View allAll Photos Tagged Explore_Britain
It's raining so I'll pass.
Exploring British Columbia's Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park on a rainy day.
For the last two months, my limited time behind the viewfinder has brought its challenges. If you’ve been living in Lockdown Britain and only been allowed to head outside for daily exercise, then you might be feeling the same way. I only say “might be” because there are those of us who can’t manage without one, and those who very happily survive without one. There are some among our number who don’t even own one. Speaking for myself, I’m in the first group. If I haven’t got my tripod with me I’m utterly lost, even if it’s an image that doesn’t need a long exposure. There’s something about setting the camera on its mount that I find reassuring. It slows me down and forces me to think about the shot, and it also means I can frame a composition before the light begins to weave its magic into the scene. So while the rules have allowed us to go out for a daily stroll, I’ve worked on the basis that I’m supposed to more or less keep moving and this doesn’t mean I can plant myself in one spot for two hours while I wait for the sky to change colour. Even though I always aim for spots where nobody is likely to come anywhere near me in any case.
One of my favourite YouTube channels is Henry Turner. I’ve yet to find anyone else with quite so much infectious and raw enthusiasm for what he does. Like an excitable puppy he finds unbridled joy in the dullest and greyest British afternoons and is forever reminding us he’s “living the dream.” He got quite tearful in the episode when he arrived at Luskentyre Beach on South Harris, caught in the emotion of realising a long held dream as he was – it was pretty powerful stuff just watching the effect the place had on him. If you’re feeling down, watch Henry and everything will be “mint.” Since Lockdown 3 took over our lives he’s been carrying his camera along on his daily ten thousand steps, but without his tripod for the same reasons as me. Among other endeavours he’s had a go at handheld panoramas, focus stacking, and even a “fake” long exposure of a waterfall, where he took a burst of shots and blended them all together. It’s been interesting, but I’m sure if we were to meet in the pub and discuss the matter, we’d agree that we want our tripods back.
I know that quite a few of you are missing the sea and can’t wait to be back, because I read the frustration in your posts as you raid your archives for coastal photos you took some time ago. I’d felt that sense of loss too and had decided I wasn’t going to wait any longer. So the other day I took my first and only visit to the coast since the beginning of January. It was a weekday in term time, and we reasoned we could head slightly further afield than normal for our walk just this once. I am pleased to report that the sea is still where we left it, and it has promised to remain there until you all return. Like Henry, I’d taken my camera along for the adventure, and as we began the long walk back to the car the golden hour began to saturate the colours in the dunes. It seemed rude not to try one of his experiments for myself, and so I had a go at a handheld focus stack, taking three exposures of the scene in front of me without moving the camera and then bungling my way hopefully through the merge process in Photoshop to try and blend them all together. It was a novel experience if nothing else. I soon discovered that the auto align process was producing a very odd result and very quickly ended up blending the shots manually. You can judge for yourself whether it was worth the effort. Stuff like this is definitely easier with a tripod.
So the question is, where do you stand on tripods? Or more properly, does your camera usually stand on one?
Have a good weekend everyone!