Creative Shots

All those ideas sound good to me Jim - thanks. Phil

Some lockdown experimentation. It all starts with a bowl of broccoli soup...

Same for me Lisa Phil

That's very impressive Robert - pretty amazing stuff, well done - especially as you've achieved all that without any very specialised equipment. Perhaps you should send them to Nik Szymanek - he might invite you into his garden observatory! Phil

Yes Jim Yes - love it. Phil

Well done Jim and Ian. Jim I like the last of your three, but for me it would be even better if most of the purple reed at the bottom was cropped just leaving a fringe below the range of whole trees, giving (for me) a better balance between strong colours and the more subdued hues of the trees. Ian ...

A bit quiet recently on the Forum so thought I'd share a few shots from a recent trip to the West Country. Visited Wells for the first time and of course visited the cathedral...

Off to France finally, back mid-November. Hope to take part in next CCS on line meeting.

All the best Phil

Well done Robert - very useful set of notes - good to have them. Phil

Nik Szymanek's web site is absolutely gob-smacking. I had no idea! I thought astrophotography was about stars! Can't wait to hear from him and see his presentation. Phil

Robert asked about the focus stacking - here are the first and last of the sequence of about 15 shots. Yes taken on manual focus, but moving the camera rather than the focus setting to vary the focal point. Phil

Thought some members might be interested to know that the current BBC 4 Book of the Week is called The Oak Papers and the oak in question is to be found in Marks Hall Estate Arboretum. Episode 3 was this morning at 9.45, repeated tonight at half past midnight, but all episodes will be on BBC Sounds ...

Super macros Lisa. The thistle is so beautiful, such a strong pattern. Love it. In fact I'd be inclined to crop it to a square format to emphasise the abstract quality by removing most of the stem. The agapanthus is great too with those strong shapes against the dark background, but best of all are ...

Thanks Trev, glad you like it. I do too, though I was mainly interested in making it as a technical exercise. I think I might enter it as my monthly Circle image. Phil

Just a follow-up to my earlier posting of a macro shot -Feather and Lavender - using a new (to me) technique, suggested by Joe, to get over the macro problem of of very small depth of field, of setting continuous shooting mode and moving the camera forward during the firing and subsequently combinin...

Fascinating stuff Robert. Think you might find a new planet or two? The steak looks to me like the most pronounced of a whole series of banding across the image. Found this explanation of banding - Banding typically occurs when a color is graduated across a number of shades—like light blue to dark b...

Tried out Joe's suggestion to increase depth of field in macro shots by shooting on continuous drive while moving the camera in (or out), then combining the results with focus stacking as in Affinity Photo. quite pleased with this first attempt. Phil

Robert - like your architectural shots, especially angles and vertical texture . Perhaps the latter would benefit from a bit less exposure to better bring out the rich colour of the Roman tiles/bricks. Well seen composition in both cases. Tiles is nice too though personally I'd have liked to see a c...

Ah yes, of course - probably a Dawn Redwood I'd guess. there is a big one in Castle Park. Phil

Some thoughts on Trevor's and Ed's shots - thank you both for sharing them. Trevor, of your three barley seed-head shots I came down finally in favour of the second one, but only after initially preferring the first one with the warmer colours. In the end though I find he richer colour of the backgr...

A couple more from Alresford...

Thanks Richie for setting up the Alresford shoot - very enjoyable taking photos in the company of friends again.

Here are a couple of my shots from the evening. Phil

Hi Ian - could you just clarify the date please - Wednesday 15 July or Wednesday 22? Phil

Just a shot from the garden as the sun caught this hollyhock from behind...

Hope to be there Richie. Phil

A couple of shots from he garden taken initially with infrared and then playing with bland modes. Phil