Winter Leaves - Example 2 - 208, Theme 2, Nature, Winter leaves

During my Nature research I have been studying the work of Chris Herring and in particular his photographs of Autumn leaves. Liked the pic he took of the acorns amongst the leaves as it conveyed great depth and he very much uses the abstract nature of the shot to create an array of shapes, colours and textures.

Liked the composition and the "full" scene with plenty of focal points

The original picture

Was looking for an opportunity to produce a picture of my own to replicate this work and came across this opportunity in the garden. Sadly Autumn had passed and winter was very much upon us but that merely served to give the picture a different feel.

If anything think this picture is better as it has a greater depth due to the various shades of the leaves. the points of interest are provided by the varying tones and the delicate areas of snow.

Original picture taken with my 18/55mm lens and with a f stop of 5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/200
The ISO was set at 100
Very little post production needed other than the usual resizing and a slight colour adjustment.

Final Image



Warwick Castle - Example 1 - 208, Theme 2, Nature, Winter

On a very frosty day I happened to be in Warwick and had my camera with me. It was just before Xmas and the average daily temperature had not exceeded -8 deg C for many days.
Travelling out of the town I passed over the bridge and saw this spectaculer scene. Duly parked up and got my camera out and started shooting.
One of the photographers I have been studying as part of this theme is David Noton who lives in the West Country. His array of winter and in particular snow photographs is stunning. Tried to emulate his pictures with this shot by creating plenty of foreground interest and texture, good framing to the shot, a strong focal point and a large tonal range.

Shot taken with my 10-24 wide angle lens with f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/125.

Very little post production needed except the usual resizing and some cloning to remove the people

from the river bank whose presence is detracting the eye from the main focus

 

Very   

The final image is stunning.
Ironically after taking these images I did spot some similar images in the Daily Mail by the photographer David Burges who lives in Coventry. Apparently he was in Warwick/Kenilworth on the same day and took a series of picture which were published in the paper. I did e-mail him and asked him to comment on my set of pictures which he duly did and his notes are contained in my comments section.

Choosing Final Images Theme 2 - Nature

 Again from the hundreds of photos I have taken over the recent months I need to focus down to the final cut of 10. Again I will start with a good selection and attempt to reduce the set by natural means to achieve photos that sit comfortably together

Straight away there are several which can be removed. The Sea gull, several close ups of isolated flowers and buds. 

The images seem to already be falling into 2/3 categories. Some pics sit with snow, some landscapes and some berries.

Having now sorted roughly the groups it is clear that some of the pictures are not sitting comfortably with others. The Warwick landscape winter scenes have a good composition, perspective and colour range and sit well but there are only 3 of them. Likewise the winter leaves have a good colour range, perspective. But I particularly like the leaves on the snow. So I am ending with 3 groups as below

Black Swan

This chap appeared as I was leaving. Very curious and interested in what I was doing. Took several pics of him before found one I liked. Pleased with the detail and the colour. Image could have been sharper but then he wouldnt stand still.

Cornwall Sunset

Taken with my 75-300 lens, f/36 with 1/25 sec exposure. ISO 100

Recent trip to Cornwall found this interesting site to photo the sunset. Took several pictures with different lenses and settings to try out different results. This one worked the best as the time was just right. A good amount of interest in the foreground ( could have been brighter) and the sun disappearing over the hill between the two trees. The thirds rule looks good. The colour of the sky made the pic even more natural.