Tuesday 16 September 2008

Capturing September attempt # 32 - # 08/220

This a tricky task. After weeks of solid cloud the sun appeared. The rain has made the bushes and meadows lush and overwhelming. The drainage ditch is attractive; water running fast. The pebbles of the man-made banking make a good foreground. The pink wild flowers at the back are drenched in sunlight and the yellow bush further back is almost washed out even to the human eye because of the brilliant evening sun. The foreground is dark.

It's worth capturing, as you glimpse it from the river bank. The vision sucks you in and you enter the slightly slippery riverside undergrowth to get a good look at the drainage ditch on the far side of the tow path. The pink flowers are beguiling and the ripples on the clear water are delightful.

The human eye can take it all in, and sort it out, but the camera cannot cope with so many contrasts.

The camera is set up on the tripod. I chose a very low ISO, set the aperture at F22.0 to capture the depth of field, and set a shutter speed that gave a "correct" exposure for the brilliant, sun-drenched meadow at the back. I used a flash gun "off camera", holding it by hand on the left to light the tree and the dark shadowy bank of the stream.

The result is not quite as lovely as the one seen by the human eye, but it's as near as I could get to it.

6 comments:

  1. This is a nice picture. I like it.

    I published a post about squirrels and other animals and some of the problems they have. I hope you can take the time to read it. That animals suffer and we do not seem to notice seems so sad. Look at my Dances on Sunshine

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  2. Quite a beguiling scene here, 'Rooney.

    I appreciated your your description of what you saw and how you went about capturing it. As Snapper says, a daily photographer needs to be able to see the wonder in the mundane.

    What really surprised me in all of this is that you say the water in the ditch is running clear ...

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  3. @Julie.....Yes: very fast and clear. The slow shutter speed causes the "haziness" you are "complaining" about.

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  4. Ahh, what the photographer sees through the lens is often not what we see when viewing the finished product. Two points of view. Both valid.

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  5. Any crayfish around? (Found it elsewhere in London suburbs and obviously the locals leave them in peace.)

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  6. It may not be exactly as you saw it but I like this image so much. Reminds me of the stream at the bottom of my land when I lived in Wales.

    I love the light on the tree trunk on the left.

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