Garden Birds in the Snow

A couple of images from the recent cold spell when the garden seed heads proved very popular with goldfinches and blue tits. The images were taken in poor light and through the double glazing but I like the muted colours and backgrounds.

Madingley War Cemetery in the Snow

I decided to take a break from the decorating this morning and review some of the images I took after the recent snow. Here are four from the American War Cemetery.

I had to take the trees first as I love their curvy branches. It had snowed and there had also been freezing fog overnight so all the branches were covered in snow and ice.The frozen water was an almost pure cyan colour. The sky at this stage was grey as there was still high level fog. A little later the fog lifted and there were glimpses of the sun. I changed to the 15mm fish eye as I kn ow it will shoot direct into the sun with no appreciable flare.

The sky cleared for a time but the light was a pastel orange. This is my favourite (well so far!)

98th Christmas

For those who know her, I am posting this picture of Edith enjoying the sunlight in her room at Home Meadow.

?Reject

I realised I had taken this with too slow shutterspeed and was about to throw the file away; however, when I reviewed the image, I decided I like it better than some of the intentional images

Another Day and Different Light

Today was the most magical day so far in this cold spell with the trees coated in ice and sparkling all day. Here are two pictures from neighbouring Hardwick Church taken as the sun was setting and one view across the fields as I returned home.

Windy Sky

Impressive skies again this morning - lots of high level cirrus in a huge arch across the whole sky with smaller cumulus at lower levels.

Sunset in Toft

24mm lens (left) and 15 mm fish-eye lens (right)

So I painted the wall and then time for some sunset pictures in Toft. There were amazing colours all round the sky.

Irresistable Image

I should be painting a wall but couldn't resist posting this image to share - taken on an early morning walk from Barton to Grantchester

Lowlight Photography Cambridge

A couple of images from this evening's club outing to Cambridge to capture the hour or so around dusk. Although the light was great, it was very icy on the pavements and very cold, so I didn't hang around.

Toft after the Snow

This is Toft this morning as the sun rose

Millie in the Snow

Millie enjoying the snow today (more pictures later of Toft after the bad weather)

Here Comes that Bad Weather

A day later and blizzards are sweeping across East Anglia. This was an early snowstorm in King's College this afternoon but, by the evening, continuous snow arrived in the Cambridge area driven by strong winds

Warning of bad weather?

This was the sunrise this morning - if the old saying is correct then shepherds are warning of bad weather to come.

I have recently cleared part of a very tall hedge and was very pleased to be able to capture the sky in all its glory this morning. There is still a small piece of Leylandii intruding so a bit more clipping is needed. As this must be nearly as far south as the sun will rise in a year, I now need to extend the area only to the north to be abe to view all sunrises

Fog

A foggy picture for a foggy day

Parasol Mushroom

Very surprised to find these large Parasol Mushrooms in a field in Toft (growing under Horse Chestnut).

I noticed them at the beginning of the week when there were still some young caps but by today the caps are fairly nibbled.

Taken with my Sony on Close-up mode and using flip-up screen means I could get down low without getting totally soaked.

Fast Food Portfolio

Posted these 5 photos that form my print portfolio for the camera club competition

They are taken on a camera that has been adapted for Infrared. The magenta RAW image that comes out of the camera can be adjusted in Photoshop by swapping blue and red channels but I do my adjustment in Lightroom by using the Camera Calibration box. I have built a Profile for my IR Camera using the DNG Profile Editor. This camera Standard can be applied to all the IR Raws. The temperature can then be adjusted to get the preferred colour range or converted to monochrome.

Bikes and Railings

Not a very original idea bt enjoyed bikes and shadows in a sunny Cambridge.

November 30th and still green

Photogaph taken in Cambridge on Monday - many of the trees still have green leaves.

Fort Dunlop Travelodge

I have passed this building by the side of the M6 so many times and wondered what it would be like to stay in the Travelodge so we gave it a go on Saturday night. Our room was on the 5th floor so our port hole was the top row of this view. There were ten floors in all giving great views over the car park and Jaguar factory.

On Sunday morning we decided to try photographing the very colourful car park markings.

We managed a few shots before being interrupted by the Security staff who said we needed permission but that the manager who gives permission was not there on Sundays.

I don't think we can have photographed any great secrets -why decorate the ground in such a colourful way if they didn't expect people to photograph it.

Cambridge Willows

A couple of Infrared images from a dull day in Cambridge

The willows are still in leaf - this one reminded me of 'Dougal' from the Magic Roundabout

Chain Maker at Black Country Museum

First photo taken at 1/400th f4.0 so hand and hammer are still - shows the speed that the sparks shoot out.

The second and third photos were taken a bit later in the day when the light levels had dropped so shutterspeed was 1/80th f 4.0 - movement on the hand and hammer and longer spark trails.

Leaning In

Looking back through some summer pictures, found this one that I took in an orchard in Norfolk with my infrared camera.

Dancers

Three girls from a local dance studio visited our Camera Club practical evening on Tuesday. The venue was a school hall so the background was not very inspiring. A bit of Photoshop work and I produced this image of two of the girls that I quite like.

Rumbling Bridge Gorge

Slow shutterspeed image of the water tumbling down a gorge in Scotland. It was a dull day but the colours from the peaty water have come out well

Verdigris toadstool

Found this beautiful jade green toadstool complete with snail on our front lawn this afternoon - it is a Verdigris toadstool (Stropharia aeruginosa) and is as inedible as it looks