David's Photo Blog

It’s that field again

David — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:15:18 +0000

In taking landscape photographs I find that I often want to revisit a location. The first ‘take’ of images may not have explored all that I have in mind. This can be due to the season – perhaps a photograph taken in summer may prompt a desire to look at the scene in winter. Or perhaps, after perusing the initial images, I may want to explore the location in more depth.

Such is the case here. Having visited the rape seed field with barn I returned a few days later. The weather was very different with a bue sky and clouds complementing the yellow field.

Ignoring the yellow rape and the blue sky this images is an infrared rendering. The monochrome images with the soft highlights has a certain appeal. There is more information on infrared photography available.

Taken with a Canon 5D Mk2 with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens – 24mm focal length, 1/125th second at f/11 ISO 100.

Barn and Rape Field Panorama

David — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:17:13 +0000

Driving to Salisbury on Wednesday, I noticed that a field planted with rape seed two years ago had the same crop in again this year.

Yesterday, despite the overcast weather, I chanced a visit to the area in the afternoon. This panorama photograph was one of several shots taken. The combination of the bright crop and the dark sky is an appealing one.

Taken with a Canon 5D Mk2 with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens – 1/80th second at f/16 ISO 100. This combination of camera body and lens is my preferred setup for landscape photography; no filters needed or used, simply a little ’dodging and burning’ in Lightroom 4 and cropping to 6:17 format.

The Gothic Cottage at Stourhead

David — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 08:36:48 +0000

Set in the beautiful landscape of Stourhead Gardens, this cottage was once lived in by a whole family. It has recently had the thatched roof replaced in the traditional manner.

The photograph was taken early yesterday morning when there was a low light illuminating the building.

Taken with a Fuji X-Pro1 with a XF 60mm f/2.4 lens at 1/240th second at f/5.6 ISO 200

Out of Focus is Good!

David — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:17:01 +0000

Whilst testing the new Fuji X-Pro1 camera with the F/1.4 35mm lens, I took this shot. As it happens, I had left the lens on manual focus with the result that the subject was seriously out of focus. The resulting bokeh from this lens is very pleasing indeed.

First shots from the Fujifilm X-Pro1

David — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:03:32 +0000

Having ordered this new rangefinder style camera in January, camera body and lenses arrived yesterday. Today being market day in Shaftesbury, I walked around using the 35mm f/1.4 lens on the X-Pro1 and photographed scenes that caught my attention. Here are two of the shots I took; alongside each is a portion from the centre of the adjacent image, about 10% of the area. ISO 2500 for the cattle shot and ISO 200 for the market trader. I am impressed with the sharpness of the images.

Larger versions are on www.davidhansfordphoto.co.uk

Using my Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Prime Lens

David — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:50:33 +0000

Most of us have got used to using zoom lens. We frequently have more than one in our camera bags together with an appropriate camera body.

In my camera bag, in addition to two zoom lens, I also have a 50mm prime lens, a very nice Zeiss Planar f/1.4. This is manual focus only, not autofocus, although in the case of this particular type, when focus has been achieved this is shown in the Canon viewfinder, which is pretty useful.

Here I wanted to photograph Salisbury Cathedral but using the 50mm lens did not allow me to frame the whole building. I had my back to a wall as it was! What I did was first of all was to photograph the bottom half of the building and then the top portion – whilst making sure there was a good deal of overlap.

Using Lightroom I sent both RAW images into Photoshop CS5 using the ‘Merge to Panorama’ option. Whilst not a panoramic format CS5 stitched together both images one above the other without any intervention on my part at all. The resulting TIF file is incredibly sharp. The final square format crop is then achieved in Lightroom.

In shooting like this ensure that the Exposure in both shots are the same and that the White Balance is also the same.

Taken with a Canon 5D Mk2 camera with a Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F/1.4 ZE Lens EF, 160th at f/8.0, 100 ISO

Stop Look and Listen

David — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:53:58 +0000

On two recent expeditions taken in order to photograph the local landscape, I have stopped, looked and listened. It is important, I think, to pause and consider what it is that is before me. I may or may not photograph it. At times I may conclude that I do not have the skill to do so. In addition there are sounds present – often silence but with an undertow of bird life and perhaps the sound of a deer. Larks were above yesterday accompanied by a fine flock of birds in the distance which I was not able to identify.

Here is an image which was taken on a fine day – yesterday in fact, on White Sheet Down situated in Wiltshire quite close to this part of Dorset. I have rendered it infra red and while not taken on infra red film or even with a digital camera converted to infra red, but using software. It does help convey a view of the down and a ‘sense of place’.

Taken with a Canon 5D Mk2 with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens at 27mm, 1/125th second at f/8.0. A one stop Lee hard grad filter was used, taken on a tripod.

Beech Trees in Winter

David — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:49:42 +0000

These Beech trees with the trunks profiled by the side light are very monochromatic. Yet the touches of colour rendered by the leaves ensures that there is no doubt that this is a colour photograph.

Get Closer

David — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:48:02 +0000

Here are some examples

Retirement activity in winter – sketching in the snow

David — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:09:55 +0000

Two people sketch the winter scene on Fontmell Down yesterday afternoon.

Driving back from Salisbury towards Shaftesbury I decided to take a detour in order to see the sun setting across the Blackmore Vale. To my surprise I saw two people sketching the scene in the lowering temperature; they were wearing plenty of winter clothing and appeared to be in their 60′s.

This photograph was taken using a Canon 5D Mk2 using a Canon EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens at 24mm, 1/80th second at f/11 with a 3 stop Lee Hard grad filter.