Once More Unto the Pond, Dear Friends
Posted: July 19, 2014 Filed under: Landscape, Nature, photography, Trees, Wild Life | Tags: 'new camera', 'Olympus Stylus 1', birds, blue, change of scenery, colour, colourful, digital, Ducks, Geese, image, lake, landscape, nature, Olympus Stylus, outdoors, Park Cameras, peaceful, photography, photos, Pond, scenery, swans, tranquil, trees, water, weather, Wild life Leave a commentFortunately I’d chosen to visit the Pond a few days before the present heatwave really hit us. Nevertheless – it was a really bright,sunny day and I was armed with my brand new camera – Olympus Stylus 1 – recommended by a very helpful assistant at Park Cameras in Burgess Hill. Because I’m struggling with the settings etc I ended up going back to ‘auto’ . I know I could have done better, but hope I’ll get brownie points for trying!
I do feel the need for a kindly hand to guide me or a nearby class to join, but meanwhile , though it takes twice as long when you don’t know what you’re doing, I will learn by swotting and trial and error – and I will try to compensate by being ‘artistic’ …. But – I’m loving my new Stylus 1 and something I didn’t think I’d find easy is using the view-finder! My not so efficient eyesight means I prefer to use the screen to take my pics usually. But this viewfinder is a good size and switches from the screen mode automatically when you press said viewfinder to your brow. I’m sure it’s making me hold the camera steadier too.
As I took rather a lot of pics I will spread them over a couple of posts. Some are of the scenery, some of the wildlife and some of people and doggies.
This is taken from a small concrete bridge where the Lake leads into a somewhat stagnant looking canal. It is very quiet and secluded and the reflections of the surrounding greenery are lovely.
There is a little peahen[?] at left foreground in above pic …..
A little bit further along, the Lake narrows and is dissected by a road, the other side seems to be quite a little haven for the ducks and geese as they like to gather there to be fed by everybody. It’s a very picturesque part …
From another angle. I liked the shadow patterns of the tree.
Well folks, as usual, I would really appreciate any comments or thoughts on these images, if you have the inclination. see you soon with some doggie pics.
many blessings, Eileen
Time for a Stroll
Posted: June 22, 2014 Filed under: Events, Landscape, Nature, photography, Wild Life | Tags: birds, change of scenery, close up, digital, Ducks, image, landscape, nature, outdoors, paintshop, Paintshop Pro, photography, photos, water, weather, Wild life Leave a commentI was feeling very fed up last friday afternoon so on the spur of the moment , and believe me – I am not a ‘spontaneous’ person by any means, I decided to take a stroll down to The Pond again. It was a glorious, warm, sunny day to take advantage of ….
I felt well rewarded when I came across this Heron. Usually I’ve just been able to make him out in the distance, across the other side of the lake. He was still a fair distance from me , as you can see from the second image, so I used the little zoom on my camera for this one – risking a bit of camera shake in the process.
With a little bit of tweaking in my Paintshop Pro, I think it’s turned out ok. Sometimes when I see all the wonderfully sharp close up pics taken by other photographers here, I lament my lack of ‘equipment’ and camera expertise. But even if I had them, physical limitations would prevent me using them I think. I really must get my son to take me to Parks Camera shop in Burgess Hill so that I can talk to an ‘expert’ and try handling cameras!
Oh dear, I fear I’m waffling a bit …. but truly, this is something that keeps cropping up for me and I never do anything about. I could leave the planet before I ever do ! Comments are always most welcome here [ NB. I’ve been trying to learn how to attract more ‘traffic’ to my blogs recently] , and also your constructive criticism of my photographic efforts. I know there are web sites and forums where you can submit your work, but I get defeated by the technical know how – ha ha – the attention span is decreasing with age lol. Till next time then , Eileen
Thought I’d throw in these as an afterthought ….
Trooping the Colour
Posted: June 18, 2013 Filed under: Events, photography, Portraits | Tags: army, change of scenery, close up, colour, colourful, digital, drama, horses, image, military, outdoors, paintshop, Paintshop Pro, photography, photos, red, soldiers, uniforms 3 Comments
I watched the Trooping of the Colour [celebrating the Queen’s birthday] on TV last saturday and decided to have a go at taking photos ….[ I’m hoping I haven’t breached any copyright laws]. I was quite pleased with the results in spite of having to deal [post-production] with the inevitable reflections on the tv screen. I could be clearly seen holding the camera in some of them so had to discard them.
Another problem I had was unwanted lines and ‘moire’ patterns so I removed them as best I could. As a result sometimes the images weren’t as sharp as I would have liked. Anyway – I tried to compensate what were technical problems by concentrating more on composition and cropping.
I love all the colour and pomp and circumstance too. My dear old Dad was in the TA Royal Artillary in the 1920 s and was with horses and gun carriages like these. I specially like their uniforms – so dashing ….
Wakehurst Place,Sussex
Posted: May 20, 2013 Filed under: Landscape, Nature, photography, Trees, Wild Life | Tags: birds, botanical, change of scenery, close up, colour, digital, image, landscape, nature, outdoors, photography, photos, trees, water, Wild life 1 CommentI don’t get out and about very much, so it was a really nice photo opportunity when my good friends, Jean & Harry, took me to Wakehurst Place for the day. It has a little Mansion , beautiful grounds and several ponds/lakes etc. These are just some of the pics to give a flavour…..
See you soon ….. Eileen
Wild Life
Posted: May 11, 2013 Filed under: Nature, photography, Wild Life | Tags: animals, birds, change of scenery, close up, colour, colourful, digital, feathers, image, nature, outdoors, photography, photos, Wild life 6 CommentsFor the first time in years I went away for a long weekend break . My family treated me to a Centre parc hol with them for the Bank holiday. It was wonderful to have a change of scenery and the opportunity to use my new camera on the wildlife . I was keen to try out the longer zoom lens on it and I was not disappointed. This lovely Jay came to visit the chalet , plus lots of ducks and squirrels.
As a footnote …. I must say here that I inadvertantly deleted all my previous Post images and I don’t think I can retreive them. So – as there’s no point in having the text without the pics, it looks like I’ll have to delete everything and start again from scratch. I’m currently seeking advice on the Forum but I don’t hold out much hope !! Any suggestions here therefore will be most welcome …. Eileen