iPhone 14 Pro Max, 24 mm, ISO 80, 3.0s@f1.78

App: Spectre

Last weekend we were headed to the South Coast to attend a Christmas party being thrown by wife’s most favourite band in the world, Archive. I wasn’t feeling particularly good so was sat in the passenger seat whilst the wife acted as chauffeur. As I was sat there feeling a bit meh and watching the world go by as we were travelling along the M4 it struck me how incredibly grey and dull everything outside seemed. I’ve used the Spectre app for quite a while and in the right scenarios I think it produces some great results. I pressed the phone’s lens up against the window and selected a three second exposure in the app. I then cropped from portrait to square and that’s it. A vague greenness is visible at the bottom but otherwise this looks like a monochrome image. Sadly it’s not – the world really was that grey. well just outside Reading on the M4 it was, anyway…

Canon 5D 26 mm, ISO 200, 5 sec @ f/16

This is a photo from the archives, taken way back in May 2008 whilst I was working in Dublin. According to the EXIF data this was taken at around 23:00 and I remember the thinking the reflection of the lights in the River Liffey may have made nice image.

Unfortunately I was wrong and this sat until very recently unloved and untouched in my Lightroom catalog. The lighting was vey warm and I just didn’t like the way it looked as it distracted from the architecture.

I decided to try converting to monochrome using the ever reliable Lenswork Warm Tone, then dodged and burned in a couple of locations. Finally, a tight crop to accentuate the width of the building and the job’s a good ‘un!

Canon 5D, 25 mm, ISO 200, 150 sec @ f/11

Well it’s been a long time since my last post and it’s been for a number of reasons that I won’t bore myself let alone anyone else with! This is a morning shot of New Brighton Lighthouse – taken at around mid-morning so the sun was already pretty high and falling directly onto the lighthouse.

I had been thinking about the purpose of the lighthouse and how mariners would view it as a welcome sight, being guided and reassured by its calming presence. Of course there are no rocks to be dashed up at the mouth of the Mersey but there are shallows and sandbars all the same. To help enhance the feeling of calmness I chose a long exposure to smooth the clouds and water, and applied the good old Lenswork Warm Tone preset in Lightroom. I pushed the shadows slightly to reduce contrast and added a gentle vignette. Whilst the lighthouse is the main subject, I really like the presence of the huge cranes in the background; their brooding presence highlighting the solitary nature of the lighthouse…

I tried a new crop ratio with this image too and I have to say I like it.

Canon M6, 23 mm, ISO 200, 71 sec @ f/11

Having read about Kynance Cove and that it got incredibly busy during the day, I wanted to make sure I staked my spot, so one morning I arrived there at around 06:30 to find a couple of other people wandering around walking their dogs, another person with a camera who looked to be packing up already and a fisherman who was on his way home, apparently having caught four bass. Kynance Cove is a National Trust site that is absolutely stunning. From the car park it’s approached by walking down. steep path. I didn’t attempt that due to my choice of footwear. However, I wanted to get a high-level shot so that was fine by me. As usual the Big Stopper was brought out to play and it occurred to me that it might be worth trying a panoramic shot. The above image is made of three separate shots, stitched together in Photoshop. I wish I had thought about it a bit longer and taken a fourth as I feel the cottage on the right is too close to the edge of the image. Oh well. Once stitched together, the image had a bit of adjustment including the ever-reliable Lenswork LW Warm Tone treatment. A few days later I went back to the site but could hardly stand up thanks to Storm Ellen that was passing through, and any thoughts of setting up the tripod were instantly dismissed! Instead I retreated to the relative safety of my tent though there were times when I thought that would blow away too…

Canon EOD M6, 22 mm, ISO 800, 4 sec @ f/8

Late October 2019 saw a lot more rain than usual in the UK – so much so that on Tuesday 29th October saw a number of flood warnings (flooding is expected – immediate action required)  issued by the Environment Agency, including for the River Severn near to Upton-upon-Severn. Since this is now my local area I thought I would pop along to have a look, not having see the Severn in full flow before. Due to other commitments it was almost midnight by the time I was able to get there but needlesss to say the warning was justified and had previously built flood defences not been in place the town and my feet would have been very wet indeed.

Moored alongside the jetty is a large boat called Conway Castle. Normally most of this vessel is out of view, well below foot level. Tonight however the waterline was about two feet above foot level, held back by a wall that had just another inch or so before being breached. The flow rate was scarily fast too, with lots of boiling and swirling going on. Adding to the scary part was the fact that you could only see the immediate vicinity due to the lack of light, but you knew that out there in the dark was a river dooing its best to cause michief and mayhem.

Canon EOS M6, 22 mm, ISO 100, 165 sec @ f/16

We recently decided to do battle with midges and expensive alcohol and booked a lake-side cabin in southern Sweden at Deralycke, near Linneryd. The place was fantastic – utterly unspoilt and once we found another route to bypass a rather large tree that was blocking the road we had a splendid week of BBQs, fishing, reading and generally feeling vey isolated. Oh and I even managed to take a couple of photos. However, not having been able to take my proper tripod was a bit annoying but I did take my Manfrotto PIXI Mini tripod along with the M6 and Canon’s EF-M 22mm f/2 STM as well as my bag of filters. I ended up using a couple of chairs stacked on top of one another which wasn’t ideal due to squidgy, uneven surface and a fairly strong wind but it was better than nothing.

The fishing wasn’t much to speak of but I did at least manage to read five books over the week.

Canon EOS M6, 136 mm, ISO 400, 120 sec @ f/11

After weeks of endless sunshine, the weather finally broke today and I popped down to the sea at West Kirby. At the Marine Lake there were loads of windsurfers whilst out on the estuary a number of kite surfers were taking advantage of the wind. I used a lens I’ve not used for a while, my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM and took a few shots of the kite surfers but there was nothing to write home about so I got the old super stopper out and reverted to type with some long exposures facing Hilbre Island… This time I was able to use my new very hard 2-stop ND grad filter from LEE as well. I remembered to take an umbrella this time to shield the camera from the wind too and it seemed to do the trick. Plus it gave me some welcome shelter as well!

Canon EOS M6, 100 mm, ISO 200, 20 sec @ f/11

Last Sunday I did something I haven’t done in a while and attended a photography workshop. This was organised by Cambrian Photography Limited in Colwyn Bay and run by Paul Sanders. It was actually called a Fujifilm X-Series and GFX workshop but the initial blurb I saw on Facebook suggested that (a) you don’t need to own a Fuji camera and (b) you need to arrive with an open mind and a liking of cake. Two ticks for me!

The night before I was umming and ahhing over what to take and decided to persevere with my lightweight travel kit. I haven’t used the 5D Mk1 at all since getting the M6  back in August but I still have use of all my lenses thanks to the adaptor.

I ended up packing the M6 along with Canon’s EF-M 22mm f/2 STM,  EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake  and EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM. As it happened I only used the 100 mm lens throughout the day.

After a decent bacon and sausage buttie at Blod’s Cafe I wandered over to Cambrian and met some of the other attendees outside the shop. We were soon ushered inside to where others were waiting and after a brief introduction by Paul we set out.

The plan was for long exposures on the beach in the morning and macro at Aber Falls in the afternoon. We ended up at Penrhyn Bay for the long exposures which was fine until I realised I’d forgotten my tripod adaptor! Duh! Fortunately I was able to borrow a tripod so eventually took a few shots. Finally after trying for months I managed to make good use of my mist filter. Normally the effect ends up looking forced and unnatural but I think this time it helped things. Speaking of filters I decided that I really did need to equip myself with a hard ND grad filter rather than my soft grad for use in such scenarios where the horizon is pronounced.

After a couple of hours we headed to a local cafe, The Loaf for lunch. Another attendee, Jonathan (a fellow Lenswork subscriber), and I sat with Denis and Fre Hocking over an enjoyable long lunch.

Suitably fed and watered we headed out to Aber Falls. I don’t particularly enjoy macro but there were more opportunities for long exposures in a little stream or of course at the waterfall itself. I chose not to trek to the falls but to potter around by the stream near the car park.

The day was well organised, and very relaxed. We overrun by a hour or so, likely due to the extended lunch break but no-one was complaining. It was a great day with lots of assistance being offered by Paul and the whole Cambrian Photography team. Being Wales it obviously rained during part of the day but it was at the very tail end and didn’t spoil anything.

Canon 5D, 25 mm, ISO 100, 240 secs @ f/11

The Port of Liverpool Building or the former offices of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board is one of the ‘Three Graces’ on the Liverpool waterfront along with the Royal Liver Building and the Cunard Building. Although neither the most famous nor the biggest of the three, to my mind it’s the best looking of the three buildings, with the only problem being the number of people wandering in front. Fortunately a suitable exposure time can help remove those who walk in and out of the shot. Note how still those sitting on the benches on either side of the image must have been during the 4 minute exposure…

Along with the now regular warm toning, the inevitably converging verticals caused by the wide angle were corrected using Adobe Lightroom. I would have preferred the symmetry of the clouds to be aligned with that of the building but hey ho – there’s nothing less predictable than the good old British weather!

Canon 5D, 28 mm, ISO 100, 480 sec @ f/11

I took a stroll along the waterfront in Liverpool at lunchtime today. It was a fantastically bright day with a slight haze that produced a flat uninspiring light. I specifically wanted such conditions as I was intending to make use of my latest toy – a LEE Filters 15-stop Super Stopper.

I was hoping to get a shot of the Beatles statue with the Liver Building in the background, but I think even the Super Stopper would struggle to make the persistent tourists disappear such is their volume. Additionally the sky was rather grey with very little interest so the filter’s effect would be wasted.

So instead I wandered round and found Canning Dock looking particularly serene. A 0.6 ND grad filter gave a shutter speed of 1/60 sec that converted to an 8 minute exposure with the Super Stopper.

Of course the one downside of shooting long exposures at lunch time is that by the time you’ve found a suitable spot, the available time means one or two shots only before it’s time to head back to the office!