Oh no, not again....

I think I'm going to have to write a list of things I have to check before pressing the shutter.

I took another trip to the William Tyndale Monument at North Nibley, Gloucestershire, today and climbed to the top of what is a rather tall tower on a very high hill.

But I discovered later that the photos I took from inside the top of the tower were shot at a very high ISO. It's an old mistake that I keep on repeating and I'm just kicking myself that I've done it yet again. The problem, of course, is that I get a lot of noise in the final image.

I just wish the camera would re-set itself to something like 100 or 200 ISO every time it is switched off. Instead, it retains the ISO setting from the last time it was used.... and then I forget to check it when I pick the camera up again.

High point

I've really got the photography bug at the moment, so I ventured out again today - this time to the Tyndale Monument, in North Nibley, Gloucestershire.

The monument was erected in honour of William Tyndale, who translated the New Testament. He is thought to have been born at North Nibley.

It was wonderful being out in the countryside with spectacular views down to the Bristol Channel. Photographically, the expedition was perhaps not so good. I was disappointed with the results of my efforts because the wide angle lens I used distorted the tower much more than I would have liked.

The image above has been adjusted in Photoshop to get rid of the distortion, but when it comes to college projects I'd rather return for a re-shoot than use a heavily manipulated photo.

Frith Wood

I couldn’t resist getting out with my camera this afternoon. I had the intention of taking some of my own black and white images after being inspired by the Lacock exhibition a few days ago. 

However, when I experimented with cyanotone and sepiatone settings, I decided I liked their effect more than straight black and white. The image above, taken in Frith Wood, near Stroud, has a hint of sepia.

One important lesson I learned was that it was pointless selecting the camera’s own monochrome settings if shooting in RAW format. Once the image is imported into Adobe Bridge and opened in Adobe Raw Converter it appears in full colour. The camera’s monochrome effect is applied after the shot has been taken and the colour information already stored.

I also took my shots with the aperture too wide open, making focusing awkward. Another lesson learned (hopefully) was that in these scenarios it is important to have a small aperture, long shutter speeds and the camera on a tripod - otherwise you risk wasting a lot of shots. Oh, and to meter for the light.