Monthly Archives: April 2013

Through a forest

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14

trees and child

The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness. – John Muir

Every now and then I like to experiment.  Panning is a fun technique and so easy to do.  Just move the camera with a slowish shutter speed.  All done in camera; no fuss.  With trees, I like to slow the movement at the bottom of the scene to get a little more clarity.  I think this helps to ‘ground’ the image.  It’s very different from my usual, realistic style but it stops me from taking photography too seriously, and that has to be a good thing, right?

More mossy explorations

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16
macro

Moss spore capsules

Last month I celebrated a brief sunny interlude by exploring the abundant crop of moss growing where my lawn used to be.  Well, we have had some more sun this week so here are some more mossy explorations.

moss macro

A bug’s eye view

I was particularly taken with these colourful spore capsules.  I was used to seeing the spiky sort before but this was the first time I had noticed these alien-looking alternatives.

moss macro

All about colour

I used my macro lens with Raynox DCR-250 attached to get very close indeed to these tiny plants.  Here, the colourful background is my out of focus recycled garden trug.

springtail in moss

Can you spot the explorer?

The above shot isn’t very special but I included it because there is a tiny explorer getting in on the act.  Apparently, recent studies have shown that springtails play an important part in moss fertilisation by carrying scent from plant to plant.  Who knew?

macro of moss

Misty moss

The difficulty with using such extreme magnifications is that depth of field is wafer thin.  I decided to make the most of the difficulty in this last image, for a more minimal, suggestive take.

If you missed my earlier moss extravaganza, see here.

 

La Serenissima

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10

Venice, Italy

We have just returned from a wonderful weekend in my favourite city in the whole world, Venice. Apart from Friday, the weather was kind to us and it was a great opportunity for me to get to grips with my new travel camera, the Fuji X-E1.  I have more than a few files to process and a review of this camera in the pipeline, to follow up on my review of the Sony NEX-7 in January.  But I must concentrate on my studies for the next few days so they will have to wait.  Suffice it to say that the camera is all I hoped and more. I am looking forward to May when I can get back to serious blogging and catching up on the blogs I follow.