Sheep crossing a fallen-down dry stone wall.

This is on the approach to Stoodley Pike from the Mytholmroyd direction - I took the photo in July this year. The sheep were in the process of crossing the wall when they heard us approach and froze as they turned to look at us - perfect posing for a photo!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/320s, 35mm, hand held.

Sheep perched on the lower slopes of Blencathra.

Here's another one from last week, on our way down the mountain Blencathra. This photo shows the lower slopes of Doddick and Scales Fells and Scaley Beck, which runs between them. It was a dramatic but knee-shaking descent!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/160s, 35mm, hand held.

Sheep grazing on grassy slopes.

These are the fields that surround Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough. I took the photo on a walk around the lake path in summer last year. There were a few things that drew me to the scene - the way the sheep were positioned around the shorter/lighter section of grass (must have been the tastier bit!); the little tree on its own on the horizon; the one sheep 'breaking rank' on the horizon next to the tree.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/160s, 42mm, hand held.

Little sheep above Cragg Vale, Mytholmroyd.

Happy new year everyone!

My friend and I had just climbed up the valley side from the Hinchliffe Arms pub when we passed this little sheep in June this year. It was posing perfectly against the shadowy valley of Cragg Vale so I took a quick photo. We then carried on to walk around Withens Clough reservoir and back.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/160s, 45mm, hand held.

Sheep grazing in late evening sunshine.

I took this last night between Norton Tower and Mount Tabor. I was wandering round with my camera, scouting out good locations for sunset photos, when I passed this group of sheep. I loved how their silhouettes seemed to glow in the back-light from the bright, low, sunshine.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/18, 1/160s, 24mm, ND hard grad filters, hand held.

Sheep and conservation machinery near Malham Tarn at sunset

This one is from earlier this week at Malham. We'd been for an evening walk around the Tarn with the dogs and I wanted to hang on an extra half-hour or so to see whether we'd get an interesting sunset. There were lots of dark clouds but they were moving fast - unfortunately, though, they seemed to be thickening as the sun got lower, so I decided to set off walking back to the car. Typically, as soon as we walked away from the view across the Tarn, the clouds started to disperse and change colour.

At that point, we just happened to be next to this huge machine (no idea what it does, but the sign says it's Conservation Machinery!) and this group of sheep had moved to stand next to it. So I grabbed the opportunity to get a shot with the pink clouds in the background, just in case they were about to disappear again. I thought I'd probably end up deleting the photo (a strange subject - sheep, sunset and conservation machine!!), but I actually really like it. The contrast between nature and machinery is interesting; I also like the smoothing effect of the noise reduction I had to do in Lightroom.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 1600, f/11, 1/125s, 20mm, hand held.

Castlerigg stone circle at sunset (3)

Lake District again today - getting excited about my upcoming holiday! This is the third image I've posted from this evening visit to Castlerigg stone circle at Keswick and, I think, the best so far. I've learned a lot about processing raw files in Lightroom since I started this blog, meaning I can produce much improved jpegs of these images. I also changed the crop to a panoramic scale, which I think works much better.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/8, 1/60s, 28mm, hand held.

Looking towards Todmorden from Stoodley Pike

I've taken this view several times over the years with different cameras and in different weather conditions. This is the only one with my DSLR so far though and, despite poor late November afternoon light (resulting in a fair amount of processing!), I still love it.

I took the photo on the way down from Stoodley Pike, having walked up there from Hebden Bridge, further down the valley. The church you can see in the centre right of the picture is Lumbutts Methodist Church (built 1877). In the distance behind that, where the valleys merge, is the town of Todmorden, where I grew up.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/8, 1/80s, 32mm, hand held.

Dry stone wall, fence and sheep, Malham

This is taken from the path between Malham Cove and Gordale Scar, North Yorkshire. I love the tones and textures in dry stone walls - they work particularly well in black and white. The main reason for taking this particular picture was the overall shape and pattern made by the wall, fence and the rougher grass around the intersection. In Lightroom, I had to adjust the green and yellow sliders on the grey balance to make the rougher grass stand out.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/13, 1/160s, 55mm.

Sheep, barn and dry stone wall at Malham

Another one from our walk around Malham, North Yorkshire in August this year. This is halfway between the Cove and Gordale Scar. I thought the barn, wall and gates were lovely anyway, but the sheep were perfectly positioned to make an even better composition - I had to be quick before they moved!

In Lightroom, I used a grad filter to bring exposure down in the sky.

View of Newlands valley from Cat Bells

Another image from my recent holiday in Keswick - the head of the gorgeous Newlands valley, taken from the summit of Cat Bells, with another sheep posing in perfect position.

Very slight reduction in exposure needed post-production to bring out a bit of blue in the sky - it was a really bright morning. Love the image as it is, but it would probably have been improved by one or two fluffy white clouds in the sky.

Castlerigg Stone Circle at sunset (Keswick, Cumbria)

So here we go with my first attempt at blogging!

This is an image from my week in Keswick this summer. I walked up to the stone circle hoping to get some interesting sunset shots. Didn't take my tripod - just leaned back against one of the stones and hoped for the best!

I love the fact that this sheep wandered into the shot just as the clouds parted to let the sun's rays through. The sky and mountains in the top left background and the back-lit sheep are really the main focus of this picture, with the stone circle and sun being more of a back-drop.

I turned highlights down and exposure up slightly in Lightroom to reduce the glare and lighten the image overall. There are obvious flare spots, but I don't think they detract from the image.

Constructive critique welcome!