Surrey Bluebells – ISO 400; 50-140mm; f/2.8; 1/60 sec (click image to view larger size)
Bluebell season this year, for me, was a bit of a mixed bag. I didn’t get any “out of this world” shots, but I did manage a few I’m happy with.
Having done a fair amount of scouting before the bluebells flowered, I only managed to get out three times when they were in flower. Partly due to being away for the last week of April and partly due to not finding much time when the weather was decent on my return. However, I did manage to visit two locations I hadn’t photographed before.
One was my old stomping grounds as a child growing up in North Wales, a country park where I used to wander with friends down to the River Dee and it was nice to see it again even though it was raining and the bluebells were a bit patchy so I just chose a couple of close-ups.
The second location was in the Surrey Hills and I don’t really know the name of the area, but it was somewhere north of Shere. The bluebells were past their best by then and I didn’t expect to get any decent shots, but I was keen to see how it looked and whether it was worth another visit in future years. I particularly liked an area that was in partial darkness under the trees with ferns growing around the bluebells. I’m always on the lookout for something in addition to the bluebells that adds that little bit of extra interest.
I was also trying out some creative techniques such as double exposures in-camera, defocusing, white balance shifts, freelensing and camera movement. I noticed a new tendency in my composition lately and that is to use a 16:9 ratio instead of the usual 3:2. Maybe it’s just having something different to the norm that makes it interesting, but I’m quite enjoying it.
And yet again I didn’t manage to get out in the early morning light. I think the earliest I made it was around 8:00 am – only about two and a half hours too late! It must be my advancing years that makes it so hard to get out of bed, but maybe next year!
Anyway, enough of the wittering from me, here is a selection of images that I hope you enjoy:
(click any image above to view in a gallery with EXIF data)
All images were made with the Fujifilm X-T1 and a range of lenses including the excellent XF 50-140mm f/2.8 lens which I was looking forward to using for the first time with bluebells, given it’s ability to compress the perspective of the woodland scene.
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47 Photography by Martin Griffett 