Damselfly

This is a shot of a common blue Damselfly, taken at Fingringhoe Wick wildlife centre.  There we so many flying around it was hard to focus on them.  This one was on his own for a little while.

The only thing I am dissapointed with is that I jut missed the end of the tail, but I am still happy with the sharpness of the shot.

Pink on White

I have been playing around with a piece of software called CombineZP. Essentially this software stacks several images together to create a sharp image.

With Macro photography you have a limited DOF, and can't always show a full focused shot. With the software you can take several images (6 in this shot) at various focus points and then combine them together.

The software is freeware and would recommend having a go at focus stacking yourselves.

Anyway, I hope you like the shot.

Comma

A shot of another Comma Butterfly.  It appears that these butterflies don't seem to worry about people getting to close to them, or it's that I am getting good at getting closer.

Another beautiful weekend here in Essex, warm and sunny.  But could do with a couple of days of rain to water our grass and fill up our waterbutts.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Sunset over Mersea

Took a lovely walk last night, down to the sea wall. The weather was pretty much perfect last night, not too warm, but very still.

This is a HDR shot, as I didn't have my ND Grad filters with me last night. Also it's handheld (I must take my Tripod with me more often).

Use Photomatrix to produce the shot.

Hope you like it.

Wall Brown Butterfly

Went for a great walk today over a place call Chest Wood, which is a village called Layer de la Haye in Essex.  There was hardly anyone around, and there was plenty of wildlife around.  

This shot is of a butterfly called a Wall Brown, it is a Satyr, and can often be observed sunbathing with its wings spread open.  It took only a little while for it to settle so I could get a good shot of it.

Also, over in the woods, we saw plenty of birds flying around and even a woodpecker.

Hope you like the shot.

Blossom

Some gorgeous pear blossom form my garden, hopefully these will be pollenated by all the insects in the garden.  The pear tree has hundreds of blooms all over it.

Last year was a disaster, as there were no pears at all.

Some more Spring Shots

These 2 shots are from Fingringhoe Nature reserve, which we visited on Sunday.

Comma Butterfly

Well over the weekend it looked like Spring finally arrived to Essex. We went to Finginghoe Nature reserve and could see all kinds of life springing up.

The trees were getting their leaves, and there were lots of Bees and butterflies around.

One I managed to capture was a "Comma". These are very common and not so scared of a big lump like me coming towards them. I was kneeling on a bramble whislt taking this shot, but us photographers have to think of the shot before our pain. :-)

There were also lots of Peacock butterflies around, but they were not having any photographer coming close to them.

It was nice to see the carpark of the nature reserve almost full. There were lots of bird watchers and photographers over there. Some of the photographers have very big lenses, I guess they were trying to get shots of the many birds.

Well I hope you like the shots.

Fish nets.....sorry Fishing nets

Taken on Sunday 15th.  It was a glorious spring day, then sun was shining and the wind was calm.  I took this shot just down the road from where I live on Mersea Island.  This was taken with my Sigma 24-70mm lens (which I really like).  I wanted to show the nets off, so used a shallow DOF, but also wanted to allow the viewer to see the boats for a context in the shot.

Another Crocus

Not that I am getting predictable or anything, but here is another Crocus shot.  Well they are a nice little flower to practice with my macro setup.

I like the way this shot has turned out, with the stamen just showing behind the petal. 

Not sure that I will get many more shots of the crocus's as they don't tend to last that long, and the wind and rain (which we had today) has pretty much laid them to the ground.

However, I have been trying to get some shots of the helibores that are coming to flower in the garden at the moment.  Plus I can just about see the bluebell shots starting to poke through.

Anyway, hope you like the shot.

Crocus close up

So I have now had a little time to practice with my macro setup.  I will hopefully get a little more time this weekend.

I  must say when I have the bracket attached and the flash over the of the lens it ways a tonne.  But if you grab the bracket and use that has a handle it is much better.  I guess it's something to get use to.  I have been practicing some techniques that other photographers use, and it seems to be working.

I hope you like the latest upload.

Now with the new macro rig.

Ok, I have now got my full macro rig for my camera.  I bought a Kirk Macro bracket with the addition of a Giotto Ball head.  These two pieces of kit combined with my Speedlite 430EX II & TTL Off shoe cord work a treat. 

The photo is of a viola, I was suprised myself of the detail I have captured, and I never knew that they looked like that inside.

Thanks for looking.

3

Not really inspired to go outside today, as it is raining.  Waiting for spring to turn up, and at least I will be able to do some flower shots.

In the meantime, I have been playing around with the Speedlite, and doing some still life.

Selling Prints

Well I thought I would give it ago.  I have setup an account on Photobox, which will handle all sales and prints for people.

At the moment, I only have a few shots up there, so please be paitence.

Here is a link to the site:  http://www.photoboxgallery.com/gallery?vendor_id=3000070

If you think anyone else would like a picture then show them the link :-)

Chilli

Well I have been playing around with my 430EX II flash gun today.  Used it on an off shoe cord (purchased from Ebay), bounced the light on a gold reflector to give a bit more warmth to the shot.

I am waiting for some remote triggers to arrive from Ebay, so I will be trying out lots of other shot with my strobes.

Hope you like the shot.

Another new addition

Well this is the latest addition to my Photographic kit.  I am now trying to learn some techiques on how to use the flash to it best abilities.

As soon as I have some good images I will upload them.

Bye for now.

Just a couple of quick posts.

Just a very quick post.  This is another image from our recent holiday in Devon.  I used a new plugin with photoshop, which simulates HDR photography, but only uses one photo to produce the image.

The plugin is called Re-Dynamix.

Also, another gift for my birthday is a shiny new Canon Speedlite 430EX II flash.  I am going to try a couple of still life shots today, as I also got TOM ANG's book on how to produce better photographs.  There are exercises to do in the book.

I will give a review of the book to at some point.

Dartmoor National Park

Just got back from a cold and rainy Dartmoor.  We only did a short walk, about 2.5 miles.  It was very nice to be out there with hardly any other people around.

A shot from Devon

A shot from South Devon.  We were very lucky with the weather today.  It was  a little cold, but walking up and down the coast certainly warmed you up.

My work is being displayed

A few weeks ago I was approached by my companies Multimedia and Graphics department asking if they could use a couple of my shots to display on the wall at work.

They chose the sunset shot with the boats (displayed on my blog) and another one of the Balckwater canel.  They are having them printed at the moment.  I will take a shot of them when they are on the wall at work and post the pictures on here.

You never know, this may be the start of something...........................

New Addition

Well, as it is nearlly my birthday, I have bought a new lens.  It basically replacing the kit lens that came with my old Canon 350D.

Details:

24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG MACRO

Large aperture standard zoom lens provides superior performance both for Digital SLR Cameras and 35mm Film SLR Cameras

To achieve an F2.8 aperture at all focal lengths, it employs three aspherical Lens to provide optimum aberration compensation. Two Special Low Dispersion (SLD) glass elements are provided for color aberration compensation, to assure high image quality.

 -  - 

Optimised for digital SLR cameras
It incorporates a "Super Multi Layer Coating" to reduce the influence of harmful light caused by reflections from the digital image sensor.

Excellent correction of aberrations
Two SLD elements, one Glass Mold Aspherical plus two Hybrid Aspherical lenses provide excellent correction of various aberrations and a high level of optical performance.

Minimum focusing distance of 40cm
The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 40cm at all focal lengths and is capable of macro photography with a maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.8.

DF (Dual Focus) System
This lens incorporates a Dual Focus (DF) system that is designed to make the lens easy to hold during autofocusing, and yet provides a large focus ring for easy manual focusing.

Petal Type Hood
Since the front of the lens does not rotate, a Petal-type hood and circular polarizing filters can be easily used.

House Boat

The shot is from West Mersea, normally I dont take a 2nd look at some of these boats, but this evening they looked really interesting against the sky.  I took this with my 40D and my Canon 90-300mm lens.  I don't think the lens is a good one, and I am thinking of replacing it, but still undersided which lens to buy.  It is coming up to my 40th birthday, so I think I should treat myself.

Thanks for looking.

Chinese Lanterns

Happy New Year!

I thought I would get my light tent out today and have a play around. With my tent it came with a number of coloured back drops.  I thought that the black one would show the subject off the best.

The reflective surface was obtained by using a piece of polished black granite.  I used my flash gun remotely for the lighting.

Hope you like it.

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!!