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I loved visiting the walled garden at Wimpole during summer, and, of course, I usually have a camera with me when I visit. For sake of variety, I try to think of a different little theme for my photos each time. For my latest trip at the weekend, I used a wide-angle lens, placed the camera below the flowers and shot upwards. The results were a little hit or miss. I was often shooting blind, as the bright sunlight and contorted angles made it hard to see the screen. Shooting wide-angle on a cloudless day, also meant there was a lot of sun flare to deal with. However, I ended up with a small but pleasing set of images.

 

Wimpole Infrared

More IR.  A few shots from Wimpole taken a couple of weekends ago.  This time rendered in monochrome.

The Walled Garden at Wimpole

 I always enjoyed a visit to the walled garden at Wimpole.  Such a variety of shape and colour.

Pinhole Photpgraphy at Wimpole

I have a Holga pinhole lens for my Canon 7D.  I have not used it in a long time.  So last weekend, on a rather grey and misty day, I took it to Wimpole.  One reason I don't use it much is that the hole is too big.  It's really less of a pinhole and more a 6-inch nail hole.  The exposures are a lot shorter than for a proper pinhole aperture.  Even with quite overcast conditions, and shooting at ISO 100, I didn't need an exposure time longer than 5 seconds.  Even so, it's a fun thing to play with occasionally, and it did suit the conditions.  The mono conversions were done quickly in Lightroom and are deliberately grungy.

Wimpole in Infrared

Just before my birthday, back in May, I took my old Canon 40D to Advanced Camera Services in Watton, to get it converted to infrared.  Two months later, I finally got it back.  For it's first outing, I took it to Wimpole.  The forecast promised a day of sunshine and cloud, which would have been ideal.  Sadly, there was a little more cloud than sun, but it was still good enough for a first try.  I had researched which of my Canon lens would be best to use to ensure no 'hotspots' and opted to stick with my 24mm EF-S STM.

Next came the image processing.  This has been something of a steep learning curve, but thanks to Ian's Digital Techniques group notes and several YouTube tutorials, I am getting the hang of it.

First off, I went for some simple mono conversions.

Next, for a couple of the images that had no sky, I played with the hue and saturations in Lightroom alone.
 

Finally, I dived into 'channel swapping', using Photoshop to change reds to blues, and blues to reds.  These would have been stronger with a better sky, but I am happy with them for a first go.

Flower Abstracts at Wimpole

Whenever I go to Wimpole Hall, I like to spend some time in the walled garden.  There is usually something worth shooting.  I particularly enjoy taking minimal depth of field abstract close-ups of the flowers.

 

 

Wimpole in the snow

Last Sunday's snow took me by surprise.  I am so used to predicted snow missing Huntingdonshire completely, that I didn't pay too much attention to the latest forecast.  So when I woke to a blanket of white on Sunday morning, I had to quickly come up with a plan.  I choose to go to Wimpole, as I was fairly sure I could get there safely and that the park would be open.  Plus, the big trees and the restored folly would make great subjects in the snow.  A light sleety snow continued to fall for most of the day, which made keeping the lens clear somewhat challenging, but it also made for some lovely minimalist and reduced palette shots.

Inside Wimpole

A few interior shots from Wimpole Hall.  I have visited the estate and gardens many times, but this was my first time in the house.