Off camera flash

I've always been rather unkeen on using flash on my photos, preferring the look of natural light. But from doing my research it appears that the more I can get to grips with using flash, the more possibilities it opens up. I bought a flash unit which I can attach to my camera, but more excitingly, which I can take off my camera and place it to light up the subject from whatever angle I like. One of the things I decided to try with my new light was a back-lit photo of some watery subject. The flash duration is so short that you can capture each of the tiny droplets and bubbles very clearly. I positioned the flash to bounce off the wall behind the glass so that the liquid is illuminated.

An amble beside Ambleside

 Here's a selection of photographs from today's stroll from Ambleside. I hadn't fully made my mind up about how far to go, but I ended up following the waterfall trail up through the woods, and then heading up to the top of Wansfell. It is a pretty steep walk up, so it was handy to stop every so often to take photographs!

 There was a turnstile gate which I accidentally caught somebody standing on spinning round and round like a roundabout! They hastily moved on when they saw me, but they gave me the idea for this photo. I spun the gate round before taking the picture, and had a reasonably long shutter speed (not too long though as I was holding the camera steady without a tripod). The effect is rather ghostly I think, a disappearing turnstile gate!

 The first of the Autumn colour is edging it's way in. People may complain about the end of the summer, but I for one do actually quite enjoy the Autumn when all the colours burst out.

Lantern festival

I went to the Ulverston lantern festival for the first time this year. Initially I thought it was going to be just like a torchlight procession, but the reality was far more exciting! There were so many creative lanterns, I was amazed at how many people took part and how many people were there to watch. Here are some of my favourite snaps of lanterns!

A walk in the mountains

Here are a couple of pictures from a walk I did last week. I've done plenty of walks in the Lake District before, but this one was very interesting because the views were so good and I could see many of the other hills I've been up. I feel like I have a better picture in my mind of where all the different hills are in relation  to each other now!

Bubbles and a walk in the park

 I went to the first two year old birthday party that I've been to since probably when I was that age! The children rather enjoyed the bubble making machine, it proved to be a good time for taking photos!

 Later we visited the tropical world in Roundhay Park Leeds. This was a rather splendid cactus, and the park outside the tropical world was lovely too on such a nice day.

Another photoshopping experiment

 

I'm sure there are thousands of things you can do with photoshop, but for now I've tried blending two pictures again. I thought I'd see if I could make it look as though she's walking through long grass. I don't think it really looks like she's standing next to a giant bluebell but the effect is quite nice anyway!

Photoshop experiments

I had my first experiments of photoshop today! At first I was completely baffled as it wasn't obvious how to use it, so I had to go on Youtube and watch some videos about getting started. I wanted to learn how to put two pictures together so there are different layers to the picture. I picked these katie costume ones for my experiments as I though the close up pictures of the textures could work well as backgrounds

Latest Costume adventures on Hamps Fell

Here is a selection of my favourite photographs from the latest costume photo shoot with my sister Katie wearing her latest costume. See duxburydesigns.co.uk for more costumes!

Polarising filter

I've had a 'circular polarising filter' for ages, but haven't used it until this week. It's a filter that goes on the lens, and blocks some of the light from reaching the camera's sensor. It makes skies look bluer, and reduces reflections on water and other shiny things, which makes colours look more saturated. I went for a walk at the Ulverston canal to try it out.

Then in the evening I went for a walk at Rydal Hall near Ambleside where there is a lovely series of waterfalls. I went in the evening deliberately as the reduced light would mean that the camera would need longer shutter speeds to capture the scene, resulting in the lovely smooth moving water effect. I think the polarising filter might have helped add to this as well by removing the unwanted light reflections.

Editing Abingdon

I have looked again at the picture of Abingdon that I took last week and have been experimenting with ways to enhance it by making adjustments in the editing software. I've been learning what all the different buttons and tools are and how I can touch up different parts of the photo with them.

I made three different versions, a sepia, a colour and a black and white. I can't decide which one I like best. I think the colours of the scene were what made it eye catching in the first place, but on the other hand it looks really dramatic in the monochrome versions