Playing with fire

Playing with incense smoke for an hour last week.  I was attempting a slightly different idea, but that didn't work out, so I decided to just go ahead with some normal smoke trails anyway.  I usually like the simpler compositions of this type of image, but I like elements of each of these exposures and they worked best as a merge, rather than a quad.  I find it quite a mesmerising image following all the smooth curves, spirals and coils, hopefully all the details outweigh its busy composition

ISO100, 29mm, f/5.6, flash, levels, noise reduction, cropped, 4 exposures

ISO100, 29mm, f/5.6, flash, noise reduction, cropped

Smoking girl with a curl

The second image is a freak smoke formation of an 50's movie star, 

complete with arms, curly hair, dress, shawl, neck and nose.

Night Life

Orion and Jupiter in the sky above St Andrews church Chippenham.

Taken from Monkton park, which was still relatively busy thanks to the mild evening and proximity to the weekend.  It's always easy to feel a little vulnerable carrying expensive camera gear around urban areas at night, but it felt pretty chilled out and there is something reassuring about having a few kilos of metal tripod handy.  Having so many windows lit up was a bonus, but the reflection in the river didn't add as much to the image as I imagined, so it's been mostly chopped.

ISO400, 16mm, f.9, 30s, tripod, cable release, mirror lock up, cropped, noise reduction

Cottage in the mist

ISO100, 35mm, f/13, 1/3s, tripod, cable release, shutter  lock up, cropped, noise reduction

A misty sunrise with plenty of subtlety (too subtle?).  

It was an impulsive sunrise rather than a planned one, so the scene isn't the best, but the depth, smooth tones and pastel colours are worthy of posting

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HMS Royal Arthur

Had a quick scout around the nearby HMS Royal Arthur at lunch break last week. An MoD training base built after WW2, famous for having trained Prince Phillip (Duke of Edinburgh), but left derelict since 1993, it has been overtaken by vegetation and graffiti. A very interesting site which I will definitely re-visit soon.

Warm up

Dismayed with my continuing lack of photographic inactivity I decided to get my motor running last night and headed out to the highway, looking for adventure and whatever came my way. Rather predictably it was a highway full of cars and not much else, not a single lit up church or patch of clear sky in sight. So I decided to just do a practice run of a straight forward light trail, which turned out to be warranted, as I had forgotten to pack my head torch and tripod mounting plate?! Rusty to say the least. So with my camera bungeed to the tripod I fumbled around in the dark and took a few shots, using the distant glow of Bristol to brighten the dull sky. Lessons learned and brain refreshed, hopefully I'll get somewhere slightly more exciting sometime soon ...

ISO100, 16mm, f/8, 90 seconds, tripod, cable release, mirror lockup

Up periscope

ISO400, 560mm (400mm + 1.4x teleconvertor), f/8, 1/800s, -1/3ev, cropped, noise reduction

A mad march Hare pops its head above the grass-line in a local field, while a whirlwind of four buzzards circle in a thermal nearby.

Pic 'n' mix

A clear out of some images that didn't reach the blog over the last few months, possibly the most diverse mix of shots I've ever posted!?

Camels ahead - road sign, Morocco

Winter Walkers - Chippenham (home town)

Every sheep has a golden lining - Sunrise

Relaxing at Lisbon fashion week

Roman temple - Volubilis, Morocco

Seagull sunset - Wales

Symetrical archetecture - Lisbon, Portugal

Sunrise panorama with village chimney smoke trails

Quiet March

ISO100, 35mm, 1/500s, f/2.8, -1ev, cropped, levels, stacked

Seven spot Ladybird takes flight in a stacked sequence of images.

It's been a lazy start to March for my camera, thanks to moving house and starting to run in the evening sunlight. I did intend to get some night sky photos done Thursday night, with the planetary conjunction ongoing at the moment, but after two nights of clear skies it clouded over and another plan was scuppered.

A good mothers day weekend to all and we'll see what comes into focus next week...