It seems that autumn is now well and truly here. This isn’t a bad thing for photography, though. The sunshine at a low angle, just before sunset, gives opportunities to capture the effects of transmitted light,where light is actually shining through a partially transparent object. Here is an example; I noticed this only this evening. What do you think…?
I have always loved the effects produced by raindrops in nature, such as in this shot taken today. This time, however, the rain was in any case so especially welcome after a long spell of hot dry weather! A gentle breeze was also very pleasant. Oh, and I still hope we get some more sunshine before autumn sets in!
I didn’t have a picture for today – until today! This young dragonfly visited my garden. I was able to get quite a few shots; I chose this one to put here.
I took this picture only today. I was visiting a part of a nearby nature reserve that I’d not been to before, and decided to see how good a shot of these water birds I could get – apologies for not having identified them yet. This is a cropped section of the original image. I was fairly pleased with the outcome. I imagine that this is one family – two chicks and the proud mum and dad! I hope to visit this spot again soon.
I found this bracken earlier today, and thought, at first, what a powerful single-colour study it made. Looking more closely, however, I saw that it wasn’t entirely brown; here and there were several intriguing little green shoots. I thought this was surprising, considering the recent very cold weather. The water droplets you can see are from frost that is only just melting!
It’s a while since I’ve managed a bee photo, but I had a go this week. In macro, focusing is very critical and depth of field is minute even at small apertures. Also, it takes a high shutter speed to ‘stop’ the movement of a bee! However, I thought this was quite an interesting picture, showing the proboscis of the bee which has just been sucking (or is about to suck) nectar from the tiny buddleia flower!
Yesterday, I noticed these cormorant at Carsington Water, Derbyshire. However, it was only when checking this picture today that I realised that on the right of the group, one bird appears to be sitting on a nest!
I met these delightfully graceful animals recently, while taking a short walk through Wollaton Park, Nottingham. They roam wild here, as they have done for over 400 years. They can run as a pack, while hardly making a sound!
Black and white photography is often referred to as monochrome or in other words, one colour. However, monochrome doesn’t have to be black and white; it can be any single colour of your choice. In nature, one obvious choice is green. Here, I have used a wide lens opening (aperture) to give a shallow depth of field, so that the dock plant stands out in sharp focus against a blurred background.
Sometimes, just sometimes… it’s worth getting up early. Because, if there’s anything I find more fascinating than flowers, it’s the combination of flowers, sunlight, and raindrops. Early yesterday morning, this trio came together.
Water is fascinating. Not only essential for life, but able to contribute beauty to so many other things. Frost patterns on leaves in winter, raindrops on flowers like this antirrhinum, clouds in England’s ever-changing skies… and so many more.
