The working landscape

Landscape photography to many people consists of sweeping vistas of mountains, lakes or beaches - and in an alarming number of cases - oversaturated images by overenthusiastic (or reckless) post processing. Known as 'chocolate box' photography it is understandably popular, if somewhat unrealistic, but there are also those sparse, gritty images that are equally valid of the genre.

Dungeness, on the Kent coast, is a favourite location of mine for shooting the working landscape, and although moving just a few feet to my left would have isolated the derelict boat as the main subject I choose to include the nuclear power station that dominates the area.

D500/24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/250 second at f/11. Matrix metering.  + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 180. Mono conversion in Capture One Pro

© 2021

Goon, but not forgotten

In the cemetery of St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea, East Sussex: the final resting place of comic genius Spike Milligan. 

One of the lines on his headstone reads: "Duirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite" 

Translated from the Gaelic is states: "I told you I was ill". 

The Diocese of Chichester wouldn't allow the quip to be carved in English, but were obviously happy enough to allow the script in a foreign language.

D500/12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/250 second at f/8. Matrix metering. +0.33 EV compensation. ISO 180

© 2021

Summer colour

                                                                          Poppies at Alum Chine, Poole Bay.

Nikon D500/70-200 f/2.8 Sigma lens. 1/250 second at f/4.5. Matrix metering. ISO 100

© 2021
 

Annular eclipse

The British weather, if nothing else, is almost guaranteed to wreck any chance of viewing celestial events when they happen: eclipses (solar and lunar); comets; meteor showers; planetary conjunctions -  you name it, the cloud's got it covered.

Observing - and photographing - today's annular solar eclipse almost fell foul to it, but in the end it worked in my favour. Okay, the eclipse was never going to be as spectacular as that experienced by other countries, but I wanted to at least try to get some something.

Undeterred, I set my camera up in the garden in anticipation as the phenomenon began, but at the same time silently cursing the dense cloud cover that stretched across the entire sky. It was beginning to look hopeless... then I got a break. The eclipse was already well underway when the blanket of cloud suddenly thinned and the pale disc of the sun appeared through the haze above.

I took 63 frames in all, and had it been a clear sky as I'd hoped for, then the whole shoot would have been a disaster. I was struggling with exposure in spite of the cloud, and I don't have a strong neutral density filter to block the light with the lens I'm using; not that one is likely to be commercially available in that size anyway. The Nikkor does have a slot for adding 21mm filters into the optical train, but then again I never thought for one minute I'd ever need one.

Today I got a lucky.

Nikon D500/300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter. 1/8000 second at f/11. Matrix metering. -0.33 EV compensation. ISO 50. Tripod and remote release.

© 2021

Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.

Nikon D500

Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.

Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.

Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.

 Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.Nikon D500 with 300mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC-14EII converter.  1/8000 second at f/11. Tripod and remote release.

Losing control

One of the things I miss about my Olympus Micro Four-Thirds system was the ability to select various picture modes when shooting. Knowing that I am getting the results that appear in the camera's viewfinder in real time made a big difference as to how I approach a subject.

A couple of years ago I had attempted - and failed - to set my DSLR to shoot in monochrome for specific shoots. Everything appeared to be hunky dory at the time until I uploaded the RAW files to my computer, only to find that they still needed to be converted to black & white in an editing suite to get the result I wanted.

It wasn't until early this week (better late than never), that it suddenly occurred to me that it might be possible to set a separate menu bank in the camera to shoot jpegs that would only render in greyscale.

It is. Not only that, but I could also choose to simulate different monochrome filters (yellow, orange and red), as well as several toning effects, all in camera.

I don't shoot jpeg files as standard as I want total control over the final image, but once in a while won't hurt.

Nikon D500/12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/500 second at f/8. Matrix metering. + 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 100. In-camera jpeg - orange filter 

© 2021

Escapism

As the national lockdown conditions ease here and there, and Covid vaccinations are administered, I'm now able to stretch out a bit and make the drive to visit Nic for the first time in 14 months. 

From a photographic perspective we had hoped for a riotous display of bluebells in the local woods during my stay, but it seems I was a week early. But that didn't stop the hoards of day trippers descending upon the area - for different reasons - so a contingency plan was initiated and we head for the Kent coast.

Samphire Hoe country park, created from the chalk spoils of the Channel Tunnel excavations, as well as featuring walking trails for the public, is also home to nationally rare species of plants.

  

Nikon D500/12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/500 second at f/8. Matrix metering. + 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 100

© 2021