Atmospheric Ruins

A selection of shots taken yesterday at Roche Abbey, near Maltby, South Yorkshire. This location is one of my favourites; extremely atmospheric, especially during the Autumn and Winter months. All of these were taken with the K-5 and 18-55WR, except the 'Red Tree' and 'Round Arch' images which were with the K-x and DA 16-45. I have tried to convey the atmosphere of the place and the early morning soft light by using different shooting and processing techniques. I hope you approve, CC welcomed as always.

Roche Abbey Distant View - with Warming Filter & ND Grad 0.6



As above - BW Conversion



Archway to the Red Tree - K-x & DA 16-45



Roche Abbey Autumn Vista - 142 second exposure with Hitech 10 stop filter



View to the Round Arch - K-x and DA 16-45



Regards
David

another lovely set of pictures, you do get around.
one question, how did you get rid of the colour cast that the Hitech filter gives? to get back to such natural colours . i have this filter and have given up using it because i cannot find how to do this, help much appreciated

It's not really a colour cast, it's a fooling of the camera regarding white balance. I correct this simply by changing the WB settings until the image looks natural. A very quick and easy process once you know how to do it.

As Darkskies has mentioned, the best way is to set a custom white balance on the camera. This corrects any blue cast and then it's easy to adjust to personal taste in post processing. Also, it depends which version of the Hitech filter you have; mine is the latest 'pro' version which is a different resin to the original and has much less of a colour cast. There is also information on the internet about variations between different copies of the Hitech 10 stop filter, but I can't confirm or deny this as I only have one!

Regards
David

thanks David, mine is the later one with the blue cast, had an early one ,lovely magenta photo,s that gave. will have a play with it again

Super shots David. Can't make my mind up which I prefer for #1 or the B&W conversion. Love the Red Tree, that is my favourite.

Some very nice shots David, I have not heard of this place, I will be taking a look sometime, so thanks for sharing.

Mine is the later one too, with a lovely blue tint.

I shoot in RAW, so it's a simple process to change the white balance in pp. Really, it's a few seconds job once you have done it the first time.

Thank you to you all for your comments and observations. One thing I would be interested in is more views on the Hitech Pro 10 stop filter. It seemes pretty good to me; yes it leaves a blue cast, but this is very easy to remove in PP.

Thanks for looking!

Regards
David

As far as the filter is concerned, David, as far as I'm concerned it does what it says on the tin.

I find I can calculate the exposure required easily...in other words, it's an accurate 10 stopper.....and once the blue is removed it seems to provide natural enough colour.

I haven't used it that much (mainly due to weather conditions), but I've been very satisfied with the results so far. I'll be using it again soon so when I do I'll post some piccies.

I like these - it looks like a very cool (and perhaps a little eerie) place - and I especially like the colours in the colour versions, the first one in particular. It has a desaturated tone to it which suits the image and the season I think

Cheers

Thanks Mat, much appreciated. You are right about the location, it is very atmospheric and eerie, especially when it is deserted on a misty Sunday Morning. The way I processed these does reflect the muted tones that were present that day; the light was quite flat but also soft and the colours were very muted as a result.

Regards
David