Posts tagged ‘photo’
Driving home yesterday the sun was streaking through the clouds in a stunning fashion. Unusually, I did not have my camera with me (note to self) and I knew that I had lost a rare moment. Once home and undeterred I thought it still worth walking up to nearby viewpoint while the sun was setting.
Sunset and trees. Lumix G3, 45mm (90mm in 35mm equivalent), f7.1, 1/500 sec, ISO160, tripod.
I planned my walk with the help of The Photographer’s Ephemeris- a really useful smartphone app. The Photographer’s Ephemeris (or TPE) is a tool to help with the planning of all types of outdoor photography, but it comes into its own in landscape and urban scenes. It is a map-centric sun and moon calculator that allows you to see how the light will fall on the land in terms of bearings, and gives the rising/setting times for sun and moon. It has been available for iOS (iPhone and iPad) for sometime, and an Android app was released recently.
Using TPE allowed me to position my camera at the right altitude and position to plan for the setting sun. I wanted to include the canopy of a small copse of trees in the lower portion of the frame.
I was armed with my new Lumix G3, a replacement for my GF2, plus 45-200 lens (equivalent 90-400mm in 35mm), and of course my tripod. One major advantage of the G3 over the GF2, other than having a larger sensor, is that a cable release can be used; making it much more convenient than using the self-timer to reduce camera shake.
There were still some spectacular cloud formations gathering around the dying sun and I took a lot of shots. I hope you enjoy a couple of my favourites. You can read some more of my posts on photography.
Sunset, trees and stormy clouds. Lumix G3, 72 mm (144mm in 35mm equivalent), f6.3, 1/640 sec, ISO200, tripod.
Gabriel Hemery
Like this:
High up in a Dartmoor valley, at the upper limit of tree life, I discovered these two rowan trees clinging to the granite clitter (the debris below a tor). They were among a group of scattered rowan trees growing in one of my favourite places, known as Tavy Cleave. I was searching for tree subjects to be included in The New Sylva. Neither of these two trees were selected as drawing subjects by artist Sarah Simblet but one close-by was a perfect subject. I hope to provide a sneak preview of the drawing on the book website soon.
The River Tavy can be seen bottom left. It rises 6km further upstream, far beyond Tavy Cleave Sharp; the tor just visible below the crown of the left-hand rowan. The head of the river is one of the most inspiring wilderness areas remaining in Britain: a landscape of extraordinary peat hags, and home to the raven. As I explored the trees among the clitter, wheatears flitted quickly between the rocks showing their white rumps, while overhead skylarks were in full song.
Rowan trees, Dartmoor. Lumix GF2, 7mm (14mm equivalent in 35mm), 1/320sec, f11, ISO100. Handheld. March 2012.
Subject: Rowan Sorbus aucuparia trees, sometimes known as the mountain ash.
Location: Tavy Cleave, Dartmoor, Devon, South West England. 350m altitude.
Equipment: Lumix GF2, 7mm (14mm equivalent in 35mm), 1/320sec, f11, ISO100. Handheld, resting on rock.
Processing: Post-processed in Lightroom. Converted to Black & White. Greens and Yellows increased 25%. Cropped square.
Gabriel Hemery
Like this:
On a recent trip to a woodland in southern England I came across a beech tree that had been rent asunder by winter gales. The tree had a large fork and one of its stems had broken causing the entire trunk to split open, all the way to the ground. What caught my eye from afar was the shocking vibrancy of the freshly exposed wood inside the stem. It was almost an iridescent orange and contrasted beautifully with the bright green smooth bark.
- Beech tree rent asunder
On closer inspection, it became clear that damage some distance further up along the limb had allowed rot to set in, causing a structural weakness in the forked stem. Unusually though, the stem had then split halfway through and its weight had then pulled the entire forked stem away from the main stem, rather than simply splitting near to the original weakness.
- Beech tree rent asunder – wider view
Discussing this with the woodland owner I learnt that they have no intention to manage the tree as it is not accessible by the general public and therefore of low risk. I’m not an arboriculturist but I would be interested if any readers have some experience of this type of split. I’ve no idea either how a forester/arboriculturist would go about dealing with this if it was necessary. The amount of tension present would present a tremendous (sorry couldn’t resist it) hazard, and the partially hung limb a further complication.
Gabriel Hemery
Like this:
The ghost of an English elm that died forty years ago from Dutch elm disease (Ophiostoma novo-ulmi).
Ghost elm, Oxfordshire. DMC-GF2, 7mm (equivalent to 14mm in 35mm ), f11, 1/125th, ISO100, tripod. Post processed Adobe Lightroom.
In an English meadow, this stump is all that remains of a majestic elm Ulms procera that once typified the English landscape until the arrival of Dutch elm disease in the 1960s.
See more of my Elm series
Like this:
Wishing all my readers a very Happy Christmas
and
a fruitful New Year
-
- Woodland edge and oak tree with hoar frost
-
- Oak tree and river frost
-
- Oak tree wearing a snow blanket
-
- Oak leaves and hoar frost
-
- oak log in snow
-
- Frosty oak woodland in sun and shade
-
- Snowy Oak woodland at dusk
Gabriel Hemery
