Last night the weather looked promising (not raining) so I ventured out to meet a friend who I hadn’t seen since before the lockdown. We agreed to meet at Ramshaw Rocks near to the Roaches in the Peak District because we thought the heather might be out. There’s often some colour this early but unfortunately not this year. It looks like the heather is a couple of weeks later than expected.
Despite this the weather was reasonably good for photography and I was able to capture several shots that I think are reasonable. I’m afraid I can’t get excited about any of them yet (that may happen in another 12 months).
What the evening did make me realise though, is just how rusty I am with using my gear. I couldn’t remember how to access some of the settings that I wanted so wasted time scrolling through menus. I would then find a switch on the camera to do what I wanted. I kept forgetting to check simple things like looking for distractions around the edge of the frame or checking/changing the point of focus. And I found creating a good composition particularly challenging. In short, I’m well out of practice.
In the end, I thought I would share this shot from earlier in the evening. Initially I was processing it to be colour, but I decided to switch to black and white as the colour version wasn’t working.
I shot it using a Fuji XT3 with Fuji 10-24mm lens at 10mm. I chose 10mm as it allowed me to get in close to the rock on the right whilst keeping low. I liked the tuft of grass on top of the rock and wanted the sky as a backdrop to it.
I also used a 3 stop soft ND grad on the sky as the contrast in the scene was quite high. I chose the soft Grad filter as it’s much more forgiving when there is something (like a hill) cutting into the horizon.
The exposure was tripod mounted and the shutter speed was 1/20” at ISO160 and an aperture of f/13.0. I then converted the image to black and white using Nik Silver Efex Pro.
I hope you like the image and I’ll end by reminding you that my Lenscraft August newsletter comes out tomorrow. You will be able to read it on the Lenscraft Newsletter page where you can also subscribe if you haven’t already.
Have a great weekend.
The Lightweight Photographer 
To change the subject, after your promotion of your new Lightroom project.
I had subscribed to Adobe last year so I decided to see what access I had before subscribing to your workshop. I was annoyed/astounded to see that my annual subscription had just ended and there was no access to the Adobe Lightroom.
To me this unacceptable, I am going to concentrate on ON1 and Capture One.
Did you contact Adobe Customer Services? Your experience sounds very odd.
I enjoyed your Evening Shoot of the Ramshaw Rocks in Peak. I want you to know that I do read and learn from your notes of the landscape, shoot, and what was going through your mind.
BTW, note, you are not the only one who has trouble remembering settings and forgetting the simple things like checking the frame edges. Why, just today I…. Yeah, you know, sometimes it’s contageous. Wei Chong
Thank you. It’s good to hear that you read the notes. I know some people just look at the images and settings but I try to include tips in the notes when possible. I’m also pleased that it’s not just me forgetting how to use a camera.
I think your image of Ramshaw rocks is very good. I do like that tuft of grass on the right and you have managed to get some dark sky behind it which helps to separate the grass. The sky is also very good and I like the way the clouds seem to be exploding from behind the rocks. Nice one Robin
Thank you. It’s a great tuft of grass isn’t it.