Thursday, April 29, 2010

Canal Life

Another bit of a gap in service, apologies. With an imminent trip to Wales next week too I thought I had better get on my PC and sort some posts out! Here are 4 pics from canal walks back before the weather turned and with lots of effort and an early night I finally got out for a sunrise!!
With the mist rising off the glassy water it was very tranquil and I'm pretty pleased with this image (fusion of bracketed shots).


Lazy days. I like this shot, the backlighting and dynamics are great. I shot two images at the time and the first was slightly out of focus, giving a soft haze that I liked, the 2nd shot was in focus, but had inferior poses. So I chose the 2nd shot and gently attempted to recreate the soft focus, haze with some blended gaussian blur.

Ducks away! High ISO, shallow depth of field and clean background, help capture the water splash left behind by the departing duck, which is quite a fun image in my opinion!

ps. Project Kingfisher has ground to a halt, unfortunately. Ever since the high river levels a few weeks back they have all disappeared. Spotted two flying past further down the river, but that has been it in many visits, certainly none of the flying and hunting spotted previously. Whether it was the bad weather, predators or something else that has made them disappear? my knowledge fails me.


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Local Spring Life

Some shots from the last weeks sunshine. Finally some lighter evenings and nice weather!




A heron hunting, but the kingfishers have proved a lot more elusive this week. Spotted two flying cross-country, but haven't spotted them hunting in a while now.






A sparrowhawk makes an appearance in the setting Sun..




Thursday, April 01, 2010

Happy Easter!

An odd mix of pics today, still catching up from the last few weeks photos. I do have a working PC now though! So with a long weekend ahead I am hoping to get out and possibly post some more over the next few days. I'd also like to thank Canon for my sturdy 50D, after I dropped my camera for the first time in over 4 years digital photography! Ouch! Not a nice moment, but thankfully with no immediate damage.
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Another Robin! Seems they are everywhere at the moment, so I have added a packet of mealworms to my kit to lure them closer.

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Some nice incidental lighting on our nieghbourhood visiting cat, strong backlight from the Sun and gently front lit by the open door, like a naturally occuring studio setup.