How to brighten up November

November rain is back! The wind is blowing, leaves are falling furiously and trees are getting bearer. The sky is dark.
Pretty normal for this time of year.

Walking the streets of London EC1 I was desperately trying to brighten my day by finding a bit of colour.

What I found made me chuckle ... I hope it has the same effect on you!

A bit of history

The sun is out, the autumn colours glowing and I'm off to Merton Abbey Mills. There used to be a lovely arts and crafts market there to which I quite frequently went. The atmosphere was pleasant and one could usually walk away from an afternoon's browsing with something memorable to keep.

It is actually quite a historic site with buildings dating back as far as the 18th century. It was then called the Merton Priory Estate. The river Wandle runs through it. Calico printing works were established there in 1724. Learning about it I found out that the area was already associated with textiles and adjacent land was used for bleaching since the late 17th century. Printing soon developed into a profitable industry. It passed through many hands and eventually was sold to Liberty & Co in 1904 - you may be familiar with the shop on Regents Street/Great Marlborough Street. Liberty's renovated the area tearing down three of the old buildings replacing them with new workshops five of which are still there today. In 1972 Liberty sold up and quality fabrics were still printed there. In 1982 a disastrous fire sadly brought about the final closure of the works. And today, although less than I had remembered it to be, the existing premises are being still used for the crafts market. Mostly on weekends.

Today I was drawn to the river. There I met two guys fishing. I wanted to know the name of the river which helped start up a conversation. It's actually one of the guys, beer can in hand watching over his fishing rod who told me all about the history of the area. He seemed pretty passionate about it which, I can't deny, surprised me.

"My Godfather was a historian. He could have told you even more about it. Sadly he is dead now"

I also learned that the river Wandle was one of London's most had worked rivers. Apparently the natural properties of the river was claimed to possess special qualities that made it ideal for the dye and cloth connected trades. The water was exceptionally pure and clean. Also the fast running water of the Wandle was vital in providing power which was another reason for the growth in the textile industry in Merton.

Today's activity is reduced to guys fishing in it.

"There are big carp fish and even black trout" they enthused.

All I got to see today, however, was one of them dangling a dead rat he had just found... and I shot out of the hip which looks like becoming quite a familiar technique :) which I'll show you now before showing you....

... some prettier sites too!

Getting technical

Today I stuck to my original plan. I went out specifically to shoot some still life with the beautiful 135mm f.2L lens and the 1.4 converter. The combination worked a treat yesterday.

So, let's continue and see what it's made of! I was keen to test it with a fully opened aperture. What that means is that almost everything behind the point of focus and a bit in font of the point of focus will be thrown out of focus. Depending on what the photographer wants to achieve, this effect can add drama to the picture. Throwing the backgrounds out is particularly effective in portraiture. The last thing you want to see when taking a portrait is something "growing" out of your subjects head or shoulder :)

Just another quick point. The longer the focal lens, the less depth of field can be achieved. If you wondered what a telephoto lens is, any focal length above 50mm is called a telephoto lens and anything shorter than 50mm is a wide angle lens. As we are on the important topic of depth of field, a wide angle lens will have better depth of field than a telephoto lens.

Why is knowing the subtleties of depth of field important? Well, quite simply because you will want to know before seeing the photo in print (or on the computer screen) what you would like to have sharp (in focus) and what part of the image you want to have more or less blurred (out of focus). All these nuances play a big part when it comes to your creativity.

But enough technical explanation. Let's get creative!

Back to my lens. Remember, it originally has its widest opening at f2 and using it with the 1.4 converter, I loose one f stop (aperture) which brings the lens down to f2.8 wide open.

To make the most out of bringing my subject to life I set my camera to aperture priority mode - this means the photographer chooses the aperture and the camera finds the right shutter speed combination to get a correctly exposed image. I chose f2.8 - the available light was good so I set the ISA to 200.

Out I went.

I actually had to kill two birds in one go today because I was asked to think of an image that would work for a therapist who helps people to stop smoking. Putting my thinking hat on and my eyes wide open I strolled the streets of South West London .. yet again ... in search of something suitable. I found an image that I think works well. It contains a subtle yet very strong message.

But, I hadn't found my shot of the day yet.

Continuing along a lovely avenue flanked by gorgeous houses I saw a paper cup resting on the edge of a wall. I was attracted to its colours and the fact that the background worked well too. A bit further a way, still on the same white wall, sat a dead leaf. To illustrate my point, I moved the dead leaf onto the same focal plane as the cup. I composed the shot and went for it.

Looking at the image very carefully you will see exactly where the focus was aimed at. The centre of the leaf that folds inwards is already less sharp than the stalk of the leaf which is where I set my point of focus. The centre of the cup is on the same plane and therefore sharp too. This lens is truly pin sharp which I love in a lens!