Postman Smith's photostream

An image of my youngest daughter relaxing at Balcombe Viaduct during a family picnic/photoshoot (hey, who doesn't). Its been too long since I've posted, but like an agoraphobic paranoid, I just don't get out much these days :-)

Determined to capture what looked like a promising sunset, I had already been over to Heyshott Common and not been bowled over by opportunities so I dashed over to Iping Common and down to my favourite pond. The conditions in the sky were perfect, unfortunately after weeks of hot sun the pond was looking less than pristine and I had to creep onto the squidgy edge of it to be able to compose a shot that didn't have dry mud in it. Even then, I have had to crop the bottom of the image to remove more.

As always when I get the chance to spend some time on Dartmoor, I try to put aside at least one morning or afternoon to clamber around the slopes of Sharpitor and Leather Tor. This is because the view across Burrator Reservoir to Sheepstor is one of my favourite. On this particular evening, after a week of clear blue skies, there was actually some cloud forming and I was able to find a composition that included the reservoir, the stacks and the clouds. I'm not entirely satisfied with the outcome, but to get further back would have involved me suddenly and rapidly, and of course involuntarily, descending one of the sharper slopes of Leather Tor. This image was taken using 0.9 soft grad Lee filters but I did have to manually blend in a lighter exposure on the reservoir as it was darkened too much by the filter laying at an angle across the slope.

One of my favourite pictures from my recent trip to Dartmoor. I was balanced on a couple of rocks spread across the river with my tripod legs half submerged in the water. I sincerely hope Devon streams are kinder to carbon fibre than saltwater :-)

A crop of a larger picture, as the only elements that warranted inclusion were the stacks, the reservoir and the minimal cloud.