Having decided to try and make a weekly post on Hive of my week's efforts with a camera, this is the next instalment, Week #4.
Moving from dark, early nights, here in the UK the clocks have sprung forwards meaning the night arrives extremely late in the evening. This is a major problem for me being someone who prefers to be in bed by midnight!
So now the days are long, I realise I have to change my style of photography, at least until the nights draw in, later in the year.
This week's post is all about recce shots in springtime. Flowers in woodlands around me have started to arrive and whilst still quite early in the season, at least I got to recce the locations for when the forests are in full bloom.
Too early for wild garlic at Bobbins Mill
I took a little road trip to Bobbins Mill in the Peak District today with this particular shot in mind. This is a 6 row vertical panorama where each of the 6 rows is focus stacked.
I plan to return here in a few weeks when the wild garlic is flowering. Fingers crossed I don't miss it!
The Work in Progress
This is the result after blending the 6 rows of images before editing through to the result above. I'm tempted to stretch things a little to fit more in the frame but I prefer "true to life" rather than fake imagery. If I faked it, to me it's no longer a photo, more illustration and phoney.
Bobbins Mill Water Wheel
I did wonder where the name for this mill came from and when I looked it up, it seemed very obvious. Bobbins Mill was formerly a bone mill which created fertiliser, and later a timber mill. Bobbins were made from the local Ash wood specifically for use in the local cotton mills.
There are two water wheels, fed by the same leat from the River Wye, this being the most intact of the two.
Gears
I am amazed at the precision engineering in this wheel given how long ago it was manufactured. British engineering in the Industrial Revolution was amazing (and still is!!)
Flowing River Wye
I used a polariser here to slow the shutter speed down a little to capture the flowing water.
Navigating the seas of Bluebells
This is a woodland local to me and every year it explodes with the rich colours of bluebells. After shooting this, I arrived back at home, high as a kite on tablets for the hay fever from the morning's walk!
And finally....
This photo doesn't necessarily fit in the genre of this post but I revisited a bunch of photos I bagged at a place called Coldstones Cut in North Yorkshire. I realised that in the 3 years or so since I shot this, my colour "eye" has changed. Where before I may have used "poke me in the eye" colours and mixed colours which were opposite on the colour wheel, it appears my choices and tastes have changed. Call it evolution as a photographer but previously I rejected this because there was too much blue in the frame. Roll forward 3 years and now I prefer this.
Possibly a note to self not to throw away rejected shots in case your future self might like it!
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in landscape, urbex and artistic model photography. I like to collaborate with other photographers and occasionally shoot outside my comfort zone.
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