A Few Autumn Photos
When I got up this morning I couldn't help but notice it was damp, cold and foggy outside.
The damp and cold bit is very unappealing, but fog… well, fog is a different matter when you’re a photographer – it does strange things to the light, and photography is all about light.
After breakfast, the fog was still there, so I stepped out of the house and looked down the street and what grabbed me the most was the chimney pots and rooftops disappearing into the gloom.
But then I started thinking about the combination of fog and water – something I’ve played about with before (see A Foggy January Afternoon). And as I wasn’t photographing any faces today, I thought I’d wander down to Carlingwark Loch at the bottom of the town.
I took a few shots of ducks and a swan on the loch disappearing into the fog,
but wildlife photography is not my strong point. I only ever seem to catch the animals as they are moving away from me, so I decided to look for interesting shapes instead.
Reeds coming out the water are an old favourite, as on a misty day it’s never always that obvious where the water begins – you have to study the reflections to work it out.
Then I noticed some of the long grasses had water droplets hanging like tiny jewels, while delicate threads of web caught the light at certain angles.
I opened the aperture as wide as I could (f/2.8 for those who wonder about these things), which has the effect of making the background far more blurred, and thus makes the main subject leap out.
Heading back along the path I became aware of droplets hanging off twigs and rosehips too
In the afternoon the fog cleared and the sun came out. I took the camera out into the garden and took some photos of the autumn leaves in the sunlight against the bright blue sky, just because the colour combination is really quite wonderful.
As portraits are my thing I sometimes forget there are plenty of things other than faces to photograph. And while my passion is still very much photographing people, there are times when it's quite fun to just go out and look for lines, shapes and colours.
As always, feel free to click on any of the images for slightly larger versions.
The damp and cold bit is very unappealing, but fog… well, fog is a different matter when you’re a photographer – it does strange things to the light, and photography is all about light.
After breakfast, the fog was still there, so I stepped out of the house and looked down the street and what grabbed me the most was the chimney pots and rooftops disappearing into the gloom.
But then I started thinking about the combination of fog and water – something I’ve played about with before (see A Foggy January Afternoon). And as I wasn’t photographing any faces today, I thought I’d wander down to Carlingwark Loch at the bottom of the town.
I took a few shots of ducks and a swan on the loch disappearing into the fog,
but wildlife photography is not my strong point. I only ever seem to catch the animals as they are moving away from me, so I decided to look for interesting shapes instead.
Reeds coming out the water are an old favourite, as on a misty day it’s never always that obvious where the water begins – you have to study the reflections to work it out.
Then I noticed some of the long grasses had water droplets hanging like tiny jewels, while delicate threads of web caught the light at certain angles.
I opened the aperture as wide as I could (f/2.8 for those who wonder about these things), which has the effect of making the background far more blurred, and thus makes the main subject leap out.
Heading back along the path I became aware of droplets hanging off twigs and rosehips too
In the afternoon the fog cleared and the sun came out. I took the camera out into the garden and took some photos of the autumn leaves in the sunlight against the bright blue sky, just because the colour combination is really quite wonderful.
As portraits are my thing I sometimes forget there are plenty of things other than faces to photograph. And while my passion is still very much photographing people, there are times when it's quite fun to just go out and look for lines, shapes and colours.
As always, feel free to click on any of the images for slightly larger versions.
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