Marshall Black Photography - Fishpool

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Oak Leaves and Ice Bubble Prism.

It's always useful to have local destinations which you can visit regularly to see what photographic opportunities are available. One of mine is the Fishpool area of Chobham Common NNR in Surrey, located on Gracious Pond Road. To reach the car park from Chobham Village, head North out of town toward Sunninghill on the main B383, turning right into Red Lion Road. Follow Red Lion Road and it soon becomes Gracious Pond Road. Follow this road around a sharp right hand bend and about six hundred metres further on the car park is on the right.

There are a number of paths heading from the car park, the one needed for the Fishpool is next to the information board in the car park. A short walk leads through the trees to the pool.

The photo here shows Oak Leaves and Ice Bubbles on the surface of the frozen pool. What makes this image different is the coloured prism effect in the ice bubbles, something which seems to happen fairly frequently at this location. You need to view the bubbles from different angles to see if the effect appears. It doesn't always happen, but when it does the result can be spectacular. Also, the colours will change with slight turns of a polarising filter.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 70-200 F4 L at 200mm, polariser, 13 sec, f18, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom.

Oak Leaves and Ice Bubble Prism.

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Oak Leaf and Ice Patterns.

Taken on the same visit as the shot above, this is a simple view of a solitary Oak leaf on the ice patterns on the lake surface. There is a strong hint of blue on the lake surface, the reflection of the blue sky above.

Although it might not seem apparent, the foreground of this image is not totally sharp. This is due to using a telephoto zoom at an angle to the pool surface, and the limitations of depth of field. The focus point is on the leaf, therefore the foreground lake has been left outside the range of available depth of field.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 70-200 F4 L at 200mm, polariser, 1/3 sec, f13, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom.

Oak Leaf and Ice Patterns.

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Glowing Birch Leaf and Ice Patterns.

On a previous visit I was again looking for ice images. This is one of the many benefits of having a local, easily reached destination, somewhere you can think of as being on your "home patch". With unusual weather, and the chance of ice on a pond, it is a simple matter to hop into the car and be at a location in about 15 minutes. This has the added benefit that if the weather hasn't given you the photo opportunities you had hoped for, you can easily head back home.

When I first started focusing on this birch leaf the colours were fairly dull, but after three or four minutes the sun had moved across the sky, back lighting the leaf against the iced pool. This gave a contrast boost and an almost spotlit effect to the leaf.

Due to the distance of the leaf from the lake edge, it was necessary to add the Canon 1.4X converter to the lens. Although the leaf is still fairly small in the picture the ice patterns help to fill the frame.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 70-200 F4 L + 1.4 converter at 280mm, polariser, 0.8 sec, f22, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom. Tone curve adjusted to bring out the blue reflection from the sky.

Glowing Birch Leaf and Ice Patterns.