I had spent alot of time exploring east Sussex and the south downs, I now wanted a change and to return to Kent. It was around a 40 mile drive from my base in Bexhill but the village of Wye and the Kent downs was my target.
Lens Vignetting new Filters
I had recently purchased a new lens for my landscape photography off gumtree for the half the price you would pay new. The Canon EF-S 15-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens – Black
Problem was with the wide angle mostly needed for sweeping landscape photos I was getting vignetting around the edges with my current filter set. My current filter set was really met for focal lengths of 24mm plus. So I had now invested in a new 100mm filter set which set me back a small fortune.
The 100mm set allowed me to use my new lens at its widest angle of 15mm with zero vignetting. I had to use a Cokin Z472 72mm TH0.75 Adapter to fit on my new 18-85mm lens. Happy days, I was all setup for a good photo shoot around Wye and the the Kent downs.
Up the Wye Downs
I was using the AA’s walking guide to Kent and Wye, parked up my car and walked to the foot of the Kent downs just outside Wye and began the steep ascent up the escarpment.
The first landscape photo I took from the Kent downs west of of wye was without any filters and just within the camera’s dynamic range. Its a landscape photo I like very much although has a distracting light element in the bottom left hand corner. I should have darkened(burn) this in lightroom to make it less distracting. In a photo our eyes are drawn to the lightest areas and ignore the darker regions.
I metered the lightest part the white clouds and the darkest the shadows of the trees and there was slightly more than two stops of light difference. The result is the ground looks over saturated. A two stop light difference between the sky and ground is fine. lesson learnt. Just because you have nice new expensive filters does not mean you have to use them.
Devils Kneading Trough
Continuing on along the Wye Downs is an area formed during the melting of the ice age known as the Devils Kneading Trough.
Still using my 2 stop hard edge filter over the sky which again has slightly over saturated, over exposed the ground, that the yellow ground flowers dont stand out enough.
But love those fluffy white clouds and deep blue sky, it was a beautiful day to be on the Wye downs and very few people around, dont know why, maybe due to the royal wedding?
Iv seen these horizontal lines before on Hambledon hill in north Dorset last summer, never knew they were carved out by melting water all those years ago.
North Downs Way
After taking in the Devils Kneading trough on top of the Wye downs I followed the walk all the way to the small Kent village of Hastingleigh. There is a nice pub to stop off for a pint in Hastingleigh the Bowl Inn. They got a friendly European eagle owl in the beer garden.
After refreshments at the Bowl Inn I made my way back to the Wye downs and along the North downs way. It was so bright now, I was using a polariser but had removed the neutral density filters, where the ground was now reflecting the same amount of light as the sky. I find the north downs alot more lush than the south downs. This time of year the green hills are littered with clumps of yellow buttercups.
Towards of the end of the walk along the north downs you come to a memorial known as the Wye Crown. On the other side of the hill is a giant crown carved out of the chalk in the hill, unfortunately I could not get a good angle to photograph it. Great day out walking along the wye downs, highly recommended.