A dawn trip and wind issues

An oh, so, cunning plan incorporating the brief warm light of sunrise and ancient woodland ground flora, unravelled when it became apparent the strength of the wind would induce motion blur of subject matter, sigh. I have little enthusiasm for motion blurred woodland ground flora in images and whilst in theory combating motion blur can be alleviated by a higher Iso and wider apertures, in practice it is simpler to wait for optimal conditions. The not all that well thought out back up plan was reverted to: the static subject matter of nearby mineral workings and veteran trees, bathed in the warm light of sunrise.

Given the prevailing weather and skeletal tree canopy, the trees were still early in leaf flush, it might have been better to admit defeat on the wider view and concentrate instead on an intimate view, instead the wider view was persisted with. The root system of a beech held some potential, a tripod leg length of 3m would have coped with a steep slope, given a more elevated point of view and better separated a background yew tree from the beech roots.

Being truthful I failed to get the compositions I wanted without including skeletal branches against powder blue clear sky, which presented some interesting decisions on what to expose for; the sky or shadows? Another week would have seen the flushing of leaves and establishment of a tree canopy that would have masked out the sky, simplifying compositions considerably.

I harboured a hope that the wind might drop in intensity, it didn't and instead seemed to intensify in strength, so, the back up plan to the back up plan, was implemented: a retreat to a more sheltered area of the woodland. The sheltered area was also a shaded area, no bad thing with clear skies and bluebells.

This area of woodland has a history of coppicing with outsize stools of hazel, alder and ash and the ground flora reflects the underlying bedrock and superficial deposits. Well used animal trails courtesy of badger and deer were used to explore the woodland and mitigate against trampling. The densest area of bluebells carpeted a valley spur exposed to the increasing wind and photography was concentrated on the woodland management and flora highlighting the underlying geology.

An hour after sunrise, I called it a day for photography and enjoyed a wander around the woodland, reflecting on just how many outings for landscape photography coincide with ideal conditions for the subject matter.