Old barn in an overgrown field

This little barn is just off the path around Malham Tarn. It was getting quite dark when I took the photo one evening earlier this month and I didn't have my tripod, so used a high ISO. You can see the smoothing-out effect of the noise reduction tool in Lightroom - it makes it look like a painting, which I think works well on this image.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 800, f/9, 1/125s, 34mm, hand held.

Launch heading out onto Derwentwater.

I've just come back from a week's holiday with my family in Keswick. It was beautiful as always - we even got some sunny weather! I took loads of photos - they'll keep me going on the blog for another year until we go back. Today's photo is from a walk around Derwentwater. We got the launch half way, walked along the shore under Catbells, then hopped back on the launch to return to Keswick. This photo shows the launch heading back out onto the lake after dropping us off. The lovely mountain in the background with the clouds sitting on top of it is Blencathra.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/200s, 55mm, hand held.

Dandelion clock (4)

Another one from my garden tonight - taken in May last year. This was part of a group of dandelion clocks - I wanted to use a shallow depth of field to isolate one of them. I cropped the photo down to change the orientation to portrait and reduce the number of flower heads in view. Converting to black and white also helped to draw your eye to the main flower head.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/320s, 90mm, hand held.

Sunlit raindrops on a blade of grass

I took this one in April last year on the lawn in our garden (a last opportunity before we replaced it with artificial grass). I really like how each little raindrop has its own shadow. I also love the little part-open daisy - another thing I miss about having a real lawn (although I don't miss the mud, bare patches and mowing!!).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/500s, 90mm, 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.

Dappled sunlight on leaves and bluebells beneath a tree in woodland

This is by the river at Hardcastle Crags, taken in June this year. It was midday, so the sun was at its highest and brightest, but only specks of it were getting through the thick foliage to the woodland floor.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/50s, 26mm, hand held.

Shadowy woodland back-lit by bright sunlight

I took this one on a walk from Sowerby to Mytholmroyd in April this year. This is near the edge of Hathershelf Scout Wood, above Scout Road. I liked how the sunshine was silhouetting the bare trees and lighting up the mossy top of the stone wall.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100s, 26mm, hand held.

Domed glass roof of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel entrance

This is the southern entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which takes pedestrians underneath the Thames to the Isle of Dogs. I took this photo in March this year - we were visiting Greenwich during our London trip and had gone to find the Cutty Sark. Visually, though, I found this nearby building much more interesting (I think I was probably the only one photographing it, rather than the ship!). This entrance building houses the lift and spiral staircase down to the tunnel, which I really want to walk through one day.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/10, 1/125s, 18mm, hand held.

Crumbling dry stone wall, fence and puddle on a country road

This is somewhere along the road that runs from Midgley along the top of the Calder valley above Mytholmroyd - I took it in early April this year. I suppose it's an unusual subject - a wall, a puddle, some barbed wire etc - but I was really drawn to the colours and textures.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/125s, 22mm, hand held.

Cloud reflections on Warland reservoir (2)

Another tranquil view across Warland reservoir on a lovely March day this year. Always the odd black cloud around though, just to keep you wondering whether you're going to get wet!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/160s, 18mm, hand held.

Limekilns at Holy Island (3)

This is my third post from August 2013 showing alternative views inside the limekilns at Holy Island (search my blog using the label 'limekilns' to find the others). I love the old stone walls and their shapes, textures and colours. Looking back now I can't believe I used ISO 100 for these shots - at 1/10s without a tripod I must have been holding my breath! I'd like to go back and have another go now I know a bit more about how to use my camera.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/10s, 18mm, hand held.

Ferns lit up by a sunburst through trees

This one's from November 2014 at Hardcastle Crags. I remember how lovely the scene was, but it was really hard to process the photo to accurately represent it due to the high contrasts (it was probably best suited to HDR, something I haven't tried yet).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/125s, 28mm, hand held.

Colourful bunting flying from a boat mast

Something a bit different tonight - these little flags were tied to the mast of one of the little boats that takes visitors across Derwentwater, Keswick. I took the photo whilst we were waiting to set off in August last year. This picture really makes me happy - it reminds me of the child-like excitement I feel every time I get that boat - it never wears off!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/200s, 36mm, hand held.

Foliage growing in and around a fallen tree trunk

I took this one in the woods at Crimsworth Dean, near Hebden Bridge, in June this year. I love the shapes and textures - it's like a natural still life arrangement.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/5, 1/60s, 32mm, 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.

Puddles on a muddy track along a valley side

Here's another one from the Luddenden valley walk in February this year. This is taken on the track just past Jerusalem Farm. I like mud and puddles (when I'm wearing the right footwear!). In this picture I also love the moss-covered wooden post on the right - I remember crouching in the mud to get the best composition.

Just after I took this, a 4x4 came speeding along the track, churning up all the mud in the puddles and destroying all reflections - I was thankful to have already got this photo!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/80s, 18mm, hand held.

Steep cobbled path between trees and fallen leaves

This path is on the hillside opposite Jerusalem Farm, at Booth. I took the photo on a walk around the Luddenden valley in February this year. The path was a useful short-cut, rather than following the winding road all the way down the hill, but turned out to be dangerously slippy in the wet weather. I made it to the bottom with only a couple of slips though (and, importantly, my camera intact!).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/4.2, 1/100s, 26mm, hand held.

Cows grazing by the river at Malham Cove

I took this one at around 9.30am this morning. We stayed overnight at Malham and, after breakfast, set out on a walk to Malham Tarn, via the Cove. Amazingly, we only passed 2 other people the whole way along the Cove and up to the limestone pavement. There were lots of cows about though - a number of them were lying right in front of the gate half way along the path, meaning we had to creep between them - I like to think they do that on purpose to frighten people!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, 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 along Derwentwater towards Skiddaw and Blencathra

Here's another view from the path descending the southern slopes of Catbells, looking along Derwentwater towards Keswick (taken August 2014). The mountain on the left in the background is Skiddaw; the one in the centre is Blencathra.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/200s, 18mm, hand held.

Sparkling sunlight and shadows on a boggy field

I passed this field whilst walking along the Rochdale canal, between Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge, in April this year. It had obviously been raining a lot previously and this field had cows in it, so the ground was a bit of a mess. I thought it was transformed into something lovely, though, by the long shadows from the trees behind the field and the sparkling reflection from the sun and blue sky on the water.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100s, 22mm, hand held.