More landscape photography around east England with a few visits into Bedfordshire and more from Hertfordshire.  What follows is a compilation of the best landscape compositions from the month of July.

Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire

I finish work early on Friday’s and it was a beautiful July afternoon, perfect for paragliding off the Dunstable downs.  From the top of Dunstable downs its a beautiful view across the countryside of Bedfordshire and beyond, visibility was very good.

It was hot, the sky mostly featureless, not the best conditions for walking or landscape photography.  But the paragliders made an excellent focal point, subject and story as well as colour contrast.

Hormead, Hertfordshire

It was a dull Saturday afternoon in July, stuck indoors felt restless so picked a place in Hertfordshire not too far away from my AA walking guide and it was Hormead and it conveniently started with a pub.

A good walk as always, the rain held off and more a walk of churches, visiting 4 in total.  I enjoy photographing churches, think they are very photogenic and with a cloudy sky can look quite moody and spooky.  Back home after a good walk, I can relax, and do some post processing.

Woburn Park, Bedfordshire

From my Pathfinders guide decided take the walk through Woburn Park in Bedfordshire.  Found a free carpark and made my way through the park and to Woburn Abbey.  It was early before the crowds, around the back, the gate was open so wandered in like a clueless tourist and took some handheld shots of the Stately home, before a security guard told me to leave.

Further along Woburn park I notice a herd of deer in the distance and begin to approach them when a stag appears in front of me.  There was a fawn deer nearby and no doubt the stag was feeling protective.  Great moment, loving Woburn Park.

Just handholding the camera, aperture priority and auto ISO.  IS is switched on but see this as increasing my chances of a sharp image.  Also I am using mirror lockup with a 2 second timer.  I am noticing sharper images with mirror lockup and handholding, but with the 2 second time requires some posture practice.  Pack your most powerful telephoto lens.

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Everyone one is moving there, these days, to Milton Keynes, so one Saturday morning in July when rain was forecast I decided to pay this Buckinghamshire town a visit.

Whenever I visit a town or city on a wet cloudy weekend I take my compact camera with me hoping to capture some candid street photography that includes the essence of the place and is recognisable.  In Milton Keynes I only captured the Belvedere light pyramid just when  a momentary streak of sunlight peeked through the heavy clouds.  There was a woman sat on the pyramid and asked me not to take photos of her.  I told her she was just in the way of what I really wanted to photograph.

Offley, Hertfordshire

A cloudy Sunday afternoon in Hertfordshire and needed to get out for a good hike.  I liked some of the contours of the chilterns escarpment around Offley, so parked up and just followed the nearest footpaths using OS Maps mobile.

Focus Stacking

That morning I had watched a youtube video on focus stacking and decided it was time I needed to expand my landscape photography comfort zone to include the option for focus stacking.

The problem is you have to import your photos from Lightroom into Photoshop as layers and then use the auto blend function. I had been avoiding Photoshop up to this point, but unfortunately Lightroom does not support layers or masks which are essential for focus stacking.

I took only two images, keeping the same exposure for the foreground and background via manual mode, for the background photo I focus on infinity which brings all the mid-ground into focus too.  For the above photo the auto blend has done a good job.  Its an improvement over using the hyperfocal distance and suffering diffraction when needing to use F22.

At Little Offley I took another series of focus stacked images.  But Photoshop’s auto blend not work well with these images as too much movement in the foreground and overlap with the background.  So I blended them manually after studying  layer masks.  Once imported back into Lightroom needed to touch up the transition area with the spot removal tool set to clone mode.

Its a lot of labour but cool to see your foreground and background in tack sharp focus.  For each shot in your stack you can use your lens sweet spot as your not concerned with a large depth of field.  A tripod is essential for focus stacking.   Also you need to auto align your images in Photoshop as even on a tripod there is some slight lens movement and frame adjustment due to focus breathing.

Hyde Hill, Cambridgeshire

The last weekend of July was a complete wash out, heavy rain all day.  Its not good for walking or landscape photography.  A wet weekend and you think stay in and catch up with your post processing and blogging, but after an hour Iv had enough of that and want to get outside with my camera.

On my trips to Suffolk and Norfolk I had noticed an interesting hill between Royston and Melbourn which is actually south west Cambridgeshire.  So with my waterproofs and compact camera decided to venture out and do some scouting.  Hyde Hill I think it is called and its covered in Poppies although this day they were a little water logged. Hyde Hill has not got public footpaths over it but managed a composition from the roadside.  Another problem with rain is that you have to constantly wipe your lens with a cloth else your photos will be ruined.

ClopHill, Bedfordshire

Sunday was another washout but needed to get out and while enjoying a croissant and coffee in Letchworth I used google explore nearby to discover ClopHill and the remains of an old castle not too far away in Bedfordshire.

Very poor internet connection at ClopHill had to use a combination of Google maps and OS maps online to get my bearings and on the right footpath to the Cainhoe castle remains.

From the top of the castle keep I noticed the ruins of St Marys church across the valley and so went to investigate this too.  I do love ancient ruins, they are so photogenic and the bad weather only adds drama.  So made the best of bad weather.