Homecoming
I have wanted to do a post for a little while now but for one reason or another I have not had enough content to constitute doing one. From bad weather, and work to a hectic social life and man-flu, many factors has contributed to this and has meant its taken until the middle of November to finally have some photos to discuss.
Clifton Suspension Bridge - 35mm F/1.4
Clifton Suspension Bridge (upstream) - 35mm F/1.4
Kicking things off then was one of those rare blue skied autumn days. I decided to take a trip over to Leigh Woods and follow the Avon trail back into bristol. This afforded me another unique view of the clifton suspension bridge from below it as well as looking back at it from further down river.
winter light casting strong shadows across a church window. 35mm F/1.4
There has also been a new arrival to my flat in the form of Norman, my new Banana Pastel het pied ball Python.
He is only a few months old and is settling in well to his new home on my shelf. I of course took the opportunity as soon as possible to take a couple of shots of him, using my Manfrotto tripod, colored card as a backdrop, and one key light (canon speed-light 430ex ii) on a stand with an umbrella to spread out the light evenly across the subject.
100mm Macro F/2.0 with Flash and remote trigger
100mm Macro F/2.0 with flash and remote trigger
Both of the images above were shot at about F/11 at about 1-60th of a second. This meant that I was able to get as much of the snake in focus and sharp was well as correctly lit (he sat very still for the duration). One gripe I do have now however is that the first images lighting is spot on, but the second image could have done with an additional fill light to decrease the shadow on the left hand side.
Once He is a little more settled I will be trying out some more techniques like adding coloured gels to the flash, but for now this was a fun start, and his colours looked amazing against the coloured backgrounds.
After a large bout of terrible weather, I was finally able to have a weekend with some clear skies, so traveled down to Arno’s Vale, a place I had been meaning to visit for a little while, in an area of Bristol I am more unfamiliar with, to view the Victorian cemetery there.
Grave stone shot with 70-200mm F/4.0
Places like this make it tricky to me to get a more unique and interesting shot for some reason. Maybe it is just that I want to select a specific scene, or have an image in my head of what I want but cant find, so I end up with a lot of ‘snap shots’, and overviews of a scene, with only a few of the images actually something I would want to share.
In the case of this particular site, I found a lot of the image I took quite messy and cluttered. I have found through time that I love to pick out a subject and capture it with as little around it as possible. In this case this meant picking out the most elaborate grave stones in the graveyard.
The autumn light made for great soft light while I was there, with headstones throughout the cemetery bathed in a soft warm light. It had been so long without using my camera, It took me a little while to get my eye in but I got there in the end. I did however fell slightly self conscious as I took images of the graves, so used my 70-200mm F/4 so I did not need to spend too long at any one grave.
70-200mm F/4 at 200mm
70-200mm F/4 at 200mm
With all the Grave stones around I was spoiled for choice, but my favorite image from the cemetery was actually a couple of images of a wood pigeon taking off from one of the tops of the graves. Finding beauty in the ordinary and everyday is harder than it looks, so I was presently surprised when these images came out of this bird taking flight from the top of its sun drenched perch into the autumn sky. Luckily my shutter speed was fast enough to capture the take off.
Finally I have a couple of images showing the last days of Autumn as we head into winter. I have been trying to go somewhere this year to see the Autumn colours, but for one reason or another I have missed this along with any fireworks images or Halloween so will have to wait another year to see the autumn leaves properly.
The two images above are taken looking directly up at a clear bright sky with a 70-200mm F/4 lens. The light goes right through the last of the leaves as they cling on to the branches. All I have done in post production is darken the shadows and bring up the highlights to give the leaf more punch. I couldn't decide if i preferred the vertical or horizontal image so here is both.
Finally then, I managed to fit in my yearly pilgrimage to the wildlife photographer of the year awards that take place in Bristol as well as London so jackpot for me! I took myself along there on a cold wet afternoon to look at some amazing images and get annoyed at others. Overall this year was much improved from the last few years however I have started to see a trend of Drone images and more and more remote camera traps winning the main awards,
Grand Prize winner
Remote camera image
Drone Image
I have warmed to these kinds of images but still feel they need to be in a separate category and not bundled in with images taken by hand.
What I have not warmed to are some of the images that win the younger categories like the winner of the under 10’s category who took his winning image on a Nikon D500 (£1700 body) + 500mm f4 lens(£6000 lens).
‘While driving with his father through the city, Arshdeep saw a bird disappearing into an old waste-pipe. He asked to stop the car, then primed his father’s camera and telephoto lens, kneeling up on the seat and resting it on the half-open window at eye-level. It wasn’t long before a spotted owlet emerged, followed by a second. Both stared right at him’
So basically this is a photo taken by his dad with a very expensive set up, (his dads) that very few adults have the privilege to get hold of let alone a child under 10. Although having a level plain field is impossible when it comes to equipment, I think some consideration should be looked at by the judges, and should be used when deciding on a winner. In this instance I think the judges got it wrong. This competition should not become elitist and only accessible to the ultra wealthy and privileged and I hope this doesn’t become the norm when choosing winners.
FIN
