WINNER – Love Contest “Peoples Choice Award” – “LOVE”
I have long wanted to get some dramatic shots of the beautiful Bluebells here in the UK during Spring bloom. So after about 30 mins of google research, I discovered West Woods which came up trumps because of its close proximity to where I live and its picturesque setting for the perfect selfie portrait.
THE IMAGE
HARDWARE:
- Camera Body: Nikon D810
- Lens: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f4
EXIF DATA:
- Aperture: ƒ/4
- Focal Length: 70 mm
- Shutter Speed: 1/125
- ISO 100
WHERE WAS IT TAKEN?
This photograph was taken at West Woods, in Marlborough, UK. I was scouting for the perfect location within the woods for a portrait shoot which would show the beautiful Bluebells in bloom; and this was it.
TIME OF DAY
This image was taken during the morning. I chose this time of day to keep the crowds away and to try to get the lovely morning light casting long harsh shadows through the trees.
LIGHTING
In reality the day had patches of cloud, and in this particular shot, the sky had become overcast. This actually contributed to the vivid colour of the bluebells and gave a nice even exposure. The tree canopy gave a nice soft dapple lighting effect as well 🙂
IMAGE PROCESSING
I spent about 30 minutes editing in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for this shot. It was mostly adjusting tones with radial and grad masks. Using my Nikon D810 body was quite honestly a bit of a revelation because it produced amazing results right out of the box without much editing required. This meant I could spend more time on practical things like composition and directing myself and Helen into endearing poses 🙂 The Nikon D810 boasts 36 megapixels which produces images of astonishingly high resolution. This meant I could get creative with post cropping.
FEEDBACK
You can’t guarantee that the lighting conditions will be how you intended them to be, but you can get resourceful and make use of the light that you have..
- If you have any in-depth questions regarding the image processing side to photography and photoshop methods, please ask me in the comments and I will try to help your out with answers where possible. And please subscribe & follow for photography tips and inspiration.