Neodigital Art | Update Sixteen
Sandwell Valley
The first photograph today is Sandwell Valley, where there is a nature reserve and a farm. This was taken by Simon James last Friday and you can see the dark clouds in the sky. The light wasn’t very good.
Light is important
I took this photograph at the lake we often go to and look at the difference, just two days later. I took this on Sunday afternoon and this is the same lake where I got the clouds reflected on the water in previous pictures; but there was virtually no cloud when I took this and the blue sky gave me blue water. It looks like it’s been altered a lot and I am sure Simon will say that and so lets compare it to the original.
Now you can see clearly what I have done to it; I cropped it at the top and bottom. There is too much sky and water and so I cropped some off and it makes the focus of the picture stronger. You can see the geese a little more clearly! It also fits my blog better as a more panoramic picture.
It was early when I had finished taking the photographs and so I stopped on my way home at the church and took a few interesting pictures. This is simply a door way and it was still only three in the afternoon, so the light was still good. You can see the position of the sun from the shadows and it lights up the wall but casts a shadow on the path for an interesting effect. In the background you can see it’s high up and the church stands on a hill overlooking a valley. My house is in the valley, perhaps 400 yards behind that tree! I can photograph the church using my zoom from my house. The camera I use is a Fujifilm S5600 and I found out over the weekend that I can buy optional lenses and filters for it. It’s not an expensive camera, but the extras seem expensive. Coloured filters give an interesting and different effect as does an infra red filter. I can also get lenses for macro shots (close up) and wide angle. I shall consider these!
Yesterdays blog was a good one – I agree with David Cameron! You may also like The best things in life are free…, that one has nice picture and there are lots more on my Home Page.
Mike10613's Blog 
You take beautiful pictures. I am interested in photography, but not really good at it. I like taking pictures of my grandkids and pictures for my blogs. Because of my blogs, I probably need to get a lot better at it than I am now. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!
27, July 2011 at 5:47 pm
Deborah, you should check out some of Mike’s other NeoDigital Art posts. I treasure great photography but never took great pictures myself. Mike explains clearly how to make a picture much better. It doesn’t take much time, but it’s like taking a photography course!
28, July 2011 at 3:35 am
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for the endorsement. I hope we will get more good photographs through the summer but I hope to post a few of winter too when I bring out the reds and oranges of nature. The woods looked really interesting and they are quite boring being all green now!
28, July 2011 at 8:38 am
Deborah, you should check out some of Mike’s other NeoDigital Art posts. I treasure great photography but never took great pictures myself. Mike explains clearly how to make a picture much better. It doesn’t take much time to read his blogs, but it’s like taking a photography course! You have discovered a treasure.
28, July 2011 at 3:38 am
Hi Deborah,
I was always hopeless at photography but this week was asked abut doing a wedding! I think a digital camera helps and I chose one that was a little better than most but not really expensive. It has a few settings and I can get filter for it which is something I’m considering now. I’m still learning, particularly how to photograph people. I am putting afew tips in my blogs now about taking landscape pictures and I hope that helps.
Thanks for visiting, I hope you come back! 🙂
27, July 2011 at 6:04 pm
Hi MIke, So are you going to photograph the wedding?
I really enjoyed these pictures. You know how much I like the before and after shots. But I must need more lessons because your first picture in this post really moved me. The clouds set a strong atmosphere for the mood of the photo. I know you included the plants in the foreground for perspective (see, I’m learning!). The color of the water is grey, but I think of that as a good thing to contrast with the deep color of the clouds.
I also like the shadowing of the church picture.
Thanks for sharing another lesson with us!
28, July 2011 at 3:42 am
That photograph of the lake is Sandwell valley is quite moody and I often try to make them even more powerful by looking to see what they look like with a blue tint or sepia. The rear of the church I photographed just before a really bad storm and that was atmospheric and I gave it a blue tint and that is a really striking photograph. I’m not doing a wedding. I joked about that and said to the photographer that I would probably ask the bride when the baby was due! 🙂 He is a trainee priest as well as local photographer and I seem to have a habit of photographing churches he has wedding at or preaches in! We managed to get the light directly on the lens of the camera for a number of shots last time we went out because it was late in the afternoon and that’s something I’m trying to avoid.
28, July 2011 at 8:46 am
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