Inbetween Xmas & New Year Claire & I stayed in Bowness on Windermere at the Lake District. Upon leaving on the last day I wanted to visit Blea Tarn but as its quite a trek we decided on the equally stunning Loughrigg Tarn which is inbetween Grasmere, Ambleside & Langdale.
In the summer it has beautiful lillies along the shores and my favourite fells, The Langdale Pikes stand majestically behind so its always a good place to go.
In the last 2 years ive been to New York & Chicago but those fells are the best view in my eyes.
Ideally you would want the water dead flat for amazing reflections but this wasn't to be on a quite windy day.
Tech Info...
Sony a7rii
Canon FD 50mm f1.4 via a £10 FD - E Mount adapter.
APS-C mode dropping the resolution to 18 mp and making the lens effectively 75mm.
f8
1/60 with IBIS stabiliser active.
ISO 100
Processing Info...
I opened the file in Adobe Camera Raw and made some basic adjustments before importing into PS CS6. I did very little with this tbh, used the Darken/Lighten centre preset in Colour Efex Pro 4 then the Pro Contrast preset to give the shot a bit of pop. I saved in various file types and sizes for the web.
Lastly I opened the file in Silver Efex Pro 2 and created a mono version also.
Thanks for looking and All the Best for 2016!!
One other thing, as many will know the Cumbria has really suffered recently with flooding and a friend Mark Littlejohn, Landscape Photographer of the Year 2015 has set up a Just Giving page to raise money for the area. If you could make a donation that would be amazing :)
Mark LJ Just Giving
Tags: Loughrigg Tarn Langdale Pikes Lake District Cumbria a7rii Sony Canon FD 50mm f1.4 Vintage Lens Fells
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Back in September Claire & I stayed in Borrowdale by Keswick and had decided on doing the Newlands Round via the side of Catbells. As we set off across the meadow which sides Derwent Water we noticed there was an inversion happening which gave the lake a mystical appearance. As we had a big climed ahead I only had my IR camera with my to keep the weight down so managed to get some shots before we headed on up the side of Catbells and Maiden Moor in hope of managing to see the inversion from up high. In this shot you can just see Skiddaw in the distance poking through the low cloud.
Unfortunately by then the sun had burnt it off but what a day we had! The weather was amazing and the walk was was of the best we've don't to date.
Tech Info...
Panasonic G5 converted to Full Spectrum
Panasonic 14-42 kit lens
22mm (44mm on FF)
1/400s
f7.1
ISO 160
-1.33 Exposure Compensation.
Filters...
Hoya R72 (720nm)
Processing Info...
I opened the RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw and used a profile to retain the cameras custom white balance before making some basic adjustments. I then imported into PS CS6 and used an action to swap the red & blue channels to create the False Colour look. This gives yellow foliage and a dark blue sky. The shot didnt seem to suit false colour so I opted for a mono conversion using Silver Efex Pro 2. I decided on a preset then made some tweaks till I was happy and switched back over to PS. Next I used a few luminosity masks to selectively adjust the various tones in the shot until I reached the end result.
Finally I used Dfine 2 to remove some noise in the cloud.
Tags: Lake District Derwent Water Keswick Borrowdale Skiddaw Infra Red IR Full Spectrum Hoya R72 720nm
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Another image from our recent trip to Chicago this time from my converted Panasonic G5. In this shot you can see the Smurfit Stone building which looks amazing at night with its diamond shaped roof lit up.
Tech Info...
Panasonic G5 converted to Full Spectrum
Panasonic 14-42 kit lens
14mm (28mm FF)
f6.3
1/40s
ISO 160
Filters...
Hoya R72 (720nm)
Processing Info...
I opened the RAW file in DxO Pro 10 as this program retains the custom WB set in camera then made some basic adjustments before importing a TIFF file to PS CS6.
Using the Transform Warp tool I straightened the buildings before using the Kolarivision Action to do the standard channel swap which you use to get the False Colour look. I then used 3 selective Hue/Sat adjustment layers to get the look you see here.
Finally I saved in various sizes and formats before uploading to the Web.
Thanks for looking and feel free to share this image amongst friends and family.
Tags: The Bean Chicago Millenium Park Smurfit-Stone Infrared IR False Colour Cityscape Full SPectrum Hoya R72 720nm Kolarivision
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This is a long exposure taken at Cloudgate aka 'The Bean' from our holiday in Chicago back in August. As anyone will know places like this are mobbed so my solution other than going very early in the morning when there were no people was to use a strong ND filter to capture a surreal image with ghostly people standing gawping at the sculpture. If you look closely throughout the 6 minute exposure there were lots of people standing across the scene.
Tech Info...
Sony a7ii
Canon 16-35 f4IS via Commlite E Mount - EF adapter
16mm
f8
ISO 100
305 seconds
Filters...
Formatt Firecrest 16 stop
Processing Info...
I opened the RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw and made some basic lens corrections and other minor adjustments.
Next I imported the file into PS CS6 and began altering the crop slightly. I had considered altering the perspective but it wasnt possible without making The Bean look stupid and I actually like the converging buildings.
Once I was happy with that I opened the file in Silver Efex Pro 2 to create my mono conversion. I chose a preset before with the siders until I was happy. Back into PS I decided to use some Luminosity Masks to enhance the various tones throughout the shot and to add some contrast.
On top of that I also used a 50% Grey layer to do some dodging & burning to further add more punch and contrast.
Finally I saved the file in various sizes and formats before uploading to the web.
Tags: The Bean Cloudgate Chicago Firescrest 16 Stop Formatt Sony a7ii Alpha a7ii Commlite Canon 16-35 f4IS
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When we first arrived in Chicago it was very cloudy which although was a surprise made for some great photo opportunities.
This shot is taken from the BP Bridge which links Maggie Daley Park to Millenium Park in Downtown Chicago. The bridge and Jay Pritzker Pavilllion seen to the right were designed by architect Frank Gehry. I couldve spent the whole holiday in this area, truly amazing it is!
I suppose this shot was really a test to see how the IBIS stabiliser in the a7ii performed at slow shutter speeds.
Tech Info...
Sony a7ii set to mono preset (in camera only)
Zeiss Batis 25mm f2 (hired from Hireacamera.com)
25mm
f11
1/15 with IBIS handheld
ISO 100
Processing Info...
I opened the RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw and made some basic adjustments before importing to PS CS6. After making some perspective corrections using the transform tool next I opened the file in Silver Efex Pro 2 to convert to mono using one of the presets before making a few more adjustments.
At this point I used 2 luminosity masks to lighten and darken certain areas but to be honest there wasnt much I thought the shot needed so I saved in various file types and sizes.
BP Bridge and the parks
Tags: BP Bridge Jay Priztker Frank Gehry Chicago Downtown Millenium Park Maggie Daley Park Zeiss Batis Sony a7ii Mono Cityscape Fog shot
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