Doing it against the book

As the days lengthen, and the skies clear, it becomes possible to nip out after a hard day's toil (joke!) to snatch some views of the setting sun. Spurred on by a friend's purchase of some filters I thought I'd try to do it by the book - tripod, graduated filter and some preplanning.

Knowing where the sun was going to set and where I could find some foreground interest I set up my stall. The view over the marsh towards the sandplant was enhanced by a low mist. Well, it would have been enhanced had I been using a longer lens which would have made the distant mist more obvious in the frame.

I fiddled about a bit, shooting frames as the sun sank and edged westward.

When I got bored waiting for the sun to reach the perfect point I wandered off with my second camera and made some frames.

Things had gone pretty well, I thought. The graduated filter certainly balanced the exposures and made the files easier to work on. There was only one fly in the ointment. I didn't like the pictures made on the tripod as much as the few I'd shot hand-held both with the second camera and the main before locking it down. And that despite the lack of filters... The picture at the top of the post was hand-held, and I think benefits from the presence of a figure. It also seems more my 'style' of landscape picture, be that minimal or bleak.

The two below are trying more to be in the 'how to shoot stunning sunsets' mode - and failing.

Tripod

Hand-held

That was yesterday. Today I set off to try again but two or three half hearted frames were all I managed before the bitingly cold wind sent me back in the warmth of the car!

I can understand why people photograph landscapes. You don't have to think of a subject, just find a location. The light might change but the land doesn't tend to move, so you can get set up in advance and wait. And the pictures can look pretty.  This probably suits people with less butterfly minds than mine. People who enjoy the technicalities of photography. Control freaks!

I find my pictures are less fluid when I try to work this way. It's the capacity for spontaneous framing that I like about photography. The almost instant response to something I've seen. As soon as I try to perfect the view it begins to go stodgy and look laboured.

On Monday I'd taken a late walk round the wood intending to get some more ditch photographs, but I'd left it too late. However I did snatch one shot that I am currently happy with. It's pulled off something I've been trying to get right for some time. Now I realise that it's all about the angle of light that makes it work. With flat light everything would merge together. It was the picture of the dog walker with the stand of trees in the background that gave me the clue. The low angled light gives both form and depth while still having an overall flatness to the picture. A photographic equivalent of a Jackson Pollock drip painting -if  was  to be pretentious!

This is yet another picture that is wasted on a screen at this size. One of the key elements is invisible at this size. A broken strand of barbed wire. That was as much what cought my eye as the latice of branches and the light.

A tripod was used. Set up quickly, in the spot I stopped when I saw the picture, but not carelessly. I must work that way in future if I pursue this landscape (is it landscape?) path, rather than do it the way Outdoor Photography tells you it should be done.

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