White narcissus

Not totally sure if this is actually a daffodil, as the 'trumpet is only about 0.5cm long, certainly some kind of narcissus in any case!

Spring flowers

A small selection of wild flowers taken over the past couple of days.

This Grecian Windflower (anemone blanda) was taken in my garden, I wanted to shoot it from the side to get a nice depth of field. I love these flowers, though sadly they are only around for a week or so.





I wasn't expecting to see bluebells over the weekend, but a small number of them had already popped up. This was taken from the ground looking upward and I think it's created an interesting effect in the photograph - some ghosting which I'm sure must be a lens issue, but also the flower itself is almost skeletal.





Finally, one of my favorite subjects - the dandelion. Shot from the side to capture the detail inside the flower, another dandelion in the background helping to brighten up the rest of the frame.




I decided to add a small 'watermark' to my images, I hope that it's not distracting. I wanted to add something since I'm hearing more and more about photographs being used by others who claim the work to be their own.

Macro Mix

A nice sunny spring weekend, the first this year that I've manged to get out for a few hours with my camera.


I never think to take my 300mm lens out with me much, though I wish I had on this occasion. I think my 100mm macro lens (and on a full frame sensor at that) was pushed a bit! Thankfully the 5D2 is capable of some serious cropping. While the background is a little distracting, and the head is a little dark, I quite like this shot. Lydiard Park lake in Swindon.



The macro lens was more at home with these two shots, the first taken at Savernake Forest later the same day, the other at Lydiard not far from the lake. Plenty of yellow about, not much else!

Scrabble

I wanted to try and use the Scrabble board and its pieces to try and get some still life shots. Neither of these is what I'd had in mind when I started, but they work ok for me.

In both cases I used my iPhone's led flash as a means of lighting the scene, the top one is side lit, while the second image is lit from above.

I can't help but also be impressed with the Canon 5D2's ability to handle very high ISO's. A monochrome conversion helps it, but still the noise is very acceptable.

A proper update, at last....

Ok, it's been a seriously long time since I posted anything, apart from some family shots and 'iPhoneography'.


A trip to Savernake Forest this weekend allowed me to dust off some of my kit and get back in to some proper photography. Subject matter was quite a challenge, but after a night of rain and some very sunny skies I had a bit of help from nature. That and my girlfriend who (despite not really being in to photography) seemed to be spotting more than I was, and making some rather good suggestions too :)


Anyway, some of the better efforts...



Some fungi, growing between the bark and wood of a tree.



Grass, rain, sun.


And finally, what I consider to be a rather attractive tree. The clouds had started to set in a bit at this point, allowing for some texture in the sky too.

Nespresso...

...the best kitchen investment I've ever made!

http://instagr.am/p/oVr-r/

Unforced absence

It's been a fair while since I last blogged anything - no excuses, I just haven't used my camera.


My girlfriend and I took a trip out with my mum, sister, niece and nephew at the weekend - the perfect opportunity to dust off the 5D2 and re-familiarise myself with my gear! I only took my 50mm prime with me, sadly while there were plenty of nice light bokeh opportunities, the kids weren't so keen on it when my chances came. Still, I think I got some nice family snaps.

And finally, say cheese...

All at f/1.6