MEAL BREAK – 28

Another not-quite still life!

Another ruined sandwich!

 

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Männlichen – 26

Some more images from our recent Switzerland trip.
These were all taken from Männlichen, situated above Wengen, and accessed by a recently refurbished cable car. If you take the cable car from Wengen, grab the opportunity to go upstairs to the external viewing gallery! Feel the wind in your hair as you make the ascent/descent!

A multitude of waterfalls!

Meadow flowers – and barbed wire!

Could these be orchids?

More meadow flowers.

The North Face of the Eiger.

The Staubbach Falls – 25

These are the Staubbach Falls in the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland.

This was taken from the train on the day we left Wengen on our way to Konstanz.
There is a small zig-zag footpath at the base of the falls. That must be a fascinating walk looking up at that cascading water!

CORMORANTS – 24

Having been away – Switzerland and Germany – I’m just catching up on my weekly posts.

This was the scene on Lake Konstanz, the morning we were leaving for home.

Not the most brilliant image, but I had never seen so many cormorants together. I’d always thought of them as solitary – maybe the odd pair, but never more than that. And here they were in great numbers. I would guess 50+, but I didn’t count them.

The shot was taken from the terrace of our hotel in Konstanz – ( not been? Make the trip if you can ) – and even the hotel staff were amazed by the number of these birds on the lake. One suggested they were feeding on young fish, and there was certainly a lot of diving going on – and I did get a couple of shots of cormorants with fish in their beaks.

Anyway, I thought it was a worthwhile shot. Hope you do too!

Have a good week!

SWAN v DOG – 23

In Montreux, Switzerland this dog got into the water far too close to a pair of swans and their cygnets.

What happened next was what can only be described as one of the swans attempting to get on top of the dog and drown it!!

Finally the second swan joined in the melee.

Somehow the dog escaped with a little assistance from its owner who ran into the lake, up to his waist in water. As the man and dog left the water one of the swans had a final ‘hiss’ at the pair.

Other than a slight exposure increase and some cropping, these are as they came out of the camera ( I know, we all say that 🙂 )

OLD TULIPS – 22

The fading beauty of spring flowers!

What remained of a bunch of tulips I had used in a recent still life shot. Even as they fade they still have so much to give. The colours and the textures of passing time.

#23 may be a little late as we are away for a couple of days. 🙂

 

BATH TIME FOR YOUNG STARLINGS – 21

Grab shots of two very young starlings ( probably fledged earlier this week ) sharing a bath in our garden.

Owls, a Goshawk and Bluebells – 20

Last month a group of photo club friends and I had the opportunity to photograph owls – and a goshawk – in a bluebell wood. These are some of my images.

All were taken on the Olympus EM-1 MkII. The most challenging shot was the tawny owl in flight. We had several goes at this – but owls, being owls, fly quite fast and not usually in a straight line. Tracking the bird in flight, even as it heads towards you, is not so simple!

I tried continuous focus ( or whatever your camera maker calls it ) where once in focus the camera should hold the focus on a moving object, as long as the target doesn’t move outside the selected focus point(s). I gave up.

I took to manually focussing on a point about halfway between the bird’s starting point and myself, and setting the camera on high speed sequential shooting, knowing that if I could follow the owl it would have to fly through my elected ‘plane of focus’. And it does work although you land it up with lots of out of focus shots, plus one or two ( maybe three ) that are just about in, and, with a bit of luck, one that is sharp!

On the day the light was not brilliant under the canopy of trees so a higher ISO was required, and, looking back, the lens I chose ( 40mm – 150mm [ 80 – 300 35mm equivalent ] ) was a touch too short resulting in the owl being a bit small in the frame. And I don’t have too many pixels that I can afford to throw away in a crop.

Having said that, it was a great experience. Many thanks to Robin and Derry our hosts ( and photographic advisors ) for the afternoon.

Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl in fight

Long Eared Owl

Goshawk

RUSTIC FLOWERS – 19

Another still life.

Here I was looking for the contrast in textures and colours – mainly between the old food can ( six weeks in the garden, filled with water, to make it go rusty ) and the beauty of the flowers. But I think the muted, soft tones of the background also help.

Key, of course, is the lighting which really makes the image pop – although, at the same time, it is subtle and not overdone. One strobe with a soft box as the main light ( from the left ) and a second light, also softened,  overhead to light the background.

St Ives Harbour, Cornwall – 18

Another image from our recent trip to Cornwall, deep in the south west!

I thought long and hard about the ‘crop’ I have used in this image. I think it is very nearly all of the image as it came off the camera.

However, many would say there is too much sky, or too much beach in the foreground. Their argument being that neither adds much to the image. But I disagree : those extra elements tell of the space around the harbour; they hint at the light ( something that has attracted artists and photographers for many years ); but more importantly they remind me of the feelings of space, freedom and tranquility that I felt here.

A letterbox crop, showing just the buildings, the pier and the lighthouse, would have destroyed all of that. Only my opinion, of course!!