Week 3

The emphasis on week 3 was exposure and we were asked to take 2 photos for two of the following three categories...

• Creative motion blur in low or normal light conditions
• Low light, high speed (high ISO) still photography
• High contrast photography

I knew that there was a weir on the River Aln near Alnwick Castle, so I hoped that I'd be able to get the weir and the castle in the same photograph. I could have if I had a chainsaw to chop down a tree! The camera was mounted on a tripod and the initial exposure was taken from the green grass on the river bank. From the first shot, I looked at the histogram and noticed some clipping so I reduced the shutter speed by 1/3 stop until it went (On the Canon EOS 400D, ytou can view the histogram by pressing Display when viewing an image, any clipping shows as black then disappears).

Despite using a tripod, most of the images I took either lacked sharpness or suffered from camera shake, so next time I must remember to take my remote control. If the images lack sharpness after that, then I need a new lens!

Walking round the river bank, the view of Alnwick Castle demanded I take it's picture. The river was still creating an almost perfect reflection on the water.

Further on, there is a bridge that crosses the Aln which has an imposing statue of a Lion. this was tricky and I ended up using fill-in flash, however this meant the castle became silhoutted. Luckily, the sun emerged from the clouds and cast a golden glow on the lion and the castle.


Again, this shot doesn't meet the criteria for this week's assignment, had I changed the ISO to 800 or even 1600, then I could have used it.

I need to get out and take more pictures for this assignment and might revisit the Aln but this time with my remote control to reduce camera shake as much as possible