Planning Shots for Wind Pump Photographs

 The main object of yesterday's landscape day was to use a wide -angle set up with filters to achieve some 'classic' Norfolk views. I used my compact (X100V) as a planning tool to see what compositions might work and what colour and 'information' might be achievable. The X100V has a built-in neutral density filter and also a HDR mode producing a raw file both very useful for this task. I find I can handhold to 1/8th sec. These are raws from the camera at ISO160 with no noise reduction or sharpening.

Bristol Walk 1

 I had a spare afternoon in Bristol and went for a walk around the city centre - last visited 2012 when it was pouring with rain! Very little has changed in terms of buildings but, like many cities, the area is very much dominated by tourist trade now with lots of eating places and tourist attractions. I was using a fixed 23mm lens (X100V) so some images are stitched panoramas (horizontally or vertically) while the last image is enlarged to test the quality of the original.

Fungi at Brandon Country Park

 Beautiful autumn day at Brandon with golden sunlight through the trees yesterday for our RPS Nature Group Fungi hunt. There was a good variety around though not in the large numbers we have seen some years. I concentrated on some of the very small specimens found in the leaf litter etc. Mostly these are single shots at F13/F16 with 23mm lens plus close-up lens. The last two images are focus-stacked at F2 and F16 (No noise reduction at the moment as computer a bit poorly!)

Hampshire Closeup

We are spending a 9 days in Hampshire with friends exploring some of the nature reserves etc. Unfortunately the weather doesn't look very good this week for insect photography with cool temperatures and cloudy or rainy skies. I expored some local meadows yesterday evening in light drizzle and was surprised how many different flies etc were sheltering in the foliage. I also found a grassing-loving Shield bug - the Tortoise Shield Bug, which I hadn't encountered before. the first is an Ichneumon wasp, Orgichneumon maybe - the family of Ichneumons is so vast that many have not been given common names or even scientific ones. (X100V plus closeup filter)

RPS Nature Group Meeting at Rutland Water

Unfortunately the promised warmer and brighter weather failed to materialise so another outing in cold, breezy and, at times. wet conditions. The birds were keeping low in the vegetation searching for sheltering insects etc but I did manage satisfactory photographs of a couple of Reed Warblers and Green Woodpecker, Reed Bunting, Common Tern and Great Crested Grebe. Very few insects visible but here an Orange Tip and a Colletes bee species with the X100v plus macro attachment and the 100-400mm lens for comparison. Many thanks to Peter Ward for organising the trip.