Gosh - first post in a week. Please note - it may be a little while before I can respond to any comments or messages. Our home internet has failed and O2 are being very slow about fixing it. This is a post made from work, having copied the image to USB and shuttled it into the City. All somewhat overwraught. Hopefully O2's support people will fix the home connection before too long and normal service can be resumed.
This shot is another from my RHS Wisley series from a couple of weeks back. There's a nice circular ring of flare and some natural vignetting, so I have left it uncorrected. This was just a straight shot taken before putting the ND filter on for Wing Tips (Butterfly Sunset), Wisley.
By way of one quick off topic note, I'd give a huge recommendation to anyone within striking distance of London for the "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" exhibition currently showing at The Natural History Museum.
Since joining Flickr, I've got used to flicking through the pages of photography magazines and finding the quality distinctly poorer than the average Flickr post. Even in higher end titles like "Professional Photographer" you find much applauded reader images which would barely attract notice on Flickr. Just yesterday in The Metro there was a page of insect photos dressed as news which could have been titled "Clueless Journalist Is Told About Macro Photography By Friend". A five second search on Flickr could have wiped out every image they featured.
The "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" exhibition is an exception to this. The quality of images is stunning. A class above anything I have seen in the last twelve months and a must see if geography allows.
Hope you're all having a great time - I can't wait to catch up once I emerge from this temporary dark-age.
See Circle Of Life (Lens Flare), Wisley on Flickr for additional notes and comments.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Circle Of Life (Lens Flare), Wisley
Monday, 31 January 2011
Wing Tips (Butterfly Sunset), Wisley
So it is slightly tenuous, but, having spent an hour in the Wisley greenhouse photography butterflies, I was seeing them everywhere. This was taken about half an hour after Greenhouse Effect, Wisley as the sun went down beside the glasshouse. Looks cool in Lightbox, if you have the time and are feeling indulgent!
There's more from this series to come, whilst the sun was still high and golden. Once it went behind the cloud I put my ND500 (9 stop ND) filter on to smooth the water. Although the blue cast needs some WB correction in processing, it really works well on sunsets. Another example is Meltwater, Hertfordshire.
As with that one, the main trade off is in terms of opportunity - without the filter you get to take many more pictures (I suppose theoretically over 500 times more...) of the narrow window of exciting light. That said, where there's water involved, I think it's worth the risk. I've found anything between a minute and two at low ISO, high aperture, delivers in this kind of "afterglow" situation. No doubt it must vary, but once you get to that amount of time, the wait to get yourself a stop off target is pretty lenient.
This is definitely a spot I'll return to. There's a sturdy paved border around the edge of the lake which did a perfect job as stand in tripod.
Hope everyone is well and having a terrific start to the week!
See Wing Tips (Butterfly Sunset), Wisley on Flickr for additional comments and notes.