Photowalk 62 - Brockhurst To Forton

The sky was nice today, so I nipped out for a quick walk while the going was good.

Still with the year-long "Where I Live" photo assignment in mind, I realy wanted a shot of a person...

Sheila, Dog Walker, At Fort Brockhurst.

Better Big.

To call me a creature of habit is an understatement. If I haven't got the car, and I'm stuck for time, I almost always take the same route.

So there I was, walking along beside Fort Brockhurst's moat, when an old lady walking a dog was coming in the opposite direction. I always smile, say hello, and slow down when I pass people on a Photowalk, in the chance that they'll feel talkative and fancy a chat, which can lead to a photo opportunity. (It helps if you've got your camera out too!)

After a few minutes discussing the different wildlife on offer, I asked to take Sheila's photo and she agreed. Of course then I'm like all over the place, because the sky was bright, the light now harsh, so I'm snapping away, thumbing the exposure compensation button to alter the exposure, not even thinking about composition or the background.

I finally twigged that I needed to expose for the background and dial in a little under-exposure to darken the sky, then use fill-flash to light up Sheilas face. I took some more, with her dog posing too, but I like this one the best, even better when you look at it big.

I had to clone out a car sticking out from Sheila's head, and fix some rubbish on the grass, plus I think I need to crop a little closer to lose the car on the right.

I spent a fair few minutes playing with the Black and White Adjustment Layer in Photoshop, but I'm not completely happy with the result, so I'll play with it some more later.

Forton Lake Folding Bridge, Over Rail.

One for the "curves" assignment on the Fujifilm Finepix S5700 S700 Flickr group.

I had to hang over the rail quite a bit to get this angle, so my camera strap was firmly round my neck!

Six Lampposts, Hardway Relief Road

Now for one of "Rob's Fujifilm S5700 / S700 Handy Hints"! When you're out shooting, before you taken any shots (and you've gone through your WIFE checklist), change your AF Mode to Area.

Press the menu button, scroll down to AF Mode, press right on the pad, scroll to Area, then press OK. Use the pad to put the Auto-Focus target in the middle, then press OK.

Now, as you compose your photo, instead of focus and recompose, hold your thumb over the menu/ok button, get the framing right, then press menu, menu, menu, and the AF target can then be moved to cover your subject, then press menu again, then the target is locked and you can focus then shoot.

Need to recompose? Just do it, then menu three times, move the target, then menu again and you're good to go. How easy is that! If you change the shooting mode, or the camera turns off, you may have to set up the AF mode again, but it only takes seconds when you've practised a few times.

Oh, I under-exposed one step and shot at f5.6 to darken the sky a little and keep the image sharp. Levels in Photoshop (with b & w layer) to increase contrast).

View From D-Day Memorial, Hardway.

B&W adjustment layer, blue-filter, levels in Photoshop, for a grainy look. Thousands of troops left here for Normandy, to liberate France, in 1944.

Thanks for looking, see you on Flickr!

Cheers, Rob.