The river at Hardcastle Crags in Spring

I took this at what I think is one of the most picturesque spots on the river at Hardcastle Crags in May this year. I love how the trees lean in over the river and how bright green their new leaves are. The light reflects off the surface of the water, too, highlighting its line of flow along the valley bottom.

I cropped the image to a panoramic view and increased contrast very slightly.

Barrow Beck, above Ashness Bridge, Cumbria

This is the view upstream from the point where Barrow Beck runs under Ashness Bridge, just above Derwentwater, Cumbria. I love the shape of the little barn, the textures of the rocks and the splashes of green from the grass and ferns and white from the falling water.

I just made small tweaks to exposure and contrast in Lightroom.

Boats in the harbour at low tide, Holy Island

This is the view from Holy Island (Lindisfarne) across the harbour to the mainland. I took it on our holiday to Northumberland in August 2013 as we were walking around the island.

I cropped the original to a more panoramic shape to emphasise the line of the mainland, harbour wall and boats. I also played with exposure and contrast in the sky to get the best out of the clouds. I originally converted it to black and white...it did look good that way, but when I switched back to colour for a final decision, I noticed how it was largely made up of blues and earthy tones. Those colours appear in the boats, the land, the sand and the clouds and, I think, are worth keeping in.

On the moors at dusk

Today's photo is a moody one from the moors above Todmorden, my home town on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border. It shows the track along the top of Stoodley Pike, the mountain that overlooks the town - one of my favourite places in the world! I'd walked up there from Hebden Bridge, the next town along the valley, with my friend, Hattie. We'd set off in bright sunshine but just as we neared the top of Stoodley, the black clouds came over, the sun dipped below the horizon, the wind whipped up and it started raining - perfect moors weather!

I had to use a higher ISO to get this photo, then increase exposure again in Lightroom afterwards.

Bluebells, ferns and grass in the woods, Hardcastle Crags

I took this one in May 2013 at Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge. I find bluebells quite difficult to photograph - they look so lovely blanketing the ground under the trees but don't always have the same impact in photographs. So I just take LOADS of pictures of them from as many angles as I have time for, and hope some of them work! I like this one because it highlights individual flowers, includes a fern (which I also love) and includes the woodland background as context.

In Lightroom, I increased contrast and added a slight dark vignette to help the flowers and grasses stand out from the background.

Wooden fence and open gate in snowy fields

I took this one a few years ago when I only had a compact camera. As a project, I carried my camera to and from my son's school for a year to photograph our route through the seasons. We're lucky to live somewhere where our route to school takes us through such lovely scenery.

Thought I'd post this today as it's as close to a Christmassy scene as I've got in landscape photographs - haven't had any decent snow here for 3 years now - fingers crossed for January and February!

I'm giving myself Christmas Day and Boxing Day off the blog, so...MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!

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.

Into the trees...

This is my youngest son, Kai, walking ahead into the trees around Derwentwater, Keswick, in August this year. We'd just climbed Catbells and were making our way back to the car along the side of the lake - a lovely walk.

I like the perspective of the path disappearing into the trees, and the scale provided by Kai walking alone amidst them.

In Lightroom, I brought highlights right down to take the sunlight's glare off the tree trunks.

Pilgrims' Way between Holy Island and the mainland

This is the much-photographed 'pathway' across the sand and mud flats between Holy Island (Lindisfarne), and the mainland, Northumberland. We were just driving off the island after our visit in August 2013 when I spotted these posts and parked up to take photos. Up to that point, I'd never seen them before, either in real life or photographs, and didn't realise it was actually the original route for crossing by foot, before the causeway was built.

In the original image, the narrow stretch of cloud at the top right of the photo was almost black and really ruined the photo. I cropped the image down as far as I could without affecting composition, then, by using a couple of graduated filters in Lightroom I managed to bring the offending cloud back into the same colour range as the others. I also made some overall changes to contrast and exposure to accentuate the reflection of the sky and cloud in the puddle.

Yellow light in the treetops

This one's from my walk from Hebden Bridge to Stoodley Pike, Todmorden in November this year. I took it on the climb up the hillside out of Hebden - I just loved how the sunlight was hitting and colouring the tops of the trees, contrasting with the shadows underneath.

In Lightroom, I cropped the image to remove the ground (somehow I think it makes the image more magical) and played with exposure, contrast and highlights a little.

Goodbye to George...

Today we had to say goodbye to our beautiful 5-year-old cat, George, lost to cancer. So sad. He was found with his brothers and sisters at just a few weeks old in a box behind a pub and rescued by the RSPCA. We then adopted him and his brother, Fred. Horribly, Fred was run over and killed at 9 months old. George went on to have a great 5 years of climbing trees (real ones and Christmas ones!), catching birds and rodents, eating too much food, lolling around a lot and generally being loved to bits.

So glad we had those 5 years - lovely memories and photos remain.

Fields and dry stone walls under a cloudy sky, Malham

This is another one from our walk around Malham in August this year. It's taken from the section of path between the Cove and Gordale Scar. Possibly another one of my 'niche' images (ie. I might be the only one who likes it!) but I was really drawn to the shapes of the hill/fields/walls and to the busy sky above it.

As usual, a bit of work was done in Lightroom due to not having used a filter at the time of shooting. As well as balancing out the exposure I also increased contrast a little.

Base of old gnarled tree trunk surrounded by bluebells at Hardcastle Crags

I took this one in May this year at Hardcastle Crags. I loved the textures and shapes on the tree trunk which were made even more interesting by the dappled light from the sun. The bluebells seemed to frame it.

I had to do a lot of work on the raw file to balance the light - there was huge contrast between the shaded parts of the trunk and the sun-lit grass and bluebells. I ended up using 3 different angled grad filters and the brush to bring the exposure down around the trunk but leaving the trunk itself alone.

The inner walls and ramparts of Dunstanburgh Castle

This is from our holiday to Northumberland in August 2013, on a visit to Dunstanburgh Castle, near Craster. I took this one straight into the sun without any filters as an experiment to see how it would turn out. The sun was partly hidden behind hazy cloud, which I hoped would work as a kind of natural filter!

I think I've just about rescued the image in Lightroom, by increasing exposure overall to make the detail in the ground and walls visible, then bringing exposure in the sky right down to minimum with a graduated filter.

I really like the simplicity and mood of the photo.

Skiddaw in Summer, viewed from Latrigg

I took this during our holiday in Keswick in August this year. We walked from our holiday home in the valley below up to Latrigg (the smaller mountain that sits under Skiddaw) and then back down the opposite side into Keswick. Skiddaw looks so lovely covered in purple heather and dappled with patches of shadow from the little clouds in the sky. I've climbed Skiddaw a couple of times in the past (pre children) - maybe we'll graduate from Latrigg and make it up there together as a family one day.

In Lightroom I just made a few tweaks to exposure and contrast.

Contrasting autumnal trees at Hardcastle Crags

This is my 100th blog post! To celebrate, I'm putting one of my favourite photos on from this year. This is one of the last ones I took on a visit to Hardcastle Crags in early November. I spotted this tree with bright autumnal coloured leaves sitting on its own amongst taller, barer, darker trees and loved the contrast. I also love the silhouetted shapes of the trunks and branches in the background.

As it was quite dark under the trees, I couldn't be sure about focus quality, so I took about 15 versions in the hope that at least one of them would be sharp. Comparing each one to the next in magnified form wasn't the easiest or most interesting task, but I'm pleased I did get a good quality image to use. In Lightroom, I made a few small changes to exposure, contrast, vibrance and saturation.

Monochrome geranium

I took this one in my garden in July 2013. It's a pink geranium - a lovely spreading plant that flowers profusely from spring to autumn.

I made a number of changes to the raw file in Lightroom after converting to monochrome to get the best final effect - exposure, contrast, temperature, tint, highlights, shadows etc.

Lime kilns on Holy Island (2)

This is an alternative view of the lime kilns to the image I posted on 21st October. I really like the shapes and textures - could spend ages capturing different views and angles in there!

I made a few changes to exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights and converted to black and white in Lightroom.

Stones in a puddle at Hardcastle Crags

This is another image from my Photography Btec final piece of work. I had originally intended photographing falling water from a waterfall, but when I got there, the waterfall had dried up. As I was standing around wondering what to do instead, I looked down and saw what remained of the waterfall - a small puddle with a number of stones in it. So I decided to set my tripod up and get a close-up shot of it. It was a really interesting exercise - depending on focus, I could choose whether to capture the reflections of the leaves on the trees above or not.

I eventually chose an image that focused on the stones, not the water, which gave the water a blurred sheen. As it was intended to be a mysterious 'arty' shot I allowed myself to play with colour in Lightroom and turned the temperature right down, giving it an overall blue hue and giving the edges of the water a silver effect.

View from the edge of the limestone pavement at Malham Cove

Yet another different view of the cove from August this year, taken where the path to Gordale Scar leads off from the edge of the limestone pavement. Now I've found these great viewpoints I want to go back when there's better light and improve these photos! As I've mentioned before, it was a very bright sky on this visit - I've used a grad filter in Lightroom to bring exposure and highlights down, but I'm not sure it's a seamless correction this time. Still, I really like the rest of this photo - the rocks and trees make 3/4 of a frame for the valley, with the streaks of dark clouds around the top creating an almost tunnel-like effect.

Colourful ferns and foliage beneath trees at Hardcastle Crags

This one's from November this year at Hardcastle Crags - I love any scene that's full of colour and contrast. It was a difficult photo to take due to the big contrasts between the shadows beneath the trees and the sunlit foreground. I increased ISO to get a reasonable shot, then made a few tweaks in Lightroom to correct the rest.

I used a graduated filter to better balance exposure between the foreground and trees, then increased contrast, vibrance and saturation very slightly.

Seaside layers of light and texture off Holy Island

I took this picture in August 2013 on a day-trip to Holy Island. It's taken from the harbour area, looking back across to the southern mainland. I liked the many different layers of light and texture in the sea, beaches, land and sky.

In Lightroom, I increased contrast and exposure overall, but reduced exposure in the sky to bring down the overexposed brighter layer of clouds.

Cluster of sun-lit ferns around a tree trunk

This one is from June 2013 at Hardcastle Crags. I love ferns - you may have noticed by now! Bluebells are usually the main focus when they're in photos - in this one they're just a (slightly out of focus) backdrop with the ferns in the spotlight, literally, from the sun.

I did quite a bit of tampering in Lightroom to get the effect I wanted. I brought exposure down overall, as the ferns were quite overexposed due to the strength of the sunlight. There were 2 other areas lit up by the sun that were too distracting - I used the brush to bring exposure down on the central bluebells and a graduated filter to do the same job on a patch of grass top left. I then increased contrast to the maximum - this increased the strength of the shadows and made some of the ferns bottom right 'disappear' into the darkness, leaving only the very bright ones in the picture.

Black and white cat yawning

This is Spook, our 5 year old black and white cat. I was watching him and taking photos, trying out my new macro lens, when he did a huge yawn and I managed to capture it. I often find that cats start yawning when I'm photographing them - maybe it's a nervous thing; or maybe they're just bored!

In Lightroom, I converted to monochrome, increased contrast, reduced exposure and added a slight dark vignette to darken the background.

Sun-lit gate and fenced path through trees.

Here's another one from the Keswick/Threlkeld railway path in Cumbria, taken in August this year. I loved the way the sun was highlighting the gate against the dark wooded background and the contrast of the hard line of the fence disappearing up into the trees against the soft texture of the grass.

In Lightroom, I increased contrast and exposure, then added a slight dark vignette to draw your eye in towards the gate and fence.

Over the dunes between Bamburgh and Seahouses

I took this in August 2013 on our holidays. We'd spent a few hours on the beach and were heading back to the car on this path through St Aidan's dunes. I looked back after climbing over this wooden stile and thought it'd make a good picture. Typically, we then had to hang around for ages whilst other holiday-makers made their way (very slowly!) over the stile and safely out of my photo!

In Lightroom I increased overall contrast and reduced exposure in the sky with a graduated filter.

Fallen branch among trees at Hardcastle Crags

This is another shot from my final Photography Btec work. I found this log in the middle of the wood at Hardcastle Crags and was intrigued by its shapes and textures. The top end reminds me of a snake's head - other people who've seen the photo say it reminds them of other things. I like how you can have your own interpretation of it depending where your imagination takes you!

I converted to monochrome, increased contrast slightly and added a slight dark vignette to draw your eye in to the branch.

Pebble splash in a rockpool

One day on holiday at Seahouses, Northumberland in August 2013, I went wandering round the rockpools with one of my sons looking for interesting photos to take. He suggested dropping pebbles into one of the pools so that I could capture the splash. This is a crop of one of those shots.

I played around with the settings in Lightroom and settled on this effect, make by turning contrast right up and a large increase in vibrance.

River in Autumn at Hardcastle Crags

This one is from November 2013 when I headed into the Crags specifically to photograph a waterfall (see my earlier post on 23rd Sept). My son and his friend were playing by the river whilst I took the photo. When I headed over to see what they were up to I was struck by the range of colours and lovely contrasts in the scene, so I shooed them out of the way to get this photo!

In Lightroom I made very small increases to shadows, vibrance and saturation. I also added an angled grad filter to the top left corner to bring down exposure in the tree branches where the sun was breaking through.

Rockpools, sparkling sea and swirling clouds at Seahouses

I loved the drama of the swirling clouds and the sparkle of the sun on the water in this scene. I took the picture in August 2013 from the rock pools to the South of the harbour at Seahouses.

In Lightroom, I just increased contrast and exposure very slightly.

View across Malham Cove

Here's yet another view across the very picturesque Malham Cove, towards Pendle Hill! I wasn't sure this would be a 'useable' photo - I liked the curved framing of the foreground rocks, the dry stone wall and the array of fields and trees in the midsection of the photo, but there was too much sky and dull grass around the edges. I decided the only hope for it was to try a vignette.

Until now, I've only used very slight, not obvious, vignettes to draw your eye into the centre. This time I had to use a stronger one. I do think it does the job well though, supporting the natural frame of the rocks and drawing your eye away from the parts of the picture that don't add any interest.

Contrasting trees

These trees line a portion of the railway path between Keswick and Threlkeld, Cumbria. I took the photo in August this year because I was really struck by the strong shapes, tones and textures of the foreground trees (are they beech?) and the contrast against the lush greenery of the trees behind.

I made a few small tweaks in Lightroom to bring out these features - increased contrast, reduced highlights and increased vibrancy and saturation.

Mill pond in Autumn, Hardcastle Crags

I took this one at Hardcastle Crags in November 2013 because I loved the colours and reflections. Although the side lighting from the low sun was what made the colours and tree textures so lovely, it also made the photograph difficult to achieve, due to the big contrasts. I didn't have any filters so I exposed for the shadows and hoped for the best.

In Lightroom I used graduated filters (top down and bottom up) to reduce exposure and highlights in the sky and water. I also increased shadows to bring a bit more detail out.

Lindisfarne Castle below stormy clouds, viewed from across the harbour

The lighting on the day I took this photo in August 2013 was quite poor - what makes this photo is the dramatic cloud formation above the castle and sea. The clouds look like they've deliberately left a space the same shape as the castle - like the clouds are jigsaw pieces that will fit down onto the horizon, fitting snuggly around the castle mound!

This shot is also unusual for me in that it is full of people, swarming around the castle. Usually I hate having people in my landscape photos - fortunately they are so far away in this one you can only see them by zooming in!

I made quite a few small tweaks in Lightroom, as well as cropping the photo to a panoramic shape and converting to monochrome (the colours were so washed out due to the flat light anyway). I played around with contrast, vibrance, saturation and exposure to get this final image.

River flowing around moss-covered rocks at Hardcastle Crags

This is a crop of a photo I took whilst practicing with ND filters at Hardcastle Crags for my Btec course. I can't remember how many stops I used for this particular image, but this one was my favourite in terms of the effect of the creamy water flowing around the rough textured rocks. The composition of the original image as a whole wasn't great, as I chose the location purely for the water and rocks, but couldn't get close enough to exclude the surroundings, hence making a significant crop for this final image.

In Lightroom, as well as the crop, I also flipped the photo horizontally, as it didn't feel right flowing right to left.  I then increased contrast and added 2 angled graduated filters to reduce the glare top and bottom left.

Dandelion clock (2)

This is another photo from the group of images I took in my garden in May this year. The original image was a wider shot of the dandelion clock head with a blurred green background (similar to the one I posted on Sept 13th). I wanted to see whether a closer crop would work, and I really like the outcome.

In Lightroom, I increased contrast and vibrance to get a bit more 'zing' out of the colours and textures. Then I used a square crop to emphasise the symmetry and added a slight dark vignette to emphasise the spherical shape.

Triptych of textures - stone, ripples & sparkles

A more abstract shot today! I took this photo in Seahouses last year - it's a close crop of the sea rippling up against the edge of a stone walkway. I liked the contrasting tones and textures between the stone and the water; and again between the section of water in the shade and the section with the sun glinting off its surface.

I cropped the raw photo to emphasise the 3 textural 'sections', then converted to monochrome and increased contrast and clarity.

Beck running under Ashness Bridge, Cumbria

This is Barrow Beck, the stream that runs under Ashness Bridge, just above Derwentwater, Cumbria. I went for a close-up crop from my original photo because there was so much glare in the grey sky, even after tampering with it in Lightroom. I really like the composition of the crop, but I still made a lot of changes to contrast, exposure and grey tones to get a pleasing balance of tones and textures.

Sun-lit fern in woodland, Hardcastle Crags

This is another one of the set I took at Hardcastle Crags in April 2013 for the final part of my Photography Btec. I love how the sun lights the fern up and also lights up a patch of the fallen leaves in the background. The delicate shapes of the tips of the fern fronds are emphasised by the contrast against the dark tree trunk.

In Lightroom I used a graduated filter to bring down exposure and highlights in the sky between the trees.

Garden flowers

White bluebells (is that what you call them??) in front of green Euphorbia flowers with bluebells in the background - from my garden in Spring this year. I love how these 3 plants flower at the same time and grow into and around each other - the colours look great together.

I cropped the original image to focus more on the white flowers, then reduced exposure and highlights, as they were a bit 'blown out'.

Small yacht passing Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland

I took this on our holiday to Seahouses in August 2013. We'd just been exploring Dunstanburgh Castle, further down the coast near Craster, and were just leaving. Just as we started walking away from the castle I saw the yacht passing out at sea. I thought there was potential for a photo - it looked so small and delicate on its own out there, contrasting with the big, strong, stone castle wall. It was actually moving quite fast so I only just managed to get my camera ready in time to get the castle wall and the yacht in the same shot.

The resulting picture wasn't great as I didn't have time to compose or expose it properly, but I got the content I needed and sorted the rest out in Lightroom. I cropped the picture to a panoramic size to frame the horizon, used a graduated filter to bring down highlights in the sky and increased overall contrast, saturation and shadows slightly.

Tree trunk and roots at Hardcastle Crags

This is one from May this year in the woods at Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge. The trees there are amazing - wonderful shapes and textures in their trunks, branches and roots. Unfortunately I don't know my trees well enough to tell you what kind this is though!

After increasing contrast, I converted the raw file to monochrome to emphasise the textures. I then reduced exposure a little.

Dry stone wall at Malham Cove, North Yorkshire

This photo provides another view of Malham Cove to other photos I've posted so far. However, the main focus of the image is the brilliant curve of the dry stone wall that runs down into the cove then back up the opposite hillside, then connecting into further networks of walls. I took quite a few versions of this picture to see which angle gave the best composition; then, as I was walking away, the sun came out and lit the scene up for me, so I ran back and got this final shot.

You can also just see a mountain in the centre of the far horizon - I think it's Pendle Hill in Burnley, Lancashire.

It being a dazzlingly bright day, I had to use a graduated filter in Lightroom to reduce the highlights and exposure in the sky. Then I increased vibrance and saturation just by one click to bring out the green a bit more.

Rope knotted around wooden boards on a boat

This is on one of the boats used for trips to the Farne Islands from Seahouses harbour. I took it on the way back from a visit to Longstone Island on our holiday there in August 2013. I think this rope was holding one of the life rings onto the side of the boat. This might be just me being odd, but the textures and shapes just appealed to me!

I increased contrast, reduced exposure slightly and converted to monochrome in Lightroom.

River Greta with Blencathra in the background, Keswick

I took this on our August holiday to Keswick this year. On the far right bank of the river you can just see our holiday home - a cabin at Low Briery Holiday Park (what a location - much recommended!). The mountain in the background, Blencathra, is my favourite climb in the Lake District, although I haven't done it for years. There's a fantastic ridge at the top called Sharp Edge. The mountain is also known as Saddleback - you can see the dip in the summit that gives it that name in this picture.

I reduced exposure in the sky with a graduated filter to balance it out, then increased overall exposure slightly.

White cockerpoo on a countryside walk

This is Kizzy in August this year when she was 9 months old. I took this during our walk around Malham - you can see she's all windswept and worn out from the excitement!

In Lightroom, I increased exposure very slightly and added a dark vignette.

Little waterfall and bluebells at Hardcastle Crags

I took this in May this year on a walk at Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge. Initially I just wanted to photograph the falling water, but then realised what a pretty setting it was in.

The only change I made to the raw file was to add a graduated filter to bring down exposure in the trees at the top.

Lobster pot on pebbled beach, Holy Island.

I took this one on Holy Island, Northumberland in August 2013. There was a steep 'wall' of pebbles bordering the beach and this lobster pot was abandoned on it. I liked the contrasting shapes and patterns in the pot, pebbles and sky.

In Lightroom I used a graduated filter to balance out the exposure of the pebbles and sky, then increased shadows to put some definition into the pot. I also added a slight dark vignette to soften the edges of the picture and draw your eye in.

Barn and plough at Malham

This barn is alongside the river that runs down through Malham below Janet's Foss. I took the photo in August this year because I liked the contrasts in shapes, colours and textures between the stone of the barn, the trees, grass and rusty plough (I think it's a plough!).

I didn't have time to get my settings right in camera, so had to make quite a few changes in Lightroom: slight reduction to exposure; increase in contrast; slight increases to vibrance and saturation; crop to improve composition.