I took the drone out for a fly this evening, for the first time in several months. I quite enjoyed it.
I do rather like a dead-straight down shot from the drone.
I think I find it such an unusual perspective that you can't really ever get with a normal camera, even from a high ridge.
I've spent rather a lot of time in the last few days working with lots of copper in various forms; from very small wires, up to giant bars of the stuff, none of which I can really share here.
However, there's nothing stopping me from sharing these copper chips left over from making something from this remarkable metal!
This stuff is absolutely essential to the function of virtually every electrical and electronic device in the world, and much else besides.
And a flattened bottom.
A backup photo today, taken a few days ago.
I was quite pleased with this one, although in hindsight, I wonder if I should have got the camera a little bit lower. At the time I was attempting not to encroach on the crops in the field, while simultaneously trying not to get eaten by various bugs.
Thanks to @countryside_joy for the behind-the-scenes photo (after the jump).
I was sat here faffing for so long that a kindly dog walker came by to check I'd not done myself an injury!
This field has suddenly burst into bloom in spectacular fashion.
I love this warm summer evening light.
I can neither confirm nor deny the rumours that I bought another lens today.
If such rumours were found to be true, they might concern a 24-105mm f/4 L IS II, second hand, in pristine condition, from the excellent folks at LCE Nottingham.
A backup image from yesterday for today.
The only photos I took today were technical things at work, and therefore both extremely boring and also rather confidential, so you'll be spared that particular pleasure!
Click image to view a bigger version
Took Bailey to Gedling park tonight with his (human) mum. I lagged behind taking some photos at one point, and was promptly rounded up, with significant enthusiasm, as soon as I came back into view!One more after the jump.
A couple of shots of a whiteboard marker in action. Both are stacks captured with the WeMacro rail and stacked with Helicon Focus.
The wider shot was with my Sigma 105mm macro, and the closer shot was with the MP-E65mm macro lens. I'm not totally satisfied with the closer shot, I think it's got a touch of motion blur from the focus rail being in fast mode without sufficient settling time. One to revisit, I think.
One more after the jump.
Very late posting this one.
I've had a rather busy few days, and no sign of things letting up any time soon.
This is a backup image from last Friday.
I had a busy evening today, helping a friend collect his new car, so I ran out of time to shoot anything.
Here's a backup image from a few days ago.
Could have done with the 105mm macro lens and a tripod here, this was as close as I could focus with the 70-200mm.
Lovely light though.
One more after the jump
A backup image today, taken last night.
I woke up this morning with a splitting headache, and feeling quite sick, so I think it was probably a migraine.
All rather unpleasant, and resulted in having to spend a large chunk of the day in bed - but things did improve in the early evening, which was quite a relief.
One more after the jump.
I have been upgrading my laptop's SSD and running backups for most of the evening, and I thought I was going to have to fall back on a backup photo tonight.
However, this little one appeared in my bathroom, and became the accidental star of the show.
It also gave me the perfect opportunity to try out the additional LED cube lights I received yesterday - They seem to work quite well.
Went for a walk round Highfields Park this evening.
I was quite pleased with this one.
I seem to have reverted back to type and keep reaching for old faithful, the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS again...
A hectic day rapid-fire switching between different projects today left me with no creative energy tonight, so this is a backup image from the weekend.
I liked the look of the distinct layers in this cliff face.
Bailey's first trip to the beach. Once he got used to the feeling of the sand, he loved it!
I wondered if the sound of the waves would scare him, but he didn't seem bothered by that at all.
One more after the jump.
106-shot focus stack, plus another one of the same pen from last night, after the jump.
A 36-shot focus stack of a couple of sporophytes on a bit of moss from the garden. 5x magnification with the MP-E65mm on the WeMacro focus rail, and a little bit of cropping.
I've included a photo of the setup after the jump showing just how much magnification is going on here!
Tired and sore in the ankle...
Too much time on my feet and squatting down over the last few days has really made my ankle flare up this evening.
The technical demo today went much better than I had expected though, and I've also managed to get to the cause of a strange issue I was experiencing on one of our new circuit breakers.
Hopefully the first step to finding a solution!
Another flat-out day (and evening) again today, in preparation for a customer visit Thursday.
I will be civil to said customers, I will try and persuade the technology in question to do suitably technical things, and then I will crawl home, roll up in a very small ball, and switch my brain off.
This one's a backup image, taken a couple of nights ago, as I've not had chance to get the camera out at all today!
A very busy day today, including working a decent chunk of the evening machining some parts for the project I'm working on at work.
I can't really share those parts, but these assorted screws go some way to telling the story of the day...
A surprisingly colourful end to a relatively dull, grey evening.
I went out and sat by the river, just to get out of the house for a bit this evening. Nothing was inspiring me there, but as it was coming up on sunset, I took a more scenic route home in the hope of catching a photo.
I ended up stood in this field taking photos of the grasses and crops against the pink sky, when the clouds abruptly parted, and an intense red ray shone out across the field.
This is one of the resulting photos.
I enjoyed the moment, and I'm quite pleased with this one.
A busy day today, so although I've had the camera with me all day, I've never got round to taking it out of the boot and actually using it, so it's a backup image today.
This one is from last week.
Playing with salt and macro lenses again.
I washed this coarse salt before photographing it with strong backlighting, which has given it an interesting glassy look.
90 images stacked with Helicon Focus.
More playing with the MP-E65 and Wemacro focus rail.
68 shots stacked with Helicon Focus.
Click image to view a bigger version
I picked a little pineappleweed plant on my walk last night, and I've had it in water today.
This is what I got of one of the flowers with focus stacking.
I also had a conversation with my friend after taking the first crisp photo a few days ago, which resulted in me leaving with a bag of Walkers French Fries crisps to be photographed.
There is something funny going on with movement in this one, it looks sharp, but there is a consistent motion blur visible across most of the image, which suggests to me that the macro rail or the camera's mirror was causing some vibration on every shot. One to be revisited, I think.
Photo after the jump.
A busy day today, but ultimately more successful than it seemed it was going to be at one point.
No time to play with macro gubbins today, but I took a little wander on my way home this evening and this little patch of poppies caught my eye through the hedge.
My WeMacro motorised focus rail arrived today. First impressions are really good, and it definitely makes it easier to get the most out the MP-E65 macro lens.
2x magnification, 48 shots stacked with Helicon Focus.
