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.

Anglesey Abbey

There is nothing better than a stroll around a National Trust site on a crisp winters day, particularly when the sky is clear blue and the sun is shining. Today was one of those days. A quick trip to Anglesey Abbey before dinner. Much of the park was closed off, so it was just a walk around the paved areas today.

Plenty of snow drops on view.

I also took a couple of pictures with a view to manipulate them on return home. The abbey itself I converted the picture to a sketch and then overlay this with the original.

Finally a bit of an abstract view of the tree that has been struck by lightening twice. I used a couple of effects in Picasa 3 to try and give it a mystic, eerie feel.

Snow Joke...!!

Well the snow finally hit us again. Just a mear 8-9 inches, and you would think we had 8-9 feet. But it certainly has been incredibly cold. I think one night the temperature dropped to about minus 11. That is cold.

Despite that, mind you I did wait until the sky was clear blue and the sun was out, before I ventured out to take some snow scenes.

This was the view across the flood park.

Below: Ice formation on some grasses

Winter is here...

Well we did not miss the grip of winter this weekend. The steady snowfall starting early on Saturday night did produce 6"-9" of snow. Deeper where it drifted. However it push the visiting Redwings into town. From what I understand, Redwings visit the UK over the winter months and spend most of there time in fields. But this morning they raided the bushes right outside the backdoor that have been heavily laden with red berries since the end of the summer.

In a matter of hours the red berries are gone, and so are the Redwings...!

I did manage to snap a few birds whilst they were in the garden.

Equipment Check..

Well I have had my camera for well over a year now, and I must say I am pretty impressed with it and so reluctant to change it. The only thing I struggle with is wildlife pictures, and although the Fuji Finepix S100FS does have a tremendous zoom range - an equivalent of 28mm ~ 400mm - wildlife is sometimes a bit beyond that range. I have elected to go for a telephoto converter.

I await delivery and it should then give me a total of 880mm...of HD quality shots. Once received I hope to be posting some more intimate shots of the local wildlife.