Out and about today:

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31 May 2005
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Alfreton,Derbyshire
Just a few pics, from an area not to far from where I live, it was a pretty dull, overcast day, so I thought I would have a look into water today...C & C's welcome.

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Nice :). I'm only a couple of miles from Ashbourne; where abouts were those shots taken?
 
Any thoughts on how these could be improved, techniques for overcast days? My only thought is I will definatley take a waterproof mat with me so i can get nice and low next time, crouching there was a bit of a nightmare
 
n30_mkii said:
Not far from Mayfield

Ahh ok. I've been lent a 1Ds Mark II for the day and a couple of L lenses to play with so I may head down that direction soon, or possibly flee the country :D.
 
n30_mkii said:
Any thoughts on how these could be improved, techniques for overcast days? My only thought is I will definatley take a waterproof mat with me so i can get nice and low next time, crouching there was a bit of a nightmare

Nice shots :)

Not sure whether you were using a circular polarising filter, but if not then they can be really useful on this sort of shot - use them to either remove or emphasise the reflections in the water. They can also improve the saturation of foliage colour.

Also, some (particularly no.4) could have done with a smaller aperture to improve depth of field, as the foreground is quite blurry.

The waterproof mat is a good idea - only other suggestion is a pair of wellies :D I particularly like shot no.4, but the twigs on the right are a bit of a distraction - could have gone wading and tidied them up ;)
 
Did you add blur in photoshop on these? For example the last one was f/22 and the DOF looks very unatural...

I like your compositions on these, if you had an ND grad +/ polariser you would improve them a lot.
 
No blur was added, it was achieved by using a shutter speed of 2 seconds, longer on others. I did have a polariser with me that day, but didnt think to use it tbh. Thinking about it now, it would have helped quite a bit! I'm only a newcomer to Digital Photography, and would like an ND grad set at some point.

Thanks for the other pointers, I just feel they dont have that umpff to them...

Maybe its just because it was overcast, and not a great time of year...I will re-visit in a month or so, and see if my skills improve by then...and remember to take my mat!
 
I find these are 'nearly' shots. Not bad shots by any means but there's no real wow factor about them. I think woodland is lovely to walk around but to get interesting photos from them almost impossible. All the twigs and undergrowth in random directions usually makes the shots untidy and I think that's what has happened with these. Add the dull day and white skies and it just never seems to work.

The best way to make these special is to get there when you have some interesting lighting - a clear dawn or dusk when there's a few light beams breaking through the leaves in summer or autumn or when there's a hard frost or mist in mid winter.

Technically the shots are fine though except the first which needs a little anti-clockwise rotation as the drips aren't falling straight.
 
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