Cambridge Botanic Gardens Reopen

Cambridge University Botanic Gardens opened this week for Friends of the Gardens and will open next week to the general public. It was great to take Sadie and Meredith with their cameras for a visit there on Wednesday afternoon. While there Sadie took readings for her Home-School Science project on Heart Beat, Exercise and Recovery. Meredith just enjoyed running!

Life in a Daisy Part Two

A variety of flies, bees and a green leaf bug photographed on oxeye daisies. The first image of a Snail-killing fly (Ilione albiseta) is my favourite for its truly SciFi appearance. Fortunately it is very small!!

Life in a Daisy Part One

The first of two posts showing the enormous variety of wildlife found on the heads of Oxeye daisies from the two spiders (Orb Furrow Spider , Cucumber Spider) to the many Beetles and butterflies and moths

Pinhole Mark II. Barley Fields and Tree Trunks

 I had a second attempt at making a pinhole lens, this time using an extra fine needle and minimal pressure. This worked well and it is much ' sharper' than the previous and gives the longer exposures for creative shots. I took lots of photos of a barley field both still and moving the camera. There were also some really interesting tree trunks with ivy in the same location. I really like crowd scenes done with pinhole lenses but I may have to wait a while to shoot these.

 

Grantchester through a Pinhole

I constructed a pinhole lens a few months ago but wasn't happy with the smoothness of the pinprick hole, so here a second attempt. It comprises a body cap with 4 mm hole drilled through and then a piece of foil with a pin-prick hole taped to a circle of black card and this taped onto the body cap (see last image). We visited Grantchester in very changeable weather - here a few of the results. It produced very vibrant colours and the characteristic soft 'focus'. There was considerable flare if I turned at all towards the light. The worst feature is that it focuses on every speck of dust on the sensor so cleaning up the images is very time consuming. Now for some more creative subjects!!