Drone flying Lake District Jan 28 th 2019

Today we are all going up to the Lake district, heading to Glenridding . there is a bit of snow on the tops but not sure if we will get high enough for that.
After getting stuck on the motorway for ages after traffic was stopped to allow the Air Ambulance to land after a bad crash, we have eventually arrived at Glenridding  at 11.20  am!    a bit late   Arghhhh.

We stopped off on the way to get this phone shot near Troutbeck park  .  What a lovely day its looking like going to be .

      We are taking the Mires Beck path up towards the hole in the wall on the way up Helvellyn. I was in two minds whether to take the other route directly towards Kepple Cove and then Red Tarn.
Its quite warm down here but will be colder as we climb higher.    I have the drone so hopefully will get some good images today.

                                                The steep path up following the stream.

Jan is struggling already ,its going to take ages to get any height.   I don't think we will get to Red Tarn which was my plan unfortunately, and its so late already it would be getting dark before we would get back.

As we get up higher there is increasing amounts of snow and ice , here the path is treacherous with ice and Mollster is trying to eat it   haha

We have found a really nice area to fly from,  but first the Terrible Twosome are posing for a picture.  makes a change to get Chester to do this!!!!

                                                Time to get the Drone up in the air.
              A beautiful view across Glenridding and Ullswater , but I will photograph that later.

Looking upwards towards the hole in the wall, I can fly up the mountain to view the Helvellyn range while still keeping at the legal maximum 400ft above ground level.  

A 5 frame Vertorama, looking down on the path we are on heading up to Bleaberry Crag and Catstye cam left side in front of Helvellyn just in the corner .

Here is a 9 frame panorama, shot in the auto panorama mode on the phantom 4 pro., merged in lightroom.    showing l-r     Helvellyn, Catstye Cam, Whiteside,  Raise and Stybarrow Dodd.

5 frame Vertorama , shot manually adjusting exposure for each frame as the camera is tilted downwards to balance the light exposure.

                                                                    Drone flyer Panorama

One last panorama on this battery before changing and looking at the beautiful views across to Ullswater,      Flying behind me a little further away to show the side of Grisedale Brow and Nethermost Cove on the far left.

                                                                        Rest time   haha

Having changed the battery I will take a look towards Ullswater , the low sun is really bringing out the detail in the landscape , and the wall makes a superb lead in line for a superb composition.

                 What a stunning view , the light is fabulous now , pity about the clear blue sky!

            A full 9 frame panorama , the snow topped High street is clearly visible in the distance .
The wall is a perfect lead in line through the image, taking the eye straight towards the lake and then around to the mountains.

This view is perfect for a Vertorama image, Composed to following the wall towards Glenridding and Ullswater.

            That's a perfect way to end this Lake district trip.   Jan doesn't want to go any further, its gone 2 pm so will be dark in less that 2 hours so time to make our way back down to the car.  

Ogwen Valley Waterfalls January 14 th 2019

Today I am heading to the Ogwen Valley in Snowdonia to shoot a couple of the waterfalls,  It has been quite a while since I have been here.
Parking on the corner lay by I have crossed over the road and taken the path that follows the base of Pen-y-ole- wen around towards the weir.  The weather is very overcast and drizzling a bit, but I will get a few images.

Having reached the weir I have set up the tripod to do some long exposure images with the canon 5dsr and 17-40L lens. using a combination of 0.6 soft nd grad filter to prevent the sky blowing out and either a Lee 10 stop Big or 6 stop Little stopper to give the long exposure.  I will experiment with both, but think the little stopper will give best results with a slightly shorter exposure compared to the 10 stop and therefor I will get a bit of movement detail in the water instead of just a white blur with a very long exposure.


                                                                   10 seconds  f14

                                                                        13 seconds f14

                                                    Full wide view   15 seconds f14

Its raining a bit now so I will head back over the road and go up to the Ogwen falls next to the wooden footbridge which is at the start of the Cym Idwal path.   I stop to take a phone shot of the old bridge under the main road with Y-Garn in the background.

                              Looking down the Nant Ffrancon Valley towards Anglesey.

                                                      Tryfan and the gateway to Idwal.

I have set up the tripod just right of the bridge, clambering around the side of the waterfall for a slightly different perspective than is normally shot here. low cloud is moving quite quickly across the top of Tryfan over to the left.

                                                        13 seconds with  little stopper

                                                    15 seconds with little stopper

Now its time to go back to the car and drive to the opposite end of the Lake below Tryfan to go up the water fall path opposite.  This is a very boggy wet area and the paths are not very clear after the first section.  its a case of picking a dryish route following the Afon y fron river upwards to get enough height to view the valley.

I have climbed up to the first main waterfall section which gives a lovely view across to Tryfan and the Glyders over Llyn Ogwen.  The cloud is changing fast with the stiff breeze, I have managed to get this image with the light raking across the Glyders ridge , The Devils Kitchen and across to Y-Garn.

                          A short 1/4 second exposure was enough with the very fast flowing water.

After moving a bit higher up to the next set of falls ,  I have been waiting ages for a bit of light when the sun breaks through the thick cloud and illuminates the foreground just long enough for me to get this image.   I was going to wait around for sunset but after half an hour the cloud is just getting thicker so I will head back down now.

                                                                  1/4 second  f14

                            On the way down I got photobombed by a sheep in front of Tryfan .

                                                 The end of a good day in North Wales .

Last day in Prague

 It is our last day in Prague,  but our flight is not until 9 pm so have the whole day until about 6pm before we need to go to collect our bags and await the taxi.
  Time to go for breakfast first, and we are meeting up with a facebook Friend, Tom, who lives here, who is a photographer also.   So its Arcadia café again for hot chocolate and caramel waffles. After meeting up over breakfast Tom suggested we take a walk up river to Vysehrad and the Cemetery.

    We have walked up river on the castle side and eventually cross over the Palackehor most  bridge .

Having reached our destination, google maps shows a couple of different paths to take up to the top. this set of steps appears to be the best way up.

                            We are at the Top,  the Vysehrad Cemetery is next to the church.

Walking around the crypts ,which are all very lavish around the outer perimeter.  there are supposed to be quite a few famous people buried in here.

                                                                        B&w conversion

                                                     A famous Composer I believe.

                                             Around the back of the park looking upriver.

Time to make our way back now,   I had to get a shot through the arch with the Castle in the background.  Pity about the tree branches !

                                                                              Selfi time .

      I have put the 100-400mm L lens on to look down towards the Castle.
but first a shot with wide angle lens 69 seconds exposure to blur the water and show a little cloud movement.  it hasn't really worked out how I wanted though.

                              Now the long lens close up , Dam branches in the way again !

                                                                  View through a hole.

                    A Snow storm is approaching fast!   cant see the castle and Cathedral now.

                                                                      Bridge gone now!

The snow came through quickly and  has cleared just as fast, with blue sky now and the snow has already melted on the ground.

Heading back along the river now, the cloud is building nicely and is looking very interesting.

                                             These Granite paving setts look fabulous.

                                                      Look at that cloud now,   fabulous!

 Heading past the "Fred & Ginger" building , I need to get up to Charles Bridge to get a couple images while this cloud is looking so good.

                                      This is the Cultural centre and concert hall on an island .

Having reached the weir just before the bridge, I have set up the tripod and started to take a few long exposure images with the Lee Big stopper  a 10 stop nd filter and I noticed this large animal down on the wooden structure, it is a Cuypu (giant water rat)     quickly putting the 100-400 mm lens on managed this image .

Back to the long exposure shots now.

5dsr  17-40L 

90 seconds f14 Big stopper

Now we have just enough time to see if there will be any colour at sunset , down where the Swans are I think .  They are Very inquisitive  lol

A quick run up onto the bridge,  but the colour didn't really develop where I wanted, it looked good behind over the Cathedral and Castle but not over the bridge.

Back to our apartment to get the bags, but not before stopping to shoot the "Memorial to Victims of Communism! monument which is at the top of the road from the apartment.

The end of our New Year trip to Prague .