Will Cheung

Film has played a huge part in Will’s photographic career. In his digital work, he often uses apps and techniques to emulate the look of his favourite films, especially black & white emulsions. See williamcheung.co.uk

Add zest to your mono conversions

In dull conditions, you had to work hard to get a good shot in the wet darkroom. Retrieving bad weather shots is much easier in digital

Castlerigg Stone Circle, just outside Keswick in the Lake District, is a popular photo spot. Turn up there on a nice morning and you will often find several photographers exploring its many angles. On this occasion, the weather was dreadful with persistent rain, gusting wind and heavy cloud, and it was no surprise that I had the place to myself.

This picture was taken on a Pentax 645Z medium format camera fitted with a 28-45mm f/4ED AW SR lens at 28mm. A meter reading without any filter was 1/30sec at f/8 and ISO 400, but I wanted some movement in the sky so I fitted a 10EV ND filter, and that made the exposure 30sec, long enough for the fast-moving clouds to blur nicely.

Keeping the camera steady for a 30-second exposure in such conditions was going to be a challenge. So when I was ready to shoot, I stood to one side and as close as I dared, to shield the lens front from the rain and wind with my body. That worked remarkably well considering the