Dawn at Hilton Gravel Pits sssi (17 Oct 2010)

The weather forecast had indicated a clear bright start to the day.  Little or no wind so the chance of mist in the early morning.

I do not possess a tripod yet so hand-held it is (mini-tripod will be taken with me just in case).  Will be using standard kit lens.  The gravel pits at Hilton are an area that I have walked regularly over a number of years, during the summer months I lead a walking group out of the village and we regularly take the route that I intend to walk this morning.  In preparation for this I have taken the camera with me to take a few images that will give me a feel for specific locations within the reserve.  Have only had the camera since June and have undertaken this course to get used to the equipment.  Lighting conditions will be mixed and changing with time.  The image stabilisation within the camera has been turned on to allow me to take hand-held shots down to 1/15th-1/30th with a reasonable outcome.

Forecast for a cold morning so need appropriate clothing.  Although I know the area well it will be necessary to be careful around the water as light will be at a minimum.

On arrival at the old gravel pits the mist had started rising off of the water.  The surrounding trees masked the changes to the sky and light. It was a cold morning, whoever had spent the night fishing must have been freezing.  The break in the trees gave me my first view of the lake and provided a frame for the shot.  The first pinks of the morning sky just appearing over the tree line reflecting in the water.  Need to work out how to expose a shot to record the mist accurately rather than just as a blur.

Pre-dawn fishing

Manual hand-held, resting on fence post

15mm, F11, 1/15th ISO200

Walking to the nature reserve before dawn gave me the opportunity to witness the transformation of the sky from night to day.  The change in colours as the sun rose became spectacular, with gold's almost looking liquid in texture.  Keeping the shutter speed fairly high kept the foreground in silhouette and prevented over exposure of the sky.  The bank of clouds in the east almost looks like a range of hills in the distance, providing a false horizon just below the bottom third line.

Aproaching dawn, Lucas Lane

Manual, hand held

17mm, F4, 1/125th, ISO200

The sun not having risen above the tree line turned the sky golden, reflecting similar colours in the waters surface.  I need a tripod!  I need gloves!  Don't breath near a metal-bodied camera when it's this cold. 

Using the tree line as the horizon allows 2/3rds of the frame for sky, making the most of the colours and cloud that the morning has provided.  There is very little wind resulting in the lake surface being almost like a mirror.  Exposing for the sky allows the use of a relatively small aperture, enhancing the depth of field.

First Light, mist rising

Manual, hand held

18mm, F16, 1/250, ISO200

As the sun rose I stepped back from the shoreline to bring some of the foreground into the shot to act as a frame.  The winch adds to the composition as a reminder that this nature area is actually man-made, the lagoon resulting from many years of gravel extraction.  The increasing light levels increase the strength of the reflections.  The flare around the rising sun was not intended, but I like the effect.



Dawn sun flare

Manual hand held

18mm, F16, 1/250, ISO200

Time to change position.  As I walk through the wood I realise how lucky I am to live near this place, which this morning I have all to myself.  The trees frame the path with both the path and the tree trunks forming lead in lines.  The gold of the sun starting to streak through the trees adds to the atmosphere, enhancing something that would otherwise be fairly ordinary.  Still trying to stick to the rule of thirds, using the waters edge through the trees as the horizon line.

Early morning woodland

Manual hand held

34mm, F8, 1/60th, ISO400

A new waterfront site.  With the sun a little higher the rising mist becomes more evident.  More thought about composition of the shot.  Tree line at 1/3rd, sun through the tree at 1/3rd, good reflection and strong frame with the tree on the bank.  This is one of my favourites from the morning.  Throughout the morning I have struggled to capture the mist over the water accurately - almost there with this one.

Misty morning

Manual, Hand held

15mm, F16, 1/125, ISO200

Took more time to look at the composition in this shot.  Clear use of the rule of thirds with the mushroom itself positioned at the first 1/3 vertical line and the head of the fruit at the junction of the 1^st horizontal and vertical lines.  This was the first of three shots. Used the in camera macro programme to help identify potential setting for the following two.  This programme pushed the ISO to 800 which has allowed a very clear image to be taken.  The result of this is an image that is a lot brighter than the ambient, dawn light that was present.

The aperture is set very large, allowing more light to reach the sensor, but more importantly limiting the depth of field, blurring both foreground and background.

The red of the mushroom and the green of the moss stand out well against the autumnal colours of the leaf litter.

I did consider moving some of the leaf litter, but decided against it. 

This is the image as taken; the only change has been to reduce the size of the file to ease uploading.

Fly agaric

Macro programme, mini tripod

26mm, F4.5, 1/13th, ISO800 



First of 2 fully manual shots.  This Fly agaric was about 12 inches away from the previous shot, very close to the bank of the gravel pit itself - you can just about make out the water through the foliage at the top of the shot.  To cut out the relfection it was necessary to get in very close.

The colours in this image are much closer to those on site.  Early morning, Autumn sun, very gold hue.  Have kept the aperture open to narrow the depth of field.  Chose to use an ISO of 200 to increase detail captured.  As I was using a mini-tripod it was possible to use a longer exposure time to make up for the lower ISO.

The reds, greens and golds make the image look very warm, unlike the close to freezing air temperature that was the case.

Fly agaric, woodland floor

Manual, mini tripod

26mm, F4.5, 1/8th, ISO 200

While I liked certain elements of the previous image I wanted to get more detail of the mushroom itself.  Reduced the height of the tripod, moved in closer and reduced the focal length of the lens.  Have increase the detail of the Fly Agaric and the surrounding leaf litter, but lost some of the balance of the composition. 

Fly agaric, woodland floor ii
Manual, mini tripod
19mm, F4, 1/8th, ISO200

Woodland gravel pit

Manual hand held

26mm, F11, 1/125 ISO400 

Misty Dawn reflected

Manual, hand held

18mm, F11, 1/125, ISO100



Woodland walk

Manual, hand held

14mm, F4, 1/60th, ISO200