Energetic gloom

In the absence of quality natural light good pictures can still be created from very little. Diagonal lines are a strong compositional tool, creating an energy in the frame, as here with the zip wire tower on the end of a local pier on a gloomy afternoon.



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/200 second at f/8. Matrix metering. - ⅓ EV compensation. ISO 400



© 2019

Hole in the beach

                                                                                     Bournemouth East Beach



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/60 second at f/11. Matrix metering. - ⅓ EV compensation. ISO 200. Mono conversion in Silver Efex Pro 2.



© 2019

Capitulation

As much as I've tried to avoid it this year, I'm back shooting on local beaches. I've got more images like the one above choking hard drives than I can shake a stick at, but when low tide coincides with sunset it would be churlish not to indulge.



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/40 second at f/11. Matrix metering. Monopod. ISO 100



© 2019

High tide

Something of a cliché these days, but the use of long shutter speeds to blur water and clouds for pictorial effect is almost as widespread as the tobacco graduated filter of the 1980s. Having said that, at least the former retains some realism in the colours, unlike those ridiculous, brown-skied Kodachrome slides that some photographers have (you know who you are), tucked away in drawers, never to see the light of day again.

But in this case I do it just for the sake of shooting something while the autumn light I crave remains absent. There's a brisk breeze blowing today, and I choose the time of high tide to shoot to get maximum effect with the rolling waves.



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 30 seconds at f/10. x10 ND filter and 0.6 Lee ND grad. Tripod and remote release. ISO 50.



© 2019

Natural timing

With the days getting noticeably shorter - and the sun dropping ever lower in the sky - I'm itching to get out into the countryside with a camera. The light, even around mid-day, can be stunning, but in recent weeks the good old British weather has delivered little of it.

Rain, strong winds and flat skies have kept me away. That shouldn't, of course, stop me making photographs, but there are only so many black and white images I can produce without things becoming tedious. Fortunately, there is the occasional day when nature delivers, but the changeable conditions make timing crucial.



24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/160 second at f/11. Matrix metering. -⅓ EV compensation. Polarising filter. ISO 400



© 2019