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Wing Tips (Butterfly Sunset), Wisley

Wing Tips (Butterfly Sunset), Wisley, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

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.

Phoenix From The Negative (Ob River Sunset), Siberia [Film Scan]

Phoenix From The Negative (Ob River Sunset), Siberia [Film Scan], originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

This is the first of a series of my old APS film shots which I've had scanned over Christmas. Apologies for the slight noise to the image - scanned at 600 DPI they look pretty good, but the colour images are not up to normal modern standards. I have added what EXIF data I can in each instance, but I'm afraid it's a little less informative than I'd like. If anyone knows how to add aperture and shutter values, I'd be interested as I do have notes for some of the shots and would ideally err on the side of completeness!

This one was taken handheld on a holiday in Siberia, staying in log cabins on the Ob north of Tomsk. It's shot with my first SLR sometime in July 2000, just pointing west across the river at one of several awesome sunsets we got over the course of the week or so we stayed there. The boat on the river is from a local ranger who took us out fishing on a misty dawn a couple of days earlier.

Strange to remember film days - I took two shots of this sunset, both hand-held. One died from camera shake, and this one lived. If I saw this scene now, with anything digital, I would shoot two or three just to get a bearing on the exposure! Then I'd probably shoot another twenty images bare minimum for this composition alone! How on earth I got through the rest of the holiday without suffering some stress-induced collapse is beyond me - to think I might have been calm enough to take two pictures, exposure unseen, and move on is very strange, and throws some interesting light on the way my photography and the technology around it has changed, if not perhaps also on me. [Introspective moment].

Hope everyone is well and enjoying a brisk week so far.

See Phoenix From The Negative (Ob River Sunset), Siberia [Film Scan]
on Flickr for additional notes.

Extinction (Star Trails Over Jurassic Coast), Dorset

Extinction (Star Trails Over Jurassic Coast), Dorset, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

First of a set from Friday night down at Winspit Cove in Dorset. I almost didn't bother due to a heavy mist and sporadic rain, but after the thirty minute walk down to the sea it had cleared somewhat. The retreating cloud picking up light pollution created a nice contrast to the rising stars in the blue twilight.

I'll be uploading another few images from the same set, all with different outcomes as the twilight blue vanished very quickly and this is the only shot to feature it. The scene was very dark, and even this 723 seconds at f/8.0 and ISO400 didn't bring out anymore than the skies colour and the mist of the sea. Usually I end up desaturated images, but this one needed a boost as well as some fill light and brightness to lift it. I also tweaked the WB so the light pollution came out more pink than its starting orange.

There's a little bit of a blur to the ridgeline from wave surging around the tripod. This is another shot that relied upon my new wellington boots, as I spent most of the shot ankle deep in surf. It was quite worrying, in fact, as the roar of the incoming waves is overwhelming and the darkness conceals their size. As you hear the deafening tide thrashing towards you, you have no idea if this is going to splash your ankles or come plunging over your shoulders to drag you back into the deep.

Viewing on black does lift this one another notch. Hope everyone's had a great few days whilst I've been away and look forward to catching up now I'm back.

See Extinction (Star Trails Over Jurassic Coast), Dorset on Flickr for extra notes.

Meltwater, Hertfordshire

Meltwater, Hertfordshire, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Happy 2011 - hope everyone is having a great start to the year!

One from December's final flurry of snow, deserving of a few notes. I was set up just testing my new ND500 (9 stop ND filter) on a footbridge, when out of nothing a brief, but striking, winter sunset lit up the sky. With people tramping back over the bridge in their icy wellingtons and only a brief moment of colour, I only got one meaningful shot. Perhaps I should have taken the risk and whipped off the filter, but hoped I could pull off a good shot with it to give a nice smooth river as well as the colour.

This one worked except for two issues; the snow was a little too dark to really make an impact and the bluish colour cast from the ND500 left it looking rather strange. I've manually juggled the snow to try to solve these issues, without creating too unnatural effect. This is a little on the edge, but the nearest I can get it to something that balances the two sides of the coin.

The biggest failing I would say is my correction of the blue tint - it is a little patchy on the snow and took a little out of the corners of the sky (e.g. left behind the lower tree branches).

In terms of the purple and magenta tones - I actually desaturated these slightly to blend the image better. It was stunning light, and the (overall underexposed) shot really caught them at their height.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the weekend.

See Meltwater, Hertfordshire on Flickr for extra notes and details.

Dying Of The Light (Rossall Beach), Blackpool

Dying Of The Light (Rossall Beach), Blackpool, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Firstly, apologies that the last few days have seen me away from Flickr and thus unable to catch up with those kind enough to leave comments on my last posting. I'm afraid this posting is made by convulouted juggling of memory stick and the lack of meaningful internet access is to continue another few days yet.

This posting is a farewell to my trusty old EOS 300D. After some six years of hard and unerring service, he is tomorrow being put to pasture. I still have a few more shots to post taken on it, so the 300D will still appear in the EXIF now and again. My crop sensor 18-200mm Sigma will now be partnered with the 300D permanently and they'll come along to offer a broad range of focal lengths to minimise lost opportunities whilst my new kit is toting narrower focal length lenses. As for the new kit, imsha'Allah we shall survive the night, and I will then be the proud owner of a (second hand) 5D MKii.

Though I have only a few brief moments now, I very much look forward to a proper catch up once I'm back at home after Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their families and a super couple of days' celebration.

See Dying Of The Light (Rossall Beach), Blackpool on Flickr.

Eilean Donan Castle Sunset, Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle Sunset, Scotland, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

I did try to make an HDR of this using some free software, but it was a resounding failure! Lots of turquoise patches appeared from nowhere. Clearly I have a lot to learn if I'm to do it successfully and I have a new respect for people that process HDR shots. Instead just brought through some of the stone detail in Photoshop, and perhaps not enough, but I wanted to try to keep it natural looking.

Perhaps I'm just not destined for proper HDR work. It always seemed a little excessive for me and my main interest is getting stuff done in camera first. That said, I'd love to have at least given it a go. So if anyone can recommend some free software they enjoy using, I'd be delighted to hear about it in the comments.

For the moment, it's all manual!

This shot is from a couple of weekends back hiking in the highlands, after my panicked realisation that climbing munros in November demanding technique as well as stamina. That curtailed a six top day to a single top day and meant we were down in time to take some pictures. It's a super place, though I'm still not sure about the seaweed through the foreground. Perhaps it adds a little quirkiness and sense of individuality.

Hope everyone is well and having a great week, as always.

See Eilean Donan Castle Sunset, Scotland on Flickr.

Inputs for Eilean Donan Castle Sunset

Golden Fleece, Dorset

Golden Fleece, Dorset, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Just back from a weekend in Dorset at my Grandfather's, and this is the first image to be ready. It cost me a set of sunset pictures over Kimmeridge, but the sight of these sheep under the falling sun demanded a stop and leaping of stile.

They're at the foot of the hill near Steeple, and behind those hills is the Jurassic Coast and all manner of wonder, such as www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5092591483/ taken the following evening.

Stands out viewed on black. Hope everyone has had a great weekend.

Update: Explored #106. Many thanks to everyone who has commented, fav'ed and viewed. I massively appreciate the attention and insights offered. Thanks to all! Well worth missing Kimmeridge on this occasion.

See Golden Fleece, Dorset on Flickr.

Two Pair (Stocker's Lake Reflections), Rickmansworth

Two Pair (Stocker's Lake Reflections), Rickmansworth, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Unlike the tricky and lengthy noise reduction for www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5126748478/ in this case I just maxed Lightroom's noise reduction and dropped the clarity. It's a 226 second exposure (F/22 ¦ ISO 100) from one of the bird hides on Stocker's Lake in Rickmansworth Aquadrome.

There were hundreds of ducks floating about in the foreground, but none made sufficient impression against the bright reflected sky over the long exposure. Hope everyone is having a great week!

See Two Pair (Stocker's Lake Reflections), Rickmansworth on Flickr.