Calke Abbey - Sunday 24th October

What a beautiful day!!!

So we set out mid morning to Calke Abbey, a beautiful sunny but crisp morning, with great light and bright blue skies providing plenty of opportunity for capturing the stunning Autumn colours at this time of year.

Here are a selection of shots.....



Aperture: f/5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/320 Focal Length: 56mm ISO: 200

Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/100 Focal Length: 40mm ISO: 200

I decided to explore two techniques, the above shoes a slow shutter speed causing the leaves and the wellie to blur, showing the action and speed of the leaves moving.

Aperture: f/5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/640 Focal Length: 40mm ISO: 200


The above image shows my second shot using a faster shutter speed in order to keep both the wellies and the leaves sharp.

Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/60 Focal Length: 200mm ISO: 200

Aperture: f/10 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Focal Length: 56mm ISO: 200


My favourite part of this image is how the light is shining through the trees onto the fallen chestnuts, like a spotlight on an Autumn scene.

Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/60 Focus Length: 200mm ISO: 200

Aperture: f/6.3 Shutter Speed: 1/640 Focus Length: 120mm ISO: 200

Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/800 Focus Length: 200mm ISO: 200

If I was to take this shot again I would ensure the strand of grass was out of the way to enable focus  into the shot and reduce distraction, although I do like the dimmed light creating mystery in the shot.

Aperture: f/5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/400 Focus Length: 44mm ISO: 200


Although I am happy with this shot I feel that with the tree in the same line as the toadstool this causes distraction and therefore had I not also taken the image below I would have cropped this in post production to bring focus onto the detail and texture of the toadstool.

Aperture: f/5.3 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Focus Length: 95mm ISO: 200

The idea of this image was to capture the texture the toadstool adds to the composition, as well as using a shallow depth of field to show it in all its glory without distractions.
This is one of my favourite shots of the day, maybe in post production the strand of grass to the left of the shot could be removed, however I quite like the different element it adds.  The thing I love most about this shot though has to be the texture in the toadstool and how the grass in the foreground is out of focus showing that I took this at the level of the toadstool showing the ground perspective of this shot.

Aperture: f/9 Shutter Speed: 1/320 Focus Length: 55mm ISO: 200

This shot and the following two were influenced by Charles Binns, taken on my back pointing upwards at the tree to capture the sunlight through the leaves.

Aperture: f/9 Shutter Speed: 1/300 Focus Length: 200mm ISO: 200

Aperture: f/11 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Focus Length: 200mm ISO: 200

Aperture: f/11 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Focus Length: 18mm ISO: 200

This shot was inspired by that of Jonathan Horrocks giving the perception of the tree being at the bottom of hill, where his was at the top, the colours are also similar with the little cloud that there is almost acting as an extension of the trees branches. If I was to take this shot agin I would probably take a wide angle shot to show more of the sky and also to allow the shot to be split into thrids, although I do like the way the tree in the composition is set off to the left but dominates the majority of the shot.  The colour is also great how the tree is just starting its transformation to Autumn starting at the tips.

Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Focus Length: 200mm ISO: 125

Aperture: f/5.3 Shutter Speed: 1/30 Focus Length: 90mm ISO: 125

Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/25 Focus Length: 200mm ISO: 200

Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/15 Focus Length: 200mm ISO: 200 (Cropped)

Aperture: f/4.8 Shutter Speed: 1/400 Focus Length: 52mm ISO: 200