Ellesmere

Maisie, my youngest daughter, has singing lessons in Ellesmere for half an hour on a Monday evening and I usually sit in the car outside with my Kindle. However, the light was completely perfect and I was only a hop, skip and jump away from the Mere, so I decided to see what was happening there. I decided to travel light and only took the camera.

Any darker and I would have needed the tripod, but I think I just about got away with it, taking the ISO up to 800.

The Mere was covered in gulls of some sort. I really can't tell the difference between birds which I think comes with being brought up a Townie. Now that I am all "outside with nature" I really should learn a bit more. However, I do know that that is a swan in the foreground!

Whenever I plan a trip, I am always heading out for the mountains, or the coast and it is sometimes easy to forget what is on the doorstep and Ellesmere is truly beautiful.

Lessons Learned: There's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Chester

One of the Joys of Motherhood is not taking your daughter school trouser shopping in Chester on a Saturday. Luckily she has reached that age in her teenage years when the worst possible scenario would be to see someone she knew while out with her Mum. So after handing over the cash for the trousers, I was excused for a couple of hours.

So I headed down to the river. 

Its a real indication of how much this whole photography bug has gripped me that I would rather be away from the City Centre taking photos than having a couple of hours solo shopping in one of the best shopping centres around. Still struggling to believe I am the same person!

The Riverside wasn't too busy and it was lovely just to wander along, mostly taking photos of birds.

Because I knew Chester would be busy I hadn't wanted to take my tripod as it does tend to get in the way. So to use my telephoto for the above shot, I had to put the ISO up quite high and open up the aperture. But this worked great as I got a nice blurred background. And the bird kept reasonably still which always helps.

There are beautiful quiet places everywhere and sometimes you just have to get off the beaten track a bit to find them.

Lessons Learned: There is something very satisfying about being a potential embarrassment to your teenage children. And I wasn't even wearing my bobble hat with the ear flaps!

Hells Mouth

After leaving the Copper Mine (see previous post) I wasn't sure where to go. The weather was still drizzly and very misty so chances are any photos wouldn't turn out great. So, where to go. You know when you just get a real urge to go somewhere despite all reason telling you its a daft idea. No? Just me then?

So ignoring all common sense I headed off to Hell's Mouth on the end of the Llyn Peninsula. Cold, windy and raining. Perfect for a walk on the beach!

Although actually, it had stopped raining by the time I got there and there were a few other people milling about. Some looking decidedly sporty and I realised that I was going to get another chance to photograph some surfers!

Learn from my last mistakes and have shutter speed as short as possible to freeze the action, so upped the ISO to 800 and opened the aperture. Managed to get speeds of over 1/2000 which worked so much better for me.

I used the telephoto lens to get as close as I could, but I have cropped in Lightroom to really bring the surfers up close and I am very pleased how they turned out.

So I had a great afternoon. Shot some surfers, visited one of my favourite places and had a paddle in the sea.

Lessons learned: Paddling in the sea in wellies is one of those wonderful things that we grow out of as adults. Well we shouldn't. It is great fun and relaxing too. Like that other wonderful childhood activity, Colouring In. Try it next time you are stressed! Crayons are cheaper than drugs or alcohol!

Sygun Copper Mine

It was a dull and drizzly start to the day so I decided to find an indoor activity to do. I had heard about the Sygun Copper Mine near Beddgelert so thought I would try that. When I got there, there wasn't anyone else around. I am used to having beaches to myself but I am starting to take this personally!

Anyway, what it did mean was that I had plenty of time going round to set up the camera and tripod. 

You start off by going through what seems like miles of tunnels about 5ft high. OK maybe slight exaggeration, but I am over 5'8 plus an extra 2" with the hard hat they make you wear, and I spent all the time ducking!

It is very dark down there and so you definitely need a tripod. Auto focus was not good in these conditions so I had to shine my torch on a spot and manual focus on to it using Live View and my reading glasses so that I could actually see what I was focusing. Oh the joys of getting on a bit!

The shutter speeds were averaging around 4-5 seconds, so I had the camera on a 2 second delay to try to minimize any camera shake and I think that all in all they worked out ok.

The tunnels took me to a couple of small cavern areas where one can admire the stalactites. But unfortunately these had railings in front of them, so you couldn't get close and I had to position the camera to shoot between the rails.

I didn't have to do very much to these pics in the way of editing as the colours were very vibrant and clear.

So that was basically it for the mine, apart from the 186 steps taking you back up to the top.

Lessons Learned: Duck!!!!

Lightroom - selective colouring

The weather has been grim today so I decided to catch a couple more Lightroom video tutorials. One I watched was all about selective colouring. This is basically having a part of the picture in colour and the rest in black and white. 

The picture below is from my birthday trip to Criccieth and I thought it would be a good one to play around with.

I reduced the saturation of all colours except green to bring out the railings. There was still some green in the background which I removed using the corrective brush tool. Added a bit of contrast and definition and brightened the green a bit.

I was pleased with the result so posted it on the North Wales Photography Facebook page. I didn't expect the heated debate that followed; whether there are proper rules for photography or whether it is completely freestyle. Should it be about faithfully reproducing what you see, or should you manipulate an image as much as you want. Do guidelines remove any possibility of creativity or do they help to produce a more aesthetically pleasing image?

Its a minefield with absolutely no wrong or right answers.

This is my own personal opinion and I daresay a lot of people out there won't agree, but this is what is in my mind when I take or edit photos:

I am more than happy with some basic editing on all pics, to improve definition, bring out contrast and enrichen colours.

I enjoy having fun with an image, like the one above. It obviously isn't how it looked in real life and I'm not trying to pretend it did.

I am happy to enhance my pictures rather than change them. If I don't like how the tree lines up, I will move with the camera, rather than airbrush the tree out later.
My images need to me to have a basis in what I actually saw. I want to make as many adjustments with the camera as I need to, rather than the computer. 

After all, I am a Terminally Unfit Photographer, not Computer Programmer!

Lessons Learned: Photography is a hobby that people get very passionate about.
There is no right or wrong, only what works for you.

Chirk Aqueduct

Having worked all weekend, felt in need of a walk today but the forecast hadn't given great weather so decided to stay reasonably local and visit Chirk Aqueduct. This is a beautiful structure, standing 70ft high and overlooking some lovely countryside.

I have visited the aqueduct a few times before, but never been brave enough to tackle the Darkie Tunnel. At 421 metres long, it is a bit scary to say the least. But armed with this new sense of adventure I seem to have found, I ventured forth!

It is certainly very dark in the middle and my little torch didn't throw out a lot of light, just enough to get me through and out the other side. Did it, don't want to do it again! Decided to follow the road above the tunnel on the way back. 

I am not sure how far you can follow the canal for but I walked for just under 2 miles to the Chirk Marina. However, in this short time the weather threw everything it had at me. I had gorgeous blue skies and sunshine, then it rained, sleeted and snowed on me, finally finishing off with very strong winds! Certainly an unbelievable mix of weathers, but I am glad to say that I wasn't the only person daft enough to be out in it!

The changing weather meant the light quality was a bit hit and miss, but I was able to do a bit of tweaking on Lightroom to bring out the colours. Still exposing for the lighter areas which seems to be working for me, but still so much to learn!.

Lessons Learned: Be brave, but don't overdo it!

Birthday at Criccieth

Yes, I know. Criccieth again! Well, its my birthday and I'll visit Criccieth if I want to!

Main difference this time was that I was dragging my youngest daughter with me to help celebrate the advancing years! So kitted out with new snow boots and a waterproof coat we ventured outward.

It rained all the way there stopping just long enough to get to Cadwaladers without getting wet. Yes, I know, again, see above! Tho this time there I had the cherry pancake sundae instead of cake and it was completely scrumptious.

Suitably refreshed we hit the beach. I have been purposely avoiding people in my photos as I wanted to concentrate on landscapes, but today I had a willing model and plenty of time, so I played.

There was a very dull sky and the colours very muted, so I have enhanced on Lightroom, which I am finding makes such a difference. It was difficult getting the shutter speed short enough as my daughter was moving and exploring, rather than posing. So put the ISO up to 400 and opened the aperture. These were shot with a telephoto but with no tripod and so I am very pleased with how they came out.

We have no idea who the dog belonged to, but it seemed to enjoy paddling beside Maisie for a while before trotting off.

Couldn't resist one last parting shot of the beach and castle before it starting raining and we headed home. 

I have found that there is something that I seem to be physically incapable of doing and that is shooting a straight horizon. I have to straighten about 80% of my pictures on the computer. Not sure why I should have such a problem with this, but I do. Its easy enough to do on the pc, but annoying to have to. Anyway, I straightened the above picture and it looked more crooked than before, so I adjusted it by eye and it now looks straight to me. I guess that sometimes you have to do things manually.

So then a gorgeous journey home via a misty and atmospheric Snowdon to pizza and birthday cake for tea! All in all, a fabulous birthday.

Lessons Learned: Sometimes you have to trust your own eyes.
Snowboots aren't waterproof, model is wearing Mum's spare wellies!