Project 52 - Weekly Photos by Geoff F - Part 3

[Cantab]

"This meant driving 20 miles, plus a bit of a walk along the coast path, to end up only half a mile from my house; but I included a bit of weekly shopping half way through the journey so it wasn't too far out of my way."

Quite apart from the shopping, the trip was well worth while.You've produced three great images, worth looking at quite apart from their future role in Christmas cards. You managed to deal with what was a high dynamic range of dark rocks and glittering water.

I think my favourite is the first one but that may be only because it was the first one I saw! My recollection is that when you were working, you fished out of Salcombe Harbour. If that was the case then this is presumably a channel you know very well?

The first and third photos have sand or mud flats in the background. But in the second photo the channel marker appears to be relatively close to a rocky shore. Presumably the rocks drop off quickly there?

The second photo has in the background what looks like the ruins of a wall or ancient fortification just above the high tide line?

[billtils]

I like the framing in the second one ("Hustler") and it has nice red and green "Christmas" colours.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

Those rocks drop steeply away into water which is between 10 and 20 ft deep at low tide.

With this type of scene, I normally shoot for the bright areas then do a second Raw conversion for the midtones/shadows and combine the two with layers and masking.

In the background is the old Salcombe Castle which is clearly visible in this image. (Yes I know, I should have pressed the shutter half a second later to get a better position on the left hand marker post)

[Geoff F]

Week 50 - South Pool Creek from Snapes Point. But that won't mean anything to most people. About half a mile further up the harbour on a dull day and looking towards one of the side creeks.



7D with 24-70 Tamron lens. 1/160 F11 Iso 250. Merge of two bracketed exposures. I particularly wanted to show the sky.

And a closer shot of the harbour authority barge doing maintenance work on some moorings.



1/100 F11 Iso 250. Merge of two bracketed exposures. I was clambering over some slippery rocks while looking for a suitable angle, before the subject changed, and didn't check my camera settings until later, when it was too late. This shot has worked OK but several others had a shutter speed of 1/60 or less and were blurred. Never mind personal safety - check your camera settings before pressing that shutter button.

[Cantab]

Never mind personal safety - check your camera settings before pressing that shutter button.

Geoff, I've come to these two photos somewhat belatedly. For me they both work well, an interesting contrast of rolling English countryside and industrial action on the water.

As I eyed the mooring buoy hanging high in the air, I couldn't readily make out whether the workers were wearing hard hats under their rain gear.

[Geoff F]

Out on the water, away from strictly enforced regulations, hard hats tend to become optional. Worn in particularly hazardous situations but not if they become an encumbrance.

And here is another situation where hard hats are worn while necessary but not all the time.

Week 51 - Volunteer work gang at Hangar Marsh, Salcombe. This little bit of land is part of an area that was purchased by the local authority some time ago to make a seaside car park. It tends to flood after heavy rain so the car park was only created on part of the area and this was turned into a mini wildlife reserve. But it wasn't done very well and then there was argument between various authorities about responsibility for ongoing management.

Eventually, a couple of sub contractors have been employed for some improvement work with a few volunteers helping to keep the cost down.

The area lies between the coast and a road of £1,000,000+ houses.



I only had my little Fuji X20 pocket sized camera and there was a high contrast level between sunshine and deep shade but I did what I could to capture the work in progress. 1/320 F6.4 Iso 320. Merge of two conversions from a single Raw file.



1/500 F6.4 Iso 320



1/320 F6.4 Iso 320

Job done - taking a break now. Or as a New Zealand volunteer put it 'Having a smokeyo'.



1/400 F6.4 Iso 320. Not an arranged subject but exactly as I found the scene and thought it might make a suitable photo.

[Geoff F]

And an overview of this area from the road.

[Geoff F]

Week 52 - Another drab day. We seem to be having a spell of wet and windy weather and today was another gloomy morning followed by light rain in the afternoon. But I managed a couple of hours at this site looking for winter flowering plants and fungi.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/80 F7.1 Iso 400. Merge of two bracketed exposures.

Some rather damp and slimy fungi. Velvet Shank





1/40 F6.3 Iso 400 flash used. Merge of three focus points. Tripod used.

Jelly Ear Fungus