Light snow

Unusually, we have had no snow to speak of this past winter, just a light powdering on a couple of occasions. From a distance it looks like a heavy hoar frost. However, it is still quite picturesque which (I hope) you can see from this selection of photographs. They were all taken at the same time, fairly early in the morning - an hour later the sun had melted most of it.

The first photo above is a view from my smallholding in Wales looking northwards over neighbouring farmland. The snow is just enough to lighten the green grass without becoming completely white.



In the second image below, this was taken from the same viewpoint but looking further to the east. In the distance, you can see that the higher hills (the Cambrian Mountains) are more white where they got a slightly deep covering of snow. This too soon melted.

The third photo below is looking south across our garden in a southerly direction. From the shadows you can see that the sun is still low in the sky, but here there is still only a light covering of snow on the higher hills.




I have often mentioned, and shown images of, the Cambrian Mountains. For those who are used to more impressive mountain ranges, these are little more than hills. The reason they are so small for mountains is their age and they have been word down over the aeons by the weather and the ice ages. The Cambrian period in geology, and the Cambrian explosion (of different life forms) take their name from these hills. Many early geologists either came from Wales or studied the land of Wales.

More photos can be seen in this gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS
Exposure: Typically 1/250@f11 to 1/340 @f14
Settings: ISO200, Auto White Balance

A dawn with rich blues and reds

Even from the same location, no two dawns are alike and some are markedly different. The photos shown this week are only a few days apart from those shown last week, yet the sky is vastly different. This time there are clouds and the remains of vapour trails catching the red and yellow light from the sun that contrast with the rich blue sky.

These photographs, although taken only minutes apart, show different compositions. The first one above, which is a wide angle view, centres on the pond which is reflecting some of the sky. There is just a little detail discernible in the garden.

The second picture below is has a narrower field of view and concentrates more on the sky with the Cambrian Mountains in silhouette.




This third image is intermediate in view between the previous two. Again, the sky is reflecting off the ornamental pond. Although similar, I feel each photo as a slightly different feel to it. With differing compositions, they could appeal to different buyers for different uses.



More images of the dawn over the Cambrian mountains can be seen in the gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon EFS 17-85mm IS
Sensitivity: ISO200
Exposure: typically 1/20 to 1/30 @ F8 including +2/3 stop over metered value

A cloudless dawn over the Cambrian Mountains

This week I am showing 3 photos recently taken of the dawn from our smallholding in Mid-Wales. These were taken at ground level from our 'front' door, overlooking out 'front' garden. I put 'front' in quotes because, due to the layout of the property and entrance gates, the main entrance is in fact the back!

I was unsure how these photographs would turn out as the dawn, although a spectacular red to the eye, did not have any clouds to add interest - I thought the sky might turn out bland and featureless. However, due to the graduation in brightness, the sky darkens in arcs as you move away from the sun. These turned out far better than I expected.

The lighter area to the lower right is the ornamental pond reflecting the light of the sky. The pattern is due to the small picket fence surrounding the pond.

Although the 3 images are similar, there are slight differences between each. The first photo (above) shows the view with the garden very dark. This picture is as it came 'out of the camera' - I have not made any adjustments to it.

The second photograph below shows a little more detail in the garden. This has been lightened just a little - too much and it look artificial.



The third image shows slightly less sky and more garden. Again, the garden has been lightened ever so slightly - you can just make out some detail.



The full range of dawn and dusk photos can be seen in the miscellaneous gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: EFS 17-85mm IS
Sensitivity: ISO200
Exposure: from 1/5 to 1/20 @ F4
White balance: Daylight
Support: Hand held - I did not have time to fetch the tripod!


p.s. An apology for the picture of the week last week. I prepared everything, but never loaded the final files to the website. Then, with a very busy week, I didn't double check like I normally do. Oops!

More photos in the mist

This week I am discussing a few more photographs taken in the mist. I like to take these kind of photographs as they add softness and depth to the photographs. The first photo above is our farmhouse in Mid Wales. The picture is taken from behind some flower beds in the front garden.
In this photograph I like the way the house has been softened by the mist. The mist has also given depth to the photograph as the further things are way from the camera, the more obscured they become.


The image below was taken on a foggier day. This shows two trees at the end of our garden. Normally the view has the Cambrian mountains in the background, but these are totally obscured by the fog. The image is almost monochromatic which, I feel, adds to the atmosphere.



The final photo below was taken at the same time as this week's 'Picture of the Week'. Taken at a different angle, there is less contrast so that more detail is observable. The remnants of the mist can still be seen in the background.



More photos can be seen in the gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon EFS 17-85mm IS

Misty morning photos

This week I am showing some photographs taken in the morning when there was a light fog gradually being burnt off by the sun. The first photograph above shows some detail of a small twig of hawthorn bush. Due to the damp the ends of the spines are dripping with water and the fine spider webs are full of spheres of dew. I am fascinated by detail such as this.

The second view below is the one I have chosen to be this week's featured photograph. It was taken from the southern part of our smallholding and looks across to a neighbours farm. What I like about this is how the view gets more misty with distance. The orange foreground is quite clear, the trees in the middle are barely obscured by the mist, whilst the farmhouse and trees in the distance are starting to get indistinct.



This final photo below is a 'contre-jour' (into the light) view of a shrub in a field boundary. The low sun is just out of view on the right, but you can see the haze in the distance. Again, I like the detail in this shot, not just the main subject in the foreground, but the trees in the mist further back.



More can be seen in the miscellaneous images gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS350D
Lens: Canon EFS 17-85mm IS
Exposure: Varies - The second was 1/250 @f11
Setting: ISO200, AWB