Features

MSH1458 -

Nikon D200. Sigma 10-20mm @ 17mm.
1/5th sec @ f/16. ISO100.

.9 Hitech soft ND grad. 105mm Heliopan Polarizer - fully polarized.

Nikon Evaluative Metering.
Cloudy White Balance.

This was shot on June 6th, 2009, on my first visit to Swanwick nature reserve, near Fareham in Hampshire.

Pretty cloudy day, as you can probably tell, and as muggy as hell, properly stormy, but we still ventured out into the unknowns.

Swanwick's an almost entirely man-made landscape. It used to be a clay quarry, for the Bursledon Brickworks . Once they were done with it the land was bought by NATS , and management of the reserve handed over to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight wildlife trust .

Swanwick consists of 4 lakes, acres of woodland, meadow and pasture, home to hundreds of species of wildlife, and topped off with ahill, made of the spoil from the clay extraction, now playing host to a hell of a lot of bunnies.

This was shot from the farside of New Lake, I was attracted by the gorgeous water lilies, and the brooding sky.
Earlier in the day the sun had been out all the lakes were reflecting like mirrors, making shots hard to come by, then we ended up with another extreme when these dark storm clouds blew in; the light levels plummeted.

The glare comin' off the water was still pretty intense, so I figured I'd give my polarizer a proper test I paid £150 for it, should probably use it. Combined with a soft edged .9 ND grad to hold back the sky, the scene came out at 1/5th of a second @ f/16.
I fired off a few shots after the breeze had dropped, then flicking on my D200's auto exposure bracketing to capture a series for a HDR when I got home. That can be seen here .

Over all I'm pretty happy with the shot.
I think the white lilies provide a nice, bright element of contrast to the over all dark scene, as well as providing some great foreground interest.

Anyways. I hope you like it.
Feedbacks always welcome.

TTFN.

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