Dorset Day 3 – Thick fog inside and out

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Woke up after another fitful night’s sleep, feeling as though the contents of my head were wallowing in a mucilaginous swamp, while my limbs were groaning in protest over some grievous offence they obviously felt very strongly about. Not sure if it was because of the immoderate exercise I’d subjected them to, or just because I was feeling a bit peaky. Either way I was feeling about as lively as this old fella.

Took the short drive down to the seafront to get some shots in the misty conditions, cue more long exposure images of beach groins and minimalist compositions. If I hadn’t got at least one decent shot of this style from the past few days, it was time to step away from the camera and take up something a bit less creatively taxing.

A few viewpoints looking along this beach groin into the misty conditions beyond.

Dorset Day 2 – No so magical mist and timeworn relics

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After another sleep of the undead, as in, not a moments rest, I floundered to the window to see what the weather was doing, and got a face full of fog staring back at me. This was an opportunity not to be missed.

Clothes were attired, hairs were combed and tea was drunk all in double time, for if the fog were to break, letting the sun’s rays pour through, then it was the perfect time to be at Corfe Castle, that most impressive of ruins, situated not 20 minutes up the road.

After gunning the motor, safely and responsibly, along the little roads to the village of Corfe Castle, we parked up at the base of East Hill and began the steep climb to the top. As I trudged up the rough steps, hewn into the hillside, I couldn’t help but entertain visions of bagging myself a Landscape Photographer of the Year winning image. As per example one and example two.

In fact I did more than entertain them, I served the finest champagne, dished up a six course banquet and was just about to let loose the DJ. Then we reached the top, and were presented with this decidedly party poopering view.

The castle is definitely out there somewhere

Dorset day 1 - Long exposures and questionable fitness

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Rising at 5.30 am after a very fitful night’s sleep, thanks to the unpleasant effects of a bug I was suffering from, and stumbling into the bathroom to cough my guts up under the cold, florescent ambience, I was still trying to convince myself that driving down to Swanage the previous evening was preferable to staying home and, more importantly, leaving my comfortable bed behind.

But good thing or not, I was here, so it was time to make the best of it and strike out through the morning darkness to Swanage seafront, to see what variety of sunrise nature had decided to bestow upon me.

As it happens, she was obviously not in a generous mood, as the display was somewhat lacking in vibrancy. The sky was completely clear, apart from a big old ribbon of murky cloud settled along the horizon, doing its best to make the day’s entrance as subdued as it could.

A couple of shots of the beach groins as the sun rises behind clouds, giving off a soft ambient light.

Time Lapse Part 2

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So now the images have been taken for the time lapse video, it’s on to part two of the tutorial and we look at how those images are processed and combined to create the finished movie. We’ll be using Adobe Bridge, Camera Raw and Photoshop, before moving onto Windows Movie Maker.

To see part one, about setting up the camera and capturing the images visit here.

Once the images have been taken off the camera you will have a folder bursting with hundreds, maybe even thousands of images, so the key to processing them is automation, we want the computer to do most of the work. So with that in mind, once the images have been taken off the camera the first thing to do is open them in Bridge.

The reason I'm using bridge is because of its direct communication with Camera Raw.
Click on any image to see a larger version.

Time Lapse Part 1

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I’ve recently been trying my hand at a bit of time lapse photography, I’d seen some amazing videos online so I thought I’d give it a bash. And although mine are not up to a particularly elevated standard, they were fun to do, and it was interesting to learn the process.

Taken at sunset looking over a flooded field. I thought the reflections might add a bit of interest. But the breeze kept the water moving about. Only up until sunset though, then you will see the water suddenly go very still.