are basically rectangular bits of plastic that have a clear end and a shaded end. The shaded end is to compensate for the brightness of the sky, your brain does this automatically but cameras aren't that smart. You then expose for the land and if you have the right filter the sky should also expose properly instead of being 'blown out'. You can get 1, 2 & 3 stop filters, 3 being the darkest, and the one I used in this example. You normally have to buy a holder and an adapter ring to screw into the front of your lens. A firm called Cokin make reasonable filters, holders can be bought fairly cheaply off ebay. I actually started with hitech filters and would recommend them. Anyway these two photos were both taken using the same exposure, ISO100 f11 1/60 16mm (I wasn't going for an award winning shot so comments on composition etc aren't necessary) They are merely to show the effect of using grads.

Before
After