Forest Pheasant

A cock Pheasant perches atop a mossy tree stump surveying a sea of bluebells.

Something of a field craft success for me, managing to sneak into position for this shot, especially with the sound of shotguns ringing in the distance.  Was on the lookout for deer, but this chap made for a much more colourful shot and another first for my check list.  

The early covering of bluebells made for slightly different landscapes too, since usually the trees are green with new leaves, but are still relatively bare this year.  I will blog more shots through the week..

ISO160, 400mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, -0.7 ev, cropped

Get orf moi laaannd!

Probably the best protected farm in the land, British army Apaches practice over Wiltshire,

scuppering any plans of insurgents terrorising the local sheep.  Thankfully the MoD seemed not to mind me

sitting on Pewsey hill fort with 560mm of lens pointing at their toys while I ate lunch in the Sun.  

You never know, it might even be HRH Prince Harry checking me out through his scope!

(I swear that gun looks like it's pointing my way in the 2nd shot)   :)

A bit of Photoshop fun for the 2nd image. 

Photo-nephology

ISO200, 33mm, f/13, 1/60s, -1.3ev, circular polariser, desaturate, levels, curves, vignette, noise reduction

ISO100, 21mm, f/13, 1/50s, -1.3ev, circular polariser, cropped,  levels, curves

ISO400, 16mm, f/6.3, 1/50s, -1ev, circular polariser, noise reduction, levels,curves, vignette  

Three shots taken down a lane that I travel down all the time, but never actually look for possible shots.  With some great cloud formations in the evenings lately I challenged myself to taking some shots locally instead of slipping into a "nice sky, if only I was at .. " (somewhere more overtly photogenic) mindset.   

Have a cracking Easter!

Spring Life

Three shots from the weekend, making the most of the false summer while it lasts.

A Grebe in the first shot, taken at ISO800 because I'd been taking other photos when it floated past, always quite tricky to decide how to crop these reflection images, but the centred subject won out.

My resistance to taking macro photos collapsed for the second shot, as bee-flies are everywhere at the moment and look great against a splash of colour.

The third is a fun shot which just took a little waiting for the lambs to direct their overloaded energy levels in the right direction, past a sign for a cross country run.

ISO800, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, -2/3ev, cropped, noise reduction

ISO200, 105mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, -1ev, noise reduction