This photo was taken in a corn field at the western end of
Portsdown Hill, just before Down End Road crosses the M27 as
it heads into Fareham. Shooting just before sunset using a
24-105L lens on my old 7d camera, did require use of a tripod.
I had taken a couple of shots before deciding the tripod was a
must, but wasn't happy with how they came out.
The
lens I was using was an f4 lens, and more suited for portraits
and urban shooting than landscapes, so really not what you
would call 'fast'. The aperture was set to f/22 in order to
get as much as possible in focus and this did result in a very
slow shutter speed (hence the tripod). There was a very slight
breeze, so I ended waiting around 10 minutes before I felt the
conditions were ideal and I eventually triggered the shutter.
Overall I was pleased with the sharpness throughout
the resulting image, however shooting into the sun resulted in
very flat colours in the corn despite some impressive oranges
in the sky. The only thing I could do now was to see if
running it through Photomatix could provide results I was
happy with, without ruining the sky. In the end the best
results were achieved by masking the sky and running just the
bottom half of the picture through the HDR software and then
merging this with the original photo.
Portsdown Hill
stands at 131 mtrs tall at it's highest point and provides
spectacular views over Portsmouth, it's harbour and the
surrounding towns, and on clear days right across to the Isle
of Wight. The hill's open network of paths take walkers
through flowery grassland and other wildlife-rich habitats.
The grassland is home to fantastic displays of colourful
wildflowers that change through the spring, summer and autumn.
It is an excellent place to spot bees, butterflies and
hundreds of other pollinating insects. There is also a wide
variety of bird life on Portsdown, such as Yellowhammers and
Skylarks, and regular sightings of Kestrels and Falcons all
year round. |
