Mersea Sunset

Sunset over Mersea Island.  Went for a really nice walk this afternoon.  Was a great December day, nice a fresh with glorious sun.  Waited for the sun to set over these boats.  Not a breath of wind either.

Waterdrip

Taken with my Sigma 105mm EX DG macro lens.  Shows a waterdrip, which in itself is acting as a lens and it focusing the seed head behind it.

Autumn leaf

I think autumn is an amazing season.  This year in the UK the trees have put on a wonderful show.  I think it is the most spectacular I have seen in a long while.

I collected a few leaves this year.  This shot shows the amazing detail in a leaf.  I put the leaf in my light tent and used a flash (manually) behind the leaf to provide a burst of flash.

Remember Remember

We went down to the beach this evening to watch the fireworks.  Some people have got lots of money to spend on them.  So it was a great free show for us.  This is the best fireworks picture I have ever taken!!

Miserable Monday Weather

Today was a damp miserable weather day in Essex.  We went to visit the arboretum at Mark's Hall, only to find it closed.  However, we decided to go on the woodland walk which skirts around the gardens.  This shot shows the walk back to where we parked the car.  There were so many beautiful colours around today.

This is a shot of Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, it's just a few minutes outside the village of Bakewell (nice puddings there).  The hall has been used in a few films.  It is a very interesting place to visit.

Boats at Mersea Island

These are some little boats off the coast of Mersea Island. The tide was just going back out, and in the distance you can see the main mooring of boats. It was great light during the day, just love the autumn light.

Peak District

Well we have just come back from a great holiday in the Peak District, here are a couple of shots.

Cyclamen

Last year we created a Woodland garden underneath one of our trees. The area doesn't get much nature sunlight during the autumn and winter months, which is perfect for the Cyclamen to grow in.

Tried to isolate a single flower.

Alamy

Well I have just submitted my first 4 images to Alamy, just waiting for them to be accepted now. I know that there are several million images on there for sale, but hey you never know........I might have the exact one that someone is looking for.

I'll let you know if anything happens.

Unknown Caterpillar

Well this is the first shot with my new camera, just recently got a Canon 40D. Very impressive camera, I feel like a pro now.
Not sure what this caterpillar is, but there are lots of them eating our salad crops. It is unbeliveable how fast these little critters eat, so I expect that there will not be much left for us to eat.
If anyone know what this is, please drop me a comment.
Hope you enjoy looking.

Grey Dagger Caterpillar

The is the caterpillar of the Grey Dagger Moth. Here is some detail about it:

The caterpillars of the Grey Dagger Moth have two, tall hairy humps on their backs, and a wide, bright yellow stripe running along the top of the body.

Latin name: Acronicta psi
Size: Has a wingspan of approximately 40mms.
Distribution: Common in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Less frequently seen in Scotland.
Months seen: June to September.Habitat: Hedgerows, parks and gardens.
Food: Nectar.
Special features: The grey dagger is another of our noctuid moths. It gets its name from the black dagger-like markings on its grey wings.

Gatekeeper

This butterfly is called a Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus). Wingspan Male: 37 - 43mm Female: 42 - 48mm.

Took a while for this one to settle, but managed to fire off a couple of good shots. Was lucky enough to be able to drop the ISO down to 200, and the light was good.

Hope you like it.

Heavy Bee

This made me laugh watching this Bee trying too land and feed from this flower.  He was just too heavy and kept sitting on his backend.  You can even see his legs sticking out of the side.

Hope you like it.

Photoshop

Yes, you guess it, another shot with my Sigma 105mm EX DG macro lens. I processed this one in Photoshop CS3, but used some other filters to see what results it brought out.

Filters that I used were "Alien Skin, Exposure" and "Nik Software Sharperner Pro". The Exposure filter give you a chance to apply film filters, on this shot I used Velvia film filter, this give the shot a warmer tone and highlights the colours more. The Sharperner pro filter is pretty good, I think it's better than the "Smart Sharpen" in CS3. Anyway I hope you enjoy the shot.

Dragonfly Macro

I have been watching this Dragonfly fly around the garden for a couple of days.  Finally it needed a rest, so grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots.  I really like this one as it shows lots of details.  Incredible creatures.

Pieris rapae

The Small White (Pieris rapae) is a small to mid-sized butterfly species of the Yellows-and-Whites family Pieridae. It is also commonly known as the Small Cabbage White. The names "Cabbage Butterfly" and "Cabbage White" can also refer to the Large White.

Back to work.....

Well back to work for the week, and not much chance of getting photographs. The British summer is back with the usual rainy showers. Lets hope the weekend will favor the photographer.

I am rather enjoying my new Macro Lens and try to use it when I can.

I was thinking of doing the OU course in photography, but since talking to a few people who have been on the course, I don't think it will benefit me much. Have looked around at other course, I have seen the OCA photography courses. They seem to be more my level, but they cost around £580. So, I need to think hard, I really need to make sure that I would go the course. It last between 9 and 12 months.

I do however, have a book on photography, with about 28 projects in it. So I am tempted to work my way through those projects, and see how I get on. I think then I will know if I could do a course.

Busy Sunday.....

Well it was a busy Sunday for some......this Bumblebee seemed to be buzzing all over the garden.  Not actually much else in the garden today.  Hope you like the shot.

Saturday Morning Macro shot

This is a Speckled Bush Cricket - who I think has eaten my Basil plant.  I took a few shots, and moved him on!  Hope you like the shot.

Shot of the day/week.

This one is hot out of my camera.  This little one was eating my runner beans.  Thought I would take a few shots, before he went for a little walk somewhere else.  Hope you like it.

British Wildlife Centre

A couple of years ago, we went to the BWC with some very good friends, who are also very much into photography. The BWC is such a good place to see the wildlife that Britain has to offer. I think the only things that I didn't like, was the large birds of prey, that we kept in a smallish area. I think that birds should have LOTS of space to stretch their wings. Hope you like the shots.



This is a lovely little Polecat! Had to wait around for this little chat to appear......I think he was sleeping.












Showing my ignorance here. Not sure what kind of frog this is, but he seemed very photogenic.










Perhaps one of the stars of the BWC. He knows how to work the crowd!!

Macro

My latest lens is a Sigma 105mm EX DG, it is a Macro lens, and I have wanted one of these for ages. It really make you look at the world in a different way. Looking at the insect world in particularly amazing. It is a very frustrating part pf photography too, the little insect don't tend to sit still for that long!! Hope you like some of my shots.

Not sure what this little moth is called. But it posed for me perfectly.

This is a Hover fly. It was resting a leaf under a tree, I used a flash gun to get the shot.

This was my first Macro shot with my Sigma lens, I was very chuffed how it came out. Sorry I don't know the ID of the fly.

Landscapes - Australia

I have been to Australia on two occassions. I love the country, it is so diverse in it's culture and geography. My last trip out (2007), we ventured to Tasmania. It loved it!! Great people and fantasic beaches and culture. I really liked Hobart - great place to stay (although I think it rained most of the time).


Here are some shots of Tassie.


This is Wineglass Bay - apparently it's one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Two ways of getting there, either by boat, or scrambling. Well, we are not richer enough to have a boat. But, it was fun getting to the beach.







This is a shot of The Hazards, to get to Wineglass Bay, you have to go walk over these!!












This is a shot of Coles Bay, basically looking in the opposite direction to the picture above.

Landscapes - Peak District

I love taking landscapes, since I got my Sigma 10-20mm lens. I have been on several holidays to the Peak District, which is such a beautiful part of England.

This shot was taken with the Standard Stock Canon 18-55mm lens. The location of the shot is in the Derwent Valley. I love the way the mist in the background make you want to know what is just around the corner.

This shot, also with the 18-55mm lens. It Allport Castle, which is not exactly a Castle. Apparently it is Englands largest landslide. This is a view up the valley.

This shot is a HDR image, taken with the Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Welcome to my Photo blog

Hi, thanks for taking a look at my photoblog. I will be posting some of my pictures on here.

I am thinking of taking an Open University course in Photography, and I thought it would be good to put some images up here for people to look at.