The first photo walk of April 2023 was a hike and scout from the foot of Blackcap then along the south downs ways to Ditchling beacon and the dew pond. Hopefully to catch a sunset.

From Blackcap to Ditchling

First weekend of April and at last the weather was changing for the better, at least for walking. On drives to Newtimber hill in March had noticed some parking at the foot of Blackcap. Checking OS Maps there were footpaths leading up the escarpment of Blackcap through some woodland to the top of the hill. Plan was to walk from Blackcap to Ditchling beacon dew pond and check out any good sunset compositions. Been a long time since last visited the Ditchling beacon dew pond. Back in 2016 when I first got into landscape photography.

Its quite a hike from blackcap to the Ditchling beacon dew pond. Also popular with walkers. I did find a mature tree on the escarpment close to the photo above looking west where the sun would set. But to the right of the frame is a modern farm complex that you would want to exclude.

Ditchling Dew Pond Golden Hour

Made it to the Ditchling dew pond not long before evening golden hour would begin. Its not long after golden hour that the dew pond is then thrown into shadow.

Really needed the wide angle 16-35mm lens. Had the 24-70mm lens and can always compensate by shooting a pano but tends to complicate too. It was apparent to me Ditchling dew pond would be much better at dawn with a colourful sky looking east.

Made a mental note to return to this location at pre dawn when the conditions were right. Much like Warren Hill dew pond shot at dawn back in winter 2021.

Ditchling Dew Pond Dawn

It was only a couple of days later the weather forecast looked right for a dawn photo shoot at Ditchling Dew pond on the south downs. There was going to be a transition from good weather back to the rain for a day or two. This transition would begin at dawn so would be clear to the east where the sun would rise unobscured. high clouds moving in from the west above and almost zero wind giving good reflections in the pond doubling the effect. Another 4AM rise but still late and rushing about. Dawn was happening on arrival at Ditchling beacon carpark.

Its quite a hike from Ditchling beacon car park down to the dew pond, allow 15 minutes at least. Just setup immediately looking due east with the 16-35mm wide angle lens. The frame included the two windswept trees by the waters side. Still not entirely sure where the best composition was around the waters edge. So made a few changes. Was shooting HDR bracketed 3 shots two stops apart. the dynamic range from the shadows to the highlights too great for a single shot

As the minutes passed the sky just got more vibrant, it not last long before it begins to fade so need to be ready. You have to be careful post processing such colourful and vibrant images. It is easy to get carried away with the sliders in Lightroom or Photoshop. Actually had to reduce saturation on image above. Like different compositions there are infinite ways to post process such images. After a few years you develop your own style and is a constant learning process. The clouds themselves although very colourful are a little chaotic lacking any repeating patterns like you get with a mackerel sky.

Wasted some time trying to shoot some panos but with a wide angle this was not necessary. But moving around slightly to the south gives more separation to the crest of the hill in the distance, shame that is not another stunted windswept tree there as an odd number is better than even for a stronger composition. In hindsight would have been good to experiment with a long exposure via a ND filter maybe 10 stops. Although no wind down below the clouds were moving high up and changing colour.

Once the sunrise was over was going to have a morning hike to Clayton windmills walking west then head south finally backup to the carpark at Ditchling beacon. But had my fill, with the early morning rise not have the energy. So glad had made the effort to get out of bed and the study of the weather had been very accurate.

Ditchling Beacon Golden Hour

On the walk back to the carpark noticed a clump of daffodils near the trig point at Ditchling beacon. The composition of the daffodils in the foreground would include an interesting background too in the form of the hills of the south downs and the morning sunrise looking east.

This was the kind of composition that was looking for in March. Daffodils are at their peak during March. The composition was difficult though as tension between what to include and what to exclude in the frame. Rarely without compromise. Another challenge with foreground interest is depth of field and getting everything in focus. Chose an aperture of F16 and a longer focal range closer to 16mm with the intention of cropping in post processing. This beats focus stacking which is a pain as can only be blended together in Photoshop using layers.

The dew pond with the two stunted windswept trees is not the only one on top of Ditchling hill. There is one immediately opposite the car park looking east. But has a lot of grass or algae on it so no reflections here. There is another west of the main dew pond but is surrounded by hedges so no background. Great morning out on Ditchling beacon on the south downs East Sussex.

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