Cheers all, I was more going on a hike around Burnham Beeches and taking the camera along with me to get familiar with it in a trial by fire rather then the sole purpose of the trip.
The light was indeed harsh and woodland is one of the things I'm most uncomfortable shooting, composing or really have much of an idea on what to do, but I guess you don't really develop unless you dive in at the deep end so to speak.
Composition was the main aim of any photos I took, Instead of just walking and snapping like I usually do and sorting through the **** I stopped and spent a couple of minutes thinking about exposure, settings, distance, angle and where to put the subject (I only really know the composition rules of 3rds, leading lines and that diagonal lines are good, although that's most likely quite clear from the shots) I found I had a lot less shots at the end of the day but much better quality ones.
1 & 6 I like, 8 could have worked if composed a bit better.
The others don't do much for me I'm afraid, at f/1.4 you could have got some real lovely bokeh in these which would have worked well.
I definitely agree with 8, it was a fork of two paths going around that tree but dead centre which would have been the preferred position was deep soggy mud, I was in walking boots and shorts and didn't have my gaiters on me so it wasn't going to happen as much as I'd have liked the shot
I might pop back when I'm down that way again and try and re-compose the same shot.
5 was a bokeh attempt but I'm still getting used to an APS-C sensor again coming from a FF where I found it much easier to control it, I've since done another shoot and got the hang of controlling it will post up the pics later.
No 1 is by far the strongest and could be improved further by applying some differing styles in post, none of the others really offer anything to me personally.
On the plus side you've got the exposures spot on and the processing is fine, what you need to think about and composition and subject. Take a shot, then take it again on your knees or even lower if you can as its amazing how this can sometimes change a shot from a nothing photo to suddenly interesting.
Think about the focal point, if you want something specific to stand out use a wide aperture and try to get as a close as you can while still retaining what you want in the frame.
I'm trying to just do the minimal in post at the moment until I'm much better at composition, out of interest how would you process 1 differently?
I'll try the height thing when I take my camera out to play again
