The fourth, fifth and sixth best shots of 2021 (Instagram) are shown below.
Scaleber Force, Yorkshire Dales
My fourth most liked Best 9 photo on Instagram is a shot from the amazing waterfalls at Scalebar Force in the Yorkshire Dales.
We visited this location in early evening on the way back to our accommodation. Kathryn didn’t really fancy the steep climb down from the woodland down to the falls so I ventured down there myself.
I took a few shots at the location shown in this photo and was very pleased to get the swirly effect in the water in the foreground. Settings for this shot were 14-30mm @ 16mm, f/7.1, 4 secs, ISO 64.
Edit: The shot above is a newer re-edited version with a different crop than the one on Instagram. This is to achieve a more pleasing scene with the whole tree visible on the left, make the swirl just a little more prominent for the leading line taking the viewers eye into the image. I’ve also made the image a little brighter and made sure the colour tones retain their natural feel.
Edit: This shot was entered into the club’s POTY (Photographer of the Year) competition round 3 in February 2022 and was shortlisted by an RPS-level judge scoring a 9/10.
I was very pleased with myself, not just for the shots I got but also because I was all done in less than an hour. Setting up at pace, and knowing roughly what settings I wanted meant I got straight to it. I was also conscious of the time knowing that Kathryn had gone back to the car on the side of the road, and that we had a reasonable drive back to our accommodation for supper.
On the way back we had a stop as we saw two barn owls flying over the fields near the single track road. I stopped and changed lens but to be fair, with the light rapidly fading and the limitations of my kit, I couldn’t really get anything decent.
Borrowdale, Lake District
The fifth most like image is from Borrowdale in the Lakes on the day we walked to Castle Crag. It had been over a decade since we were last at this location.
We hadn’t recalled that this walk had so many waterfalls and I pushed Kathyrn’s patience by wanting to stop multiple times to take shots. I liked this scene below as it water running down from under the bridge further up and over lots of different rocks.
As I’ve said before, I now look to achieve shots with waterfalls that show the motion in the water but retain the detail moreover ‘misty’ whited out water.
Grasmere from Loughrigg Fell, Lake District
The sixth most liked shot is from my Loughrigg Fell trip with pro photographer Chris Sale. There’s a dedicated blog post about that here so I won’t repeat myself.
The interesting thing is that this opportune shot just outpipped the main Loughrigg Tarn shot which made it to seventh place.
Onwards and upwards…