Landscape or Seascape

Posted on 13/03/201413/03/2014 by Alastair

Are salt marshes landscape or seascape?

Both I guess. On this day it was landscape with some sea remaining in the gullies of the salt marshes. But with the lie of the land, it doesn’t take long for it to be covered by sea. The Loughor Estuary, situated between the Gower Peninsula and Carmarthenshire in South Wales, is a fascinating place. Always changing with the water and the light, the sunshine and the rain.

This week’s featured StillWalks video is set a few weeks ahead of the current date in terms of the time of year but the flowers and activity of the birds celebrate the beautiful sunny weather of Spring with gusto and are a welcome change to the wild, wet and windy weather we had through Winter.

The video above is in 480p quality. You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality (720HD) download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Garden Park Walk – Spring” which features Clyne Gardens in Swansea, South Wales. Click the image above to watch the video. DVD Collections are also available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

Broken Boat

Posted on 12/03/201412/03/2014 by Alastair

Black and white or colour? That was the question.

The light at the time of taking these two shots suggested the results you see below. It was typical of the days through the back end of this Winter (when it wasn’t rainy or blowing a gale) – the light was constantly changing and although the sun was always there, the clouds that regularly obscured it and the wide expanse of the view across the salt marshes of the Loughor Estuary in South Wales provided me with a photographic challenge.

Pools of Light

Posted on 11/03/201411/03/2014 by Alastair

A network of salt water gullies and holes on the Loughor Estuary.

Pools of light is a bit more poetic than puddles near Llanrhidian. Living at the northern most point of the Loughor Estuary in South Wales, I can travel up either side of the salt marshes that make up the estuary and get beautiful and spacious views across from either the Gower Peninsula on the eastern edge or the Carmarthenshire shore on the western edge.

I have heard that if any of the ponies that graze there are caught on the marshes when the tide comes in, they simply stand where they are until the tide goes out again because of the danger of falling into one of the gullies or holes.

Looking Ahead at Llys Nini

Posted on 24/02/201424/02/2014 by Alastair

Last week I revisited the woodland at Llys Nini Animal Centre.

The centre is in Penllergaer, near Swansea and my first discovery of this woodland was through the StillWalks project “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” – that was about 18 months ago.

Since then the woodland and the footpaths through it, have been developed further and there is more to see and hear there all the time. The first image below is of a team of volunteers planting hundreds of new trees – oak, ash, alder, hawthorn and many others.

The bespoke StillWalks video “Marching Feet, Crackling Leaves”, produced as part of the “Sights and Sounds of the Countryside” project, was made with StillWalks by the children of Pontlliw Primary School and features a (miraculously) dry day in Autumn.

Sounds from my walk there last week will be posted tomorrow.

Proportion, Perspective and Atmosphere

Posted on 08/02/201408/02/2014 by Alastair

Talking about images rather than roads, it is up to you whether or not you stick to the “rules”, but it is so often said that “rules are made to be broken”, it is almost a rule in itself that you shouldn’t stick to them!

I have used the “rule” of thirds (approximately) in the first two images below and each presents to me a different atmosphere and perspective. My personal preference is for the second shot but “to each his own”. Do you have a preference?

The “thirds” rule is broken in the third shot but the focus is on (or at least my attention was drawn to) the arc of a dog’s paw prints across the beach. I hope I have managed to frame the shot successfully. The eye follows the arc of prints and is brought neatly to a stop with the change in direction of the horizontal structure on the beach and the punctuation mark of the man – who presumably owns the invisible dog! The small proportion of land and sky simply to give the scene some geographical context.

Winter Sunlight

Posted on 07/02/201407/02/2014 by Alastair

Early morning sunlight on a cold morning in Penllergaer Woods, Swansea. Images used in this week’s featured StillWalks video, “Woodland Walk – Winter”.

You can use the Donate button below to pay however much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Woodland Walk – Winter” which features Penllergaer Valley Woods near Swansea. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

Winter Morning

Posted on 05/02/201405/02/2014 by Alastair

Two images from this week’s featured StillWalks video.

The Great Glasshouse – Contrast in iPhonography

Posted on 30/01/201430/01/2014 by Alastair

More photos from my iPhone using both the phone’s Camera app and PureShot.

Controlling exposure and white balance can be difficult in certain situations, most especially when there is significant contrast in light within the frame. One way to adjust this with the Camera app is to try out different angles and points of focus until you find a reasonable compromise and then make further adjustment to shadows and highlights in post processing with an app like Adobe Photoshop (the phone version) or Lightroom on your computer.

PureShot allows easy adjustment on screen of the area within the frame that is sensitive to the light when taking your shot. This means that it is much easier to use the angle and composition that you want with little compromise to white balance and contrast. And of course further tweaking is possible in post production. I like the mobile Photoshop app for post production on the phone but another good app I use is SnapSeed.

The first photo (of The Great Glasshouse at NBGW) was taken with the Camera app. Although there was significant contrast between the light coming through the glass roof and the “landscape” inside, it was easy to adjust the angle satisfactorily to allow a good distribution of light or white balance.

The second and third shots were both taken with PureShot as TIFFs, with its exposure control making it possible to handle the contrast between sky and land and inside the glasshouse, “table” and darker plants surrounding it. For detailed info on using either app, I refer people to Emil Pakarklis’ iPhone Photography School.

Memorial to the project architect of the Great Glasshouse

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Winter Lakeside Walk” which features Llyn Llech Owain Country Park in Carmartheshire. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

Category Archives: Landscape