Trees, Water and Light at Englethwaite Hall

This image was taken as a three-exposure-bracketed set at 2:17pm on the 16th October 2026 and later developed with Luminar.

Location

The photo was taken from the shore of one of the many smaller fishing ponds that surround the main lake adjacent to Englethwaite Hall Caravan and Motorhome Club site, near Armathwaite, in Cumbria. The ground and trees to the left of the frame are actually a tiny island in the pond.

This caravanning holiday is the last one of 2026 for Gill and I. Our spare time over the late autumn and winter will be mostly spent with our grandsons, Leo and Asher. We currently spend time with Asher on a Tuesday (and sometimes at the weekends) and with Leo on a Sunday, now he's in full-time school.

Development

For HDR, I had been preparing each file with Develop RAW before merging. However, a little research confirmed my suspicion that these edits weren't actually being used by Luminar's HDR Merge, so it's pointless work, but harmless. The merging process does give the option to correct lens distortions, file alignment, and remove aberrations, however. I'm still learning.

The photo itself was one of many I take thinking they may or may not result in a successful image. However, when starting to edit the merged file, I became more confident. I decided that cropping out some of the island on the left of the frame was better for the balance of the image - anything that isn't adding is taking away. I also cropped out some of the sky and the distracting reflections in the water, further strengthening the composition.

The other big step forward for this image's development was use of Luminar's Light Depth tool. This enables you to sculpt light in a three-dimensional way. I've used it on every photo since resuming with Luminar, and it seems to be a quick way forward to creating a compelling image.

I'm quite pleased with this photo. I usually take longer to live with developments and am quite surprised how quickly this one took for me to consider being worthy of publishing here.

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