Adventures with a tripod

Go west young man, get a tripod and all will be well!

Actually no!  First a note on health and safety.  When using the clips to set the leg height make sure you move your fingers out of the way, otherwise, like me, you will bleed over everything for at least an hour.  It wouldn't have been quite so bad except that I was already out at the nature reserve.

Second note - always make sure you have tissue / plasters / hanky when you are out, they may just be useful.

Remember the jokes about men and instruction manuals.  How difficult can a tripod be?  Just set it up, stick you camera on the top and off you go.  Easy in the kitchen with the lights on, not so easy in the semi-dark with the instruction sheet elsewhere.

So the final note is practice for at least 10 minutes before you set off, it'll make a difference  and there will probably be less blood.

In planning this asignment I have previously visited the area to be photgraphed at a number of different times of day including early morning.  Having a clear understanding of the paths is an important element of safety around water.  The intention was to explore capturing images during the "golden hour" - time around dawn when lighting conditions cam greatly enhace the subject.  The actual day was decided upon after checking weather forecasts for the weekend - fortunately they were accurate.

Equipment is limited to that owned - camera + kit lens.  Will also be using a tripod to facilitate longer exposures.  When using the tripod the image stabilisation system built into the body will be turned off.  Details of eqipment can be found here - Unit 208 Statement of intent.  It would have been useful if I had access to a faster / wide-angle lens as this would have been of beneift with the low light landscape images that I was looking to capture.

14mm, F22, 1/60th, ISO100, tripod
Underexposed, but I like the effect.



Horizon set at lower 1/3rd and framed by the trees.  Underexposure makes it appear darker than it actually was.  There was no cloud, so very little colour in the sky.  The orange glow behind the trees giving just a hint of the day to come.

I spent last Sunday looking at the water and tree line so time to try something different.

 As part of the conservation at the reserve a flock of Jacobs sheep are allowed to roam the area.  They keep down some of the undergrowth and graze the clearings.  This is apparently good for specific types of flaura in the Spring. 

42mm, F16, 1/2, ISO100

Sheep, like people, move.  Next time need to look at a higher ISO

and / or wider aperture so that I can use a faster exposure to minimise blur.

The leaf just stood out from the rest of the leaf litter as the sun rose and hit the ground. 

First effort at longer exposure.  Exposure OK, but composition weak - not real focus on any one element - the image is busy.

Leaf

36mm, F22, 1 sec, ISO 100

Log & moss

29mm, F22, 2 seconds, ISO 100

Log & moss ii

42mm, F22, 4 seconds, ISO 100

Fern in highlight

14mm, F8, 1/4 sec, ISO 100

Fern in Highlight ii

24mm, F8, 1/4 sec, ISO 100

Getting there.  The idea is OK, but execution needs improving.  Fern leaf isolated by sunshine.  Too caught up with the idea of longer exposures.  Messy foreground - options include clear away if possible without causing damage or move in closer.  The better option would be to change the position that the shot was taken from as the trunk in the background is also distracting.  Other options wold be to use a larger aperture - f4 / f5 - which would have the effect of creating a shallow depth of field, blurring the background and potentially blurring the foreground as well.

Start of Autumn

14mm, F22, 1/4 sec, ISO 100

The way home

17mm, F22, 1 sec, ISO 100