Calm Before the Storm

I managed to get out for a walk today; so I went down to the lake for some inspiration. The weather wasn’t amazing today so I had to dash out between the rain showers. But when it wasn’t raining the weather was really nice, presenting some great photographic opportunities.

There were a few clouds in the sky to scatter the sun’s rays, so the lighting was perfect. I composed the photo so I had a small bush in the foreground, this created some foreground interest. I focused on the background so the small bush would be out of focus. Also I tried to get equal amounts of the foreground and the sky into the frame, to create a calm and tranquil atmosphere.

When I got to the editing stage, I decided that it didn’t need very much editing. I increased the colour temperature and saturation; this makes the photo look much more vibrant. Also I turned down the highlights; this made the sky darker and the clouds clearer.

This may be the last chance I get to take a sunny photo this week. The weather forecasts are starting to change; the rain is on its way! So I think this is just the calm before the storm. Prepare for the rain, but enjoy the sun while it lasts.

Mat

I do like to be beside the seaside

This is another photo from our tip to Weston. We enjoyed it so much and took so many photos. The beach was packed with people, mainly sun-bathing and soaking up the sun. I wanted to take a photo that emphasises how crowded the beach was.

We decided to go for a walk down the pier to see what it was like after the re-build.  I borrowed Bex’s camera for this photo so that I could use a really short focal length for a true wide-angle photo. I wanted to get as much into the frame as possible, because this would show how busy the beach was. I like how the sea curves round to the edge of the frame; it makes the beach look like it goes on forever. Also having the buildings on the left it frames the photo very well; with the beach being contained between the buildings and the sea. Having the beach in the middle of the frame helps to create the over-crowded effect that I was trying  for.

In the editing stage I increased the colour temperature to create a warm and ‘sunny’ effect to the photo. I also cropped the photo a small amount; I did this to aid the overcrowded effect. I liked the photo straight from the camera so I didn’t change anything else. The camera exposed the photo perfectly; the sky didn’t white out and the shadows still have a lot of depth to them.

Another message from Bex, she says that her holiday is really fun and she's having a great time. She adds that she misses the blog very much and can’t wait to get back and upload some photos from her holiday.

I hope your all enjoying the sun. I think the weather is going to turn very soon; so I would get out and enjoy the sun while it lasts if I was you.

Mat

Seaside Takeaway

Because of the fantastic weather we’ve been having Bex and I decided to go on a trip to Weston-super-mare. We caught the train down for the day, walking around the beach and pier soaking up the sunshine.

We had just finished our lunch, and I was taking some photos of the statue when I noticed that a young boy had left his chips on the side. There were hundreds of seagulls flying around impersonating vultures, waiting for their prey below (this being an odd chip left behind). When they saw a box full of chips they all dived down to steal the leftovers!

I thought I couldn't miss this opportunity. Fortunately the camera was already in continuous drive mode, so I simply selected a fast shutter speed and took as many photos as I could before the buffer filled up! I ended up with around 15 photos looking very similar. After looking through them I decided that this was the best. It clearly shows the seagulls fighting each other for the food and flying off after they had got some.

The photos had been taken in a hurry so they needed some editing in Photoshop. I cropped the photo to remove the over-fussy background. The photo was slightly over-exposed so I darkened the highlights to try and gain some detail back into the white areas.

I think the photo looks a lot better after being edited; it brings back all the good memories from the trip- a very enjoyable day. I hope that we can go back again soon, if we do then I’m sure there will be many more photos for us to upload.

Bex is currently on holiday; she is having a great time and wishes you all well. She also says that she’s missing you and the blog already! As she is away I have been left in charge of the blog for the next week. I will carry on as normal with a different and (hopefully) interesting upload every day!

Mat

Country Contrast

This photo was taken a while ago at TruckFest South West. I must confess I have a slight obsession with heavy goods vehicles, so TruckFest was heaven for me. I had taken the trusty Pentax ME Super with me and I managed to use up a whole reel of film while out. I’ve been quite busy recently, which is why I haven’t had a chance to get the film developed until a few days ago.

It was about half way through the day when we saw this pair of Tractor Units from country supplies specialist: Countrywide. The cab art really caught my eye, the bright and vibrant scenes that surrounded the cab were very impressive. I thought that the contrast between the classic country scenes and the very modern cab was very interesting; it shows how much farming and transport have changed and improved together over the years. With each decade more efficient and cheaper processes have been introduced: starting with horses towing everything on the farm and on the road; and culminating in today’s incredibly modern and high precision designs, with computers controlling every process.

I really think that this is more than just a photo, it contains much of our agricultural and transport history, showing the legacy that we have produced over the past 100 years. A legacy that will be left to the future, to increase the efficiency and profitability of agriculture and transport. This could be good or bad depending on your own opinions, making agriculture and transport more efficient could be good because less fossil fuels will be burnt and the world will be a greener place; but on the other hand, with more machinery and even tighter tolerances the work will become more stressful and the green country will become much more mechanised with vehicles working everywhere.

What you take away from this photo is dependent on your own opinions, but maybe take a minute to think about how much progress has been made in the past 100 hundred years; and then think: what do we do now, where does this take us? These are the questions that future generations will be asking themselves.

Mat

Going for Gold

Like many others this evening, I have been watching the opening ceremony. It’s rather surreal to think that after all the preparation of the last seven years; the Olympics are finally upon us.

I took this picture the last time Mat and I went on holiday. On the first day, we went into the city centre. In the afternoon, it was incredibly hot so we sat down outside of the town hall. The torch had just gone past meaning London 2012 flags were prolific. As I was walking up the steps of the town hall I looked to my left and saw the flags stretching down the street. I took this using a shallow depth of field so only the first two flags could be read easily.

I have been saving this picture for the most suitable time; and none seems more suitable than the evening of the opening ceremony. I have never spent longer on a blog post than today- I started typing nearly 2 hours earlier! However, I will admit that my attention was divided.

I hope you’re enjoying the opening ceremony too, and enjoy the Olympics- wherever you’re from. One thing I must say… GO ON BRITAIN!!!!

Bex

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Catching Eyes

I had the opportunity to join Bradley Stoke Radio on another outside broadcast this Tuesday. Once we had set up the first thing we switched on was the bubble machine, which really attracted the attention of passers by. I love it too, even if I’m not a young child!

I used F5.6 on my macro lens to get a shallow depth of field. I like how the first fan is out of focus, and only a small part of the second is in focus. I used a fast shutter speed so that the fans wouldn’t be blurred.

I had to edit the picture as it looked dull. I increased the contrast and saturation to make the picture more vibrant. I also sharpened it to make the part that I focused on more obvious.

I love this picture; it grabbed my attention as well as the smaller children! It was a great day as usual- I really enjoyed myself and can’t wait for the next one.

Bex

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Peering through the gaps

Mat and I took a train to the seaside today, as the weather has been nice all week. We spent a whole day there, so both of us are looking rather red!

It was incredibly hot and by midday the energy had been almost completely sapped out of us. We decided to eat lunch, and in true British fashion we had fish and chips on the beach (the only difference being it was sunny!). It seemed that many others had the same idea as us, and the beach was packed! We walked a little further to the other side of the pier where it was quieter. The tide had gone out, and as we were eating lunch I noticed this picture.

I metered off of the background so that the structure of the pier was a silhouette. I think it worked really well, as it acts a bit like windows- drawing attention to the background through the gaps.

I’m absolutely exhausted but had an amazing day! I really do hope the good weather lasts. Evening all!

Bex

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Culturally Curious

After my weekend away from the blog I have a backlog of photos to upload. This is another picture from the harbour festival.

In one of the town squares was a small market selling mostly food. Most food and drinks were unique to each stall, making for an interesting walk (and a very nice lunch!). I find that foods from other cultures are quite colourful, which makes it easy to find good shots.

I walked past a Greek stand selling olives amongst other pickled vegetables. I thought it looked intriguing so tried to take a picture. I decided to take it at a shallower angle to make it more interesting. I also used quite a short aperture so only the front few bowls were in focus.

I took a lot of pictures of the stalls in the market but this is definitely one of my favourites.

Bex

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Harbour-side Seating

I’ve finished my busy weekend; I’m back with plenty of new pictures (and only marginally exhausted!). I took this picture at Bristol’s harbour festival this weekend. It had been a hot day, with temperatures reaching 24 degrees. The festival was incredibly busy which meant it was difficult to find anywhere to sit.

I needed to cross a bridge over the canal as I was leaving. I stopped in the middle to watch the world go by when I spotted this. Every space on the wall of the canal was taken up, stretching right down to a second bridge. It was really strange to see, there were so many people that I couldn’t get the whole length of the wall into my shot; it makes it look like the line doesn’t end.

I love this picture- I think it sums up the festival perfectly. I’ve really enjoyed my weekend; it was nice to finally have some sunshine! I hope it stays like this for a while to come!

Bex

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Out to Sea

I didn’t get a chance to go out today so I thought I should look in my computer for some inspiration. I found this photo from a holiday a few years ago. The photo was taken with a compact camera so the quality isn’t fantastic, but I think its good enough for an upload.

The photo was taken towards the late afternoon, so I could create a more natural photo. Also with the sun behind me I didn’t get any bad reflections from the water. I underexposed the photo to retain detail in the sky; this also darkened the shadows on the rock which gives a pleasing effect to the photo.

As the photo was taken on a compact camera it needed some editing to get it up to a good enough standard for the blog. The photo was quite ‘flat’ straight from the camera, so I increased the saturation and the contrast. I like the effect that this gives the photo, it makes it seem much more realistic.

Now after a fantastic weekend, it’s back to normality. Hopefully the sunny weather will stay around, but otherwise it was very nice while it lasted.

Mat 

Summer Flowers

I went on another wander today; this time on my own. I went down to the local canal, as I really like the landscape. I went out for about an hour and took quite a few photos! I think that this has to be one of my favourites from the day.

The group of flowers caught my eye as I walked past because the composition was perfect. I used a very wide aperture to make sure I had a short depth of field, to keep only the central flower in focus. Also, I set the photo up so other flowers surrounded the central one to create a better composition.

In the editing stage I increased the saturation and the colour temperature. I did this to make the photo more vibrant. I really like the effect as I think it summarised the beautiful day perfectly. I didn’t crop the photo because I had set up the composition previously.

I may go for another wander tomorrow if I get the chance and the weather stays this nice. I really enjoy going for walks and taking photos in the sunshine- I hope you're enjoying the weather as well.

Mat

A Trip Out

Today my family and I went to Blaise castle for the day. The weather was amazing, with the sun blazing down. While taking a rest in the shade I saw this statue. I really liked how symmetrical it was with the background bursting out from behind.

I had left the camera in automatic as I was taking a lot of photos and didn’t have much time to change the settings. I think the camera did a very good job with calculating  the exposure. The only thing I would have done was to take the photo with the low key feature. But also I would have liked the white to be a bit brighter.

After taking the photos off of the camera I decided to correct a few details that I wanted to change. I made the shadows darker and increased the brightness; this created the low key effect that I wanted. I also cropped the photo equally on both sides; this improves the symmetry of the statue in the frame while also focussing the attention onto the statue.

I'm enjoying the good weather and hope that it will stay around as I’m planning a few more trips out around the countryside.

Mat

A Coincidence

I didn’t have much to do today so I went for a walk. While out I bumped into Bex, who herself was going for a wander. She, of course, had her camera on her so I thought I’d join her on her wander.

About five minutes later I saw this flower (I think). I thought that if I took the photo with some of the background surrounding the flower, it would make an interesting composition. I boosted the green slightly, but reduced the red at the same time. The sun was starting to go down and I had to use a slightly higher ISO so that I could still use a faster shutter speed.

After I took the photo off of the camera I decided to crop it slightly. I cropped out some of the background on the left side. By doing this it put the flower off-centre and enhances the composition of the photo. I also increased the contrast and the saturation. I like the effect that the editing has done; I find that the best way to enhance photos while editing is to only make small changes with different settings and to try out different ideas.

Bex has got quite a few events to go to this weekend so I’ll be doing most of the uploads. Soon, she will be back and blogging as usual. I hope all of you have enjoyed the wonderful weather today; I hope that it will stay around for the rest of the weekend.

Mat

Ripples

Mat and I took his dog for a walk today; I had my camera with me as ever. We walked down through the local nature reserve towards the lake. As we were walking, I spotted this bird on the edge of the water. It kept putting its beak in the water to drink, and while watching I noticed that as it’s beak emerged, droplets fell and created ripples on the surface.

The ripples caught my attention so I decided to try and capture it before Mat’s dog chased it away! I had my telephoto lens on, which saved me time, as I didn’t have to change lenses. I used a fast shutter speed to try and capture the ripples without them being blurred.

I was really impressed with this picture, as I accidentally caught a droplet just as it fell into the water. I also like how if you look carefully, the reflection of the bird can be seen, slightly distorted by the waves. Later, I sharpened the image and increased the contrast to make some of the smaller ripples more visible. I regret not using a smaller aperture as the bird is slightly out of focus, but at the same time I think it points the attention to the water.

I love this picture; I was really impressed by managing to capture the detail of the water. I have a busy few days coming up, so Mat will be doing most of the posts. I’ll be back in a few days- hopefully with plenty of photos in tow!

Bex

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Suspended

I went on a bit of an adventure today, as I didn’t have anything to do- taking my camera with me as ever. I decided to go to somewhere that I hadn’t been to many times- the Clifton suspension bridge.

I’ll admit that this photo  isn’t completely my own idea. As I was walking towards the bridge I saw another photographer taking a picture looking up at the towers, but in the centre of the road. If I take a similar shot of something I try to make it more original- in this case by taking the picture from the bottom of one of the chains.

The camera used flash automatically; because of this and metering off of the grey sky I lost a lot of the colour in the photo overall- the top of the tower being the only part of the photo with obvious colour. I decided I liked this effect so made it more prominent with the use of Photoshop.

I selected the cream area at the top of the tower and increased the saturation; I then inverted the selection and decreased the saturation in the rest of the picture. I also increased the contrast, which makes the dirtiness of the chains stand out, making the picture seem grittier.

I love this photo; I think it looks really quirky. I had a lot of inspiration for this photo yet I think it’s still original.

Bex

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Caves

I took a trip to the outskirts of my city yesterday with some family. I found a tunnel and decided to follow it to see where it went and after a few minutes of walking I found myself in a small cave. It was late afternoon so I was the only person there.

As I walked back up the tunnel I saw a good shot. I loved how the stairs seem to go on forever as they disappeared around the bend. I also liked how the lights reflect off of the wet walls.

I took two versions of this photo- one with flash and one without- although I didn’t like the version with flash as it lost a lot of detail. I had to use an incredibly high ISO (1200) to keep all the detail in the picture without using flash. I needed to do a lot of editing as the picture had gone a bright yellow tone and there was a lot of noise. I adjusted the hue, increased the contrast, decreased the brightness and cropped the photo slightly. Finally, I sharpened the picture as I had to use a really slow shutter speed and had moved slightly.

I really like this picture; I love how you can find something completely new just by going slightly further than you might normally. It’s not the best quality of photo ever but I had a really good day and wanted to share the cave I found.

Bex

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Hanging Flower

While on a recent walk with Bex I noticed this flower, it had rained earlier in the day and the flower had drooped under the weight of the rain. I really liked the colours on the flower and how the background contrasted against the colours of the flower.

The macro lens was attached to the front of Bex’s Olympus, I got close to the flower using a moderately large aperture (F5.6) to make the background blurred. Putting the background out of focus makes the flower look more prominent in the photo. Also, I placed the flower towards the right hand side of the frame; doing this makes the photo more asymmetric and adds a little more interest.

I liked how the original photo looked, so I didn’t change much in the editing stage; I cropped the photo a bit and increased the saturation a small amount.

I really like the effect of having the flower to the right hand side of the frame. I think the increased saturation gives the picture a warmer feel.

The weather seems to be looking better already, so hopefully it will stay like this for the foreseeable future.

Mat

Rather Odd

While out on a wander today I spotted this really odd plant; I think it was a flower but I honestly have no idea what it is but I thought that it would make an interesting. Fortunately, Bex had let me borrow her camera today- I took well over 200 hundred photos!

I thought the best composition for this photo was to have the flower right in the centre of the frame, with the background out of focus. I also used the flash to highlight the green parts and to increase the reflection of the rain drops. I boosted the green and red slightly in the camera so that the flower would look more colourful.

After I uploaded the photo onto the computer I decided to improve it in photoshop. I tried a few different techniques but none of them worked successfully; so I asked Bex to have a go at editing. She cropped the photo and increased the contrast, while decreasing the brightness. I really like what she did, the effect that she gave it was much better than any of my other attempts!

I really like this photo, the camera did a good job using the correct exposure, and Bex made it even better with her amazing editing skills. The effect is exactly what I wanted when I took the photo and I really like having the background blurred with boosted reds and greens.

Mat

Meet Alicia

Mat and I tried doing some portrait shots today with our new studio set up. We invited one of our friends round to be our subject (or victim…) for the day. She kindly agreed to let us upload a picture of her in today’s post.

At this point I feel I should perhaps introduce our victim. This is Alicia, she’s absolutely crazy so most pictures were just a bit of fun messing around. This is one of the few photos where she looks serious, which is partly due to the fact she didn’t know that I was about to take the photo.

I like taking pictures of people when they aren’t looking; it makes the picture more natural. I can’t wait til we can do our next photo shoot!

Bex (and Alicia!)

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Evening Traffic

I took this picture yesterday on a late night photography wander. I was just walking up to the main road and I liked how the street lights and the traffic could be seen from far away (but incredibly faintly).

I walked a little closer to them but decided that they looked better from afar. I tried to take a picture to see how it turned out but the camera wouldn’t focus. I changed modes to manual focus but when looking through the viewfinder I thought it looked quite interesting out of focus.

I love the effect that it created- I actually prefer the picture out of focus to being in focus. Sometimes, struggling to manually focus isn’t a bad thing!

Bex

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Ongoing Alley

I took this photo on our recent holiday on one of our wanders in the local town. I saw some bollards in a small side alley that Bex and I had ventured down to look for photos.

This time I had my own camera on me- I’ve recently taken on my Dad’s old Pentax ME Super 35mm film SLR camera. When I get the film processed I also order a copy of the photos on a CD, so I can upload my own pictures to the blog.

In this photo I used a telephoto lens (135mm) so that I could get a small depth of field and create an interesting effect. The effect being that the further down the line of bollards, the more out of focus they become. I really like it because it focuses the attention on the first few bollards and then it draws your eyes down the line towards the end.

Another good thing about being able to get my photos on CD is that I can edit them! This time the only editing I did was to crop the photo down a little. I left the exposure unchanged to show how good 35mm film SLRs are in comparison to modern digital cameras. I think that 35mm film SLRs still have a good case against modern cameras but I’ll leave it for you to decide: Film or Digital?

Mat

Flower Power

Firstly, I must apologise for not making many posts recently but I’ve been rather busy.

On the first day of our holiday we decided to go exploring so took a bus into the city centre. In one of the main squares there was a small market selling fruit, flowers, food and drink. I took this picture at one of the stands selling flowers. The stand looked incredibly vibrant and the bright blue flowers caught my eye straight away.

I wanted a picture of them as they looked so pretty, but I didn’t want to only have snapshots of my holiday. To combat the typical snapshot, I took the picture at a lower angle so you could see more of the side of the flower. I love how it turned out; it’s so different compared to normal shots of flowers.

I actually really like that you can see the price tag; I think it makes it more interesting and gives an extra element to the picture. I could quite easily get used to this kind of street photography!

Bex

Stormy Horizon

I’m missing my holiday already, so I thought that I should upload a photo from it. This image is from one of the long walks that Bex and I went on the Saturday; the weather had been changing rapidly all day. The constantly changing weather presented some great photos, but also caused some problems while taking them; (as the camera isn’t water proof)!

The clouds had just started to break apart after a short spell of rain. I thought the clouds looked very dramatic, so would make an interesting photo. I tried to do something slightly different so I tried to get some of the ground in the photo as well. I really like how well the photo has worked, with the tree in the corner giving some perspective and ‘size’ to the composition.

I thought that the photo could be improved slightly through the use of Photoshop. I adjusted the histogram to crop out the shadows, losing all detail and turning them into silhouettes. I also increased the brightness of the highlights to increase the contrast and make the clouds look more violent.

I think the edited photo looks a lot better now than it did straight from the camera. I really like how the silhouette of the tree stands out against the sky. We both have plenty of material from our holiday to keep the blog running for quite a while now, but it won’t stop us going out for our photography wanders! I hope everyone who is on their summer break is having as good a time as we are!

Mat

Man's Best Friend

Today was the last day of our holiday; I really didn’t want it to end. Tomorrow is back to normal so I shall upload a photo from the holiday to try and keep the memory alive in my imagination as long as possible.

Today’s photo is of my crazy dog! Bex was playing a game of fetch with him in a field. He was waiting for Bex to throw his favourite toy and he was holding his front paw up (which for anybody with a Springer Spaniel will know is they’re stereotypical pose).

Bex had left me with her D-SLR; it already had a telephoto lens on it which is great for taking pictures of my dog (he doesn't stop!). I crouched down so that I could take the photo at his eye level for a better perspective; I also chose a fast shutter speed of 1/800^th of a second so I could freeze him as he ran with the water droplets flying off him.

I like this photo; it really catches the spirit of him waiting. I didn’t edit the photo because I didn't want to change how he looked; the photo captured every detail of him correctly.

I’m really going to miss my holiday away with Bex, but never the less it's back to reality. We took a lot of photos while we were away, so expect many more photos in the next few weeks of what we got up to while on holiday! I hope you really enjoy our holiday photos and seeing what we got up to.

Mat

Setting

It’s mine and Mat’s last evening on holiday together so after we ate we decided to go for a mini photography wander along the local canal. It was about 9pm so the sun was beginning to set.

We didn’t get very far down the canal; the cameras took over and we sat on a bench to take some shots of the sunset. It’s been a cloudy and somewhat miserable day- the clouds hadn’t lifted by the evening.

I love how the trees are just silhouettes; the black really makes the colours in the sky stand out. I increased the saturation in Photoshop when we got back. I know it’s not the most impressive sunset ever, but I loved the colours and wanted to share my last evening on holiday with you.

Bex

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Tree Vista

We’re still on holiday and having a great time! We went for a quick walk today in the park. The view was fantastic; I saw just a single tree on the horizon. I really liked the view of the tree on it’s own on the side of the hill.

I thought that having the tree in the right hand third would make a more interesting composition. I managed to expose the sky, the tree and the foreground correctly, which really enhances the photo. I like how the wispy clouds in the sky can still be seen clearly travelling across the bright blue sky.

The only editing that I did was to crop the photo down and to rotate the photo slightly to ensure that it is vertical. Apart from that I didn’t change anything else, because Bex’s camera had chosen all the right settings (once again!).

We’ve still got two more days left of our holiday, and I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Mat 

Endless Arches

Mat and I went for a walk in the town centre today. We hadn’t been into the centre before so we weren’t sure where to go and it looked like all the buildings were new. We walked down a small lane, as it looked rather interesting. As we walked, I spotted a short cut that lead back to the main shopping precinct.

It was really out of place against the modern buildings (perhaps why it grabbed my attention); I loved how it stood out from everywhere else. I really like the rows of arches. After every few archways there were exits on the left and right to different paths.

I think it creates a really interesting effect, as it looks like an endless length of arches and the exits to the left and right create shadows on the ground from the pillars. I love trying to take arty shots on holiday, because you always notice a lot of different things at once.

Bex

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Another Time

Bex and I are on another holiday together! (Lucky us). We arrived quite early and decided to go for a short wander while there was a gap in the rain.

We walked along a public footpath that went across a field. The clouds where composed perfectly at the time, and the sheep where spread across the foreground, which created some interest without causing a distraction. Overall I really like the composition of the photo, and taking the photo in black and white makes the clouds contrast more against the sky and the foreground.

When I put the photo onto the computer I cropped a small amount of sky from the top and increased the mid-tone contrast. I also lowered the brightness of the highlights. I did this to increase the detail in the sky and to increase the contrast in the foreground.

I think the photo works very well with the foreground interest, the sky and the clouds flowing across. The editing also helped to improve the photo overall, increasing the contrast between the sky and clouds.

I really like this photo, and hopefully I can take some more like it, or maybe some macro photos instead. I’ll wait to see what’s in front of the lens when I’m out on our next wander.

Mat

Falling

I managed to get out for a quick wander today even though it was raining; I thought I could get some interesting effects. As I was walking the rain started to get worse so I darted under a tree for some shelter. While under the tree I noticed how the rain was clinging to the undersides of the leaves.

I really liked how the raindrop had stuck to the underside. I really think the composition summed up the weather and the atmosphere of today. I took this photo with a slight underexposure to create a more gloomy impression. This worked really well because the leaves are much darker without losing any detail in them but the rain drop is still very clear.

The only editing I did was to crop the photo down to reduce the amount of background because it was a distraction. By reducing the area of the photo it focuses the attention onto the rain drop and the leaves around it.

I like the effect of this photo; I think it sums up the weather we are having completely. I really do hope that we have some more sunny weather soon!

Mat

Flower Spotting

I haven’t been on any wanders recently, so I had to search my computer for a picture from a previous outing. While searching I stumbled across this photo of a gorgeous red flower.

I took this while going for a short walk when I noticed a group of flowers in someone front garden. I really liked how the flowers where naturally arranged. I boosted the red to make the flower look more vivid. I used the maximum possible aperture to blur the background and create a pleasing effect on the photo, focusing the attention onto the flowers.

When I checked the photo I didn’t think that it needed any adjustments because I had already boosted the reds and had taken the photo with a high contrast setting. I really like this photo, the bright flower really summed up the weather that we were having at the time I took the photo; I hope that the good weather makes a quick return!

Mat

The Best Cocktail

I’m afraid I haven’t had chance to go for a walk today, but I have another picture that I’d like to share from my party. There definitely isn’t a better use of a cocktail glass than this!

The table decorations were themed around sweets, with lollipops scattered around the table, love hearts on the side plates and cocktail glasses of mixed sweets in the centre. Needless to say these didn’t last long, but I managed to get a picture before they disappeared.

I love how everything on the table is white, while the contents of the glass are colourful; it makes the sweets stand out in the foreground. I really like how you can see the sugar dusted on some of the sweets, and the light on the rim of the glass.

On another celebratory note, the blog is 4 months old today. Happy birthday Daily Wanders!!!

Bex

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