Firstly I'd like to thank all of you that took time out to read my last post Frosty Mornings as always, It's very much appreciated.
This blog is about two morning visits to Surprise View - Visit Peak District & Derbyshire I made back at the beginning of March.
Snow had been forecast for the morning of my first visit, so I eagerly packed up my camera bag the evening before In anticipation of getting a couple of shots of those lovely birch trees sitting amongst the white stuff.
After confirming the weather forecast in the morning before I set off, I could still see that it was due to start arriving at around 8am but was due to stop falling at dinner time, giving me a couple of hours,(that would do nicely).
Arriving in the car park at around 7.30, the scene was a murky one, light rain was falling as I sat looking through the window over towards Lawrence Field, there was also a stiff breeze blowing, so I poured myself a coffee and waited.
Thirty minutes later (the weather apps had got it right for change) the rain was now starting to turn to sleet and was now settling on the ground. I thought I would give it another 10 minutes before venturing out of the car.
After a quick rummage around In the boot of the car, It soon became apparent that I had left my waterproof trousers back at home ( a lesson learnt, and one that I was soon going to regret). So it was just to be my waterproof jacket to protect me from the elements that morning.
I walked across the car park heading towards Millstone Edge and to a group of birch trees that I always like the look of, having previously taken photos from the area in the past during heather season, so I pretty much knew the composition I was wanting to shoot and headed straight towards it.
Thankfully I was soon in position and had soon set up my tripod with the camera pointing towards the scene, I had framed up two nice looking birch trees which sit just outside of a small coppice of trees to the left hand side of them, I was standing a little way back from them and using my 50-140mm lens, I would have normally used the 16-55mm for this scene, but unfortunately I have mislaid my hood for that lens and shooting in these conditions would have been a problem with all that snow constantly having to be wiped off the front, would have been to much of a pain, so it was going to have to be the longer lens.
The snow was coming down hard and fast and was begging to settle onto the trunks of the trees, being helped by the strong wind gusts, I upped my ISO slightly to 400 and at an aperture of F5.6 I could get a shutter speed of 1/200 of a second witch was just about enough for me to freeze the the branches that were being blown about and the snow that was falling without to much blur, though I did take a few more shots at different settings but I eventually settled on the picture below..
Camera: Fujifilm Xh1.
Lens: XF50-140 f2.8R LMOIS WR.
Tripod: Benro Mach 3. Benro Geared Head.
ISO 300. 1/200sec. F6.4 @60mm.
White Balance: Auto.
I had only been out for around 30 minutes and I was already soaked, plus my camera was taking a beating, the snow was constantly settling on the viewfinder and down one side of the lens, fortunately the weather sealing was doing a great job, though it's probably best not to push things too far so I gave it a good wipe before putting it back into my bag and making my way a little further up and over the moor.
There is a solitary tree that sits to the side of a path that takes you over to Millstone Edge, that I find makes a interesting subject when the conditions are right, plus me now getting more uncomfortable by the minute, my hands were freezing because my gloves were wet, the water was now running down the back of my soaked through trousers and making its way down into my boots, I decided that this would probably my last picture of the morning.
Luckily It didn't take me long to get setup and to frame my composition, with the one birch tree sat In amongst the heather now covered in the fresh morning's snow and with using the longer lens as I had used in my first shot I was able to compress the seen, bringing the fence and the path behind my subject a little more closely towards the tree.
I had a square crop in mind for this shot so I changed the aspect ratio in camera to 1x1,(knowing that I could always change back to 3x2 in post processing if I needed to).
The camera settings were the same as my first shot, though the wind had abated a touch so I could reduce the ISO back down to 200. I quickly fired off a couple of shots and was happy with what I was seeing on the back I was seeing on the back of the camera.
At this point I decided to call it a day, I had got a couple of pictures that I was pleased with and now I was ready to get back to the warmth of the car, so it didn't take me long to get down to the car park and the waiting vehicle.
I was soon emptying the water from my boots and sat with a nice hot cup of coffee, with the heater blowing some nice warm air, I was feeling a little more thawed out ready for the drive back home, ready to hang up all my wet clothing in he hope it would dry out for the following mornings meet up with Sam Salim Photography - Facebook that had been arranged a few days before.
Camera: Fujifilm Xh1.
Lens: XF50-140 f2.8R LMOIS WR.
Tripod: Benro Mach 3. Benro Geared Head.
ISO 300. 1/200sec. F6.4 @68mm
White Balance: Auto.
The following morning with mist and fog having been forecast, I had arranged to meet Sam early, again in the car park at Surprise View, with Bolehill Woods being our chosen destination.
Driving over to the Peak District and passing Longshaw Estate the visibility was poor, there was plenty of fog around, hopefully it would be lingering in the woodland where we had planned to go.
Unfortunately after having arrived and getting parked up, it didn't look too promising, looking over towards Bolehill and beyond it was clear, though there was some mist amongst the trees at the back of the car park, so that would be plan B.
Sam arrived shortly afterwards and confirmed that on his drive up the road from Bamford, that the conditions we had hoped for were not materialising.
So it was decided that we would make the most of the conditions that were behind us and go for wonder towards the nearby woods.
There were still some remnants of the previous day’s snowfall still lying in patches on the moorland, at the side of the woods where I had been with the camera the morning before, so we headed over towards that area.
It didn't take us very long to find compositions we were both happy with, and after a little bit of walking around trying to separate the trees, I eventually was ready with what I had framed up.
I had settled on a vertical shot, a birch tree that was still carrying some yesterday's snow, now frozen solid on the bottom of its trunk was my main focal point, with some of the white stuff still lying on the ground below it, added to the scene.
After setting up the tripod and adding the camera with my 16-55mm lens, I dialled in my settings, and waited for the mist to make its appearance again to, the back of the seen, and not to long after it truly obliged, giving me time to take a few shots before I turned my attention to grabbing another shot from that same area.
Camera: Fujifilm Xh1.
Lens: XF16-55 f2.8R LM WR.
Tripod: Benro Mach 3. Benro Geared Head.
ISO 200. 1/30sec. F5.6 @35mm
White Balance: Auto.
Still concentrating on the same scene I switch the camera over to landscape orientation and went a little wider, to include a touch more of the mist that was now starting to get a little heavier, I also added my black mist filter which gives more of a softer look to the image, whilst darkening the shadows.
Camera: Fujifilm Xh1.
Lens: XF16-55 f2.8R LM WR.
Tripod: Benro Mach 3. Benro Geared Head.
ISO 200. 1/30sec. F5.6 @30mm
Kase Filters Black Mist.
White Balance: Auto.
After taking a couple shots from this area it was now time for me to move on and go and look for a few more compositions so I headed back over the moor and towards the woodland that was behind me.
As I was approaching the woods I my eye was drawn to scene in the distance, a nice little outcrop of birch trees that stand together on the edge of the main woodland, surrounded by the rustic looking heather at the base of their trunks, so this was going to be my next picture.
I decided I would stand further back and use my longer 50-140mm lens to zoom in a little and compress the scene which also gave me a chance to pull the mist, that at this point was starting to dissipate a little, back towards me.
With the conditions changing, one minute thick mist in the distance and the next totally devoid of atmosphere, it was case of standing around for a while until I got what I was looking for, at the back of the trees I was focusing on were a few large rocks in the distance, I wanted those to be covered by the mist, they didn't add anything to the scene, and needed to be absent.
Eventually I got what I wanted and managed to take a few shots, again with the Black Mist Filter attached to my lens.
Camera: Fujifilm Xh1.
Lens: XF50-140mm f2.8R R LM OIS WR.
Tripod: Benro Mach 3. Benro Geared Head.
ISO 200. 1/50sec. F5.4 @70mm
White Balance: Auto.
Kase Filters Black Mist.
I then turned my attention to finding what would be the finance picture of the morning's outing and concentrated on the main woodland and it didn't take me long to find some that was of interest to me, a nice old twin trunked birch tree with a bit of character, being framed on ether side by a couple more birch, that were just behind a barbed wire fence that runs down through the woodland, trouble was that I could not eliminate it from my frame.
That was until I managed to find a rock that was sitting on the the moorland, just large enough for me to climb on to, giving me enough of a viewpoint to get the above the fence and remove it from the frame, with the longer lens I was still able to get enough of the scene I wanted at 55mm.
The mist was still filtering through the trees in the distance so I had plenty of time to get a couple of shots I was happy with before calling it a day and returning back down to the car.
Camera: Fujifilm Xh1.
Lens: XF50-140mm f2.8R R LM OIS WR.
Tripod: Benro Mach 3. Benro Geared Head.
ISO 200. 1/15sec. F6.4 @55mm.
Kase Filters Black Mist.
White Balance: Auto.
Sam had got a few shots he was happy with and so was, so all in all it had been a good morning out and about, even if it wasn't our intended location. Bolehill Wood would have to wait for another day, luckily I didn't have to wait too long to get down there with the conditions I wanted, but that's for a future Blog.
Thanks For Reading
Wayne..
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