I said the other day that my posts will have a watery theme for a while following my visit to Aberglaslyn Gorge in North Wales.
I love being near water, the sounds and smells and the sights combine to please my senses and capturing some of the essence of that in a photo is a challenge I like to take on. I love the sense of movement and I love the wonderful colours.
Fast moving water frozen in a photograph can produce a great abstract image like the one below...
So over the next few days there will be a watery theme to my blog.
Just after New Year I went for a day out in North Wales. I went to Beddgelert, a lovely village that I have been to many times walking along the river and eating ice cream.
This time however the ice cream parlour was closed (it is mid winter and the number of visitors is pretty low) and rather than stop in the village I drove a little further out and parked up so that I could walk back along the gorge.
This is Aberglaslyn Gorge and the rough path works its way along the river's edge through spectacular scenery. The walk itself its just about four miles return or there is a slightly longer circular walk that takes you over the mountain via an ancient copper mine.
The light in the gorge was lovely and the noise of the water as it thundered through the valley was incredible.
This rush of water is just below the Trowbridge Falls in Centennial Park just outside of Thunder Bay.
I shot these pictures on a cold Sunday afternoon. The previous day we had all hiked up the Giant and while everyone else stayed at home relaxing I went out to explore the park on my own. I had gone mainly to look for fungi and I wasn't disappointed but before I got into the forest I had to cross the river and so I took a few minutes to enjoy the rushing water. It was cold and slippery on the rocks but there is always something satisfying being near water so it was worth the effort and the risk of getting wet.
I have made a slight adjustment to the exposure in each of these images and applied a high contrast to bring out the energy of the rapids. I like the first black and white image best, I think that in landscape mode you get a better sense of movement and depth compared to the portrait orientation of the second shot which cuts the motion short.
A few weeks ago I went to Snowdonia on a cold and grey day hoping to find some snow and some great landscape shots. Unfortunately it was a very grey day and the light didn't lend itself to the task I had set myself so when I got home I found most of the images I had taken were a bit dull and didn't really reflect the beauty that I had hoped to capture.
Up until now I have only ever done the most basic editing of my images in Lightroom, in part I have been afraid to try new settings/adjustments and in part I have told myself that if I didn't get it right in camera then it is cheating to mess with the image too much.
When we look at any image that is printed or online there has been some degree of editing or post production and as long as we are honest about that it doesn't matter what we do if the final result is a decent picture.
If the original composition is off then no amount of post production is going to make it a brilliant image so having a good eye is a key skill and an important starting point. With this picture I would say the composition is spot on. However even though the composition is good the colours and the contrast in the original image was affected by the poor light and for weeks I have overlooked this image having decided it wasn't worth sharing.
Today however I wanted to explore the possibilities in this image and I have experimented with different settings in Lightroom to bring the image to life. I have practised on a few other shots too and I will be sharing them over the next few days.
You can only see the finished product but when I have shown people the before and after images their responses have been really positive, surprised that such a vibrant image could come from the original picture.
