Through the beginning of May 2022 continued to scout some woodland on the High Weald. Headed to Dallington forest expecting bluebells but discovered a Garlic Woodland Wonderland.
Dallington revisited
Having visited Dallington a few times during spring 2021 and knew there were some good spots for bluebells. Was aware though that to beat my best bluebell woodland photograph from May 2021 was going to be hard. Not so many bluebells in Dallington but was pleasantly surprised to discover wild Garlic in fresh bloom and it extended among the trees as far as the eyes could see.
The conditions were good for photographing woodland flora. There was no wind so no shutter speed and motion blur problems. It was morning but not early, still there was some nice patchy sunlight breaking through the canopy falling on the white flowers of the wild garlic.
Spent a good couple of hours photographing the wild Garlic in Dallington forest on the high weald in East Sussex. One visit was not going to be enough. You don’t need to ingest Garlic to feel better, just walk through it.
Return to Dallington
A few days later returned to Dallington forest to photograph more of the wild Garlic. The walk before had noticed quite a few woodland areas that needed to explore. A good woodland composition can occur anywhere and its important to cover as much ground as possible.
Finding new patches of woodland in Dallington covered in wild garlic with a few bluebells and orchids thrown in. Makes a good colourful composition of woodland flora. Orchids in the woods! It was an overcast day giving even lighting throughout the scene. In these conditions the cloud cover acts as a giant diffusor. Again none to very little wind to deal with. Did need to focus stack though to get both the foreground and background in sharp focus. Was using a wide angle lens exclusively this day the 16-35mm. Although more at the 35mm end rather than the 16mm.
The plan was to return for another shoot within Dallington forest maybe around evening golden hour and sunset. But then to primarily concentrate on trying to get everything in focus without having to focus stack, using the hyperfocal and a small aperture like F/16. Also the plan was to focus on some foreground flowers with a wide open aperture like F/4 and get some intentional background blur.
Landscape Photography Workout
Again spent another good couple of hours photographing the wild garlic within Dallington Forest. Besides the walking when photographing flora within woodland have to do a lot of bending and getting down low and then back up. Its a real workout! I find am at my optimum, most energetic and enthusiastic during the first 2 hours of a landscape photography shoot. After that start to run out of energy and am getting tired.
One location wanted to scout was a steep embankment within Dallington forest covered with wild Garlic. With a camera on a tripod and backpack can be quite a strenuous climb. On the walk back to the car, my heel was hurting and was actually limping.
May Update
My foot was in pain for a week and could not get out walking. Had to go and see a doctor. Most likely Tendonitis and could be out 4-6 weeks now 🙁 Going to die of boredom if that is the case! Such are the perils of a good landscape photography workout! Certainly scuppered some loose plans had of another road trip and camping maybe into Wales or another foreign hiking holiday in Majorca or Madeira. As of writing the last day or so have noticed and improvement due to resting. So hopefully will be out for the May full moonrise and moonset.
Other news during May is my friend brought back my camera bag containing my Canon 80D setup I had left in France. So that was good. Successfully received the Canon 24-105mm USM II lens from MPB as good as new. With my foot problem though not really been out using it yet.
For Sale
Sold another image from this website direct that’s been 3 within a month. Really happy about that. For a high resolution image getting off me direct is the best and cheapest method. I will also edit the image ready for printing and supply to you direct to your email. All images on this website are for sale at £20 each. A bargain considering the physical effort I put in. Please contact me directly if you would like to purchase a high res image ready for printing and help support.
Sensor Cleaning
Now, the sensor on the Canon 5D mk4 has been in need of cleaning for sometime. After watching some YouTube videos on the subject, decided to try this again myself and order some swabs and fluid off amazon, as recommended in the video. I destroyed my first DLSR canon 700D a few years back trying to clean the sensor. After a few attempts with the 5D was just making it worse so decided to give up and get a professional to do the job. In East Sussex there is a place in Hellingly called CamServe that clean sensors and fix camera and lenses. They did a really good job and highly recommend.
April to May Woodland Flora
So hopefully will be back out soon before May is over. Although the wild Garlic was shot during the first week of May, this would have been in bloom during the last week of April. For 2022 April really was the month for some great woodland flora photography especially over the High Weald in East Sussex. Spring is a great season like autumn to visit ancient woodlands.
You have wood anemones, bluebells, wild garlic and Orchids, Rhododendrons are blooming too and rapeseed in the farmland. All great subjects in the landscape to get you outdoors and photograph.
Check out the East Sussex Landscape Photography Gallery.