Blue Bells at Garston Wood but with a different technique
Garston Wood is a great place to go for blue bells, and this year was no exception. On one visit I tried a couple of new techniques, which my brother had attempted. I was not convinced on what he was doing at the time he took the shots, but on seeing the results I decided to give it a try with Fuji Sensia 100 slide film.
First, is the use of two shots which are then combined in post image processing. One shot is taken normally, whilst the other is taken totally out of focus. Once scanned in I then loaded both images as layers to Photoshop CS5, then making sure the blurred image was at the top, altered the sliders for the opacity and fill. Opacity 60/70 % and fill 40/50%.
This is similar but not identical to the Orton Effect, which reading up on the web is where the sharp image is overexposed by two stops and the second out of focus image is over exposed by one stop. I may give this a try when next opportunity arises.
Here are some using this technique, and at the end the normal shot of 1 for reference.
Olympus 24mm F2 lens, F16.
Olympus 24mm F2 lens, F16
Olympus 24mm F2 lens, F16
Olympus 24mm F2 lens, F16
Olympus 24mm F2 lens, F16.
and the normal shot for (4) above
The other technique was to shoot slightly out of focus, and I left this to last as it didn’t really work for me.
Olympus 24mm F2 lens, F16
Garston Wood is one of our favourite places to visit when the bluebells and wild garlic are in full colour. I love some of your photographs do you ever convert to canvas?
Hi Linda, thanks for your kind comments about my photos.
I return to Garston Wood every year when the blue bells and wild garlic are out, as I think this place can have one of the best displays locally.
I do convert to canvas and if anyone would like to purchase a canvas print please contact me.