White Hawthorn hedge

[Ramsden]

Hi folks

Ive had a load of help from you guys since I came across this wonderful white blossom Hawthorn hedge, here in Yorkshire- the North of England.

Ironically in the last 3 days half the blossom has fallen off which left today's trip a touch bare.

I was using an EOS90D with 18-135mm and a 10-18 wide angle

[LeeP]

Thank you for sharing. What time of the day were these shot?

[Ramsden]

Hi Lee

It was around 11.30 am

Apologies for the repetitive theme. I found the unloading process a bit messy.

Ramsden 

[LeeP]

Don't worry. Most of us are pretty nonjudgmental here. The reason I asked was to talk about light at different times of day. 30-45 minutes before sunset or after dawn are considered "golden" by a lot of photographers. I try to shoot before 10:00 am and after 2:00 pm as midday light can be exceedingly harsh. If you have time and the patience, give it a try very early in the morning or approaching sunset and see what you think of the light.

[Ramsden]

Thanks Lee

That's really helpful, and it hadn't crossed my mind. As you  can see it was a beautiful day and not a cloud to be seen. My country walks tend to be multi purpose including dog, tea or coffee break on a bench with a nice view and getting my steps in!

Having said that, improving my photographic skills is very high on the agenda. Plus, I'm always looking for unusual things and different compositions when I'm out and about.

But,  point taken about time of day. That's easily done, as I'm retired and my dog may now get two walks a day.

Thanks 

Ramsden 

[Ramsden]

I should add, that my intuition is for the camera to do the work (as you allude to). I"m certainly not sitting behind a laptop for hours after a nice day out.

Thanks 

R

[LeeP]

I will be retired June 2nd and my dogs would love to go on walks, but here in Bakersfield California, there really aren't lovely places to walk.

I'll probably become a mall walker i.e. that old person--lol I call myself "the old man" to my students--who goes to the shopping mall and walks. But even if there were lovely places to walk, the weather here is as follows: Summer = start of May to the end of October, Fall = November, Winter = December, and Spring = January to the end of April. It's common for us to have 30 or more days over 100 degrees (38 C) in summer and I've seen it be in the 90s for Halloween. Heat and Bakersfield are synonymous.

I do enjoy our downtown because it has some sort-of quaintness to it and fond memories of my childhood. There are two local coffee houses that compete for clientele and both are in old buildings and both have abundant photo opportunities around them.

You could also assign yourself to taking a picture of the Hawthorn at regular intervals at the same place, same lens, same time and create a portfolio of it over time. 

If I lived there, you would have to listen for me, because I would be "that guy" in his TVR rumbling through the countryside.

Enjoy photography and get good at SOOC images--not saying you aren't--because taking the picture and having it be how your mind's eye saw it is the challenge that those of us who believe photographs are made in camera wrestle with. 

I shall look forward to more of your work. Please message me when you put up more photographs. I shall enjoy them.

[Ramsden]

Hi Lee

Thanks for your post. 100° sounds unbearable to me, it must be suffocating.

But that growl of a TVR, one of my favourite sports cars with a great independant pedigree. 

I am currently sat watching a game of in a small country village. The road leads on to a small mountain climb with twists and turns. Its called Holme Moss and has the BBC TV mast on top. It attracts big bikes and cars, and an AC Cobra just growled through the village and opened the throttle! 

But thanks for your encouragement with my photography. I also have an interest in old trains, cars and other forms of transport, so watch this space.

By the way, which model TVR do you own.

Regards 

Ramsden 

[SignifDigits]

Thank you for sharing your results!  Very pretty - reminds me of dogwoods here locally.  I would suggest that you put the camera on or nearly on the ground - widest angle and shoot up catching from 60/40 or 80/20 percent trees to sky (more sky if you have pretty clouds).  Best if you catch a corner of the sky like you did standing.  Also, close the aperture as much as possible (but one or two stops below your max is a good guesstimate to avoid diffraction) to maximize depth of field to keep as much in focus.  Then, once you get a shot that you like adjust aperture a bit to see if you like the shallow depth of field better, perhaps.  Seems like you're having fun - that's great!

Ideally, blue sky with a few fluffy clouds, but you have no control over that whatsoever.

This one was across the road near road level looking up.  Shot raw.  Added a bit of saturation and burned a small road sign in the lower right corner in DPP4.  The sky was VERY cooperative that day!  The wife had mentioned how pretty the corner was a few times and I decided to turn around, find a safe parking place, walk down the road and catch the redbuds and rock face.  I couldn't stand safely in the road and had a limitation of being at 16mm.

R50V, Sigma 16-300mm lens at 16mm.  Uncropped.

Just gives you some idea what shooting from low to high can evoke.

[LeeP]

TVRs are only a dream here. They haven't been legal here since 1982. I wish I owned one. Sagaris please or a Tasmin or a 3000M...