Fun with Fungi

As well as the wide angle shots, I also tried some closeup work as there were so many beautiful small fungi. I was using a 5omm macro plus a 25mm extension ring. This has resutled in a very narrow depth of field in the first image taken wide open at 2.5. I wanted to try and get all the water drops in focus so I tried f11 but the background is beginning to intrude. I liked the way the stalks go out of focus on the third image but probably should crop above the in focus moss.

If You Go Down to the Woods

All the wet and now mild weather has resulted in a bumper crop of fungi in the woods and fields. These were taken yesterday at Gamlingay Woods, Cambridgeshire. I will get them identified and add the species when time permits but thought this might encourage other fungi enthusiasts to get out in the woods this weekend.

Wimpole in Storm Light

We had a club outing to Wimpole Park this morning. Heavy rain was forecast and did arrive on time at 1 o'clock but the four hardy souls who got there at 9 am were rewarded with some amazing light. I had taken a 8-strength Neutral Density filter to try long exposures on moving clouds but it was too windy as the camera moved too much on the tripod. However, using shorter exposures (higher ISO etc), the filter did produce some dramatic images of the house bathed in sunshine with very heavy clouds behind. The tree shots were as shafts of sunlight lit up parts of the park.

Story of a Sunrise

Flowers in the Rain

Just a few wet flowers that attracted my attention when looking round the garden in the rain.

Saturday's Wedding

Angi and Phil's wedding on Saturday was a very happy event - how could it fail to be with 8 small boys and several sets of balloons. It made photography a bit difficult especially when trying a group shot as none of the children wanted to stay still for more than a second.

If you were at the wedding, the photos can be viewed on

www.photoboxgallery.com/annmiles

Autograss Racing

We had arranged to take photographs at the Autograss racing at St Neots today and, despite a very cold wind and intermittent rain, we stuck to the plan and spent 6 cold hours on a field watching cars go round and round a dirt track. The Specials gave the most action during the day with some spin-offs and battles with the cones. The Saloons were more 'sedate' but still ended up the wrong way round on occasions.

Horses

We have had two pairs of horses in the field along our lane for many weeks now and, every time there is some lovely evening light, I think 'I must get out and photograph them'. Well last afternoon I did. Here we have mother and daughter on the left and the larger male foal on the right - his mother is quite nervous of the camera so took off at fast rate most times.

I tried two different monochrome conversions on one of the pictures - either with maximum or minimum green channel and adjustments on other colours. I liked the minimum green channel conversion and used this for the other monochromes.

Christmas Comes Early to Toft Wood

After a misty dawn, the dew-covered cobwebs in our local wood gave the appearance of tinsel. The pink Spindle berries looked extra good with a covering of cobweb. The photos were taken with a Sony Cybershot which has a lot of chromatic abberation especially at the edges of the lens, This gave some interesting macro shots of the dew drops.

Gannets

I needed an image to advertise a talk I am doing entitled Inspired by Nature and found this one from a trip over to Bass Rock. Obviously a composite but it is the feeling you get when the Gannets swoop in to get the fish thrown into the water from the boat.

King's College

I have visited Kings College a great many times taking visitors round the building and yet there are always corners or views that I missed on a previous visit.

I was attracted by the very varied 'furniture' that had been left in one corner of the Chapel.

The old glass on an inner window has beautiful soft colours echoed in the roof on the rather dull day on Tuesday.

Finally an image of quiet contemplation in a side chapel.

Barn Owl Take Off

Two shots of a Barn Owl getting airborn in beautiful evening light.

Dragon Boat Racing

A few pictures from the Dragon boat racing on the Cam yesterday. The crew featured here are the Viking Queens in case you couldn't guess!

It was a showery and blustery start to the day. This did not deter the participants but did result in a capsize
after one of the races. Visibility was very poor by then with the rain.

When a 300mm lens is too long

Photo courtesy of Pete Skinner at Shepreth Wildlife Park.

Leaf-cutter ants

Spent some time studying and photographing these leaf-cutter ants. They cut and carry the leaf pieces back to the nest as fodder for the fungi that then feed the young. I was intrigued by the presence on many of the leaf fragments of 'passenger' ants - always smaller than the ant carrying the leaf.

Update from Web

This is a known behaviour - the smaller ants climb on to guard the larger ant carrying the leaf