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.