This is the River Ecclesbourne which flows through Duffield in Derbyshire.  What I liked was the way that the snow and ice changed the shape of the river and removed some of the reflections whilst adding in some swirling patterns.  But just towards the bottom of the picture there is an open patch of water in which there are some good reflections.  This also occurs at the top of the frame.

Other than that I think it is just a nice picture – nothing more, but it again captures the essence of the morning walk, peaceful, cold with the landscape temporarily altered by the ice and snow.

The settings chosen by the Canon were 1/40secs at f/4 with ISO80 and 6mm.

This is obviously a heavily cropped photo – it is another attempt at the set subject competition that the camera club is holding this year – a crop ratio of 1:3. I have the full picture on Flickr which I also like, and have left in colour with only a small amount of cropping.

What I noticed when searching through some photos that I forgot I had taken was the atmospheric nature of the snow in the car headlights. I think this is made more atmospheric by converting to black and white. The close crop then concentrates the eye in this area of the photo, the blurring adding a sense of motion as the snow came down at what should have been rush hour (such that it is in Daventry) just before Christmas. The barrier at the back also reflects the tracks in the road which almost adds to the motion even though static.

The settings chosen by my camera were (on low light setting) 1/80 f/3.2 ISO3200 at 10.7mm.

I like the repeating patterns and effect of having a wide aperture (f/2.0).  This is another shot that I took on the industrial estate – as much as anything I thought I should have a walk in the snow and see if I could find something different to take.  This almost fit the bill – I hadn’t taken it in snow before.

I like the triangle of light sky at the top reflecting the snow at the bottom.  Other than that I don’t really have a lot to say about the photo – I guess it is just a matter of taste.

Settings were ISO200, 1/4000secs at f/2.0 using the aforementioned 50mm lens.

It is the porch roof and I liked the shadows cast by the sun and the contrast of the dark waves with the white snow.  I also like the repeating pattern, interrupted only by the moss growing up there.  I also think there is a bit of a sense of motion from left to right.  The horizontal lines also recede slightly, drawing the eye into the picture a bit.

Perhaps I should enter this into the other set subject competition titled ‘Only a photographer would take this’?

My new 50mm lens was employed again, settings were ISO100 f/7.1 and 1/250secs.

I took this on a whim when out for a walk in the snow, but not as an entry in the competition.  I cropped it savagely in Lightroom to try and concentrate on the couple out for the walk and to cut out a lot of parked vehicles and road furniture.  I like the warmth of the sun on the ground, the darkness and sharpness of the figures contrasting with the haziness in the background and the shape of the tree.

I was unhappy that there were so many lamposts visible, but when I look at the picture again I think they add to the vertical nature of the photo.

The thing that I don’t like that I didn’t notice at the time is the figure that is just the other side of the tree walking towards the couple.  In fact, as I watched they stopped and had a chat!

So, I will probably not enter this, the judge will think it is too messy, and someone will probably win with a letterbox style picture of beach huts or something, but at least I am thinking about different crops.

I had my 50mm lens on, settings were ISO100, 1/1250secs at f/3.2.

The light is not great when you have a limited compact, but I didn’t have a tripod either, so my D-SLR would not have helped anyway.

The thing that caught my eye was the reflection of the clouds in the water and their apricot colour.  It added a warmth to the scene that tried to balance the cold of the snow and ice.  I thought about adding a little fill light in Lightroom in order to give a bit more definition to the foreground and remove some of the black, but, I like the contrasts and the darkness of the light.  (Can you have darkness of light?  Probably not, but you know what I mean.)  It is not a photo that would win any prizes, but I like it, it gives me a sense of the place.  There was a certain stillness that comes after the working day on most industrial estates, once the hustle and bustle of people driving home has gone, which was enhanced by the dulling effect of the snow.

As mentioned, it was taken using my Canon Ixus, set at ISO200 (there is absolutely no point going above as the pictures are of pants quality), and it chose f/2.8, the light on the water and the snow combining to allow 1/400 secs shutter speed.

Lights in the Mist

When I set out for work in the snow the other morning I saw the mist and thought about the great photo opportunities.  Unfortunately I was on my way to work and only had my Ixus and not my EOS and tripod.  I tried a few photos on the old railway track (hoping the snow would help), but the light levels were a little poor, after all it was a misty morning in January, and camera shake ensued.  I then took this shot looking back through the industrial estate; the car headlights fortunately provided enough light for a semi-decent shot.

I removed all colour from the shot (apart from yellow and orange) using Lightroom, but other than that it is pretty much as it was taken.

I like the feeling of emptiness and stillness that I get from this shot.  Although there is obviously a car moving through, I can almost hear the silence that snow brings (can you hear silence?  I am not sure?).

For those interested it was ISO200, 5.8mm, f/2.8, 1/15 secs.

I have taken lots of pictures in the snow, but some of my more successful ones have been of simple objects such as this fallen leaf that was almost hidden, and, judging by the tyre tracks was mainly unnoticed.

The other problem with taking pictures of snow is the blue cast that the pictures take on due to the ultra violet reflections.  It is therefore worth sorting out the white balance whilst processing.

The thing I liked about this picture was the simplicity combined with the different textures caused by the tyre and footprints as well as the clean snow.

The photo was taken using a 70-300mm zoom lens (because I had been taking some other pictures), at ISO400, f/6.3, 1/125secs.