This panoramic image of Lake Buttermere in the Lake District is constructed from nine separate photos and was stitched together in Photoshop. It shows a 180 degree view from the western shore of the lake.

I've been to the Lake District many times over three decades but I've never known the weather to be anything like as good as the weather I enjoyed last week. Usually, time in the Lake District is spent cocooned in wet weather gear and the expectation is for rainy days and grey skies. However, for five days last week the only cloud I saw was the tiny, wispy one that appeared over the lake in this photo. There were blue skies and mirror-like reflections in the still waters of the lakes, it was a rare and welcome treat.

Clicking on the picture above should open up a larger version of the panorama in a new browser window.

Tags: cumbria, panoramas

Just to round off on yesterday's post, these are the three originals that make up the final image. Just as Masher suggested, they were taken in quick succession, all at f/16 and 1/6, 1/13 & 1/25 of a second respectively. I rarely use a tripod so often prefer to take a single RAW file and then make three versions of it, each at different exposures. I use these to create my HDR images although I know that the result is not strictly showing a High Dynamic Range.

Tags: cumbria, hdr

This photo was taken shortly after sunrise on Kirkstone Pass between Ambleside and Patterdale. It's a narrow, winding and very steep road that's known locally as "The Struggle".

This is another HDR image although rather than using three files constructed from a single RAW image processed at different exposures, this is a combination of three separate images, taken in quick succession with the camera fixed firmly to a tripod and with a remote release cable.

I've been experimenting with the HDR process recently in an effort to produce more natural-looking images. HDR images can look a bit artificial. It's a look that suits some images but I find that they can end up looking very alike. I think this one's reasonable though. It doesn't seem to have that very obvious HDR feel to it and I think I'm beginning to find settings that produce more realistic images.

(Canon 1Ds MKII - 43mm - 1/6, 1/13 & 1/125 at f/16 - ISO100 - No Flash)

Tags: cumbria, hdr

I've been coming to the Lake District for over thirty years and the one thing that I'm always confident of is that it will be raining. Planning a quick trip to Cumbria in February is asking for trouble. It's bound to be raining, bound to be icy and it's quite likely that snow will curtail any plans for walking or photography.

Until now. I've been here since Friday and I've yet to see a single cloud. It's so unusual for me to see the landscape beneath a blue sky that it feels almost surreal. What a rare treat. The only problem is that my expectations of the Lake District weather have been raised so much that future trips might seem disappointing by comparison.

This photo was taken at the Glenridding end of Ullswater. I've used a little fill-in flash to lighten the small, wooden pier but otherwise this image appears just as it was shot. And for those of you who like to see the EXIF data, it's included below.

Canon EOS 1Ds MKII - 24mm lens - 1/30 at f/8 - ISO100 - Flash -1EV

Tags: cumbria

I joined up with Jon Sparks today for a photo workshop in Silverdale, Lancashire. It really was the most beautiful of spring days and setting out on a walk with a group of enthusiastic photographers was a treat. The great thing about spending time with other photographers is that you pick up little hints and tips that had previously escaped you. For instance, Jon pointed out that most of us carry a pretty sizeable reflector with us whenever we go walking but don't even realise it. It folds up to pocket-sized yet unfolds to become the largest light reflector you could ever need. And what is this magical light reflector? Why, it's your Ordnance Survey map of course. Cheers Jon!

This photo was taken at the end of the day and is an HDR image constructed from three images made from the same original RAW file processed at different exposures.

If you're interested in attending a photo workshop with me in April, don't forget that we've added a second date to the Purbeck Workshop in Dorset.

Tags: cumbria, hdr

I tried to think of something to link these two web sites but they really are apples and pears. Chalk and, indeed, cheese. I'm going to the Lake District for a few days at the end of the week and am a member of the Wainwright Society so was interested to see the two winning entries from the society's annual photographic competition.

You might also be interested in seeing Reuters' Pictures of the Month. There are 66 in total and it might have been better to have seen them as a slideshow but nevertheless they serve as a great illustration of the variety of work covered by Reuters' photographers. From the image of a young Kenyan man with an arrow in his head to the image shown here of a performer at the Ashura carnival near Tehran via a winking George Bush, there's something for everyone.

Also, whilst I'm wrapping up some online galleries that I've been looking at recently, you might like to see the winners of the World Press Photo competition. Not always the most uplifting images to look at due to the subject matter, the World Press Photo winners do at least demonstrate that photography is still very much a force in bringing us news about what's happening in the world in a way that can make us sit up and take notice. I think for most people, the still image retains the ability to grab our attention even more dramatically than moving images can. Somebody pointed this out to me recently by asking me to think of images from the Vietnam war. Only still images came to mind. Those of Don McCullin and Tim Page especially. And yet I know I will have seen lots of footage from that conflict but it's the still images that get burned into our memory.

Tags: cumbria, reuters

The Lake District has been a favourite destination of mine since our first family holiday there when I was nine. Although there are some impressive cliffs on the Isle of Wight there is nothing to compare with the drama of the Lakeland mountains so it was like another world to me on our first visit.

I’ve returned to the Lakes a number of times since then and walked the fells in all weathers. Nobody who has spent any time walking in the Lake District will be unfamiliar with the name Alfred Wainwright. 2007 is actually the centenary of his birth and there are various memorials planned by the Wainwright Society. He was the author of the wonderful Pictorial Guides, seven volumes dedicated to the Lakeland fells, each including painstaking precision and sketches drawn with meticulous attention to detail.

On this trip to the Lakes I was hoping to walk some of the Wainwright Memorial Walk. About 120 miles in length but with a height gain and descent equivalent to climbing up and down Everest from sea level one and a half times. I completed about one half of the total walk and was pretty happy with that. I managed to successfully negotiate Striding Edge for the second time and also tried to climb the perilous Sharp Edge but the weather closed in and the combination of treacherously slippery rocks and low cloud made it difficult to continue. Not wishing to become another statistic on the Keswick Mountain Rescue team’s log of rescues, I retreated back to safer ground from about half-way up the Edge.

Wainwright’s Memorial Walk was first compiled in 1931 as a trip for him and his mates from the Blackburn Borough Treasurer’s Office. He suggested that

“It will be arduous, but the reward will be well worth the work. it will avoid the tourists, the roads, the picnic-spots. It is the claim of this programme that every lake, every valley, every mountain, will be seen if not actually visited.”

I’ve ticked off a few more fells on this trip but with half of the Wainwright Memorial Walk still to complete, I’m sure that I’ll be returning before long.

Tags: cumbria