Beechwoods Wandlebury

Last year I visited the beechwoods at Wandlebury around this time to photograph the White Helleborines and I wanted to try again this year with a different lens. Unfortunately they are not quite out and they are also very small this year, maybe because of the dry conditions. I spent time photography the trees both with my infrared camera and in colour. I converted the colour image to monochrome using maximum green channel to attempt a digital infrared. However, with these bright dappled conditions and the green treetrunks, the result is not very pleasing.

The image taken with the infrared camera is much more striking - the lichen on the bark does not emit as much infrared as the foliage so you get a good separation of trunks and leaves.

Interestingly, an autumn picture taken in the same location converts well to a infrared look alike by using full orange and yellow filtration in a Lightroom conversion to greyscale.

Swiss Garden at Shuttleworth

As well as photographing the birds and airplanes, we also took a walk round the Swiss garden. This was created in 1820 by Lord Ongley for his Swiss wife and is an outstanding example of Swiss picturesque archtiecture with Chalet, grott0 and fernery.


The fish-eye gave some interesting images from inside this fine maple tree

I liked the echo of the leaf pattern in the shadow behind.

Experiments in Shutterspeed.

We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at the Shuttleworth Collection, photographing birds of prey in the afternoon and then switching to veteran airplanes in the evening. I experimented with different shutterspeeds for the photographs and it has reinforced my puzzlement as to why we have such rigid and different conventions for the two subjects.

With birds in flight, it is generally thought that the shutterspeed should be such that all motion is stopped and everything is sharp. Hence in the first Kite picture, 1/1000sec is too slow for the wing tip motion. The second kite image at 1/1600 is sharp throughout as is the Saker Falcon at 1/1250.

With airplanes (and cars etc), the opposite holds in that there should be some motion in the propeller (or wheels). Hence the image taken at 1/1000sec although very sharp isnot acceptable as the prop motion has been frozen. I tried at both 1/250 and 1/400 but found that, as I was using my camera on a tripod, I didn't manage to follow through sufficiently well with the panning so ended up images that were not sharp. My best images were a compromise at 1/800 sec

Photographing Nightingales

Continuing the theme of why I like to photograph, here is a series of Nightingale pictures taken this year on subsequent visits to Paxton. The first image has appeared on the Blog before in the Dawn Chorus entry - it was the best shot I could get that day in dull conditions and not knowing the best locations for photography.


On a second quick visit one evening when returning home down the A1, I found a very good area for photographing where the bird perched to sing very much in the open. The evening light was beautiful but did create a harsh shadow across the tail so another visit was required!

By the next visit a few days later, the number of singing birds had diminshed and they were singing less often but I did manage a sharp image in mottled sunlight.

The final (?) visit yesterday to the same area produced some wonderful views - still not perfect as there are branches across the tail in one and a rather bland background in the other. Perhaps another visit is required - so photography becomes an excuse to return several times and experience the wonderful song of this amazing bird.

The Amazing Dandelion

One of the things I like best about photography is that it makes me look more closely at seemingly common subjects. Last year I noted that the Dandelion has evolved a truly amazing mechanism to ensure that the flowers have the best chance of pollination and the subsequent seeds of dispersal.

The flower is borne on an upright stem above the leaves to attract insects. When pollination has occurred the stem grows/bends downward so that the dead flowerhead with the developing seeds is now at ground level below the flowers. When the seeds are ripe and ready for dispersal, some growth or turgidity mechanism causes the seed head to be lifted above the flowers and leaves for dispersal of the parachute seeds by the wind.

I would love to know what physiological processes are involved if there are any botanists out there.

In Your Dreams

This is Marmite and what he imagines himself to be. Actually he is quite a cowardly cat!

Cardiff Bay

A couple more pictures of the derelict station building at Cardiff Bay - the new rail link still runs from the area but a new platform has been built. This is the front of the building - it has a very Europaean look in this photo.














Here you can see the old platform and the canopy over it.















In another street nearby they obviously started converting an old pub into luxury apartments but then work ceased and the area has been just left

Two Images from Friday

A couple of images from Cardiff Bay area - the new bright Millennium Centre and the derelict dark Bay Railway Building

Images from Gloucestershire

It was raining hard this morning so went into Cheltenham for an hour until the rain eased a bit. Liked the muted colours of this scene. 1/15th sec.

This was an accident as I let the shutterspeed drop to 1/250th second but it has produced an interesting image, especially the water thrown up in the wake.

A couple of horses near Cheltenham - it was foggy at the time and has resulted in a pleasing muted background

Red-legged partridge on a wall in the Cotswolds

White Wild Flowers

Four more wild flowers out in the garden this week. Above is Alliaria petiolata (Hedge Garlic, Garlic mustard, or 'Jack-by-the-hedge' ) and Lamium album (White Dead Nettle).
Below Symphytum orientale (White Comfrey) and Anthriscus sylvestris (Cow Parsley)

Red

I have been taking images during the year for our Camera club's end of year themed competition. Now is the time to choose one print for each of the five set subjects. One of the themes was red. Here are four images that haven't made my final choice but that I like.

Dawn Chorus

This morning I took part in an event for International Dawn Chorus Weekend. I got to Paxton Pits by 5.30 am to listen to the dawn chorus there. The noise was incredible, especially the Nightingale. Paxton has many pairs of Nightingales despite the fact that the scrubland habitat that they require is being reduced by the Muntjac deer that graze among the trees. The bird on the right is a Garden Warbler - very similar to Nightingale except what comes out of the mouth!

A wonderful experience - watch this short video made from a recording taken at the time plus photos.

Press the play symbol under the box - features Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler and Nightingale - bit crude as first attempt at Photo to Movie

Grebes and Ducks

These Great Crested Grebes were a bit too distant for good photographs but could enjoy the antics of the three youngsters as they climbed on and off the parent.

The Mallards were less shy - loved this flotilla with the odd one out leading the way

Birds in the Blossom

Last time we visited Wicken Fen the Blackthorn was still in bud so I was keen to revisit before all the petals had blown off. There were not so many birds around this time but this Bluetit and Female Reed Bunting obligingly perched just right

Wicken Fen

Windy day today with sunny intervals and lots of scudding clouds so ideal for infrared photography. I had photographed Wicken Fen with infrared film a few years ago so I was keen to see digital infrared images of the Fen. I will do some prints sometime to compare with the darkroom prints but the monochrome conversions look to have as much contrast and sparkle.