Tranquil

I have visited this spot at Glenridding on Ullswater a few times. Last year I visited early morning when it was -6 C there was a thick fog and the edge of the lake was frozen. These boats were barely visible.

On my most recent visit there was a light breeze and the surface of the lake was  covered with small, even ripples. The light was not very good because of the low cloud but I had came here with a particular image in mind. I wanted to get  a nice even image with a degree of symmetry and I knew that I needed a good reflection. I used a 2 second exposure and I layered two ND filters to flatten out the ripples and create a smooth surface for the reflection and then in Lightroom I have adjusted the contrast to bring out the detail in the sky.

Overall I am really happy with this image and it is pretty close to what I had set out to achieve when I set out at the start of the day. I also got to try out a technique for long exposure that I hadn't really tried before so I would say it was a successful day out.

Symmetry

 

I think I may have posted a picture similar to this a while ago but while I was taking pictures for a quiz recently I visited this spot and thought this was an amazing shot.

It was a fairly overcast day and there is not much colour in the structure itself so I shot in black & white and I think the grey tones and the symmetry make for a very strong image.

Say What You See

Two more shots today to show off some of the beautiful shapes and patterns created simply by squeezing droplets of milk from a syringe .

You never know what you will get each time, whether it is a flying droplet, a sharp peak or a random ripple.

I chose these images today for the smooth textured shapes. The second shot looks rather like an inverted ceiling rose, I was amazed at the symmetry from something so random.

I love the first image too and apart from a random ripple I wonder what you can see. A bit like when you see shapes in clouds I think that when you look at images like this you can see different things. For example perhaps you can see a spoon, perhaps an eye or maybe a swaddled baby.

All Square

I wanted to try something different today and experimented with this image in Photoshop. I have to acknowledge the assistance of my youngest son who knows his way around Photoshop a little better than me although I take full credit for the original photograph and the idea behind this image.

When I stood in this archway I tried to imagine how it would look in the summer when the flowers were in full bloom but I also thought the bare structure looks really good. Then as I tilted my head to one side I pictured this image in my mind but I didn't know how I would produce the final piece. Thanks to a little assistance and tuition I am really happy with the finished result.