Lake District 2015

For the last few months, I have been photographing but not posting much here due to working commitments.  However, it was time for the annual Lake District trip photos to percolate onto this website as well as a few other images taken since the last post.



On the first day of our holiday, we decided to visit Thirlmere and head up the side of one of the nearby hills to see Harrop Tarn.  When we got there I absolutely loved it!  The only thing I was disappointed with was that the light was almost middle of the day harshness and not flattering for landscapes.  However, I liked the fallen tree and made two exposures for an exposure blend of the foreground and sky.  A very pleasant first day outing.



We headed to Buttermere on a day where rain showers were frequent but the forecast was for a relatively clear mid morning and afternoon.  This is a deliberately underexposed image of the sun attempting to break the clouds.  I further emphasised the underexposure using adobe camera raw in post processing as well as cropping to my beloved narrower-than-standard-ratio.



Aira Force is always a place I wish to go and see every time we go to the Lakes.  This Nuthatch was above the path and stopped dappled light in the trees.









 Another image from the Buttermere area but this time looking up at one of the fells next to Haystacks.  This is an exposure blend for the sky and the sun cast on the side of Haystacks.  I am fond of this image due to the memories it conjures when I look at the elements within the image, but that's just me.  This was one of the first images that I used the colour look-up function in photoshop - a tool that I now use frequently.



This is again an image looking back towards Haystacks at the bottom of Buttermere.  As you have probably guessed now after looking at the other landscape images, I do like to use exposure blending and this is no different!  Originally, this was intended to be a panoramic image with six images being stitched together.  However, I felt that the 1:1 crop ratio suited it.  An exposure blend, colour look-up (love this function!), some vingette and some channel mixing (never used it before but fun) was used to give this and its black and white variant below.  This colour version has a nice warming filter applied, too.








I know this is probably a characteristic image that people like to take in the Lake District and I had to join in and try it.  Instead of using a strong neutral density filter, I used 20 images overlayed to produce the long exposure effect plus warming filter, colour look-up and a few other bits and pieces resulting in this.





Now for some images that I had taken before the holiday that I have only just gotten round to displaying.


Early morning sun cast a wonderful light onto the water of the lake whilst the background remained in shadow allowing this image of a flying Greylag Goose to be captured.

This is maybe not everyone's cup of tea but it was a pleasant surprise to walk around  the corner to find Barnacle Geese so close and with a pleasing black background.  In post processing, I emphasised the contrast and the green of the overhanging foliage.

The Marsh Harriers have been particularly active this year and I had a superb display one morning back in Spring when I took this image of this Harrier hunting and quartering the reedbeds.









I had been given a tip-off by a friend that there was a tame Red Fox not far from where I was living.  So I cycled down one evening only to be told that the best place was another piece of private land that would be better to try.  I wandered there one evening and saw this dog fox running around the grounds.  After staying with him for about 10 minutes, it was time to leave him to hunting.


Hopefully I haven't bored you with all these images and hopefully you like them as well!  Already can't wait to get back to the Lakes next year!

Matt

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