Neodigital Art | Light and Locations
Sunshine at last
As I finished yesterday’s extraordinary blog, I noticed the sun shining; a welcome change from the dreary days of winter. It didn’t last long, it was soon overcast again as I cooked lunch, but the sun came out again later and I was determined not to miss the light. I needed a location that I could get to quickly. This is a favourite location because I get good pictures and it’s close by. You can see the effect of the winter sun, low in the sky casting shadows across the ground. Patterns make a photograph interesting.
I also like the way the trees silhouette against the sky. We have silhouettes in this picture too, even the ducks appear as a silhouette on the water. I like the winter colours too.The sun was behind me and so creating a silhouette effect.
It was getting late as I drove past the park, the sun was low in the sky. I thought I might get some interesting shots. This was one of the first ones:
This is the lodge to the park, but notice how the light is reflected off the trees to the right of the lodge. You can see shadows again and that makes the picture more interesting, but it was those trees that I found interesting.
This tree is reflecting lots of light and the sun is in just the right position for the shot. It’s lighting this tree up! But there are more trees with winter colours behind that one…
The sun is now behind me and to my right and you can see the shadows cast by the trees and the way the trees on that side of the park really catch the sun. The light Autumn colour reflects the sun well. The darker colours absorb the light and contrast with the lighter colours.
Finally, as it’s a Victorian Park I changed one photograph to black and white:
You can almost imagine what it was like in the nineteen century when the park was first landscaped. The houses opposite the park were owned by wealthy locals who had servants and they still stand today. How long will our modern homes last?
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Mike10613's Blog 
Hi Mike, Okay, I visited a few times to really study these shots. I love the photo of the tree that looks as if it’s lit up. Amazing. Did you alter that shot? The tree almost looks surreal. I also like how the light plays on the grass in front of the tree, very cool.
The picture of the lodge with the shadows is very cool. The shadows give both atmosphere and depth. But my focus in that shot is the lodge. That’s what I notice because of its beautiful architecture.
The black and white picture is amazing. The feel of the picture is so different. England has so many beautiful old buildings, you can really take shots today and make them seem old-fashioned.
Thanks so much for sharing these with us and giving us your expertise!
26, January 2012 at 3:12 am
That picture of the tree didn’t look quite so good when I looked at it on my computer. The problem was that light reflects on to the lens of the camera and make the picture look slightly dull. I made it look more like what I saw through the viewfinder by adding highlights to contrast the light from dark, contrast and finally make it brighter because the first two make it darker. That’s the result. In all these pictures the clouds like dark, adding highlights and contrast does that, but it’s a trade off. One photographer whose work I see makes the clouds really dark and ends up with very depressing pictures!
Nearly every park has a lodge and they are always worth photographing. I’ve done some that are big enough to be community centres. The one in Dartmouth Park is covered in red ivy and fascinates people. That one is tiny but it’s always worth taking the shot because it looks different every time.
I thought black and white was appropriate as it’s a Victorian park, I tried to get the bandstand in but avoid the skateboard thing!
When I was a child the park was very popular and my uncle played in the band that used the bandstand. 🙂
26, January 2012 at 8:59 am