The first Solo Outing

I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of the Country. I am in North Shropshire just on the North Wales border. I have the Shropshire Hills, Snowdonia and the Welsh Coast all within easy driving distance but up until recently, never went anywhere.

However, for my first solo outing I decided to stay local. Just on the outskirts of where I live is Colemere, a beautiful lake with surrounding woodland, just perfect for a novice to wander through.

So armed with new camera, new walking boots and new waterproof mac, I set out to explore and experiment.

After my field trip with Stewart, I had a few composition guidelines to think about.
- Layers, interesting foregrounds can give photos depth
- Rule of Thirds, Imagine there is a noughts and crosses grid across your photo. This is how Wikipedia explains it. The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section.
- Leading lines, getting elements that guide your eyes into the picture.

This is a link to a page that explains some of the guidelines really simply. guidelines simplified

I had always been one for placing focus front and centre, so this was certainly a challenge for me. Plus I seem to be physically incapable of getting a straight horizon!

So, leaving the camera on automatic (please, one learning curve at a time) I went out and played and here is my favourite pic that I took.

I know its not brilliant, but its not too bad either, and that's all the encouragement I needed.

Lessons Learned: Don't be afraid to play around with composition. If it doesn't work, there is nothing lost and no one but you need see it. On the other hand you might find something that surprises you.