Project 52 Challenge by Geoff F - Second Quarter

[Geoff F]

Continuing with this challenge to post at least one image each week. This is the second quarter and the first quarter is here

2021 Project 52 by Geoff F

Week 15 - No Work Today. The tractor is missing a wheel and even the cattle are sleepy.



7D with Canon 24-105 lens 1/500 F8 Iso 400. Merge of three conversions from a single Raw file.

[Wavelength]

I feel more interested in a close up of those cattle

[Cantab]

Geoff, I enjoyed this photo– relaxed cattle not doing much of anything except ruminating, the sleepy backwater of a farmyard with its tractor minus a wheel, and the collection of derelict/garbage material in the corner on the other side of the fence along the left margin of the photo.

You were dealing with a wide dynamic range, which seems to have turned out fine in the final version of your photo.

[Geoff F]

I did try bracketed exposures, Bruce, but there was too much wind movement. I could have used those shots for the static parts but in the end I went with stretching my first shot in two different ways during the raw conversion stage.

[Geoff F]

Week 16 - A better day; well at least the morning was partly sunny so I spent a few hours recording and photographing wildlife. But by midday the sky was gradually clouding over.



7D with Canon 24-105 lens. Merge of two bracketed exposures 1/250 F11 Iso 400.

And just a few of the insects from that day. Starting with a hoverfly, Cheilosia illustrata



Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/200 F11 Iso 400. Flash used

Cranefly - Dicranophragma adjunctum. The most important part of cranefly identification is to get the wing veins looking clear



A tiny bright red weevil - Apion frumentarium



And a tiny shiny moth about 5 mm long. Micropterix calthella



Nomada flava. A bee which lays eggs inside the nest burrows of other bees where its larvae live as parasites on the host bee larvae.

[Wavelength]

A nice variety

[Geoff F]

Week 17 - Woodland Pond. Other side of the river from my previous images. When constructing a railway line the Victorian engineers diverted the river from its natural course which then became a pond.

Bit of a struggle to find a shooting position and to allow for the dull light. I was wearing rubber boots so I waded into the waterside mud and tried several angles/shooting settings but most shots failed due to slow shutter speed. I have tried that scene before, in bright sunshine, but that ended poorly because of an overly harsh light.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/80 F 11 Iso 400. Merge of two conversions from a single Raw shot plus a few other tweaks.



1/60 F8 Iso 400

I was trying to get a bit of height into these scenes but maybe it will be worth trying some tighter crops on the top to concentrate on the fallen trees.

[Geoff F]

Here is the tighter crop

[Cantab]

Geoff, the tighter crop works but so did your original (vertical) version. For me, the three images each have a different feel to them.

If I had to choose one of them it would be the second one in post #7. It does a good job of capturing a feel of the scene: a still body of water surrounded by both green vegetation as well as dead trees -- the maturing of trees, coupled with the succession of new growth replacing the old.

It's hard to tell whether the sky might be blown but the wide dynamic arrange of this type of original scene was handled well in my view.

[Geoff F]

Thanks Bruce. The sky isn't quite blown; just the normal UK summer colour - grey.

I did take 3 bracketed exposures of each scene, plus several attempts which were quickly ditched. But because of wind movement I ended up just using the darker shots and editing by merging in some adjustments.

It was all those subtle shades of green which attracted me to this potential scene.

[Geoff F]

Week 18 - Sheepstor. Went to a Devon Fly Group Meeting at Burrator Reservoir on the southern edge of Dartmoor. The little old Sheepstor Village is in the bottom right corner.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/320 F11 Iso 400. Merge of two bracketed exposures.

And a Dartmoor Monster lurking amongst the woodland.



1/250 F6.3 merge of two bracketed exposures.

I wasn't surprised to find a monster there. It is a weird place. I had to go along single track moorland roads with a mile between passing places and frequent stops for sheep crossing the road.

Then, near the village, I slipped into a time warp and had to reverse to allow a convey of vehicles from the 1960's and 70's to pass. Led by an E-type Jaguar were one of those old square Mercedes, a Volvo, various old English cars and a couple of American Mustang types. Followed by a group of Hell's Grandads on vintage motorbikes.

I have no idea what they were doing there on such narrow country lanes.

[LenR]

A lovely tranquil Devon landscape Geoff. I wonder if the sky might benefit from a little "burning in"
The fallen tree does indeed look like a monster - a Komodo dragon springs to mind .

[Geoff F]

The sky is a merge from the darker of my bracketed exposures and I moved that little cloud a little closer to the ground before cropping to a widescreen ratio. It might take a little bit more darkening but that is how low angle English skies look and there is a risk of appearing unnatural with too much 'improvements'. However, I will have a look at some slight tweaking.

My last edit tweak was to add a fraction more highlights to give the scene a little more boost so maybe that was too much.

[Cantab]

...I moved that little cloud a little closer to the ground...

The power of being able to move a cloud at will!

[Geoff F]

You just have to blow very hard, Bruce.

I had a go at improving the sky but most things just looked wrong so eventually I tried an adjustment layer with the blend mode set to Multiply at 80% then merged it in with a gradient mask.

[LenR]

Geoff, the subtle improvement works well and does not detract from the pastel tones of the scene.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comment Len.

After a stint at insect photography in a local wood I wandered off along the coast path.

Week 19 - Best not to go down that path for a few minutes!



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/400 F11 Iso 400. Merge of two bracketed exposures

The Coast Path near Bolt Head



1/320 F11 Iso 400 merge of two bracketed exposures.

Salcombe Harbour from the coast path

[Geoff F]

Also had a snap at some Foxgloves. I rather liked the idea of flowers against that wall but also realised this was going to be a tricky scene to photograph.



1/320 F8 Iso 100

[Geoff F]

Week 20 - More Foxgloves. One of those situations which looked stunning in real life but I knew it would be difficult to turn that scene into a photograph. Anyway, I had a go.

I was trying to give an impression of distance and height. Foxgloves all the way to the sky!



7D with Canon 24-105 lens 1/200 F11 Iso 250.

And some egg laying Large Red Damselflies. Laying their eggs deep into the water.



7D with Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/160 F14 Iso 400. Flash used.

[Geoff F]

Last night; looking towards the next town



7D with Canon 24-105 lens 1/20 F4.5 Iso 400. Handheld but resting against a window frame.