2017 Project 52 - 3rd Quarter by Geoff F

[Wavelength]

The farmlands in portrait mode looks very interestingly different .....

[John 2]

Week 31 - Harvesting. Still thinking about the next History Society calendar and wanting some farming scenes which also included some of the general landscape. So when I heard machinery from a farm across the valley from my house I walked a few yards down the road to a gap in the hedge. A bit distant and not an ideal light; also slightly restricted in available angles. Incidentally, the guy driving the combine is also a History Society committee member.



7D with Canon 70-200 lens 1/640 F11 Iso 400. On reflection, I could probably have got away with a slower Iso but at the time I was more concerned with finding an acceptable camera angle.

Nice series Geoff that nicely brings out the character of the land. Last two are the pick for me. In he first one, I'm dyeing to move that tractor in the far field across to the left because of the story it tells of harvesting and then carting off the bales.

[Geoff F]

The trailer load of bales is actually from a different farm. I did wonder about it being rather close to the edge, so maybe I will 'reverse' it back a few yards, maybe line it up with the tree. Should be easy enough to do.

[bnnrcn]

It certainly looks better Geoff

That Move Tool is something which I tried a few times but didn't really get on with the results. However I have had another go with this image. Worked reasonably well this time although I did have to do a bit of clone work on the water edge.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Geoff , they are certainly nice images as they are. But , I would crop all images from the top to make a bit artistic compositions. I would crop #1 and #2 from above the triangle like green part. I would crop #2 to make a square frame. After eliminating some details aroud the horizons, all images would look nice with patterns, shapes and different colors But if you want to give some info about the environment, it is better not to touch the images

[Geoff F]

I had thought about cropping closer to the combine, Binnur; but yes, these shots were designed to show the overall landscape of this area with the farm machinery being more of a bonus item instead of the main subject.

Probably, I will end up cropping some to a 5 x 4 format or square to show a different sort of scene, while one of these wider images may make it into next years calendar where they need to be in 4 x 5 ratio.

[Geoff F]

Week 32 - Regatta. Mostly dull weather and difficult light angles with moving subjects meant a lot of compromise to get anything at all.

The Fishing Boat Race. In misty conditions and I was shooting from some rocks at the harbour entrance towards boats which were some distance away, so some severe editing was required to achieve any sort of image.



7D with Canon 70-200 lens 1/320 F6.3 Iso 800.

Greasy Pole and it was impossible to get a sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze the action in such poor light so I tried for situations where the movement was reduced.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens 1/500 F4.5 Iso 800

Mud Race and once again I was attempting to shoot with too slow a shutter. With this shot I tried to show something of the overall scene at the start of the race. I zoomed tighter to the action with other images.



1/500 F7.1 Iso 800

Raft Race and once again this is the start of the event, but I zoomed in to show the individual rafts with later shots.



1/640 F11 Iso 800. Yet another dull day

Finally some sunshine and clear air, but I was shooting with my big lens across the low early evening light while requiring a fairly fast shutter speed.



7D with Sigma 150-600 Sport lens 1/1000 F8 Iso 400

Sailing and a dull start eventually produced some patchy sunlight. Once again, I was thinking about the next calendar and attempting to achieve some 4 x 5 ratio scenes which had a bit of foreground action but also showed the town in the background.



24-70 lens 1/800 F10 Iso 400

More images are here, but still just a small selection from my total shots of these events

http://www.pbase.com/crustacean/2017...regatta&page=1

[joebranko]

Great action shots Geoff!

[Cantab]

Geoff, I enjoyed all the photos. It looks like you had a wide range of lighting conditions to contend with during the course of the day!

I was intrigued by the mud race. What happens if the tide is in and there's no mud? Simply have the race at a different time of day?

There was a good chop for the fishing boat race. (Is "chop" a term used in the England – it might be unique to my part of the world.)

I had a look at some of the photos on your PBase site. DH95 was well and truly rigged out with an assortment of flags, etc.!

[skitterbug]

This is a good group of interesting and well done photos considering the conditions you had to contend with!

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, Bruce, the mud race is timed to exactly coincide with low water.

The basic sea conditions weren't too bad for the fishing boats. There was a fresh wind but it was sheltered by the headland. Most of the choppy conditions were caused by the bigger boats going ahead and their wash was coming together to boil about in the wind. I was shooting from some low rocks and had to keep an eye on the wash as it came ashore.

DH 95 (Tenacious) spends the best part of the day decorating their boat alongside the quay and I went aboard to photograph the raft race from a suitable angle.

[Shadowman]

Post 47, nice captures. I really like the splash and the others look well enough considering the lighting conditions.

[Wavelength]

Pleasing images

[Geoff F]

Week 33 - After the regatta came the local Vintage Machinery Show, with more rather dull weather conditions; followed by harsh sunshine mostly from the wrong angle because it was difficult to find positions with clean backgrounds. I converted some to monochrome.

#1



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/250 F11 Iso 400

#2



1/500 F8 Iso 400

#3



1/200 F11 Iso 400

#4



1/500 F11 Iso 400

#5



1/800 F11 Iso 400

#6



1/250 F11 Iso 400

#7



1/200 F11 Iso 400. A slightly odd angle with a bit of perspective.

[Geoff F]

Some images I thought had more impact in colour.

This was a quick shot but in some ways I liked the difference between these two women driving their old sports car towards the show while a man is coming the other way and pushing a wheelchair.



1/250 F10 Iso 400

Ploughing



1/500 F11 Iso 400

Horse Ploughing. I did take other angles of horses ploughing but rather liked this one with them heading towards that blank dark sky.



1/320 F11 Iso 400

Farming Talk



1/320 F11 Iso 400

And there were also various stationary machinery exhibits.



1/160 F11 Iso 400

[Cantab]

Geoff, I enjoyed all the photos, B&W and colour. Of the black-and-white, my favorites were #1 and 2.
#7 is a bit of a mystery: was the farmer logging in his field of grain?

The last of the colour photos is intriguing. What on earth is it doing? Pumping water out of a shallow bucket and then back into the bucket?

[Wavelength]

All excellent images

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

The load of tree trunks is waiting to go on the sawbench exhibit.



It was difficult to find a working angle for this scene but I managed one shot while they were setting up.

The static machinery exhibits including pumps etc were running in the field without any water connection so it is running as a continuous loop and recycling the same water from the bowl to the pump and then to the tap.

Here is a different type of saw which was driven by one of these static engines; but I just couldn't get a decent angle for this scene.



I also experimented with shooting video using my 7D and the same lens, but I haven't got around to editing it yet. That job will probably take me a bit of time to complete.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice B&W and color images Geoff The skies in some B&W images look a bit too bright, reducing the highlights selectively might help

[skitterbug]

I really enjoyed looking at your selections of old time machinery scenes. If you had control of the situation, you could shoot those "perfect" pics that you are always striving for but you had no say in how people presented their equipment. In my estimation all of these are well done and you've given us an excellent documentary! Thank you for sharing these!