More from Edinburgh

 Edinburgh in Pictures

Edinburgh in Spring

It really does not seem possible that a couple of weeks ago, in Edinburgh, we were walking about in t'shirts. But in the pictures below, as you can see, clear blue skies. 

Night Gallery



This first picture was taken from in front of the rock the castle sits on, looking towards the city centre. Such a display of daffodils. This picture was a night shot, I just loved the street lights and the illuminated building.



Edinburgh Castle

  Finally another shot of the castle, having walked up numerous steps, the castle still sits high above, and certainly dominates the Edinburgh skyline from wherever you are.

Spring?....



Model Castle?

  Well, it is difficult to believe that this time last week, we were in Scotland - Edinburgh - walking around for the majority of the time in T'shirts. In fact by Wednesday evening I think, as we omitted to taking any sun block, that I may have been suffering from too much sun.

Apart from that, the weather made for a stunning visit where I managed to reel off over 100 photo's. I won't post them all here, but I will give a taste of what I consider to be the best shots.

This view of the Castle was taken from Arthurs Seat using 400mm zoom. I did use Gimp2 to add Focal Lens Blur and Picasa 3 to warm the picture slightly. The end result a picture that looks like a model.?



Night Shop



This picture is one of my first night shots. I could not resist this building at night with the stunning Pink lights. Miraculously I managed to take this hand held rather than the recommended method of a tripod.

Flowers....

Still Life Study:

Iris:



Iris



With it being Mothers Day and our house being inundated with flowers, I have posted this still life picture of an Iris in full bloom.

This was taken last week, in natural light - near the Kitchen window to be precise - and against a black board.

By using Picasa 3, I darkened the background a little more and added a border, selecting the colour from the flower itself. A further vignette using black, also tinted the border. The result is a very rich coloured flower, with very fine detail.

Cotswolds....

The Cotswolds:

Stunning Countryside



Crickley Hill





Newark Park - Lake





Into the Valley

The Weather was very kind to us this weekend. We set off on Friday and travelled down to the Cotswolds. Although the first National Trust site we intended visiting was shut for a private function, nearby was somewhere we had visited before - Crickley Hill. Stunning views over Gloucester and Cheltenham, looking towards Wales. It was a very misty day, and very sunny, which almost produced a white out in some of the pictures.

Saturday was a bit of a mixed bag, we spent the morning in Tetbury, a typical Cotswolds town. Some great shops and buildings. After a brief heavy shower we headed off to another National Trust park - Newark Park. A fairly small house, but situated in the middle of no-where with some great walks along the valley.

The top picture was taken at Crickley Hill, and the lower two whilst walking around the red walk and gardens at Newark Park.

On Sunday due to the torrential rainfall, the camera never made it out of the bag..!

Under Dramatic Skies

It has been an absolute age since I drove the 14 miles to Wandlebury Country Park. It is literally on my doorstep, but very rarely have I visited. Well it has certainly changed. One thing I intend to do is go back and walk the old Roman Road in its entirety - 10 miles.

Anyway, yesterday I visited in the afternoon with the intention of staying until dusk to capture the sunset over Cambridge. Although the clouds did roll in, it did give me the opportunity to experiment with settings. I did find that using the Sunset - setting - well before the sunset, but whilst the sky was cloudy produced some very detailed cloud formations and silhouette foreground.

Seeing Double...

This was an experimental shot and amazingly it worked first time. It is a composite of two separate images. The only thing I had to ensure was that no part of my body overlapped where my other body was going to be in the final image. Using a ten second time delay and a flash for consitant lighting, I took the first image holding the magazine and cup. A quick jumper change. Sitting in a different position and holding a book I took the second picture, again using the self timer.

By careful cropping and using Microsoft Ice - a free piece of software - I was able to stitch the two images together.

West Stow Country Park

Having a week off work, and some fine weather, I have been determined to get out and about and take some pictures. In search of some wild life I set off for West Stow Country Park, and although quiet, by the time I arrived it had clouded over, so not the best of days. The main aim of the trip was to use my new x2.2 telephoto converter, get used to it and experiment with some settings.

Although most birds were very elusive that day I did manage to capture this swan that seemed to gazing at its own reflection.