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.

Backlight (Winter Brambles), Hoohill

Backlight (Winter Brambles), Hoohill, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Hope everyone is well after a splendid Christmas and enjoying the run up to New Year!

Quick shot from Christmas day, as I start to learn my way around the new machine. Composition is a little wayward, but the colour demanded something quick. This light lasted less than a minute.

Catching up now!

See Backlight (Winter Brambles), Hoohill on Flickr.