Lake District Landscapes - Birks Bridge, Duddon Valley

Birks Bridge

[caption id="attachment_953" align="alignleft" width="200"] Birks Bridge[/caption]

We came across Birks Bridge, and the gorge it spans, purely by chance as we drove through the Duddon Valley hunting for landscapes, en-route to shoot at another location. It was raining and we'd been up early so we pulled over in the small "layby" next to the bridge to crack open the flask of coffee.

It had been raining all night and we could see the River Duddon was in full spate so, after coffee, we decided to take a look over the bridge. The water gushing through the gorge was much deeper than we had expected, a crystal blue colour in places, and the cascade from upstream was impressive.

Landscapes

So, out came the gear and we set up for a quick shot. I had convinced myself that I could climb down a small path to a ledge, on the upstream side, just under the bridge, for a dramatic angle. In reality it was probably just a fox track and would have been dangerous (and Jill wouldn't let me), so we settled for the safety of the bridge.

 

 

[caption id="attachment_954" align="alignleft" width="200"] Birks Bridge Mono[/caption]

 

A tight crop focussed on the upstream cascade just before it passed under the bridge and produced one of our favourite printed landscapes.

 

What's your favourite - Colour or Black 'n' White??

A7r, f11, ISO 125, 47mm, 0.5 secs

 

Colour and mono prints available in our shop

 

 

 

 

birks bridge, landscape, lakes, lake district, water, river, duddon valley, duddon, print

Links

National Trust - Birks Bridge

Wild Swimming - Birks Bridge

If you like our Lake District landscapes then check out another post - Lake District Landscapes - Skelwith Bridge

 

Getting there ...

Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year 2014

[caption id="attachment_917" align="aligncenter" width="950"] Tarbet Isle - The island of the drag boat or portage place[/caption]

Tarbet Isle - "The island of the drag boat or portage place"

We are very pleased to announce one of our images progressed through all judging rounds of Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year (SLPOTY) to achieve a "Commended" award in the Landscape category. One of only a few awarded from thousands of entries.

The image is available as a print from our shop

The shot was taken around the shores of Loch Lomond, Scotland in 2014. As we were scouting for shots around the Loch Jill spotted the Isle, looking magical, across the water, being backlit by the sun showing through some prevalent rain clouds. We could instantly see it would be perfect for a mono conversion. As luck would have it there was a layby nearby and we turned around and pulled over.

Anxious that the light would dissipate at any second and even more aware that a tourist ferry was approaching from the left that would destroy the still waters we needed to move fast. Jill grabbed the tripod, I grabbed the camera bag and we sprinted over the road and crossed the crash barrier, over a small fence, climbd down a wall then over the slippery remains of a collapsed section to the shore.

As we hurried along the shore Jill extended the tripod and I was fitting filters to the camera. All was ready to go by the time we reached the spot. The ferry was very close. There was just enough time for one 30 second shot before the ferry tore through the scene. In fact, it is only about a metre out out of camera-left in the image above.

A quick chimp at the image revealed a nice capture but we wouldn't be able to tell until we saw it on the big screen.

Then it rained, heavy.

Back home a little processing was done. Some dust spot removal, levels and curves were applied then a mono conversion.

What was produced, the image above, far exceeded what we were expecting.

Laughing to myself, when it's typed up it reads like an Indiana Jones movie!

Eqpt: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-22, Formatt-Hitech Firecrest 10 stop IRND, Lee 0.6 SE ND Grad

Exif: ISO 100, f8, 29 secs, 12mm

Wikipedia - "Tarbet Isle is an island in Loch Lomond, Scotland. It is off Tarbet on the mainland. It is 10 feet (3.0 m) at its highest point, and 80 metres (260 ft) long.^"

Visit Scotland - "The small Tarbet Island on Loch Lomond is situated just off Tarbet on the mainland from where its name derives.

The island is privately owned and is largely covered in pine woods and oak woodland. It is a little north east of the island where the deepest part of Loch Lomond is with depth reaching 630ft.

There is a lovely circular walk on the island which climbs gently and offers good views over Loch Lomond and the island itself."

island, landscape, loch lomond, scotland, scottish, slpoty, tarbet isle, water, loch, award

Northumberland Landscapes - Lone Northumbrian Tree - Part II

The Landscapes

A recent post detailed our trials, tribulations and results when faced with shooting Northumberland landscapes containing a lone tree.

The result yielded three images worthy of printing and, obviously, a triptych was bound to happen ...

[caption id="attachment_912" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] Lone Northumbrian Tree Triptych[/caption]

... imagine these beautiful landscapes, in a black frame, on a crisp white wall.

Links

Wikipedia information on Alnwick

Wikipedia information on Shilbottle

Alnwick Tourist Information

For more information check out Part I of the article

triptych, tree, trees, lone tree, northumberland, landscape, fine art

Northumberland Landscapes – Lone Northumbrian Tree

Lone Northumbrian Tree

Whilst driving back home, from a days shooting Northumberland landscapes with a fellow togger, we came across one of those situations where the light is so good you just HAVE to stop and take a photograph.

[caption id="attachment_907" align="aligncenter" width="950"] Lone Sunset Tree - Mono[/caption]

 

Landscapes

We were anxiously looking for a candidate before the light disappeared when we spotted a lone tree in the middle of a field on the other side of the dual carriageway.

 

Getting the Shot

A quick, but legal, U-turn got us alongside the field, then a mad dash across many flooded furrows and between many mountains of cow-poop got us to the tree just in time to setup and take the shot before the sum dipped into the clouds. Fortuitous timing.

Personally, I am torn between the landscapes, the mono version above or the colour version below? What do you think?

[caption id="attachment_908" align="aligncenter" width="950"] Lone Sunset Tree[/caption]

 

Getting there ...

... the light coloured field to the west of the A1

 

Links

Wikipedia information on Alnwick

Wikipedia information on Shilbottle

Alnwick Tourist Information

Check out Part II of this article for the resulting triptych!

sunset, tree, field, northumberland, crepuscular, rays, lone, landscape, england

Northumberland Landscapes - Day Mark

[caption id="attachment_902" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Day Mark[/caption]

Landscapes

A recent trip for Northumberland landscapes took us to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, on the North East coast of Northumberland, England, brought us upon this curious monolith.

Set on the North East tip of the island at Emmanuel Point, it is a "Day Mark". Built of brick in 1810 and standing at 35 feet high, it provided a marker for maritime navigation.

Oh, and there's a very nice cafe for a full English breakfast!!

This print is available in our online shop.

The Shot

It was windy that day but I didn't want the grass to blur too much so a fast shutter speed was used. Many landscapes are available around the island, don't be happy just to hang around the castle but be sure you keep one eye on the time and the tide.

The image was later processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Links

Wikipedia information on Lindisfarne

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne Website

National Trust Information

View another post about Northumberland Landscapes - Lone Northumbrian Tree

Getting there ...

Firstly BE SURE TO CHECK THE TIDES!



lindisfarne, holy, island, emmanuel head, day mark, northumberland, england

Introduction to Aperture - Digital Photography School

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been writing a series of posts on elements that digital photographers need to learn about in order to get out of Auto mode and learn how to manually set the exposure of their shots. I’ve largely focussed upon three elements of the ‘exposure triangle‘ – ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. I’ve previously written about the first two and today would like to turn our attention to Aperture.Before I start with the explanations let me say this. If you can master aperture you put into your grasp real creative control over your camera. In my opinion – aperture is where a lot of the magic happens in photography and as we’ll see below, changes in it can mean the difference between one dimensional and multi dimensional shots.

via Introduction to Aperture - Digital Photography School.

Cheat Sheet: How to Get Metering and Exposure Right - Digital Photography School

A really useful chart illustrating the major decisions of exposure, over at Digital Photography School.

via Cheat Sheet: How to Get Metering and Exposure Right - Digital Photography School.