A Change in the Wind

I went up to Haytor Rock in search of interesting skies and beautiful scenery and for a moment the sun broke out from behind the darkening clouds putting hope in my head that the day would stay dry, maybe even warm up. Naive of me to think so. 

Within an hour the weather had turned, darkened and visibility had dropped. I was even asked to guide a few walkers back to the car park as they had lost their landmarks in the sudden (ish) fog. 

Nevertheless I managed to capture these images before my world shrunk to a hundred and fifty metres. 

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 24mm, 1/200s @ f5.6, ISO 125

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 50mm, 1/2500s @ f7.1, ISO 1000

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 1/4000s @ f6.3, ISO 1000

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 1/5000s @ f6.3, ISO 1000

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 1/4000s @ f6.3, ISO 1000

A Frustrating Development

So the other day I took a gentle stroll to a cove near to home with my camera at sunset. I was set to creating some photos taking advantage of the colour and light of the setting sun. There were numerous scenes that I wanted so I methodically went about setting up my tripod, the hot shoe bubble level for my horizon and for each scene I adjusted and readjusted the compositions until I was happy. At this stage of each respective scene, I was now ready to attach a graduated and a standard filter and set my camera for some long exposures. 

After a few shots I would naturally check my capture on the rear screen and by and large I was pleased with them. It was only after I'd uploaded them to the laptop did I see the problem.

Review of my captured images showed that one of my filters (later determined to be my standard filters; 0.6 and 0.9 ND) had physical blemishes that well and truly showed up on the images.

Not a happy bunny. 

Despite my near-obsession to maintain and properly store my filters it seems that these two had somehow been overlooked and ended being scratched and pock marked. 

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 0.8s @ f11, ISO 100

 

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 22mm, 13.0s @ f22, ISO 100

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 10.0s @ f4.5, ISO 100

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 25.0s @ f5.0, ISO 100

The upshot is that I'm now looking to replace those standard filters and upgrade my landscape kit. So staying positive. 

Stover Nature Reserve

A day in the life of someone with time on their hands will see them travel to various places just to get out of the house. Stover Nature Park is near to my home, not a stones throw from Dartmoor National Park and is a fantastic conservation area with developed habitats for many different species. I tried shooting some of the wildlife but the quality of my long lens was failing me and so I focused on landscapes. 

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 1/5s @ f10, ISO 125

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 1/5s @ f10, ISO 125

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85mm @ 16mm, 1/3s @ f10, ISO 125