Waders etc at Welney

 There are very large numbers of waders on the Ouse Washes at the moment - the water level is pretty low so there is plenty of mud. Apparently there were also a couple of Peregrines and, though we didn't see them, the Black-tailed godwits were constantly taking flight and reeling round in dramatic shapes.. The change of the flock from black to white as they turned from back to side intrigued me.
A Water Rail took off right in front of me. I had only a slowish shutterspeed but love the walking-on-water posture. The final swan image is my favourite where a Whooper is preening its feathers in the high wind.

Six Moods at Welney

 Today at Welney was very changeable - one minute sunshine then heavy cloud and rain. East Anglia really invites the wide skyscape

RX100 of Cambridge at Night

 On our evening photographing in Cambridge, I took a few handheld images with the RX100 first used on shutter priority ISO 800 with shutterspeeds of 1/15th or 1/30th second. The reflections on the wet pavements gave a very even distribution of light. The fifth image was taken with Superior Auto mode where the camera shoots burst images and overlays the multiple images. By overlaying the images, the camera records an image with less subject blur and noise. The camera chose 1/4 sec f1.8 and ISO 6400. Compare with the 30sec exposure taken with the Canon 5D 30secs.

Burghley House in March 2013

 I have had an ear infection that has restricted my photogrpahy trips this week but it has resulted in more processing time for photos. I am still exploring Silver Effex Pro - here a series of treaments from the more natural to the dynamic - I prefer the middle one.

Hamerton Zoo 2.Mammals

Some of the mammals from our trip to Hamerton. The light as the sun set gave lovely effects.

Hamerton Zoo 1. Birds

 Visited Hamerton Zoo near Sawtry  today on a beautiful sunny day and enjoyed the constant antics of 4-5 Red Kites who have obviously learnt where to get a free meal. As the light was very contrasty, I decided to concentrate on just parts of the captive birds and ended up with this panel of eyes. amazing variety of colours and textures

Cambridge Night Photography

CCC outing to Cambridge yesterday evening to catch the Christmas lights and the general ambience of the city before Christmas. It had rained in the afternoon so lots of reflections about. 'Unfortunately' Kings college was floodlit which gave large exposure problems as the sky darkened but a bit of work on the raw has given a reasonable result. The monochrome is Silver Efex Pro showing what can be brought out from low-light shots. Once all the light had gone, we went onto Garret Hostel Bridge and did some full-night shots - the usual setting of 30sec at f8 ISO 800 worked well. Kings again a problem because of the floodlighting but like this soft version with moon.

Cambridge RUFC versus Shelford RC

 1st and 2nd CRUFC teams played Shelford this afternoon at home. It is the first time they have met in league matches and they turned out to be real battles in every way as expected from a local derby. It was bright and sunny to start with and then heavy cloud reduced the light levels dramatically but got a few shots I like.