Tonight, once the girls had finished their tea, I asked them if they wanted to go out for a little walk. We couldn’t go far, it was 7pm, close to their bed time, and the sun was already starting to set.
We had a quick team huddle, and all agreed we shoud go to the duck pond, which is just a 5min walk away from our house.
By the time we arrived, the light really was fading fast, but it was giving rise to some nice warm colours, especially in the sky. I pointed the pink and blue sky out to the girls, and Livvy in partucular was amazed by it! Izzy doesn’t really care for pink, so she was less impressed!
I used my flash for a couple of shots of the ducks, and whilst I’ve used it to good effect in the past, for some reason I’m never fully happy with a photograph when I use the flash. I cant put my finger on it, but I think it always looks like a photograph, when I use the flash. I know that sounds like a crazy thing to say, but its just how I feel about it. When I use the flash, it all looks a little awkward, kind of staged, I don’t really know how to describe it.
Anyway, turing the flash off again, I tried some really whacky stuff! I cranked the aperture upto f/11, and got right into the shadows around the edge of the pond; I wanted to try a long exposure, even though I knew the ducks would move. I wanted to see what effect I could get.
The result, is above. If the ducks head was just a touch clearer, I think this would have worked really well! I really like the light flooding across the water at the top of the image, and how it catches the reed stems. The motion in the water, punctuated by the duck weed looks cool too. Its a little abstract, but I do feel it has a vibe all of its own, and with a bit of refining I think I might be able to create something unique with these circumsances. I’ll have to do some more experimenting. For the record, it was a 2.5 second exposure, which is a life time when photographing wildlife!
In contrast, the shot below was more traditional, with f/5.6 and 1/4 of a second shutter. Still pretty slow, but the same effect just isn’t there.
By now the light was all but gone, and as we packed away to head home, Livvy ran over to a tree and asked me to take a picture of her with the berries. Of course I did, and she made sure I included her toothy gap too!
Again, I had to use the flash here, but I think Livvy’s beauty overrides any other emotion I have about this photograph. She arranged the whole composition herself, and I think it looks wonderful, she loves having her photo taken!
Having drawn my attention to the berries, I took a couple more shots of them, and as you’ve seen, used one for todays main picture. A photograph that combined berries a spides web, and some nice out of focus background interest.
Today, I thank Livvy for being my inspiration, but to be fair, I should thank her for inspiring me every single day. x
Onegav 