moving on

I've finally decided to merge all my different websites, and I have moved this blog to tumblr (which integrates better with my official webpage, Luminous Objectives).
My rss feed address will stay the same, so if you have subscribed to http://feeds.feedburner.com/AShotOfEngland you should still receive updates.
I hope that integrating everything will inspire me to update more frequently :) and that I will see you there -

Insects

I've been spending some photo-time with insects recently. Catching the little chaps above didn't work very well - they were just moving too fast and it was windy to boot, so focusing was a matter of luck.
I'm also working on improving my focus-stacking skills...


If you look at the out-of-focus areas, and wonder where the improved focus is: I agree! But have a look at the small photos below. Wind and a life insect made it very difficult to get more than two stackable frames.

chive portraits

Well, the appearance of the first chive blossom is an excuse to test ones macro lenses, innit.
7d & Canon 100mm, f2.8 brings me very close, 5d II & same lens: I like the quality and lastly 7d & Sigma 20mm (yes, this is a wide angle macro). That lens needs very little distance, I was about 1 inch away from the flower. And yes, it's ortonized (I can't help it at the moment).

finally: blossoms

There have to be some blossom photos each year...
And normally I'm not into post production, but at the moment that seems to have changed. Here is a bit of the Hawthorn hedge (or so I think - correct me if I'm wrong), ortonized:

Times Square

The country bumpkin was in NYC the other day. I bought myself a new wide angle lens at the B&H Superstore. It was a dreary, drizzly day but I couldn't resist taking some sample shots. And then, because they were so gray, I couldn't resist subjecting them to the extreme hdr treatment:

more motorway lightpainting

It seems the only way that I get to have time for photography these days is by being on the motorway (in the passenger seat...).
So here's more incidental light painting:

It would be nice to have more control - our car is quite jumpy, so the lines are never as smooth as I would like them to be.

If you're interested in some historical footage, Pablo Picasso has tried his hand at torch drawing. And then there are some rather more modern and stunning photographs at Twin Cities Brightest.

New playground

It's nice to play with other photographers, and to be challenged by assignments, but I gave up submitting links to any of the many memes that are around. I couldn't keep up replying to comments or visiting other people's sites, great and inspiring as they often were.
I've discovered ShutterSalt, though, which displays photos submitted to the weekly assignment by pulling them from the flickr RSS feed. You can then see all the submitted photos on the ShutterSalt frontpage. The site comes complete with a thoughtful blog and weekly interviews with photographers. Below is my take on last week's theme 'Opposition', featuring two of my neighbours, figuring out who has the ultimate say in what the doormat is for:

Still January

It was cold when we went out for our afternoon walk today. Hardly anybody was outside. I felt a bit melancholy, having worked on the computer all day with the BBC blaring Egypt updates into my ear. How much up-to-date is too much up-to-date?
The sunset, though, was gorgeous. It's very hard to resist a good sunset. Even though I've snapped so many of them.

Motorway Fun

Happy New Year!
I had a great holiday - which involved some driving to get from one festivity to the next. One of my pastimes when I wasn't driving was to whip out the camera at roadworks and do some 'light paining'...I feel there is plenty of scope to improve...especially in terms of control...but it was fun: