Project 52 by Geoff F

[Polar01]

Nice pair of horses, looks like they have done this before.

Cheers:

Allan

[Geoff F]

There was another set of horses there, Allan, and with a 'female driver'.



She must be stronger than she looks to control those horses and keep the plough steady; particularly when turning around.

Incidentally, most years there have been a few girls who were keen to drive tractors in the fields, but I didn't see any this year outside of the show ring.

[Geoff F]

During a spell of typical strong English Liquid Sunshine I experimented with shooting a few birds which were sheltering under my bird table.

A traditional Robin.



Shooting from a slightly open window. I think that using flash gave the best rain effect. 1/160 F7.1 Iso 800. 7D with Canon 70-200 L lens at 200 mm. Camera set manually with the flash allowed to find it's own level (ETTL flash).

Obviously, there is bound to be a bit of noise and softness under these conditions.

It's still raining but I think this shot without flash, and a slightly slower shutter speed (1/125) doesn't show the rain quite so well.



I also had a go with High Speed Flash at 1/640 F5.6 and added a bit of extra positive flash compensation to overcome reduced output. Possibly the image is sharper and with less noise but the rain is barely noticeable.



ps. The rain shows best at full screen size.

[Teton Chuck]

Geoff, interesting challenge. Makes me want to experiment with some of the less than ideal conditions.

[Geoff F]

Finally found time to edit the remaining shots, Chuck.

Tried some of the non flash experiments with slightly different editing to increase the contrast, and found these birds looking rather wet and fed up with another typical English summer day!

Another Robin



Female Blackbird and Greenfinch



I think I have managed to successfully show the rain, which was my main intention.

[Letrow]

Finally found time to edit the remaining shots, Chuck.

Tried some of the non flash experiments with slightly different editing to increase the contrast, and found these birds looking rather wet and fed up with another typical English summer day!

Another Robin



Female Blackbird and Greenfinch



I think I have managed to successfully show the rain, which was my main intention.

Now what did you use on these shots Geoff? No flash?
To me they look better than the other shots, more natural somehow, so I am curious about whether I understood correctly.

In the first three shots, the middle looks fine, but the first and third have too much contrast between dark (background) and light (subject). For an outdoor shot it does not look quite right.

[Geoff F]

Yes, that is correct, Peter.

I started shooting without flash then experimented with different flash levels.

So from the first group of 3. #1 is with basic flash; #2 is without; #3 is with high speed flash.

I thought that using a bit of flash brought out the rain better but, as you said, the table and birds look a bit overdone.

Which is why I tried editing the second two, which were shot without flash, with slightly different editing procedure so as to produce some background rain but look more natural.

Hoping I don't have to do too much rain photography in the future; but . . .

[oldgreygary]

I did read something about setting up a garden sprinkler in your garden on a sunny day. This then could be more 'controllable' in terms of taking a photograph. Whether, the birds would still visit the table is another matter though! I guess this idea could be better used if your were doing something more static like a flower, tree, structure of some sort in your garden. I did remember using a fine spray on a hose one day when it was sunny and noticed how it reflected on the 'fine spray (with imagination rain drops?)'. I did think at the time that it might make an effective photograph.

Cheers for now

Gary

[Geoff F]

And if you get the angle correct, Gary, you can create rainbows at will.

At least in theory. I have known it done though; but not by me.

It needs a fairly coarse spray to replicate rain drops although finer droplets can produce slightly different effects.

Watering the garden can attract robins and blackbirds etc as worms come to the surface.

However, in this case the test was to actually shoot during rain; so I've returned to the Raw files to try yet another edit.

Shooting with flash seemed to produce the best raindrops so I've used the old trick of two Raw conversions with different settings and combining them as layers and masks to produce one photo.

This is the first image but re edited to produce a more subdued foreground.



Once again, full screen view shows the best raindrops.

[Geoff F]

Although I managed a few reasonable insect photos this week I was a bit short of other subjects. So as I haven't taken many farming shots this year, apart from the vintage machinery show,here is a tractor with part of Malborough village in the background.



7D with Canon 70-200 L IS handheld at 70 mm; 1/160 F11 Iso 200.

Just had time to switch from macro lens to the 70-200 for one quick shot before the tractor passed.

I did take some other landscape/seascape photos but they didn't have a real subject point so they all got zapped.

[Geoff F]

I was going out insect recording when I got distracted by this scene.



7D with 70-200 L lens at 70 mm. 1/250 F11 Iso 200 on a tripod.

The lens was a bit on the large size for this scene so I had to select some suitable angles.

Slightly different angle.



Then I called at the quayside for a few moments where a merchant was attending to a store box, with an interested helper!



7D with 70-200 lens at 70 mm. 1/250 F11 Iso 400, handheld. Forgot to turn the stabiliser back on but it still worked reasonably well.

Not technically perfect. I was shooting into the light so there was heavy shadow where I needed fine detail. Increasing exposure would have caused too much 'burn out'. But I still rather like the scene.

Created two Raw conversions with different exposures then combined them.

[Letrow]

Just looking at last week's photo Geoff, I love the landscape behind that tractor! Oh, and that dog in the boat...cute.

[ronlane]

Geoff, I'm liking the first one of the misty morning. I could see how you would get distracted by that. Nice work.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

I took that same misty scene several years ago, Ron, with a 40D and 28-135 lens; and haven't found suitable conditions again, until this day. That time, I showed the whole tree and both sides of the harbour. This time I was forced to shoot a more restricted area.

The mist was dispersing quickly so I knew that if I had returned for a smaller lens it would be too late. Took around 30 shots but quickly narrowed that down to a choice between 4 options.

Still managed a day of insect photography although I changed my plan and went to a closer location.

Peter. I was deliberately selecting a suitable background but didn't have much time. Just managed to change lenses and run forward to find a good light angle plus background.

There was another scene which had the tractor at a nicer 45 degree angle and some distant cattle in the background. But they ended up behind the tractor and too close to the photo edge to look balanced; and with the tractor too close to the right edge.

I did a print for the dog's owner with a thought bubble from the dog. 'He's doing it all wrong again - as usual'.

[Donald]

I'm getting terribly far behind in keeping up with everybody's Project 52 work - apologies!

Geoff - that ploughing series at week 34 is a delight. I have to confess to particularly liking the supplementary that you posted of the lady driving the pair. The angle of the shot and the symmetry of the horses in terms of their stride, are wonderful.

[Nicola]

Hi Geoff
I go back to w35.
this is a very interesting job! I'm always fascinated by the rain shots... as i've never experienced, but I really would like
(I'm not lucky, in the last 4 month I remember just 2 days with a 2 hour long rain...)
In your serie I prefer the natural light shots: flash light is too flat in the others.
thanks for sharing, I just want to try something similar,
in theory at least, rainy days should be as interesting as sunny ones, if one has a artistic eye!

i remember a "rainy thread" of skitalez that impressed me much:
https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...thread8403.htm

ciao
N

[Geoff F]

Firstly, thanks for the previous comments.

This year hasn't been great for sunsets. A couple of days ago I noticed some nice pink tinged storm clouds in a blue sky over Dartmoor.

But by the time I got my gear together and went to a suitable spot, just a few yards along the road from my house, the scene had changed. However, there were some similar clouds over the next 'city skyline'.



7D with Canon 70-200 L lens on a tripod which straddled the crash barrier on a sharp corner! 1/100 F11 Iso 200.

Malborough is one of those one street, two pubs, villages and with a small shop/filling station.

A little later, and looking a fraction more to the south, this scene appeared.



Virtually as shot except for slightly reducing the yellow intensity. 1/400 F11 Iso 200.

A couple of days previously, I was walking through some nearby fields when I started photographing a small group of bullocks.

But they decided to hide from me behind some bracken. They aren't the cleverest of animals!



'He can't see us here'.

70-200 lens 1/250 F11 Iso 200.

[Teton Chuck]

Geoff, very nice. I especially like it when the photo is expanded. It brings out the texture in the clouds, and you have just enough light to make out some of the buildings. Good stuff.

chuck

[Geoff F]

During the summer this ferry runs from the town to this beach near the harbour entrance.

Because there aren't any landing facilities here they use a self propelled landing stage where passengers embark or disembark from the ferry.



7D with Canon 70-200 L lens 1/200, F11, Iso 100

The landing stage then drives across the beach to an area where the passengers can safely disembark.



1/320, F11, Iso 200

While the ferry takes a new load of passengers to the town.



1/250, F11, Iso 100

I did take some shots on a closer zoom but this option shows something of the town and harbour.

[oldgreygary]

Excellent, what a neat idea! That is shown very well in the images!

Cheers for now

Gary