Bluebells wood.
Apr, 2019Views
391
Likes
Awards
Top Shot Award 21
Spring 21 Award
Featured
Peer Award
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
Genius
Superior Skill
Top Ranks
Top 20 rank week 1
Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on one of my favourite walks near Corton, in the Wiltshire countryside of the UK. It is an ancient wood with mature trees that has been left to nature. The bluebells are prolific and I wanted to find a sunlit glade that highlighted them.Time
This scene was captured late morning. Not the ideal time of day for photography but it was at the time my wife and I reached these woods having parked in Corton and set out for our walk with our two Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers.Lighting
Because it was nearing noon the sun was high overhead and it was spotlighting the open ground between the trees.Equipment
This photo was taken with my Sony Alpha A7 MK3. Attached was my trusted Sony 28-70mm, FE 3.5-5.6 aperture lens. As I was on a long walk I only had the camera and lens. I relied on being able to handhold the camera trusting the Steadyshot function of the lens and camera to obtain the picture that I was taking. I set the focal length to 70mm and had the camera set to aperture priority mode. With the camera set to F11 the camera applied 1/80th sec. with an ISO of 160. This enabled me to frame the scene I wanted knowing that the picture would be sharp.Inspiration
I was inspired to take this picture because it was at the time of the year when the bluebells were at their peak. I was looking for a sun filled glade with an interesting foreground. The broken branch in the foreground provided the near interest and the trees around the glade provided the frame for the bluebells which was the subject of the picture.Editing
This picture was taken in the RAW format and I processed the picture in Lightroom. I darkened the area around the outside to allow the eye to be directed towards the centre of the scene with the bluebells.In my camera bag
When I am out for a walk I only take one camera with a telephoto lens; the length depending on what I intend to capture. As I usually take landscape images this would be my 28-70mm lens. For destinations where I am not going to take a long walk to reach the destination where I want to take pictures I have a very heavy bag of equipment! I take everything bar the kitchen sink. I pack the following lenses. Sony 200-600mm lens, with a 1.3x multiplier. (A great lens for photographing wildlife when my wife and I travelled to Tanzania for our 20th wedding anniversary). I also have a Sony 50mm prime lens for when the light falls and I am able to take handheld night shots. I also have a Samyang prime AF18/2.8 FE lens for wider shots. I have waterproof covers for the lenses to protect them from rain and dust. I have polorising lenses plus spare batteries and cleaning equipment. I also have a remote to enable me to take pictures without touching the camera when I have my tripod with me. I have about 7 tripods of different makes and sizes. I am a tripod junkie! I select an appropriate tripod for the situation that I am going to be in. My usual tripod is a Rollie travel tripod. When I am at home or not far from the car I have a Benbo tripod. This is extremely heavy but also versatile. With its independent 3 legs it can be set in water or attached to a wall. In extreme conditions I can turn it into a survival tent!Feedback
The usual time of day for taking landscape pictures is the golden hours of sunrise or sunset. In this instance, the sun needed to be high in the sky to provide a downward lighting of the glade. Any earlier or later would not have created the sunlit glade which was in the middle of a dark wood.
