Wicken in the Snow

 It was very cold and snowy at Wicken this afternoon and the birds were very argumentitive on the feeders.

Coin Photography

I was asked to photograph a couple of coins, one a Roman copper coin where the surface is so worn that it is difficult to make out the detailsand the other a George IV coin from 1828 where the details are very well preserved. I used a 50mm Macro lens and a Ringflash.

Wimpole farm

 Very cold wet visit toWimpole Farm today partly to see the Daffodils, which are not out properly yet, and the lambs.The pigs and donkey somehow got in on the act.

Focus Fixer Software

This is the first time I have used the focus Fixer on a portrait as it isn't my usual genre but this portrait of Meredith was a bit soft so I used the programme to sharpen the eyes. I am not sure which colour balance I prefer - the lower one is corrected for the white background.

Mill at Anglesey Abbey

 I took some images yesterday in the Water Mill at Anglesey Abbey using the HDR setting on my Sony. It worked surprisingly well. The monochrome image shows how shadows can be lost by choosing the right channel mix in the Raw converter.

Butterflies from Stratford

 A few pictorial images from my visit to the Stratford Butterfly House. I am still chasing that elusive Swallowtail in flight image!

Hanbury Hall

 Visited Hanbury Hall yesterday - interesting wooden staircases. Lefthand views taken with Sony RX100, righthand with Canon5D.

Leaf Cutter Ants

 When it got too cold on the fingers to photograph out of doors yesterday, I spent some time in the Butterfly House much of it with the leaf-cutter ants. I didn't have a macro lens so it was very hit and miss with the 70-200 mm and big enlargements but here are a few that I liked. The first shows the relative size of soldier ant and worker ant.

Stratford -upon-Avon

 It was very cold in Stratford-upon-Avon today but great skies for setting the trees etc against.

Food and Drink

 Rather a long break from the Blog as it has been a busy time finishing our move into our new bedroom and then coming to Evesham to judge Photo2013. As always hospitality has been great with lots of food and drink t0 sustaon our efforts in judging over 3,800 images. Images taken with Galaxy Notepad and processed with Snapseed.

Other Birds from Center Parcs

 A few of the other more interesting species photographed from the hide at Center Parcs (last image shows the whole area from the hide. I have looked up on the web and can't see any information on Jay eye colour and why it is sometimes blue and sometimes brown. Other images are Marsh Tit, Tree Creeper, Siskin  male and female and Nuthatch.