New Year's Day Keswick trip.

[davew]

Having just seen John Baker's annual imaging post I thought I'd best get out and do a bit !

New Year's evening was due to be clear so I raced up the M6 to take advantage. The weather was clear but the air was slightly damp around the Lake. No matter, it dropped out of the sky when the temperature fell to a mere -3 ! At least I didn't need to shoot darks ?

All shot on a Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm lens. Settings were ISO 800 at 20 seconds wide open.

I particularly like the Meteor trail in " Friar's Crag " and the wavy reflection in Derwent Water.

The mixed lighting really stands out in the long shot of Keswick. It doesn't look that pronounced with the eye.

Accessories used - Tripod, woolly hat, flask of coffee and a plain chocolate bounty

Dave.

[Ruud]

Ooh, nice!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Some cracking pictures of one of my favourite places.

Thanks for sharing 

Steve

[davew]

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Some cracking pictures of one of my favourite places.

Thanks for sharing 

Steve

I see you have an astro modded 600D Steve. Have you wandered over to the Lakes with it at all ? I've seen some very nice modded widefields.

Glad you liked the shots,

Dave.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Dave,

No not yet, only got the camera modded in the latter half of last year and due to a busy back end of year at work and the inevitable clouds when i did get a bit of time to spare I haven't yet used the camera in anger. Anyway time to put it to good use so roll on some clear weather. 

Steve

[andy fearn]

Lovely images. Thanks for sharing.

[John Baker]

Some real crackers in there... I particularly like the meteor & reflection. I also love the bridge shot, a great combination of elements - all I would suggest is try some adding some light to the bridge - I use a small flash on very low power, the other option are some cheap Poundland LEDs of course you could do a blended image, so a longer exposure on the bridge combined with the sky.    Pleased to be an inspiration  

[davew]

18 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Dave,

No not yet, only got the camera modded in the latter half of last year and due to a busy back end of year at work and the inevitable clouds when i did get a bit of time to spare I haven't yet used the camera in anger. Anyway time to put it to good use so roll on some clear weather. 

Steve

Right then. I'm looking forward to seeing what you get up to.  I'll also be looking out for where you go

Dave 

[davew]

3 hours ago, John Baker said:

Some real crackers in there... I particularly like the meteor & reflection. I also love the bridge shot, a great combination of elements - all I would suggest is try some adding some light to the bridge - I use a small flash on very low power, the other option are some cheap Poundland LEDs of course you could do a blended image, so a longer exposure on the bridge combined with the sky.    Pleased to be an inspiration  

Hi John,

Some good suggestions. Up to now I've not had much success ( To my satisfaction anyway ) with light painting. The poundland LEDs interests me as some of the pro LEDs can be a touch expensive. I'm going to trawl the cheapo shops and tell them you sent me

I've seen sites such as this but not tried it yet. I will now though - https://waynepinkstonphoto.com/Low-Level-Landscape-Lighting

It's funny you specifically mention the Ashness bridge shot as something happened that has never happened to me before ....... I was not alone ! I felt rushed and under pressure to get the shot and get out. All my own fault and in no way a reflection on anyone else. Due to that I decided to avoid the stone circle altogether ! 

I will return.

Dave.

[Vixen4eva]

Im not a million miles away from you Dave and even though my skies aren`t too bad for a suburban garden i might have to pop up there myself. Great pics btw!!!

Alan

[Alan White]

My favourite lake, prefer the far end at Manesty, but beautiful place.
Nice images and thank you for sharing them.
Who would have known Keswick was such a source of light pollution!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

2 hours ago, davew said:

Right then. I'm looking forward to seeing what you get up to.  I'll also be looking out for where you go

Dave 

Blimey, that'll make me get my backside into gear, but maybe that's what I need sometime.

Steve

[Debo]

Beautiful images 

[clarkpm4242]

Nice work...

...apart from the chocolate bounty, disgusting!!!

Coconut hating Paul.

[James]

Lovely images Dave, so nice to see you getting out and about after a long gap! Missed a few clear nights up in Scotland but other things were needing my attention so I’ll have to wait a bit longer ?

James

 

 

[davew]

2 hours ago, Vixen4eva said:

Im not a million miles away from you Dave and even though my skies aren`t too bad for a suburban garden i might have to pop up there myself. Great pics btw!!!

Alan

You've a few nice places round Leigh. I've been up to Rivington Res and over Belmont. You do have to chose your view direction though.

Dave

 

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Blimey, that'll make me get my backside into gear, but maybe that's what I need sometime.

Steve

Me too !

Dave.

1 hour ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Nice work...

...apart from the chocolate bounty, disgusting!!!

Coconut hating Paul.

I didn't say what I used the Bounty for !! Ok, it was for eating

Dave.

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

My favourite lake, prefer the far end at Manesty, but beautiful place.
Nice images and thank you for sharing them.
Who would have known Keswick was such a source of light pollution!

I drove through Manesty to get to Brandelhow woods. Nice dark area.

Keswick is worse than I've made it look. I knocked down some of the bright bits in Lightroom !

Dave.

[davew]

1 hour ago, James said:

Lovely images Dave, so nice to see you getting out and about after a long gap! Missed a few clear nights up in Scotland but other things were needing my attention so I’ll have to wait a bit longer ?

James

 

 

Cheers James,

I have to hold my hands up and say I let a few clear nights pass by. I really did fancy the Geminids but they passed me by ! 

I hope you get out soon or the shutter on the 6D will seize shut

Dave.

[David Smith]

Wow

[John Baker]

19 hours ago, davew said:

Hi John,
Some good suggestions. Up to now I've not had much success ( To my satisfaction anyway ) with light painting. The poundland LEDs interests me as some of the pro LEDs can be a touch expensive. I'm going to trawl the cheapo shops and tell them you sent me
I've seen sites such as this but not tried it yet. I will now though - https://waynepinkstonphoto.com/Low-Level-Landscape-Lighting
It's funny you specifically mention the Ashness bridge shot as something happened that has never happened to me before ....... I was not alone ! I felt rushed and under pressure to get the shot and get out. All my own fault and in no way a reflection on anyone else. Due to that I decided to avoid the stone circle altogether ! 
I will return.
Dave.

Finding other lost soles in the middle of nowhere comes with the territory - I have met some very interesting people that way!!!

I will share an example of why I light, this is an iconic landscape shot on Dartmoor, the location is called Windy Post.  Its about 20 mins from the road and involves heading off into the moor,  so even finding the place is a total nightmare in the dark.
There is only one real angle to get the small waterfall (ok, that is over egging it, poor thing is about 12" high, but it needs to be in) the way marker cross is a distance beyond and in the distance you have the light pollution of Plymouth

Without light I would simply have lost all the foreground interest and the cross would have been a silhouette.  EXIF of the shots (it's a wide panorama, so 3 x images high) basic setting Canon 1Dx, Tamron 15-30 f2.8 at f5.6, ISO 5,000 and 30" seconds.
The light for this was a small Lidl hand held torch which came with a large diffuser  cone and was waved around  for a couple of seconds, this was enough to add detail to the shadows. It was also the night of the Perseids and so I was lucky to get one of those in a shot, the panorama allowed me to get the width of the scene but extend the height to add Milky Way.

The Poundland lights are great, I keep a couple in my bag, I think they are sold as soft night lights for children, but they give just enough to scatter in a view to give detail.

So in this example there are 4 or 5 across the image...

A final example, this was the same Lidl torch, but due to the castle being the other side of the lake it needed full power to get detail into the bricks - without the light it would not be as storng, this is Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire

 

I look forward to seeing more of your work...  Happy to share more examples if needed

 

[davew]

That's interesting stuff John. I'm not normally a " Structure " imager but I've had a look round and spotted a Neewer LED light that I may try. In fact two would be better I'm sure because the light could be spread out better. I will also look out for the poundland lights as we have a few of those shops around.

I've not seen a torch with a diffuser cone ( I've lived a sheltered life mainly in the dark  ) but I already know I'm not much of a torch beam light painter. I have tried.

So I can see my next task will be to avoid the water and go for the objects. 

I may post an image or two if they work. You have been warned !

Dave.

[clarkpm4242]

On 04/01/2019 at 14:51, davew said:

On 04/01/2019 at 11:30, John Baker said:

Some real crackers in there... I particularly like the meteor & reflection. I also love the bridge shot, a great combination of elements - all I would suggest is try some adding some light to the bridge - I use a small flash on very low power, the other option are some cheap Poundland LEDs of course you could do a blended image, so a longer exposure on the bridge combined with the sky.    Pleased to be an inspiration  

Hi John,

Some good suggestions. Up to now I've not had much success ( To my satisfaction anyway ) with light painting. The poundland LEDs interests me as some of the pro LEDs can be a touch expensive. I'm going to trawl the cheapo shops and tell them you sent me

I've seen sites such as this but not tried it yet. I will now though - https://waynepinkstonphoto.com/Low-Level-Landscape-Lighting

It's funny you specifically mention the Ashness bridge shot as something happened that has never happened to me before ....... I was not alone ! I felt rushed and under pressure to get the shot and get out. All my own fault and in no way a reflection on anyone else. Due to that I decided to avoid the stone circle altogether ! 

This highlights different approaches/atitudes.  I spend my time planning for low moon illumination, silhouettes etc. rather than light painting.  Though can then end up with compositing different length exposures or copying and layering/blending in PS...whatever floats ones boat.

Have been 'freaked' out a few times when supposedly alone in the dark.  Usually the more really remote location the better.

Cheers

Paul

 

[John Baker]

25 minutes ago, clarkpm4242 said:

This highlights different approaches/atitudes.  I spend my time planning for low moon illumination, silhouettes etc. rather than light painting.  Though can then end up with compositing different length exposures or copying and layering/blending in PS...whatever floats ones boat.

Have been 'freaked' out a few times when supposedly alone in the dark.  Usually the more really remote location the better.

Cheers

Paul

I seriously get that one style does not fit all, it really depends on available light or lack of. I am currently doing a lot more blending of exposures and combining tracking and longer foreground shots - the fun is having the flexibility to try a variety of techniques - wide field is very personal, I know some who really pull detail and alter colours and do very well Commercially - the bottom line is, are you happy with the result and did you get what you planned - if so job done 

[davew]

Some really good points made and fear not, I will be taking notes.

I do like " Simple " In fact so simple I could lay back in a deck chair and leave the camera to it   If I can fit a few people's ideas into my almost non existent work flow then I will.

My thinking is normally done at home with the computer. As an example of some of the things I do, take this next shot ( That was never intended to be published )

A simple reflection shot of Sirius and of course Orion. Note that in lifting the camera up there's bad perspective faults - 

With a little time and effort I can sort that out at home but wouldn't spend even a moment worrying about it on site. The Sirius reflection really was that colour by the way.

The image now looks like it was taken with a 24mm lens. The sky hasn't been altered in any way so the stars keep their shape. Simple ?

[JBracegirdle]

Wow I'm amazed. I'm new to astronomy, I've been in Cumbria over 12 years (originally from South Manchester as well).

I'm still getting to grips with my backyard and telescopes but your photos make me want to investigate wide field and landscape photos.

Really inspirational photos.

[John Baker]

2 hours ago, davew said:

With a little time and effort I can sort that out at home but wouldn't spend even a moment worrying about it on site. The Sirius reflection really was that colour by the way.

That is a lovely shot, the simple de-fishing has straighten the trees and the reflections nicely