Sunny Spot

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I'm staying with my in-laws for a couple of days, and they had these appealing little daffodils on their windowsill, just begging to be shot.
I thought this dreamy high-key look was a good option, so that's what you're stuck with. 😁

2025-02-27

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Late posting this one after a busy couple of days.
Another lovely sky on my way home from work, but a few minutes earlier this time, and a convenient tree provided a nice silhouette.

Underglow

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I spotted this interesting sky as I arrived home today. I'd have liked to get something in the foreground to add some interest, but it was so fleeting, going anywhere would have caused me to miss it altogether.

Mossy Stuff

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I was a bit frazzled after work this evening, and had very little inclination to shoot (or even do) anything.
I eventually nipped out to the car to grab something, and noticed that this chunk of moss had appeared on my lawn. It seemed like a decent candidate for a macro shot.
Once I started exploring it with the lens, I found this little patch of white-tipped fronds that I thought looked interesting.
This is at 3x magnification, and is a stack of 50 images.
Stacked with Helicon Focus.

Hocus Crocus

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A couple of backup photos today, taken Saturday.
One more after the jump.

Barcode?

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A photo I grabbed walking back to the car this evening.
It was Bailey's last day staying with me today. I don't want to give him back!
The 2nd photo (after the jump) is Bailey reinstalled in his own home. He seems quite content with the arrangement!

Keep Me Posted

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I went for a wander round Melton Park this afternoon. It was an unusually social experience - I was approached and ended up chatting for quite a while to three separate people about photography!
One of the photographers I chatted to pointed me in the direction of some snowdrops, which I've been wanting to shoot for a little while - so I've included my first snowdrop shot of the year after the jump.

Just Around The Corner

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The weather was a bit grim looking, but surprisingly warm this afternoon when I went out with Bailey.
I didn't get much photo wise, but I don't hate this one (oh, what a ringing endorsement that is 😅).

Plus a rather technically indifferent, but moderately cute submission for payment of overdue dog tax (after the jump).

Crocus Carpet

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I've got Bailey staying with me at the moment, and we went for a little walk on the way home from work.
This patch of Croci (Crocuses??) really caught my eye, and I thought the warm glow from the setting sun was a nice addition.
Payment of the dog tax is deferred, I only have phone pics of him from today!

Chopped And Changed

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A bit of a play on words, I suppose.
This caption was going to contain much detailed, frustrated yammering, but you don't want to read that, I'm sure.
Suffice to say that today has seen plans chopped and changed on top of frustratingly slow progress on everything.
Never did the phrase "more haste, less speed" seem more appropriate.

An old neighbour once said that his work felt like constantly fighting fires with a water pistol. I know how he felt.

Somewhere, Somewhen

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A backup photo today, as I'm worn out!
I walked past this interesting little bar while I was waiting to collect my takeaway the other night. I've never been in, but I thought it looked rather cute and cosy - I think I need to try it out at some point.
It looks like there are only a handful of tables in there, which I deem to be approximately the correct amount.
One more after the jump.

The Fires Within

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This has ended up looking like a thermal image, but it is in fact a 5x macro of some foam handwash with some slightly silly lighting applied.
I've included an earlier shot, and a quick behind-the-scenes snap of the contrivance I shot this with after the jump.

I have felt oddly unsettled today, and haven't been able to shake it all evening. I think it's mostly work related, but it is getting a bit old.

The Hyacinth Finished Loading...

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This is the same plant I shot a few days ago, but properly out now. It smells remarkably strong!
A couple more after the jump.

Green For Go

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This is my submission for this week's 52frames challenge "Motion Blur"
I've been planning this shot for a few days, and got round to doing it this evening.

I was initially caught out by the R5's IBIS (internal image stabiliser) on this setup. I set the camera up on a tripod in the back of the car, but didn't turn the IBIS off. As a result, the IBIS was desperately trying to compensate for the car's motion, which resulted in the inside of the car becoming extremely blurred. Once I disabled it, the sensor was locked to the movement of the car, and the pictures sharpened up nicely!

Concrete Man Contemplates Bokeh

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Finds it acceptable, and remains seated (not that he's in a position to do much else).

Pass Me The Ruler

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The big one. Yes, the one that's carved into the side of the bridge.
A backup photo today from a couple of nights ago.

Please Wait... Hyacinth Loading

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Quite a busy day today, as seems to be typical lately.
I started some "minor" modifications on one of my bits of software when my colleagues knocked off for the day, and ended up finding that two hours had done a disappearing act on me. I find it's very easy to end up hyperfocusing on software development if I'm enjoying it.
I still have more to do on this project, but I think I know where I'm going with it now. One flash directly overhead, plus one flash low down to lift the shadows slightly.

Look Up

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I thought this pair of weeds looked like someone squaring up to a tree!

Put Your Brain In Idle

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I had another play with bubble photos this evening.
I wasn't that pleased with the results on the back of the camera, but when I got them on the computer, I found a few I liked.
I particularly liked the dreamy, abstract effect in this shot, it feels like a different side of bubbles than I've captured before.

I've been inspired by my recent discovery of @clemdb.raw, who's on a mission to take an abstract photo every day. His page is worth a look if abstract is your thing.
He makes a video about shooting and editing each photo too, which can be quite interesting.

Trent Bridge, 5°C, Rain

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It felt colder!
A backup image today, shot last night.

Red Shift

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This is my submission for this week's 52Frames "Puddle" challenge.

Climbing Is Discouraged

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Another backup photo today - I'm feeling disproportionately tired this evening, and just fell asleep watching a video that would normally hold my interest - Hopefully I'm not sickening for something, but I think a rare early night might be in order in any case!
I took this one a few days ago.

If You Recognise This...

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You may be old, a geek, or quite possibly both!
In case you are neither of these things, congratulations - It's a serial port connector, one of the primary ways of connecting computer peripherals before the now-ubiquitous USB appeared on the scene. It still sees semi-regular use in older designs of industrial or other specialist equipment, although it's slowly fading even further into obscurity these days.

Earworm: Give Me Real, Don't Give Me Fake

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Out of nowhere this evening, this line popped into my head, and dug its claws in. It must be years since I heard this song last, but my brain evidently decided that I was going to listen to it!
As the song played, I was looking in the kitchen cupboards, where I spotted the jars of sugar and sweetener, and presto, we have this photo of real and fake.

By some coincidence, today was a day with two musical rediscoveries - Point Of View by DB Boulevard popped up on the radio as I got to work this morning, and this one - Politik by Coldplay, materialised out of nowhere this evening.
Odd.

This is a stack of 115 frames.

Mirrorworld

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A couple of backup photos for you today, taken at the weekend - because my boss would be very, very cross with me if I shared the technical photos I took at work today, and you would also be rather bored by them 😁.
These were shot in my quest for last week's 52Fframes "Blue" challenge.
One more after the jump.

The Dream Store

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I went for a bit of a mooch round the park after work this evening. I liked the dreamy look of the defocused storage sheds behind the seed pods.

While I was wandering around, I noticed an electricity pylon making rather a lot of discharge noise, and went to have a bit of a look, as I've never heard it quite like this before.
I managed to capture the light from the corona discharge around the bottom few segments of the string insulators (it's the purple fuzzy stuff in the second photo, after the jump).
I was initially going to report it to National Grid, but when I got to the next pylon, that one was doing exactly the same thing, so I think there must have been some atmospheric effect exacerbating the discharge - which makes sense, because temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure all go into the correction calculations for the high voltage testing I do at work.
It was certainly fizzing like a good'un though.

Apply Attention; Appreciate Azure

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This is my submission for this week's 52Frames challenge "Blue".

We got a lovely sunny day with brilliant blue skies today, so I went out and made the most of it.

I didn't realise that I'd caught the plane in this shot until I got it downloaded onto the computer for editing, but I really like the little detail it adds!

Perch Your Posterior

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A backup photo today, taken a few days ago. I liked the mixture of curved and straight lines in this one.