Guiding Light

My last outing with my camera had been to a local woodland where I photographed fungi, which was very relaxing. A week later I found myself on the beach at New Brighton photographing the lighthouse and sea defences, which was also fun and relaxing. I didn't have a lot of time but fortunately despite a couple of light showers the weather and the light was very kind to me so I was able to get some nice shots.

I have photographed this lighthouse a few times in stormy weather and it really looks magnificent with waves crashing around it. However, this was the first time I had been down to see it with the tide at its lowest and on such a nice day. Whatever the weather I think it must be a welcome beacon to the shipping that comes into the River Mersey.

I experimented a little with a variable ND filter and longer exposures for some of these shots to  get the most out of the reflections and the sky. I have also mixed up some colour and black and white images for contrast.

Walking on the beach was pretty safe, but I often like to make things difficult for myself; (in the past I have waded into the middle of streams to get a better angle on a waterfall, or set up close to the edge of a cliff for a particular view), so why should this outing be any different. I wanted to get some shots of the sea defences which involved a bit of scrambling over some slippery rocks and it was a bit fiddly setting up my tripod and finding a safe foothold at the same time. I think the effort paid off. I have shot these in black and white because I think it creates a better image. In colour images the green seaweed coating on the concrete groynes is a bit too much and doesn't give as much definition or depth. I think the shot of the groynes which includes the lighthouse (the penultimate image) would have been better using my 17 - 40mm lens instead of the 24-105mm because 24mm just wasn't wide enough to get it all in as I had wanted. However, swapping lenses at that point was a risk too far. There is always next time...

Enjoy, and feel free to comment.

Slow Down

 As I am writing this and selecting photos for today I am listening to the new album by Yann Tiersen Rathlin From A Distance/The Liquid Hour. It is very mellow and full of beautiful compositions, well worth a listen. I will be going to see him perform the new album in Liverpool tonight so I am really looking forward to that. Anyway the title of the blog fits well with the music and fits with the images below too.

The scene in these photos is Glencoe Lochan which we reached after a decent walk from the campsite, following the Glencoe Orbital Walk. I took several shots from different points around the lake but have just chosen these two for today, maybe I will come back to some of the others another time. If you look on Google Maps the lake is almost completely dry so I was very pleased to see it was full when I visited allowing me to get some long exposure shots of the lake and its surroundings. These were both about 2 second exposures using an ND filter to help smooth out the surface of the lake (it was a little breezy) and get these beautiful reflections.

There is a clear path around the lake and this part of the walk is very accessible (the woodland walk we took was less so but very enjoyable) and there were several people out enjoying the weather. I was pleased to be able to slow down and really take in the surroundings and to capture images which I think show off this location at its best. You can tell that spring is well under way with the fresh colours of the trees and in the reflections.

It was so good to visit here with my brother, making memories. I can think of a few people I would happily share this spot with.

Morning Glow

I have used a range of exposures for theses shots; the shortest exposure being 2.5 seconds  the longest being 15 seconds. Given the brightness of the sunrise I also used a 32ND filter and aperture of f22 and ISO 100. My camera was also mounted on a tripod of course.

It was a beautifully crisp and clear morning as you can see. There was virtually no breeze at all however I was surprised that there was still quite a lot of disturbance on the lake's surface making the longer exposures essential. You can still see the rippled surface to the left of the jetty in the first few images. The colour images give a sense of warmth from the sunlight despite the fact it was bitterly cold. The black and white image does give a sense of how cold it was but also looks like it could have been shot on a different day entirely.

I like using long exposures, when the subject is right of course, the calendar I produced for 2025 is almost exclusively long exposure photos. This method allows more light onto the sensor/film and exposes more detail in the image. This is really useful when doing night skies, it can create subtle motion blur and can also provide fun details like light trails from traffic. In the images below it has been used to smooth out the surface of the water and to create some nice soft reflections.

Although longer exposures capture more detail there is another slightly counter intuitive effect that is possible and that is it can help eliminate moving people/objects from a scene. Depending of course on how fast or slow the people/objects are moving and how long an exposure is used. In the final image below you can see how this has worked with a small group of people walking  on the path around the marine lake just below and to the right of the moon. They appear as a white blur, had I used a longer exposure I could have removed them completely but then the whole image would have been washed out. It is fun to try different things and develop these skills. The fact that this location is within walking distance of my home means that I can practice often without having to make any long journey. It means I can make better use of what is local to me, something I mentioned in another recent post. Anyway enjoy the pictures and hopefully a sense of calm.

I love where I live. 

 

Hilbre Island at Night

 After just over two hours taking star trail images I decided to finish off the evening (it was actually well after midnight) with a few single shot images. The first was a 30/1s exposure with ISO 800, the others are all 15/1s exposures with ISO 1000

I have then adjusted the settings in lightroom to create the final images. In each case I have had to meticulously remove some annoying noise artefacts caused due to the sensor heating up during long exposures but the effort was worth it. The tide had come in while I was shooting and so in these images the surface of the sea has a nice milky smooth appearance as it reflects the light from North Wales and the wind farm on the horizon and Hilbre Island which sits at the mouth of the River Dee. The light from the Hilbre Lighthouse can also be seen reflected.

As these are single shots there is less colour and definition in the stars, and star clusters than I would get if I I had used my star tracker and stacked multiple images but I was not set up for that. I really like the effect that the long exposure has produced. It has given me some ideas of what I can try next time I get out after dark.

Faro (that's lighthouse)

Here is another one of my experimental long exposure shots. The lighthouse is at the entrance to the marina by the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore. I was using a long  exposure and variable ND filter so I could smooth out the surface of the water, there was a fair breeze so the lagoon was a little choppy. As I clicked the shutter a small boat passed in front of the camera, initially I was annoyed but when I saw the resulting image I was actually quite pleased because the blur of movement and the swirling water have added a really nice effect.
 

Slow It Down

 There is a quiet spot just next to the Ponte dell'Accademia in Venice which offers a fantastic view along the Grand Canal towards the lagoon. Surprisingly there were no other people there, most preferring top stop on the bridge itself and look along the canal in either direction. To be fair the views from the bridge are great too but to capture o long exposure like these shots would not be possible during the day with so many people passing by.

I know these are all fairly similar but I have used slightly different exposure times and I have tried to incorporate the passing boats in some of the shots and I hope you will agree that the effect works well.

High Force

 Part of the Raby Estate just outside of Middleton in Teesdale, in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is High Force. "Force" being taken from the Viking word for waterfall. The waterfall is 21 metres high with a vertical drop.

The river Tees flows over the rocky outcrop and when the water level in the river is high it flows either side of the central column thundering into the cauldron below. In my 100th blog post in Dec 2014 I posted a couple of shots of the waterfall in full flow, from a similar position on the rocks as these shots were taken however that close to the falls on that occasion I was covered in spray as was the lens of my camera so the images were not so clear. It certainly wasn't possible to do long exposures like these however I would say it is worth a look just for the comparison so click on the highlighted link above.

I have heard that on very rare occasions the river completely covers the whole outcrop falling in one complete curtain of thundering water, I have not seen it like that.

These shots were taken on a relatively fine day (20th march 2023). I used my Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L series lens a variable ND filter with an ISO of 100 and the aperture at f22 The first image was at 45mm and the others at 58mm. the first two images were shot with a 13 second exposure and for contrast the third was taken using a 20 second exposure.

This final image was shot at 40mm with f/6.3 and an exposure of 1/40 sec. I have included a person in the picture for scale and at a faster shutter speed you can see how rough the water is and how effective the long exposures above have been in terms of smoothing out the falls and the surface of the water in the cauldron below.

Light Trails On the Grand Canal

 I have just got back from a short break in Venice. One of the things I was keen to try was capturing light trails on the Grand Canal. I had been to Venice a few times before but had never taken a tripod with me so long exposures were out of the question. This time rather than pack an extra jumper and a second pair of shoes I packed one of my tripods and a variable ND filter along with my other kit.

I tried a few different shots and above is just one of them but in colour and in black and white. It is a composite image from three 30 second exposures which I have blended in Photo Shop. It is the first time I have ever tried this and some of what I had hoped would remain in the final image is not there so I need to practice a bit to see what else I can do.

Being early in March there was less traffic on the canal than there would be on a summers evening so again the light trails are not as standout as I had hoped but nonetheless I think these are really effective and for a first attempt I am pretty pleased. I have other shots to work on which will be composite of up to 12 exposures so there is the possibility that there will be even more detail in them although of course 12 images may be too many and I really need to experiment to get the best possible final result. 

This shot was taken from the Ponte dell'Accademia facing out towards the lagoon. I really like the black and white image because it has a cool night time feel however because Venice is such a colourful city I prefer the second image as it highlights the warmth and richness of the buildings and also because of the long exposure the stars are visible and show up in colour too, not just as the white or yellow dots we normally see when we look up at the night sky.

From Friars Crag

 So here are the last two pictures from my recent visit to Keswick. These are views across Derwent Water from the promontory at Friars Crag, a short walk from the car park and well worth it for these views.

I shot these in black and white because as you can see the sky was very overcast and the colours had really flattened out so I thought that there would be better contrast in the images. I also used long exposures (4 secs for the first image and 3.2 secs for the second) to smooth out the choppy water and that has enhanced the light and shade from the sky as it is reflected on the surface. This has also given a bit of movement to the clouds, almost like billowing smoke. I did need to crop the first image to remove some branches that had initially framed the image quite well but in the end, given the long exposure and the strong wind they were too blurry and a horrible distraction.

I hope that you have enjoyed this series of pictures from around Keswick, I have been out and about a couple of times since then once to do some wildlife photography and once to do some astrophotography so I am looking forward to sharing some of the images I have created.

More From The Dell

 I continued to mess about (experiment) with long exposures, these two were both 6 second exposures to see what sort of effects I could create. Fortunately down in the dell by the riverside there was not too much wind and so the foliage is still fairly sharp despite the lengthy exposure but the water has a sort of brushed on appearance which I rather like.

I like the overall feel of the setting in the first image and in the second I like the steely or leather like quality to the water. By using this technique there are so many colours visible that you would miss as the water rushes by.

The Dell

 I am sticking with a watery theme for today with this shot looking  upstream towards the waterfall at Bodnant  Gardens. I was stood on the bridge looking down at the falls for the abstract pictures I shared a few days ago. 

I knew as I walked along by the stream that I wanted to get this shot and I had to position my tripod on some stepping stones mid-stream to get it using another long exposure and my variable ND filter. I have also tweaked some of the colours in lightroom to add vibrancy to the overall image and I am very pleased with the results.

Precious Metal

 So for today I have posted a couple of abstract images and I wonder whether you can tell what they are...

It maybe a little easier from the first image because that is in its natural orientation, whereas for the second image I have rotated through 90 degrees.

Both are 6 second exposures from above a waterfall and I have focused on a small section of the falls as the water splashes onto the rocks below. I have tweaked contrast and curves to draw out the colours within the water as it passes over the top of the falls. I was surprised at how much colour is there because when standing above the water as it passes beneath you it appears murky and brown, with the odd streak of light. But here you can see gold and yellow and different shades.

I keep flipping between both images trying to decide which one I like most. I think I am going to settle on the second one because by shifting the perspective I feel I have increased the abstract feel and that is really what I was going for when I took the original photographs. The water falling upwards through the frame almost looks like flames and the dark shape appearing out of the white spray could be a monster, or perhaps something less frightening, say a bear (with a sad expression). I wonder, do you see that or do you see something entirely different? 

The Dell

 There is going to be a decidedly watery feel to my next few posts as well as some long exposures.

Today's lone image is from Bodnant Garden. I had been watching a pair of Goldcrests and a pair of treecreepers in the trees along the banks of the stream when I noticed the way the sunlight was playing through these trees and I took a little time to set up this shot. I had to wait for visitors to step away from the small bridge, and as I was on a narrow path I had to ensure I was not causing an obstruction as I set up my tripod. 

I used a 10 second exposure here at f22 and I used a variable ND filter to compensate for the long exposure (I can't recall what setting I used for the filter) I think the overall effect with the "frozen" waterfall and the sunlight through the trees creates a really tranquil scene. The sound of the water as it flowed by was so relaxing, it was easy to get lost in the beauty of this place.

Whoosh

As I said yesterday I went to Chirk Castle to see the annual display of snowdrops in the castle's beautiful grounds. I took a few photographs of the carpet of flowers but I wanted to try something different and I would love to know what you think of the images below.

 I have used a long exposure for these images (2 seconds for the first image and 0.8 seconds for the other two) using my EF 24 - 105 mm f4L USM zoom lens. While the shutter was open I pulled back through the full range to create the movement in the finished image.

I was inspired to try this effect because on the way to Chirk I drove through a snow storm and I wanted to create something that represented the experience of driving through snow. With the snowdrops it seemed appropriate. I think that maybe in the second image I have come closest to what I had hoped and I think that pictures two and three are the better images but as with any abstract image it is open to interpretation.

I would really like to know what you think.

Pemberley

So the eagle eyed among you will understand why I have called this post Pemberley, it is actually Lyme Park in Disley, near Manchester and it was used as the setting for Pemberley the fictional home of the Darcy family in the 1995 BBC Television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is very possible that you won't have seen it but in my home it is very possibly the most watched TV show and this setting is where one of the most famous scenes of the entire series...

I hadn't really wanted to go out today and took some persuading but as it was the weather was perfect and i was able to get some great shots that made the trip worth the effort.

I took several shots of the colours of autumn which you can look forward to over the next few days before I get to some views of the magnificent house.

There was a fair breeze today so the surface of the reflecting pond was broken up by lots of ripples and I was worried that I wouldn't get the shots I wanted so I turned to one of the most useful gadgets in my camera bag, my K+F Concept variable ND filter. Using the filter I was able to use a long exposure and a very small aperture, this meant I could freeze the motion in the water and keep everything in focus to bring out all the detail and get a nice reflection.

From a low vantage point and with the gorgeous afternoon sun behind me I think this creates a striking image.