Foggy Morning in Toft

A very foggy yesterday for an early morning walk round the village - the only thing I found to talk to was a painted cow missing all the Cambridge crowds and, despite the notice, the fish and chip shop was not open.

 

Workshop on Flash Techniques

Yesterday evening, Toft Photogroup and CCC had a photography evening in Toft Churchyard practising various flash and night photography techniques.  Zoe came along with her black and irridescent angel wings and white fans and feathers. The three church images are comparable exposures - first with the security lights on, then unlit and finally lit by light painting with a handheld flash gun. The first and second images of Zoe are single flashes while the third and fourth images are long exposures with several flashes during the exposure. 

Knole National Trust, Kent,

Knole was extended from an earlier manor house in the 15th century and became a royal possession during the Tudor dynasty when Henry VIII's daughter lived and Elizabeth I is also said to have visited. From 1603, Thomas Sackville made it the aristocratic treasure house for the Sackville family, who were prominent and influential in court circles. Over more than 400 years, his descendants rebuilt and then furnished Knole in three further bursts of activity.

Thomas Sackville's Jacobean great house, unlike any surviving English great house apart from Haddon Hall, still looks as it did when Thomas died, having managed "to remain motionless like this since the early 17th century", balanced between growth and decay.

Another Impressive Sunset

A very different sunset to the night before - this time with mackerel clouds covering almost the entire span. I played around with foreground interest (some with on-camera flash) until, reluctantly, had to return home! (First image - stitched panorama; last image in-camera panorama of around 300degrees)

Phone Snaps of Sunset

I should have predicted that it would be a good sunset after all the sunshine and showers today but I only had a phone camera on my evening stroll with the dog. Not great quality but the colours have been fairly faithfully recorded. 

Fungi Hardwick Wood

I walked to our local ancient wood yesterday to see if the recent rain had brought forth any fungi. It is still very dry there (good for walking as the mud can get very deep in the winter!). I found a few very small specimens amongst the moss and photographed with 50mm macro and LED light using stacks of 45 images. Last images is with the 23mm lens and no stack.

Dog's Eye View

Our local village Longstowe has an Annual Dog Show so we took Ted along. He didn't win in the open clas but certainly enjoyed the hay bale jumping. I decided to photograph from down low including owners' legs to get a dog's eye view.