2016 Project 52 Challenge by Geoff F - 2nd Quarter

[joebranko]

Great series Geoff! Loved your write up. It was as if you were reading my mind as I often go through those mental gymnastics as I make a change to a setting not recently used! Soo funny!

[Geoff F]

Thanks, Joe. Yes, I often find talking to myself is a great help when I'm getting confused by technology.

And that is correct, Izzie, you have found the Egret. Later on there were some ducks which appeared a little more prominently but by then I had lost the reflection.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Geoff,

Whenever I visit a hide, the view always looks like your first image in Week 15 post - anything worth shooting is just so darned far away

You did well with the Pied Wagtail, if every there was a bird that lived up to its name; strut, wag, wag, wag, strut, wag, wag, wag ... this would be it.
We have a few in Windsor again this year, as we did a about 5 years ago, but in more recent years, I hardly saw any.

I haven't shot any birds this year, must give it a go again.

Anyway, back to your shots; they are all good (no surprise to me there), my favourite is the Pied Wagtail, followed by the Sandpiper.

Cheers, Dave

[bnnrcn]

Week 14 looks great Geoff. The egret shot is my fav in week 15

[Geoff F]

Thanks, Dave and Binnur.

Week 16 - Thurlestone Sands. Went to a reedbed which drains into the sea here and when I arrived there was a bit of surf showing; so a quick change of mind and lens then I was off to have a go with some seascapes before tackling the reedbed insects.

First shot failed. Camera operator error - no battery installed.

And of course, by the time I returned to my vehicle for the battery and had another attempt the surf was declining while the sky was clouding over.

Then finding a suitable shooting angle with a bit of foreground interest proved tricky. Several wildly optimistic shots have been ditched. So this is the best which I eventually managed.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens 1/1000 F11 Iso 400. All these images are a merge of 2 or 3 different conversions from a single Raw original.

Thurlestone Rock

Tried several shots hoping to combine a bit of surf with suitable positions from my foreground figures. Obviously with a high reject rate.



Then, with cloud increasing I turned around to try some 'Beach Street Photography' from the beach cafe but rather tricky to find suitable 'action' combined with an acceptable light angle.



1/400 F11 Iso 400



After that, it was back to the insect photography but I haven't got around to editing those images yet. About an hour later the sun reappeared.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[joebranko]

Nice series Geoff. I really like the first shot with the lone figure on the beach, though I would have probably cropped some of the sky. The kast_ with the family with 2dogs is my second favourite.

[IzzieK]

I like all of them, Geoff but my favourite is the first one first and foremost followed by your Beach Street Photography...

[Geoff F]

I originally rejected the first scene, then went back for another think and finally had a go at some slight edits.

It is slightly cropped but I don't want to lose any more from the sides. I chopped off a little from the beach to lessen the amount of sand but chiefly to take out a bit of shadow. Still needed a little bit of cloning as well.

The sky created a bit of a problem over deciding on the crop size but eventually I thought the sky had sufficient detail to stand on its own merit, so I went for this 3 x 2 ratio crop; with the option of going a bit more panoramic at a later time, if required.

[CormacD]

Hi Geoff, All shots in this series are well focussed and have a good depth of field.Your beach scene makes me feel as if I am there early morning on that lonely stretch, you have achieved your aim of including at least one person.

As a suggestion, a possible better composition to get a better perspective would be to get down lower picking up some texture in the sand. Even the lone figure's footprints would have provided a good leading line to the person and improved perspective (if practicable).

I like the perspective on Thurston Rock with the sand in the foreground, the interesting people with bright colours in the mid ground and the rock in the distance.

The two beach street scenes give me a good feel for the location, the surrounding terrain, and the people. As you are aware. of course, it is a pity the sky is blown out in the last pic.

Overall, a great set of pics at the beach.....Cheers...Lindsay

[Geoff F]

With the first scene, Lindsay, I was shooting from the road which is about 15 ft from the beach level and just a couple of gaps in the fence so I had to walk a bit before getting to sand level.

I have messed about a little with the sky in the last shot but there was little texture to be had because the light had changed that much in less than 30 minutes. From bright sunshine to cloud with mist! With the previous shot, where I was facing to the left, the sky is beginning to fail; and looking to my right it was already misted over.

[Geoff F]

One nice sunny day this week so I changed plans and went to another part of the cliff path; where I don't wander very often. Narrow roads and when you arrive there is only roadside parking for 6 cars. So best left alone outside of the quieter periods.

Wonwell Beach - Gulls. At low tide there were a group of gulls resting but they were disturbed by a dog.



7D with Canon 70-200 lens. 1/800 F11 Iso 400. Merge of two Raw conversions from one original shot.

The Angler. I tried many angles of this scene and with various amounts of zoom. Without any foreground the image seems to lose its context. There is more background available, and some shots with more foreground. Also I needed to have the angler looking interesting with a bit of wave movement as well.



On reflection, maybe I should have set up the tripod and shot with two focus points. Not sure if they would have merged together, but I should have tried.

Walking through the ripples. I was wondering about getting a suitable shot of the sand ripples, without really achieving much success when this couple walked around the corner. So I just had to shoot quickly and hope for the best.



1/640 F11 Iso 400. Another merge of Raw conversions.

Dangerous Rocks. These just hidden hazards at low tide show why this particular estuary has never been developed.



1/320 F11 Iso 200.

Looking Inland With the tide about half way in.



1/1250 F11 Iso 400. I did take more shots with a lower Iso but, as so often happens, I thought the first trial shot was actually the best.

Not sure if I should zap the red coat woman. There is another person among the rocks and a couple of others half way up the creek.

[IzzieK]

I like all of them sceneries because they have a completed human element that you incorporated in them. I particularly prefer the angler. Even that quick ripples shot is very nice, too. I disagree about cloning the red coated woman as she did made the whole image different and is not really a distraction despite the bright colour of her coat.Beside I can see her better than the other people so far away and she made a difference to the whole scene in that nicer way.

[CormacD]

Hi Geoff, very interesting series. I am getting a very good feel for some of the beautiful countryside and coastline near your hometown.

# 1 To me, the building is the main focal point and the foreground dog and gulls is a secondary, although certainly add most of the interest to the scene. You have good Depth of Field in this landscape, very clear throughout. I had a closer look on my editor and verified that there is a very slight lean down to the right on the building. Also I did a very small adjustment to the white point in the levels and that brightens the white on the building and the dog and the gulls making it sparkle a bit more.

# 2 Very interesting overall, especially with the fisherman and the little wave capture. Clear foreground and middle ground, I can see the texture on the rocks clearly and the moluscs growing on them. The DoF is not quite right as the distant shoreline is a bit blurry. How do you work out your hyperfocal distance, do you just do the 1/3 into the scene rule of thumb? I assume you used the same aperture as the others? Yes maybe you could try focus stacking.

# 3 Good capture of the sand ripples, colour and light looks OK. The foreground rocks and the couple walking by add to the shot and put it into context.

# 4 An interesting capture of the estuary mouth. Maybe a lens filter? CPL? Would have brought out the contrast in the rocky areas better? The sky as well looks a bit sick.

#5 Excellent composition, the red coat really makes the difference. The clouds are much better in this one. The distant trees look a bit blurry to me, still need to work on the depth of field/ hyperfocal distance for that lens, I think, maybe try a little smaller aperture and/or take more care with the focal distance.

Overall very good series, keep up the good work.

Cheers ….Lindsay

[Geoff F]

With that building in #1, I was at an angle to the building which has caused the horizontal lines to veer a little off level but the verticals are upright which is really all that can be done. This is a common problem with buildings and shorelines etc.

The angler was always going to be a problem because I was physically restricted in my shooting distance and was already at F11. Which is why I was wondering about it being better if I had tried a merge of two focus points. The foreground had to be sharp. I did try shots without any foreground and also some shots from the cliff top, but somehow they seemed to lack impact.



With the estuary mouth I was getting problems with the foreground grass being over dark while the sky was on the light side which is why this needed to be a merge of Raw conversions.

UK skies are usually problematic near the horizon where they tend to become washed out pale grey even in bright sunshine where there is a solid blue sky overhead.

I had an attempt at a gate but that was always going to be something of an impossible task due to my available shooting distance and the miles of scene ahead of me.



One attempt had a ship in the far distance but it was rather blurred. The image here had another failure with that walker near the cliff edge. Ideally, I should have waited and taken another shot when he was further to the left.

[Wavelength]

In a single phrase: 'very pleasing images'. The master element of all these images is the bright sunshine with your controlled exposure. Fascinating......all....

[CormacD]

Thank you Geoff I really appreciate your ongoing conversations about how you went about getting your lovely landscape shots. I'm sure we all have similar experiences in setting up for the best pics possible and can continue to learn from each and every one. I am trying to learn and improve by critiquing photos on our CiC site. I'm a bit inexperienced at critique but working at getting better.

[bnnrcn]

+1 to Nandakumar's comment

[joebranko]

Very nice shots!

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

I had a couple of attempts at slightly difficult subjects this week but they didn't quite turn out as hoped although I am going to return for another go at editing as soon as I get time.

So here is a little 'tail' with an eventual happy ending.

I found a lost lamb in the lower portion of an L shaped field behind a Beach where it was wandering around with some Highland Cattle. Previously I had noticed some sheep with lambs at the other end of this field so I guided it around the corner and further into the field, although they were all considerably larger lambs.

Eventually I heard a sheep bleating, out of sight behind a field ridge, so I went towards it and eventually found the lamb's mother.

The Little Lost Lamb



7D with Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/640 F11 Iso 400. I was set up for insect photography so had to shoot quickly with what was available.

You aren't my mother - you are big, hairy and scary!



Tamron 24-70 lens 1/800 F11 Iso 400

Reunited at last



I had switched back to my macro lens so this was another quick shot looking towards the light. 1/1000 F11 Iso 400.