After evaluating the different options I had for my exterior task I decided to try landscape photography, after moving from the city to Stalybridge which is on the edge of the countryside I soon found there's some beautiful places right on my doorstep.
After searching for photographers I came across the above picture of a Loch in Scotland by David W Robertson a Inspirational landscape photographer from Scotland, I loved it immediately. My eyes were led from the front of the image to the boat then from there to the horizon. I loved the colour in this image and that for me gave it its edge. Trying to recreate this picture was easier than I thought and I got it right after a few pictures although mine had had no interesting foreground image as he did of the boat I still really like my photo. I created my photo firstly by planning. I needed to know the right time to be at the spot, in my case before the sun was coming up. Focusing was going to be a problem, so I decided to turn my ISO up to its max on my camera that's 25600 ISO. This let lots of light in so I could see how much to focus. Then after trial and error I got my image. After that the sun was coming up, I got some more great ones but this was as close as I could get to his Image. I didn't change any of the settings in camera raw but what I did do is use the spot removal tool and the reduce noise filter because I had to take out some of the noise and hot pixels that taking pictures at high ISO will create.
I was first drawn into Glynn Wards pictures when I came across this photo of a canal. As you can see from his picture the sky is beautiful and the clouds add depth to the picture. Your eyes are drawn to the boat then down the canal to the next boat then as you look further you see the depth the clouds make and the reflections that he caught perfectly. Glynn is a Landscape photographer from the UK for further information you can find his website here: http://www.glynnwardphotography.co.uk
Katharine Lindsay is a fine art photographer from the UK. She has a large portfolio and takes pictures of a wide range of subjects including landscape and emotion, environmental portrait, and self-portraiture. The picture of hers that caught my eye was 1 of the Oxford canal the colours dazzled me as did the composition the tree is in the right rule of thirds, the horizon is in the top 2/3 so its very pleasing to the eye. Many of her prints are available under the creative commons for more information visit her site at:
http://ktlindsayphotography.smugmug.com
Obviously I had little time for composition in this shot. The pigeons were on the ground as I changed my camera for fast shutter speed opened my aperture to let more light in and upped my ISO a little to let more light in since I had to use shorter shutter speeds to catch the moment. My dog then, as always ran ahead and scared them before I could get perfect composition but in this case I think the composition worked well as you can see the path and the water is in the bottom 2/3 so it conforms to the rule of thirds.
This is arguably 1 of my best composed pictures from my set. The rule of thirds is present in both the paths to the sides and also the sky is in the top third. If I was to take this picture again I would of taken it on a nicer day as compared to my other pictures it is very dull I would also move slightly to the right so the clock tower was more in the center of the lock although this doesn't conform with the rule of thirds the rule of thirds is not a rule its a suggestion of thirds and you'd probably agree that the clock in this case would look better in the middle.
Barges what can I say about this picture? Well, I was very disappointed I took this picture and thought it was a good one. I didn't see anything out of focus maybe partly due to the D40's low resolution screen and/or the sun shining on the screen. After opening it on my computer I noticed that it was a bit out of focus this could have been avoided if I had used a tripod. On most of my project I did use one on this occasion I didn't as I was just going shopping and didn't want to carry it around with me. Composition for this shot was simple I was to forget any rule of thirds because with reflections that isn't such a problem It was surprisingly hard to get boat shots on this stretch of the canal so had to use this even if a little out of focus. If I was to take this photo again I would take more time and take a tripod or use a faster shutter speed.
After evaluating my pictures I decided to replace a few of them as they didn't fit my theme and the composition wasn't as tight as had been. So I went out and took some more, this picture being one of them. I decided to use this one because I liked the colors and how they complemented each other. I also liked the composition and how the eye travels from the the lock gate then follows the canal and path to the bridge then above the bridge you can see a strange bridge that looks to be going over the canal. A further study of it found that it was a conveyor belt that fed coal over the canal to the power plant that is no longer there. There's a lot going on in this picture but I think that only makes it more interesting.
I liked the conveyor belt so much that I decided to use it in my next shot as well but closer, when walking through this small tunnel I could see that this tunnel was a great frame for my picture as you can see now the conveyor belt is closer you can see that half of it has been demolished. I love the composition of this picture as the conveyor belt was the object I wanted people to be looking at. I was glad with the way the canal leads your eye straight to it. I also liked the reflections in the water, the blue in the sky and of course being a lover of clouds I loved the clouds.
The sky was just how I wanted it in this picture and I think it compliments the rest of it as I have been after a sky as beautiful as this for a long time. This picture had to be perfect and I took around 10 pictures to make sure I got it right. The biggest problem I had was in between these trees its quite dark compared to the sky, so getting a balance between the highlights in the trees and keeping the sky baby blue was a real challenge. The composition for this picture was, I think good. I tried different positions and in the end walked back a few meters so as to see more bend in the canal and the reflection of the weird naked winter trees in the canal. If I was to do this again I would make it much easier on myself by using a graduated neutral density filter. I read about this before starting my task but due to time and money constraints I couldn't get one for this task, overall I think this picture worked well.
This is the 3rd picture I changed from my presentation I think this picture worked better for me than of the ducks. This took a few shots to get right I wanted the suns rays to be as long as possible so in order to do so I set my F stop to F22 not to let in too much light that would blow out the rays and most of the trees. I wanted to try and get some detail and although shadows were unavoidable I didn't want a silhouette. I think I achieved that and am happy that even with the settings set for the sun I managed to get a nice blue sky and some nice colours as well.
This tunnel is called scout tunnel its 616 ft and is carved out of solid rock I had never been this far and was in awe when I saw it and had to use it in my project. Taking this shot took a few attempts but the overall affect was one I liked. I used a long shutter speed of 30 seconds with an open aperture, I also used a flash as to let in lots of light with minimal noise and natural colours. I also tilted the camera forward a little I was trying to make the tunnel look longer but I think that wasn't achieved but I do like that the tunnel looks like its moving up rather than just straight. I'll learn from this and maybe use this idea again for another project. As far as composition goes I like the way I positioned the camera looking down the fence your eyes can follow this to the end of the tunnel where the light is on the bottom and right third giving it a good overall composition.
My last picture and one of my favourites it is again in scout tunnel but this time I wanted to use the tunnel as a frame and also get some detail inside. I like the way the reflection in the water makes the tunnel look rounder. To get this affect I metered for the outside then adjusted my shutter speed to get this effect.
I chose the order of my pictures so the viewer could walk down the canal with me. I chose to have the water and the sky in them and all were taken in the morning to have a consistent presentation. If I was to do this again I would do them over a longer period of time, use a graduated neutral density filter, compose them better and most of all keep my fingers crossed for nice skies.
Research
His work can be bought on his website.
http://www.dwrobertson-photography.com/gal_loch_earn_sunrise.asp
http://www.dwrobertson-photography.com/gal_loch_earn_sunrise.asp
After searching for photographers I came across the above picture of a Loch in Scotland by David W Robertson a Inspirational landscape photographer from Scotland, I loved it immediately. My eyes were led from the front of the image to the boat then from there to the horizon. I loved the colour in this image and that for me gave it its edge. Trying to recreate this picture was easier than I thought and I got it right after a few pictures although mine had had no interesting foreground image as he did of the boat I still really like my photo. I created my photo firstly by planning. I needed to know the right time to be at the spot, in my case before the sun was coming up. Focusing was going to be a problem, so I decided to turn my ISO up to its max on my camera that's 25600 ISO. This let lots of light in so I could see how much to focus. Then after trial and error I got my image. After that the sun was coming up, I got some more great ones but this was as close as I could get to his Image. I didn't change any of the settings in camera raw but what I did do is use the spot removal tool and the reduce noise filter because I had to take out some of the noise and hot pixels that taking pictures at high ISO will create.
Nikon D5100 f/22 109 seconds ISO 800
(I decided not to use this picture as it didn't fit into my theme)
I was first drawn into Glynn Wards pictures when I came across this photo of a canal. As you can see from his picture the sky is beautiful and the clouds add depth to the picture. Your eyes are drawn to the boat then down the canal to the next boat then as you look further you see the depth the clouds make and the reflections that he caught perfectly. Glynn is a Landscape photographer from the UK for further information you can find his website here: http://www.glynnwardphotography.co.uk
Katharine Lindsay is a fine art photographer from the UK. She has a large portfolio and takes pictures of a wide range of subjects including landscape and emotion, environmental portrait, and self-portraiture. The picture of hers that caught my eye was 1 of the Oxford canal the colours dazzled me as did the composition the tree is in the right rule of thirds, the horizon is in the top 2/3 so its very pleasing to the eye. Many of her prints are available under the creative commons for more information visit her site at:
http://ktlindsayphotography.smugmug.com
My Final 10 Landscape Pictures
This image is one of my favourites the footpath sign draws the eye down the path I decided to use short depth of field so to have the path blurred and the sign in focus this also helped with the light because it was quite dark in-between the trees so opening the aperture also let more light in.
This is arguably 1 of my best composed pictures from my set. The rule of thirds is present in both the paths to the sides and also the sky is in the top third. If I was to take this picture again I would of taken it on a nicer day as compared to my other pictures it is very dull I would also move slightly to the right so the clock tower was more in the center of the lock although this doesn't conform with the rule of thirds the rule of thirds is not a rule its a suggestion of thirds and you'd probably agree that the clock in this case would look better in the middle.
Barges what can I say about this picture? Well, I was very disappointed I took this picture and thought it was a good one. I didn't see anything out of focus maybe partly due to the D40's low resolution screen and/or the sun shining on the screen. After opening it on my computer I noticed that it was a bit out of focus this could have been avoided if I had used a tripod. On most of my project I did use one on this occasion I didn't as I was just going shopping and didn't want to carry it around with me. Composition for this shot was simple I was to forget any rule of thirds because with reflections that isn't such a problem It was surprisingly hard to get boat shots on this stretch of the canal so had to use this even if a little out of focus. If I was to take this photo again I would take more time and take a tripod or use a faster shutter speed.
I liked the conveyor belt so much that I decided to use it in my next shot as well but closer, when walking through this small tunnel I could see that this tunnel was a great frame for my picture as you can see now the conveyor belt is closer you can see that half of it has been demolished. I love the composition of this picture as the conveyor belt was the object I wanted people to be looking at. I was glad with the way the canal leads your eye straight to it. I also liked the reflections in the water, the blue in the sky and of course being a lover of clouds I loved the clouds.
The sky was just how I wanted it in this picture and I think it compliments the rest of it as I have been after a sky as beautiful as this for a long time. This picture had to be perfect and I took around 10 pictures to make sure I got it right. The biggest problem I had was in between these trees its quite dark compared to the sky, so getting a balance between the highlights in the trees and keeping the sky baby blue was a real challenge. The composition for this picture was, I think good. I tried different positions and in the end walked back a few meters so as to see more bend in the canal and the reflection of the weird naked winter trees in the canal. If I was to do this again I would make it much easier on myself by using a graduated neutral density filter. I read about this before starting my task but due to time and money constraints I couldn't get one for this task, overall I think this picture worked well.
This is the 3rd picture I changed from my presentation I think this picture worked better for me than of the ducks. This took a few shots to get right I wanted the suns rays to be as long as possible so in order to do so I set my F stop to F22 not to let in too much light that would blow out the rays and most of the trees. I wanted to try and get some detail and although shadows were unavoidable I didn't want a silhouette. I think I achieved that and am happy that even with the settings set for the sun I managed to get a nice blue sky and some nice colours as well.
This tunnel is called scout tunnel its 616 ft and is carved out of solid rock I had never been this far and was in awe when I saw it and had to use it in my project. Taking this shot took a few attempts but the overall affect was one I liked. I used a long shutter speed of 30 seconds with an open aperture, I also used a flash as to let in lots of light with minimal noise and natural colours. I also tilted the camera forward a little I was trying to make the tunnel look longer but I think that wasn't achieved but I do like that the tunnel looks like its moving up rather than just straight. I'll learn from this and maybe use this idea again for another project. As far as composition goes I like the way I positioned the camera looking down the fence your eyes can follow this to the end of the tunnel where the light is on the bottom and right third giving it a good overall composition.
My last picture and one of my favourites it is again in scout tunnel but this time I wanted to use the tunnel as a frame and also get some detail inside. I like the way the reflection in the water makes the tunnel look rounder. To get this affect I metered for the outside then adjusted my shutter speed to get this effect.
I chose the order of my pictures so the viewer could walk down the canal with me. I chose to have the water and the sky in them and all were taken in the morning to have a consistent presentation. If I was to do this again I would do them over a longer period of time, use a graduated neutral density filter, compose them better and most of all keep my fingers crossed for nice skies.
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