Loud and quiet

Tweet Follow @photograferry

I was out the other morning down by the local river, taking advantage of the weather. We’ve had a lot of rain recently, so the fields were flooded, but, there wasn’t any rain that morning, meaning I could get some pictures. It was the perfect storm, except without the storm.

The tranquillity of trees

Tweet Follow @photograferry

Minster Lovell Hall from a distance, and hidden by trees. Getting a closer shot proved to be a problem.

Following on from my last post about capturing a hard frost at Minster Lovell Hall, an English Heritage property not far from where I live. It occurred to me last weekend, that I should pay it another visit, what with all the flooding we’ve had recently, I thought it might be a good time to go back, and see if I could get some nice reflections of the ruined hall in the swollen river.

A large helping of frost

Tweet Follow @photograferry

With the weather getting slightly chillier, but not by much, we haven’t seen a great deal of frost about, certainly no sign of that mighty frigid roarer; the hoarfrost, so until that Polar Vortex comes barging it’s way over here, I dug out a few frosty snaps to tide me over.

These were taken in the grounds of Minster Lovell Hall last winter. Which is just as well, as the site is flooded at the moment, thanks in no small part to the adamant desire of the rain recently, to place as much of the country under a couple of feet of murky water as possible.

They were taken first thing in the morning, while the sun was just bobbing up over the horizon, and before it could start to nibble away at the delicate, frosty tendrils that incrusted every surface, and simmer away the delicate mist hanging amongst the trees.

And while processing them afterwards, I thought they lent themselves to rather well to a sepia glow, so that is what they got.

Fingers crossed for some of that polar fury to blow this way…

Winter Landscapes

Tweet Follow @photograferry

There is no finer way to spend a day in the cold winter weather, than out in that very same cold winter weather. That is if you’re a landscape photographer looking for some striking images. Probably not so advisable if you’re trying to make bread, or raise meerkats, or even sunbathe. But if decent photos are what you’re after, then it’s time to wrap up and get chilly.

As every right thinking person knows, a snowy landscape is a thing of beauty. It doesn’t happen very often though, as despite our sometimes glum weather, the number of days per year we see snow, are quite minimal, particularly in the south of the country. Which makes a snow covered scene something special.

A simple way to create a smooth B&W image

Tweet Follow @photograferry

A quick tutorial on taking a fairly flat image and creating a smooth black and white from it using masks and gradients.