clouds | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘clouds’ category

A ‘Folly’ known as Racton Tower

Standing proud on a hill to the north of Emsworth and to the west of Chichester is Racton Tower in Lordington. This monument is in fact a folly and now a ruined tower. Thought to have been built in the late 1700’s, many say it is haunted. Surrounded by trees the place certainly has an eery feeling to it and as I left the site to return to my car, the sun was setting and I for one would not want to be there at night time. Judging by the graffiti it is almost certainly a venue for drunken parties!

Taken at different times but all on the same day, the shots of the monument with dramatic clouds as a backdrop were taken around lunchtime, whilst the ‘close up’ shots were taken later in the afternoon when there was more cloud cover and as the sun started to set.

All images were shot with my Olympus OMD EM5

The sun lights up the tower itself and I just cant resist photographing these wonderful cloudscapes
Panasonic 45-200mm lens @51mm f8 1/1600 ISO 200

The late afternoon sun on Racton Tower
Panasonic 20mm prime lens f3.2 1/640 ISO 200

Dramatic clouds move around in the sky
Panasonic 45-200mm lens @67mm f8 1/1000 ISO 200

Looking up from inside the tower. Sadly the graffiti is clearly visible but does add its own character
Olympus 12mm prime lens f5 1/20 ISO 200

Again dark clouds add to the dramatic nature of the location
Panasonic 45-200mm lens @61mm f8 1/1000 ISO 200

Looking up……..
Panasonic 20mm prime lens f2.5 1/3200 ISO 200

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Early morning walk by Chichester Harbour

Having really enjoyed the results of my visit to East Head last Friday, the next morning my wife and I walked our dog from Dell Quay to Birdham Pool along the footpath which adjoins Chichester Harbour.

When we arrived we immediately enjoyed the early morning light coupled with similar cloud formations to the previous day. The temptation was just too great – the little Olympus E-PL3 with its standard kit lens, had to come out of my jacket pocket and be fired up. A few quick shots later and the pick of the bunch is shown below. It works well in colour but the black and white conversion is my preferred choice.

By the time we had finished our walk and returned to the car, the clouds had lifted to be replaced by clear blue skies and the opportunity to photo the quiet stillness of the early morning had gone. “Win the morning and win the day” as my uncle used to say.

Chichester Harbour at Dell Quay
Olympus E-PL3 14-42mm kit lens @ 27mm f5.6 1/400 ISO200

As we neared the end of our walk I spotted a Red Admiral butterfly basking in the autumn sunshine on a oak leaf. Its not my usual style or indeed subject. Firstly its a nature shot and secondly its in colour and not black and white! Nevertheless it was a shot worth taking in my view and I have to say I am pleased with the quality of the image produced by the 14 – 42mm kit lens on the Olympus E-PL3.
Red Admiral butterfly

Gathering storm at East Head

Last Friday was the second time I didn’t need to go into the office. It’s still a strange feeling working a four day week, but a very pleasant one all the same! Having decided that I would try and devote some of my time every Friday to my photography, I thought that I should rekindle the Nikon D90 DSLR and perhaps visit the coast – attach a wide angle lens and see what I can produce.

Breakfast over, I packed everything I thought I might need in my camera bag and headed down to West Wittering, with the specific intention of exploring East Head. The sky was blue and completely void of clouds. A beautiful morning but as I drove to my destination I thought the weather was just too fine for the type of images I had envisaged taking. The weather forecast had indicated that by lunchtime clouds and maybe the odd the shower, would arrive from the west. I thought better of a morning shoot, turned the car round and headed home to do some gardening!

By lunchtime the weather forecast proved to be accurate; so back in the car and I headed south. As I parked up, the cloud formations were taking shape and I knew the decision I had made earlier to postpone my ‘shutter therapy’ (a phrase coined by Robin Wong – read his blog here) had been the right one.

By late afternoon the rain clouds appeared to the north and the wind moved them swiftly across the South Downs from west to east. In the meantime East Head itself was still bathed in glorious autumnal sun, which resulted in the three images below.

I returned home, downloaded the images using Lightroom and converted to monochrome in Silver Efex Pro 2.

Storm approaching.
Nikon D90 with 16-85mm @ 19mm f18 1/80 ISO200 hand held

Sand dunes and wind blown grasses
Nikon D90 10-24mm @10mm f10 1/160 ISO200 hand held

East Head – the gathering storm
Nikon D90 16-85mm @16mm f18 1/125 ISO200 hand held

Photo opportunities – always have a camera with you

So often when out and about, I see something and say to myself if only I had my camera with me. Every photographer will have uttered those words at some time and probably more than once! Well from now on I will try and avoid that mistake. I will also follow the saying which states – ‘the best camera, is the one you have with you’. How true is that! The next couple of images were taken on the way to somewhere else, with no intention whatsoever of releasing the shutter on the journey but on both occasions I did have a camera in the car.

The first is a shot of the late afternoon light on the South Downs in West Sussex between the villages of Amberley and Storrington. This was captured with the Olympus EM5 and 45mm 1.8 prime lens. Its not the best landscape photograph I have ever taken but I think its quite pleasing and I wouldn’t have it at all, if I hadn’t got the camera with me.

The second image is a sky scape taken on my way home from work. The dramatic clouds and light were crying out to be caught on camera. On this occasion the Olympus E-PL3 was in the car with nothing more than the standard kit lens and attached EVF (electronic viewfinder). An almost essential extra when in bright light.

Once downloaded into Lightroom on the computer at home, I wondered how well this image would convert to black and white. Well here is that version using my favourite ‘plug-in’ for Lightroom – Silver Efex Pro.

Which one do I prefer? Well I’m not sure, they both have their merits, I think its down to personal choice. If I had to come off the fence then the ‘black and white’ version would win the day. All I do know is that had the little Olympus E-PL3 not been in the car, there wouldn’t be a choice, as there wouldn’t be a photograph to look at!

The Olympus E-PL3 which started my love of the micro 4/3rds format.