Golden Dawn in Toft

I went for an early walk this morning and watched the sun rise behind a large oak tree. The moon was still quite high in the sky and the surface looked spectacular through my telephoto lens. Other views from the highest point on my walk and our gate as I returned home. Another set of closer views to follow!

Fitzwilliam Cambridge - Vases

Our first visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum since March and I took the opportunity to take photos of some of the wonderful vases and teapots etc in their collection with the idea of practising some of the soft light techniques that we were demonstrating at our CCC Wednesday Workshop. My method is simpler than some we were shown with the image duplicated and then 50%Gaussian blur faded in screen mode to give a highlight glow. Next a texture in soft light mode and a white or pastel layer also in soft light. The opacity of each layer adjusted plus masks where required.

 

 

Birds at our Feeder into the Light

We had some fun photographing birds on our feeders with the sun almost directly behind them showing of the wing feathers. These were taken at 1/2500 of a second and still not quite stopped the motion and focus not always right on the eyes but I love the patterns the wings make.

Saffron Walden Churchyard

Yesterday we took part in a photohunt in Saffron Walden - more images to follow of other locations. I had with me my Fuji compact and a pinhole lens. The first image is a composite of a poppy from the compact and a pinhole image of the gravestones. Images 2,3 and 5 are pinhole images - all the rest are from the Fuji compact with a couple monochrome conversions as the sunlit areas just asked for a high contrast conversion. The final two to show the dominance of the church over the town and its tall steeple as depicted in a vertical panorama of 5 shots

 

Insect Eyes from Paxton Pits

Among the 70 or so different species that I photographed yesterday during one of our Wildlife Survey  mornings, I found this set of amazing eyes to share (Red-eyed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Snail-killing fly, Kite-tailed Robberfly, Median Wasp (at nest), Eristalis pertinax, Roesel's Bush Cricket, Speckled Bush Cricket, Cicadella viridis, and Common Darter female)