I'm Back!

I'm back from two weeks' holiday in north Norfolk, on the east coast of England. The beaches there are huge and beautiful and I love it dearly.

I was determined not to take the 'usual' photo of the colourful beach huts that line the back of the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea so instead I took my shot from behind one of the huts showing the view from its deck. I love the ice cream colours of this one - they reflect the sky and sand so beautifully.

This is my beautiful Irish Wolfhound, Misty. I had just set up my exposure for a bush of bright red berries at the top of this slope and taken the photo when I saw Misty approaching so I was all ready to take a quick photo of her while she was silhouetted against the blue sky. Ideally I would have chosen a smaller aperture to get full depth of field, but I was pleased that I got a photo of her as she's notoriously camera shy!

I took lots of photographs while I was away and will post more of them here over the coming week but I was disappointed that only a few of them really pleased me. But I guess that's the way it goes with photography and I feel I'm beginning to highlight the areas where I'm weak so that I can work on them.

But I had one or two successes. I took this photograph from below the shrub, looking through the leaves to the washed blue sky. I adjusted the levels slightly in Elements to accentuate the wonderful autumn colours and am really pleased with it.

It's good to be back home and I'm looking forward to learning more and more. And I ordered myself a 50mm f/1.4 USM after much research and that should arrive in a few days. Wow!

Off on my holidays

What a jolly toadstool this is - I think it's a Fly Agaric. It reflects my mood with its happy colour because I'm off for two weeks' vacation. Staying in the UK so hoping the weather will be OK! But I don't know whether I'll have any internet so may not be able to post again for a couple of weeks. If I can I will though.

And I'm hoping for lots of photos!

Images from the Forest

I am just incredibly pleased with this image. It's everything I wanted it to be. And I took it as an afterthought, after I'd loaded Misty into the car and had started the engine to go. I looked out of the windscreen and saw this stand of dying plants and got right back out again. The focus is absolutely spot on and you can even clearly see the cobweb attached to the plant. I know, I know - I'm blowing my own trumpet!

This is one of many dead trees on the forest that I've kept meaning to photograph. I would have photographed the whole tree which has been nibbled away by deer at the bottom to the stage where it won't be long before it just falls over for lack of support.  But I thought the skeleton needed clear sky behind it to show up its starkness.

I saw these huge mushrooms and decided to make them an exercise in exposure. I was looking for as much depth of field as I could get so they could be seen in the context of their surroundings. I'm quite pleased but the focus has fallen off right at the front I think. It was taken at f/32, 1/50 sec, ISO 400.

The Creative Exchange - week one

My offering for The Creative Exchange is this dead leaf, just clinging on to the plant before it falls. I can't remember the name of the plant but the leaves are very large. I was experimenting with isolating one thing against a blurred background and I'm quite pleased with it. I'm not sure about the green leaf showing behind - I think it detracts a bit from the washed out tones of the rest of the photograph. But it's early days and I think this is the most creative offering I have so far. I'm pleased with the focus - just what I wanted.

And the main thing is I'm really enjoying myself :-)

Out and about with my new lens

Today my new lens arrived - 55-250mm EF-S 4.0-5.6. I know it's not the sharpest kid on the block but it's a start for me to experiment with. I'm exploring the wonderful world of Canon lenses and making myself a wishlist on Evernote.

 I was trespassing with my Irish Wolfhound round a fishing lake, looking for pictures to take when this crow started yelling at the top of its voice from a branch right by us, alerting all the fishermen. We beat a hasty retreat!

I spent a long time on my knees in the garden experimenting with different exposures for this shot. I'm not really that happy with it but it was the best of the bunch. Shot at f/22, 1/13 sec, ISO 800.

I couldn't resist these colourful peony leaves - a sure sign that autumn's well on its way.

I have one more shot from the day's experiments which I'm saving for tomorrow and White Cotton Tee's new Creative Exchange challenge. It's my absolute favourite and I have to admit a little surge of pleasure every time I look at it. It feels like a step forward. Watch this space...

Chinese Whispers

This photo is in response to Justine Gordon's chinese whispers challenge. It's quite an old photo taken several years ago with my old Canon EOS 300. I searched all my photos and couldn't find anything suitably eggy but Justine's eggs definitely look like gull's eggs to me!!

Pine Cone

I'm still experimenting with exposures and have been wanting to photograph this strangely beautiful pine cone for a  long time now. It's been sitting on my window sill for many months after I found it in the woods. It's as if it half opened and then changed its mind and decided to go back to sleep. I may use it as a model again when I start collecting lenses. For now it's back on my window sill.

To photograph it I took it outside and put it down on our patio area which, as you can see, has grown quite a bit of moss. I have a small table and chairs out there and the moss carpet makes it very special to me. My husband is mumbling about getting some dreadful chemical out to kill the moss while we're away on holiday. Grrrrr...

Decaying Rose and Exposure Experiment

I'm killing three birds with one stone today. I did say, when I posted the picture of my autumn rose a week ago that I'd record its decay.  I also said a couple of days ago that I'd posted my last pictures on my old camera and the next would be on my new 550D. And I'm currently reading Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure which I'm loving for its down-to-earth, non-technical speak.

This is my rose, looking rather brown around the edges and a little less than perky. It was taken at f/5, 1/400 sec., ISO 400. The exercise was to start at the widest aperture, adjust the shutter speed until a correct exposure was indicated and take the picture. Then reduce by one stop, adjust shutter speed and take another picture and so on through all the f stops available.

This is the final exposure at f/32, 1/13 sec., ISO400. Obviously the exercise is to show how to use the aperture setting creatively, either producing shallow or great depth of field. I didn't use a tripod which is why the position of the rose is slightly different.

The lens I'm using at the moment is the original 18-55 EF-S lens from my old EOS 300D which I sold years ago. I'm waiting for a 55-250 zoom to arrive and will then start saving my pennies for the 10-22 EF-S. Both of these are relatively cheap but have reasonably good reviews and will get me started. One day I may feel I've advanced enough to get a couple of really good lenses. May have a look at the 50mm prime lens recommended by Justine Gordon!