Seagull silhouetted against the sunset at Liverpool Docks

We spent last weekend in Liverpool, exploring and shopping, and loved it. On our first evening wandering along the waterfront we were lucky enough to get a gorgeous sunset, with plenty of great shapes to silhouette against it. 

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/100s, 35mm, hand held.

View towards Manhattan from Brooklyn Promenade just before sunset

I returned from a 10-day family holiday to New York about a week ago, having taken hundreds of new photos. It was a wonderful experience and I'm going to really enjoy re-living it as I gradually process them all.

I took this first one from Brooklyn Promenade. I knew there was a good photo opportunity to be had looking across the East River to Manhattan at sunset, but it was a nice surprise to also find the silhouetted basketball courts on the pier below us. The sail-boat passing through the sun-lit patch of water just before the sun dipped behind the buildings was another bonus.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/200s, 65mm, hand held.

Sunset over Bridestones rocks above Todmorden (2)

This is another shot of the sunset on a cold March evening this year (see my previous blog post on 20th March).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/6s, 35mm, tripod & cable release.

Fishing boats silhouetted against the setting sun at Morecambe.

Another one from my afternoon in Morecambe in September last year. The lens was fully zoomed in and then the image further cropped to best frame these little fishing boats silhouetted against the setting sun.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/18, 1/10s, 55mm, tripod.

After sunset on Whitby's west pier.

Another view of Whitby's very photogenic pier, photographed just after sunset in late January this year. The unusual angle is partly by choice and partly by necessity - I needed to get a long exposure due to the low light but only had a beanbag with me, rather than a tripod. I positioned it at the top of a few steps so that I could sit on a lower step to compose the picture, rather than having to lie flat on the boards!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 30s, 18mm, bean bag & remote release.

Sunset over Bridestones rocks above Todmorden.

I took this one earlier this evening. My husband and sons were climbing the rocks whilst I wandered around with my tripod looking for a good perch for a sunset shot. It was a lovely evening, although my hands were totally numb by the time we left.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/10s, 35mm, tripod, ND grad filter.

Sunset over the Calder valley (4)

One from an April evening last year, photographed from just outside Warley, looking up the Calder valley above Luddenden Foot. I think I was using a grad filter, hence the exaggerated sun rays. There's a lot about this photo that, technically, I don't like - I'm still struggling to balance exposure and manage noise and flare in sunset shots. At least practising is a lovely experience and, despite the technicalities, this one still represents the beauty of the scene.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/32, 1/15s, 32mm, tripod & graduated ND filter.

Line of trees in a snowy field silhouetted against a late afternoon sky.

Here's another one from Roils Head moor in Halifax last January. It took it just after the sun set, but whilst it was still back-lighting the clouds. I love the patterns made by the tree branches against the sky and the patches of grass amongst the snow.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/50s, 26mm, hand held.

Thistle and grass against the sky at sunset.

This is taken at Malham Tarn - I was standing down by the side of the tarn, looking back up a steep slope, hence the angle of the shot. The sun was setting at the time, but the section of sky in this picture is actually opposite the sunset. I'm still not sure whether I like the thistle being in the picture, but I definitely like the colours and textures of the grass and the sky, so I'll leave it up to you to decide!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 1600, f/11, 1/125s, 40mm, hand held.

Winter tree framed by a break in the clouds

I took this on Roils Head moor in January this year. It was getting dark and we were making our way off the moor when I noticed how the edge of the clouds seemed to be framing this tree. You can see the dark rooftops of Norton Tower in the background, where a single street lamp has switched on.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/50s, 52mm, hand held.

A boat named 'Hopeful'

'Hopeful' of ever sailing again, maybe...?! This boat is on the edge of the promenade at Morecambe - I have no idea what its story is, but I'm intrigued. I think sunset was a good time to photograph the boat - it seems to signy its stage of life!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/16, 1/125s, 18mm, hand held.

Rippled clouds over Morecambe Bay at sunset

The sun was about to set off to the left of this scene when I took the photo about a month ago. As often happens, the sky off to the side or opposite a sunset is just as, if not more, interesting and dramatic as the sunset itself.

You can just see the Lake District mountains on the far side of the bay.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/160s, 18mm, hand held.

Evening mist in the Luddenden valley

I took this a week ago not far from where I live. I had gone out to photograph the sunset and carried on taking photos for a while afterwards as the post-sunset light was so lovely.

In the foreground of this image, just behind the farm buildings, you can see a tractor cutting the grass in one of the fields. It had started working its way round just as I arrived to set my tripod up and was still going when I left.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/13s, 55mm, tripod.

Sculptures of cormorants silhouetted against the setting sun at Morecambe

Another sunset photo tonight - this time from Morecambe, Lancashire, photographed last weekend. These sculptures of cormorants, made from slices of steel, are just in front of the Midland Hotel. They were created by Brian Fell as part of the Tern Project.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/4000s, 26mm, hand held.

Sunset over the Lancashire moors

This one's from July this year, when my son and I went for a late evening walk on the moor behind Blackstone Edge reservoir. I used a high ISO to avoid too long an exposure (as it was really windy) so had to use a lot of noise reduction in Lightroom. As I've found before, though, the smoothed out effect of the noise reduction really works with the texture of the long grass.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 800, f/18, 1/125s, 18mm, tripod.

Sunset over the Calder valley (3)

Here's another one from last night. On the way back from Todmorden, the sun started to set and the sky and clouds were glowing, so I took a bit of a diversion, parked by the side of the road in Warley and took a few photos. It was one of those lucky times when you actually have your camera handy when the weather does something great!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/8, 1/125s, 18mm, hand held.

Clouds above a Cumbrian mountain range at sunset

I took this in August last year, whilst standing near the Castlerigg Stone Circle, Keswick, waiting for the sun to set. I thought these clouds were dramatic enough on their own to not need the shapes of the stones in the foreground. They were also partly framed by the simple shadowy line of the mountain range and field underneath.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/9, 1/80s, 22mm, 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.

Setting sun reflected on buildings beside the Thames

A London photo tonight - from March this year. There's nothing particularly special about the buildings in the shot (other than the fact that you can see the dome of St Paul's in the background) - the focus of this picture is really the colour of the reflected light on the walls and the line of sunlight reflected onto the river.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/9, 1/80s, 44mm, hand held.