Winner

 by alidixon

WINNER – Love Contest “Peoples Choice Award”

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

 

View the

Competition Finalists

HERE

 

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.

 

For more images taken at

West Woods

Click Here
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 by alidixon

WINNER – Landscape Painting “Peoples Choice Award”

WINNER – Landscape Painting “Peoples Choice Award” – “Roque Bentayga & Roque Nublo, Gran Canaria”

After being inspired by an image seen on Flickr, I decided to try and find a similar viewpoint on Gran Canaria to shoot these two magnificent rocks in the same image.

It took a long time to find the perfect secluded spot, and an even longer time to drive back to the hotel on the extremely scary singly track mountain roads, with no barriers..in the dead of night.. :/

So worth it for this image though 🙂

 

The Image

 

View the

Competition Finalists

HERE

 

Where was it taken?

This photograph was taken near Tajada, in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands that has an amazing view of both Roque Bentayga & Roque Nublo; two famous geological landmarks on the island. It took a lot of scouting and homework to find the perfect spot before sunset rolled in. I was staying on the island to race in the Trans Grancanaria Marathon. What an amazing experience that was! I got to see so much of the island, it almost felt like a photography scouting adventure.

 

Time of day

This image was taken during sunset. My priority was to shoot Roque Bentayga & Roque Nublo in the same frame and I wanted to do this from a different perspective from what you may normally see.

 

Lighting

Other photographers have taken images of these rocks from the opposite side which means you can see the sun setting behind the rocks but at the cost of silhouetting the rocks formations. It was important to me to see the warm colours and tones on the rocks from the setting sunlight. The angle of the setting sun also gave the rocks more form and presence.

 

Image Processing

I spent about an hour processing this image in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. On this particular day there was a lot of sand in the air blown in from the Sahara; what the locals call “Calima”. This produced a bit of a washed out original image but it also gave the landscape a greater sense of depth. So I knew that later, by playing with contrast and gamma I would be able to keep the depth of the atmosphere but also bring out a far richer range of tones over all. In photoshop I like to overlay various grades and patch them into certain areas of the image to draw focus and enhance interesting features. Landscape photography for me is a blend of what your camera can capture for you and your imagination. Some people can be afraid of image processing or maybe even anti it. If the final image is eye catching and makes you and others feel something special then its a successful image, no matter how you got to it. I recommend to anyone out there who hasn’t dabbled much in it to go and have a go because it really can compliment your photography, and really make the features you noticed at the time of the shot, shine.

 

Feedback

For me, its all about the light. With that in mind my priority with pretty much any landscape shot is to make sure I am in the right place at the right time, in order to capture the most dramatic lighting possible. Of course, being in this situation can very easily occur with luck too, so you have to be ready to snap at a moments notice. This happened to be the case for the photograph in question. 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.

 

  • 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.

 

Hardware:

  • Camera Body: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM with a UV Filter

 

EXIF Data:

  • Aperture: ƒ/11.0
  • Focal Length:105.0 mm
  • Shutter Speed: 1/40
  • ISO 100

 

 

For more images taken in

Gran Canaria

Click Here
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