Light on Green

Yesterday I posted a picture of water – fast flowing, undulating and woven: see Fast Flowing Water.  Today I have an image of what one might call ‘Undulating’ hills. And tomorrow’s image is from a beach. A theme is emerging. I didn’t actually plan it, it’s only just occurred to me that there will be three posts in a row this week that rely – dare I say for their success – on wave form, undulation, call it what you will: for which we have to thank Nature.

I almost willed today’s image to appear. Click the image for a much bigger enlargement, it’s worth it. We were sitting in the Tea Room at Blackwell (The Arts and Crafts House), having a late cup of tea and a cake on our last afternoon in the Lake District. [If you are interested in the Arts and Crafts movement, and visit the Lake District, then don’t miss this house].

From this house (and its tea Room) there is a wonderful view across Lake Windermere to the hills on the western side. The clouds had been thinning as the afternoon progressed and brief shafts of sunlight were shifting across the low hills. Sometimes the light was picking out a patch of green pasture, sometimes one patch, sometimes another, sometimes two at once. I watched this light show as I munched my way through a very nice slice of fruit cake.

I saw the image I wanted – all three areas of pasture lit at once. It hadn’t happened yet. Cake finished, cup drained, and I quickly fetched the telephoto lens – Sigma 28-300mm. Not the sharpest piece of glass I possess, but I have my eye on a Nikon equivalent.

I went out onto the terrace where I could prop the lens on the top of a wall and waited. Geronimo! The sun obliged. All three pastures lit at once – like playing a fruit machine and winning! This is just a thin slice from a portion of the frame. Didn’t look brilliant when I saw it first on screen – rather flat – but it’s still amazing how good Photoshop can be at extracting the max from an image. Tweaks to Levels, Curves, Brightness, Saturation and Shadow/Highlight and then Poster Edge Filter blended down to 30% and then Dry Brush similarly blended, plus Sharpening of course and I ended up with a painterly effect that I am pleased with. It captures the simple beauty of those sinuous, undulating greens.

It was the last image of the day, and then on the drive back home the next day, we visited the beach north of Blackpool and found something else that undulated. Come back tomorrow for Part 3.