Summer dead heads

click photo to enlarge
The seasons impose a regular routine on the gardener. Three seasons of lawn cutting with a peak in mid-summer is something with which most English gardeners are familiar. The autumn tidy of vegetable plot and borders is another. And so too is the dead heading of flowers.

The casual gardener doesn't always appreciate the power and purpose of dead heading, neglects to do it, and consequently has a poorer display of blooms. What dead heading achieves is interference with the biological imperative to reproduce. The pelargoniums (also known as geraniums in England) in the photograph above produce seed from the flower heads and if they are left to do so put all their effort into that task. However, if the flower heads are removed as they fade and before they begin to produce the seed, then they will grow more flower heads in an effort to compensate for their loss. Consequently the gardener's display will be all the better for this little bit of work.

The summer months see me, bucket in hand, doing the round of the flowers, dead heading and putting my collection in the compost. But, prior to disposing of them, I often take a snap or two of the fading beauty before it enters the biological cycle.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Pelargonium and Begonia Dead Heads
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 25mm (50mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/160 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The challenge of mid-day photography

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In a recent post I talked about the difficulties and disatisfaction that can come from photography during the middle of the day in high summer. High contrast, short shadows, very bright light and desaturated colours resulting from reflections on leaves and grass were some of the issues I reflected on.

Yesterday I was in Market Deeping for lunch. We ate at a Georgian hotel, a former coaching inn, that backs on to the River Welland. After we'd eaten we went to have a look at the river which at that time of day was cloaked in deep areas of shade from the bankside trees. As we stood there looking at the ducks and fish in the clear water a rowing boat came into view and my friend and I raised our pocket cameras to take a photograph. It may have been the prospect of being snapped by strangers, or perhaps it was an unwillingness to run the gamut of the hotel's eaters and drinkers along the riverside terrace, but whatever the reason, the rower immediately turned the small craft and headed back downstream. But not before I'd managed to frame a shot that included an off-centre boat against shadow, a foreground of delicate grasses, and an over-hanging frame of trees.

Looking at the image on the computer later that day I was disappointed by the glossy reflections off the leaves above the boat. The foreground leaves also had a brightness that made for good shapes against the darker water, but they were a touch "blown". What to do? Well, I subdued the overhead leaves and did the same with the leaves at the bottom (though with less success). Then I thought I'd try a black and white conversion. It has qualities that appeal.  Both shots still reveal the time of day when they were taken, but perhaps less than they would have done before my "tinkering". An image taken at that time with an overcast sky, or earlier or later in the day would definitely have been easier to work with.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 12.8mm (60mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The barren months?

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I often think of July and August as the "barren months" photographically speaking. That is, of course, too harsh a judgement of the brightest and warmest part of our summer period, and its perfectly possible to take many good shots at this time. But, once the sun climbs high above us, and the clear blue skies appear, and the shadows are short, and the foliage is a mass of reflected light, it's much harder I think, to come up with decent images.

During these months I find it's the morning, up to about 11.00 a.m., and the evening, from 5.00p.m. or 6.00p.m., through to sunset that are the best times to be out and about with a camera. During these hours the complete set of negatives that I list above are unlikely to be present. Yes, there may be "boring" clear blue skies on some mornings and evenings, but shadows are longer and deeper, and the greens of leaves and grass are more saturated. However, even during the "barren" hours of these "barren" months, it's possible to find circumstances in which you feel motivated to record, say, a landscape. One of the features of this time of year is the "fair weather" clouds (cumulus) that periodically come along to add interest to the azure of the summer blue. Today's photograph is a case in point. It shows the wheat on a Lincolnshire Fenland field towards the end of July, almost at the point where it is ready to harvest, and above a sky dotted with "cotton wool" balls and a smear of thinner cloud. A wind farm, pylons and an associated electricity sub-station give some skyline interest. The shot was taken just after 3.00p.m., when the scene presented just enough colour and contrast for me to point the camera and press the shutter.

At the end of July I shouldn't be thinking "roll on September", because the warmth and brightness of summer should not be so easily dismissed. But, photographically speaking, that thought does pop into my head periodically, and at this time of year I sometimes find myself looking forward to the better light, deeper colours, longer shadows and changing landscape of the first month of autumn.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (22mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f11
Shutter Speed: 1/400 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On