2018 Project 52 by Geoff F - 2nd Quarter

[Geoff F]

Once again, I will be uploading something each week and my photos will continue to show something of the area where I live and various events, etc, which occur here. Also, where suitable, I will be trying some black and white images; which is an area that I have tended to neglect recently.
the previous quarter is here:
2018 Project 52 by Geoff F - 1st Quarter


Week 14 - Early season wildlife. Haven't been doing much with my camera over the past couple of weeks. It has been the Easter fortnight when the hordes descend on this part of the country, so I hide away until it is all over. At least where I live, on a quiet edge of the town, things tend to carry on with a pleasing amount of normality.

But on those few days when the weather has been suitable I have slipped off to some out of the way places to search for and photograph any of those early season creatures which have just started to stir from their hibernation period. But we have had quite a bit of fog, cloud and showers with wind so the temperatures have remained on the cool side.

Bee Flies are a strange looking fly which are always a welcome sign that Spring is well on its way.



7D with Sigma 180 macro lens with flash on a tripod. 1/200 F14 Iso 400

They frequently feed on primroses where their long feeding tubes prove useful. But they flit from flower to flower so rapidly that by the time I have adjusted myself into a suitable position and focused the lens they have moved to another flower. So the slow stalking process has to begin again.



Lowered the Iso to 400, which is a more normal setting for me. A merge of 2 focus points.

First cranefly - Ptychoptera albimana and this one wasn't in a posing mood either. I needed to get some exact camera angles for identification which meant this was the only shot which came anywhere close to being acceptable.



Finally a little patch of rather small fungi which was a new species to me. Scutellinia scutella. The largest individual 'cups' reach around 10 mm but most are smaller.



1/80 F11 Iso 400. A merge of 4 focus points.

[skitterbug]

Definitely worth the time you spent out and about! Wonderful photos!

[Urbanflyer]

Especially like the red fungi! Nicely done!

[rudi]

I haven't seen a bee fly here as off yet, but probably I haven't looked closely enough

Specially like the Scutellinia scutellata, with the appropriate English name 'Eyelash cup fungi' !!

[Geoff F]

Thanks. This has been a very good year for Bee Flies here, Rudi. I have found some at every site so far and more than 10 at some sites. Yesterday I saw two rubbing their abdomens in the dust prior to egg laying.

Week 15 - Lime Spreading. I was at a woodland site beside a river looking for wildlife when I found a farmer spreading lime on a small field which was the only level patch of ground in the area surrounded by trees and steep valley sides.

One of those occasions requiring a quick lens change and an attempt to move into the best available location as fast as possible. The light was from the right side which limited my options.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/640 F11 Iso 400.



1/200 F11 Iso 400

And an attempt with a monochrome conversion to create a different type of scene.



1/400 F11 Iso 400

[Shadowman]

Nice, crisp captures week 15.

[Cantab]

Geoff, this is an interesting set of photos. For me, the first one works particularly well, probably because of the contrast between the bright and sharp details of the tractor and the opaque dark cloud of lime behind it.

Did you have a dust mask or perhaps a respirator with you?

[joebranko]

Love how clear and sharp these shots are; but then again your shots always are!

[rudi]

The pictures give the illusion off hot and dry, though I think it has been very wet over there too, but I might be wrong off course...
Especially like the B&W version.

[skitterbug]

Hi Geoff - all sharp and clear and tells the story of farm work in action. I like both the second photo and the B/W version because I can tell that the tractor is moving along. I see the dirt particles and dust coming from the action of the wheels on the soil!

Good thing the air was blowing the lime away from you!

[Geoff F]

This is one of those situations where a tractor cab is really useful for the driver.

Thanks for the comments. That Tamron lens certainly produces clear sharp images; although I was careful to get good light angles. My previous lens, which I still use occasionally, is the Canon 24-105 but it never seems to match the quality of this Tamron.

We have had a few days of calm sunny weather so the soil top covering is drying out, but still saturated underneath.

[Geoff F]

Week 16 - Another tractor scene. They were working not far from my house so I just grabbed my camera and one lens and rushed to the area. Because I only wanted to take one lens I used the Canon 24-105 which I knew would cover the required ranges without having to keep changing lenses. It worked OK but I always feel it is a bit lacking in quality compared with my Tamron 24-70.

I wanted to show how this farm is just on the edge of the town, now that the town has expanded. Also, to shoot some 4 x 5 ratio images for use in the next History Society Calendar.



1/320 F11 Iso 400. Whichever way I faced there was a potentially problematic light angle.



1/160 F11 Iso 400



1/320 F11 Iso 400



1/500 F11 Iso 400

All were merges of 2 or 3 conversions from a single Raw image.

[Cantab]

Geoff, my two favourite are #2 and #3. The second one held my attention I think because of the land curving or sloping in different directions. It reminded me a bit of bouncing around in a small boat at sea.

For me, the first photo has two competing primary subjects, the farm sign and the tractor--and so did not work as well as the second and third photos. However, I liked the way the fence line curves away from the immediate foreground into the distance.

[skitterbug]

Interesting farm work photos. They are all sharp and interesting. I like the colour ones best. I'm not fond of the B/W for the only reason that I couldn't make out the blades on the plough without working at it..... The second one (my favorite) does convey what you wanted. Shows how very close to town the farming activity is. Are these fields large? This is a fair size tractor and field equipment so the farmer would need a bit of space to be able to use it effectively. Just curious.

Looks like a fun day out for photo work!

[Geoff F]

Rather small fields, some the same size as they would have been when worked with horses. It is difficult terrain with quite an area which is too steep to be worked so hedges tend to mark the division between flatter areas and too steep slopes.

It is a fairly small two man farm which grows wheat on the workable areas and they have sheep on the steeper bits; plus a little bit of ground where they plant winter food for their sheep.

With the first image, I liked the idea of showing the farm sign but the light was totally wrong so it was one of those 'press the shutter anyway' situations. I did try another shot when the tractor was a little further away but by then it was partly hidden by the sign.

Maybe have another look at the signs scene later in the year when there is a visible crop and a nice sky?

[Geoff F]

Week 17 - The History Society exhibit at Salcombe Crabfest. One of those situations where I could see plenty of potential problems before shooting. But I clicked the shutter anyway and just hoped for the best.

To make things even more difficult I only had my little Fuji X20 pocket sized camera and I had to grab snaps between gaps in a continuous stream of people passing by.



1/550 F8 Iso 200. Merge of 3 conversions from a single Raw file. Too much contrast range in the scene so there is quite a bit of noise in the shadows.



1/750 F8 Iso 200. Another merge of 3 Raw conversions.

We put on a display of old local photographs and other items using a low wall of a pub beer garden. On the right side, in heavy shadow, there is a narrow path which was used by everybody going to or coming from the main festival events.

[Shadowman]

Nice series of the event.

[skitterbug]

These look good.
How do you get a merge when people are moving around? It would never line up this perfectly for me if I tried this technique. Well done!

[Geoff F]

You just use a single shot, Sandy. The trick lies with Raw images always remaining changeable.

Edit the first Raw conversion to suit the midtones (for example) and save that image somewhere as a Tiff or Psd file etc. Open the Raw file again but edit it to stretch the scene towards the highlights/shadows. Save those images. Open all the images as layers. You don't need to bother about aligning the layers because they have all come from the same file so will be perfectly aligned. Any cropping comes later.

Then use edited masks to hide or reveal parts of these layers as required. Choose one image to be the background image (eg the midtone conversion) and brush in bits from the other layers as needed.

If using Photoshop CC, or one of the other recent versions, you can do all this much easier with Smart Objects. Just open the edited first image as a Smart Object then right click to make copies and double click the thumbnails of those copies to return each layer to ACR for more editing using the original Raw file. It literally just takes a couple of clicks to a Smart Object.

[skitterbug]

Hi Geoff - I don't use Photoshop but I understand the concept and yes, it makes sense to me! Thanks for sharing the technique! I'll have to figure out how to make it work with my software! <grin>