What a stunning day we had today. The light this morning was so clear; how could I resist? This is Coulson’s Weir on the Wey Navigation in Weybridge, Surrey. Continuing the theme of this week, there is also a tiny starburst on the lip of the falls. Can you see it? If you saw Monday’s post, you know what aperture I used for this shot. 😉
Sun sets over Desborough Cut, a man-made channel that allows water traffic to avoid the deep meander of the River Thames around Desborough Island, near Weybridge, Surrey.
If you missed yesterday’s post on achieving the starburst effect in camera, here’s a link: Starburst- no filter required.
f7.1, 1/140, ISO 640, 35mm
37mm, f7.1, 1/20, ISO800
27mm, f9, 1/9, ISO 800
31mm, f5.6, 1/13, ISO 800
Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles
Miles and miles.
-Robert Browning, ‘Love among the Ruins’ (1855)
27mm, f8, three bracketed exposures at 10, 20 and 30 seconds, ISO 400. Circ. polariser, tripod, remote shutter release.
I went out to shoot the sunset but the moon took over.
Poppy field near Send, in Surrey.
In July, I shared some images of a poppy field I had found near the village of Send. I couldn’t resist sharing a few more. It was really special being there, among all the flowers. Three whole fields were covered in poppies. The first shot was taken in the morning, but I popped down again in the evening for some better light.
Poppies mixed with other wildflowers and grasses
As the sun set, the poppies began to close, but the light was more interesting.
Poppies start to close
Everything changes in evening light
In low light like this, a tripod was essential. Needless to say, the camera was not set up for a moving deer, so when one bounded across the field I was working in, all I could do was react and take the shot with the wrong settings. At least I have something vaguely deer-like to jog my memory; I have a picture in there that needs no settings.
About the only good thing about having a full hard drive is that it forces me to revisit old files, looking for things I can delete. In the process, I often find images that didn’t make the cut first time around but have grown on me since. These two butterfly shots are the case in point, taken in July 2011 at Mayfield Lavender farm, Banstead, Surrey.
The large white butterfly, so prosaically named, is ubiquitous here in Surrey (and probably everywhere else in England) and it tends to get overlooked for more unusual species, but actually it is really quite pretty when you look closely. I like the eyes, with a subtle hint of green. If it was rare, we’d all be waxing lyrical about its ghostly beauty.
Through the dancing poppies stole
A breeze most softly lulling to my soul.– John Keats, Endymion, Book 1, l.565
And far and wide, in a scarlet tide,
The poppy’s bonfire spread.
Bayard Taylor, Poems of the Orient, The Poet in the East, Stanza 4
Focused Moments 
