Tuesday 27 October 2015

Autumn colours

As winter draws ever closer, the clocks slip quietly back from summer time, and the leaves on the trees turn to a wonderful golden brown its time to get out and grab some autumn shots.

The River Wharfe above Bolton Abbey is one of our local beauty spots and very rarely fails to deliver at this time of year.  It can run quite dry after a prolonged period without rain but a recent couple of wet days high up in the Dales meant that the river had filled to the perfect level to compliment the foliage on the tree.

Taking images of water is all above controlling contrast and matching the right shutter speed with the speed and quantity of water, its important not to burn out the high lights and I would rather loose detail in the shadows than compromise the detail and texture in the water flow. My rule of thumb usually has a faster shutter speed for faster water flows, and longer shutters speeds for the less and slower water.

A very slightly longer shutter speed smooths the water
A shorter shutter speed gives less movement and adds texture
Get close to add drama and interest, the foreground rock is about 2' away! 

Langdale Oct

Its been a very busy couple of months and the blog has sadly been neglected, a few climbing trips to the Lakes and Scotland haven't produced any the images that I was hoping for and it seems that every time the light was right, I was busy with other projects.

That said, I had a wonderful day climbing Middlefell Buttress and Jacks Rake in Langdale climbing out of the cloud to a spectacular cloud inversion, having spent the previous night in the van having a go at star trails and night shots.