Chasing the Light – Guest Speaker Kieran Metcalf

Tuesday, 16 February 2021

Week 7  – 26 Attendees

 

Kieran Metcalf is a Landscape Photographer and spends much of his time photographing the Peake district. He presented a wonderful array of his images last night explaining how and why he had taken these images. His ‘down to earth approach’ meant he also showed us images he was not happy with and explained what he did not like about them, very often showing another similar image where he had corrected the situation.

The talk was split into different sections and Kieran began by showing us the kit he used. A Canon 80 D camera, several lenses. A Canon wide angle, and a Canon Macro, Tokina 11-16 F2/8 which he would recommend and a Sigma 150-600, many of which he bought second hand and some Firecrest filters including a Graduated filter.

Of course, he also uses a tripod, three-legged Thing Billy.  

 

Kieran gave us a quote that he felt applied to him “You can tell you’re with a photographer as they keep banging on about the light.” Light he said was especially important to him and this was certainly proved in the quality of his images.

 

He continued to show us the importance of sunbursts in his pictures and gave us the camera settings to achieve a good sunburst. Each image was accompanied with the properties of the image showing us the aperture number’s, shutter speeds, ISO and focal length which proved to be extremely helpful.

 

Kieran talked to us about dealing with high contrast scenes, bracketing exposures, the use of side lighting to emphasise texture, using long exposure to flatten water, and the use of the light and moisture in the air to give great atmosphere to rocky landscape scenes. 

 

The sunrise and sunset scenes were often caught by Kieron when wild camping in the Peake district with his son. Early morning mist played a large part in some sets of the images and another set featured some twisted oaks.  

As well as the Peake district Kieran presented images, of The Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Snowdonia, Anglesey, Yosemite, and the Lake district.

The environment is particularly important to Kieran and he showed the audience an image of a particular popular spot that many photographers flock to. The grass was worn away and Kieran feels we have a responsibility to our environment, so has decided to find and photograph some lesser-known places.

 

Kieran finished with some night photography showing star trails, the Milky Way and Ashopton comet.

 

In his photography Kieran talked about “a sense of story” and illustrated this with his stunning compositions, rock formations, textured landscapes, and magical hidden glades

and fountains. The presentation was enjoyed very much by ImageZ members and many questions were asked at the end. A recording of the evening is available on the Members area of the Website. It was a valuable insight into Landscape Photography. 

 

Next week:   ImageZ AGM