03.02.13, Week 77: Archive 18

I took this shot at Somerset House on the same day that I took this image for Week 71. I took a friend to an exhibition as a surprise, but I won’t repeat why we were there or what else we did as I described that in the original post. If you’re interested please go ahead and read it at the link in the first sentence.

I’ve chosen to post this image as an archive shot mainly because of the reflection on the tiles. I love the way that the arch and the columns are extended in a complete mirror of what is above the floor. However, the best part about it is the fact that the ground is wet. The wetness on the tiles provides the illusion that it is raining in the reflected arch, but dry in the actual arch. It’s quite a grimy and dark image which reflects the dullness of the weather that day. I am, however, quite partial to the darkness of the image, although I know quite a few viewers will not be as enamoured with it. The arch acts as a natural frame for the tree in the background, which becomes the subject of the image as a result. The tree, whilst it does not brighten the image, helps to break up the amount of grey stone that the image contains. I’m sure if I could replicate this shot with a brighter sky, it would probably be more striking, but the murkiness definitely appeals to me.

This Time Last Year

A long exposure in the tram tunnels under Piccadilly Station, Manchester: 05.02.12, Week 25: Under Piccadilly.

Metadata

• Date taken: 20.12.12
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Speed: 1/60 sec
• ISO: 400
• Focal length: 24mm

20.01.13, Week 75: Archive 17, A Long Overdew Close-up (Part Two)

I haven’t managed to take a picture that I was pleased with again this week; in my defence I’ve had two exams, so I’ve been focusing on them rather than my photographic pursuits. I took this shot a couple of hours after the one that I posted last week. As I mentioned in my previous post, it was a horrible day, but that was actually somewhat beneficial in that the bright light might have actually made the droplets sparkle and detract from the image as it is here. The picture was taken in the set aside on the edge of the field that my garden backs onto. This thin strip of land around the perimeter of the field is left fallow in order to promote a habitat for wildlife, and for which the farmer receives subsidies for the loss of productive land. The vegetation is mostly dense and long grass, the blades of which are coarse and heavily textured, as you can see in the close-up shot. I’ve always admired shots of water droplets, but I’ve never managed to take one that’s been worth the time it took to compose. I’m pretty pleased with this one though.

The composition of the image was quite simple: I just bent down and moved about until I found some blades of grass that created a platform across the frame in order to capture as many droplets as possible. Then it was simply a case of deciding how far down the frame I wanted the blade to be positioned. I’m a big fan of narrow depth of field, and in using it here I’ve tried to create a pleasant and soft bokeh to the image. I like the variety of sharpness that the droplets of water have, it adds a good depth to the frame. I’m in two minds about the blades of grass that are in the foreground to the right of the image; I’m not sure whether they intrude upon the image, or add to its depth. In some ways, I think the shot might look quite odd without them in the frame because it would look too flat and manipulated, rather than looking exactly as I found it. I’ve also positioned them within the frame so that they don’t impede on any of the droplets and therefore reduce their detraction from the image. Like most things in photography, it’s a compromise.

This Time Last Year

Star trails in the heart of Wiltshire: 22.01.12: Week 23, Star Trails.

Metadata

• Date taken: 10.01.13
• Aperture: f/11
• Speed: 1/60 sec
• ISO: 640
• Focal length: 55mm

13.01.13, Week 74: A Long Overdew Close-up (Part One)

Firstly, sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist. Upon walking across the gravel outside my house, I noticed there were several silvery patches between the stones. As I looked closer, I realised that they were spider webs onto which the dew had settled. I also realised how long it had been since I’d taken a shot with my close-up filters, so I thought I was a good time to stick them on my camera and set to with composing. I took quite a few shots of different patches of cobweb from different angles. There are two shots of this particular patch that I was quite keen on, but I decided upon the one above as the other focused on the gravel more than the dewy web. The close-up filters work best on a manual lens, so I’ve been using one of my parents’ old Nikkor lenses. My Dad had a Nikon FE which has a split focus display in the viewfinder. My D300 is not equipped with any way to easily discern when something is in focus when using manual focus, so it’s a case of leaning closer and further away from the object and then later deciding which shot is the best.

I also thought the composition of this shot was a bit more interesting than the one I chose it over. I really like the way the dew highlights the lattice effect of the cobweb, something that’s not easily discernible without using some form of magnification. The fact that the gravel falls in and out of focus seemingly randomly adds to the picture as there is a wide variety of textures throughout the frame. The droplets of water make the cobweb invisible and look like they are hanging in mid-air without any other form of support. They almost look like a watery necklace of beads. My biggest gripe with the shot is that I could have perhaps better centred the cobweb. At the moment the focal point is around the bottom and left transection of the lines of the rule of thirds (the bottom left circle in this picture). Whilst this is fine from the point of view that it’s not awkwardly placed, it probably would have been more suitable for this subject to have been placed centrally instead.

This Time Last Year

Ice on the back of a leaf: 15.01.12: Week 22, Ice Ridge. Quite a contrast to the weather this year, as the photo above was taken during one of several days of fog, not the glorious sunshine of last year.

Metadata

• Date taken: 10.01.13
• Aperture: f/11
• Speed: 1/60 sec
• ISO: 640
• Focal length: 55mm

30.12.12, Week 72: Tree Lights

I’ve been trying to take a nice shot of Christmas lights illuminating a fir tree ever since I had my camera. I haven’t managed to get a shot I was happy with until this year. A close friend of mine lives in a village near me which has a pond in the centre of it. Each year they put up a huge Christmas tree, which comes from my secondary school’s hall, next to the pond. It’s a very striking sight with the reflection of the Christmas tree in the water. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to get a good shot of the reflection in the water, but it did provide a very good opportunity to take a shot of some Christmas lights on a tree without the rest of the scene being illuminated by other lighting. It was also nice to get some fresh air because I haven’t been outside much this holidays.

I’m in two minds about the photo. I don’t know whether it’s good that I focused on the wires and the lights, or whether I should have focused on the needles and let the lights be blurred in the background. With the composition as it is, I like the way the lights are surrounded by the tree’s branches. It makes the negative space more interesting in the image as the needles are quite softly outlined, rather than being sharply focused upon and brightly lit. I also like the way the needles take a variety of shapes throughout the image depending on how close they are to the point of focus and on how well lit they are. The only drawback is that I think the wires look quite ugly and as they are so sharply in focus, attract the viewer’s attention more so than the subtle aspects of the image that I like. I do, however, think that the out of focus bulbs in the background look really good. They give more depth to the image and because of the shallow depth of field there isn’t really any clear indication of where they are in relation to each other.

This Time Last Year

A close-up of a lampshade: 01.01.12: Week 20, Honeycomb.

In this weeks ‘This Time Last Year’ I wrote about all the things I said I would try to do when I wrote the first post of 2012. I set myself a series of aims, most of which I did not manage to keep. I’ve taken considerably fewer photos that I have deemed worth keeping this year, less than half the number I took last year. I will let you decide whether you think the quality of the shots has become better or worse. I did, however, manage to buy the new lens I was saving for, and feel that I have made a lot of progress at becoming a better photographer with it. I posted thirteen archive pictures last year, which is exactly a quarter of the posts made throughout the year. I don’t think that’s too bad an achievement considering I haven’t been particularly mobile for the majority of this year and have had to work a lot harder at university. I started learning HTML and CSS with the intention of creating my own website, but the scheme has been shelved for the foreseeable future. This is largely because I realised that if I designed a website, it would look pretty much entirely like this one, so I lost a lot of the enthusiasm I had for the project.

Metadata

• Date taken: 29.12.12
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Speed: 1/10 sec
• ISO: 400
• Focal length: 29mm