Second weekend of November, more rain and more Autumn landscape photography on the High Weald in East Sussex, around Dallington and Woods Corner. The first morning where I am scraping ice off my windscreen.
Dallington to Holy Trinity Priory
Arrived in Dallington East Sussex late around 8am. On the drive there along the B2096 realised I had missed the best of the morning. With all the rain the night before, mist was rising and fast dissipating on the high weald as it gave way to a beautiful sunny morning.
Dallington was my starting point for this walk over the High Weald but my target location was the ruins of holy trinity Priory discovered on OS Maps online, maybe a repeat find like Bayham Abbey.
Walking the High Weald
The High Weald footpaths through the heart of east Sussex and Kent are not so well trodden, you will rarely pass fellow walkers. Paths on the map have ceased to exist on the ground. To recover, an online map is essential, download an offline version before your walk. Stiles are rotten and wobbly and high off the ground even for my long legs and slippery when wet.
One good point there is not much traffic including cyclists on the country lanes and can be considered alternatives to footpaths. From the lanes and footpaths one can discover great views over the high weald like that from Tent Hill. Where the paths are not well maintained its easy to wander into private land. I once had an encounter with a farmer near Johns Cross. In what could have turned into a scene out of the Deliverance…
High Weald Autumn View
On arrival at the site on the map of Holy Trinity Priory there was nothing to observe less photograph. In its place was farm buildings on private land so must exist underground. Oh well, I followed the muddy wet footpaths around to discover an amazing autumn view over the High Weald.
Here, I set up on my tripod and used a polariser to enhance the saturation of the autumn colours. I love the texture of the grass on the side of the hill. The wispy white clouds stop yours eyes exiting above.
On closer inspection of that hill, that texture was caused by clumps of long grass.
Using the Histogram with a Viewfinder
At this point I had switched to handholding the camera and using a screw on polariser. It was here I discovered a hack for getting a correct exposure when handholding. I dont tend to use live view when handholding my DLSR, better to use the viewfinder. Problem is cannot see the histogram through the viewfinder. Viewing the photos afterwards, often you will find the image is either overexposed or underexposed. What I discovered was switching to live view, framing the composition, using the histogram to get a correct exposure while in manual mode. Once correct, switching back to the viewfinder to take the shot where you can hold the camera more naturally and steady. Voila a perfect exposure due to settings not changing because of being in manual mode. Still learning.
Pheasant Attack
On the return walk to Dallington I came across what I thought was a friendly Pheasant who came up real close to me, could almost touch him. I sat at this point and tried to snap a photo of the very colourful Pheasant.
Difficult to switch from landscape settings to otherwise portrait but managed to capture the Pheasant before it followed me then launched an attack. I think I had just walked onto its territory and assumed I was after his women. I had to shoo him off with a stick. He stood watching until I was out of sight.