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Damsels and Dragons
At our local quarry, a number of species of damselflies and dragonflies make their appearance during the summer months. The site has several shallow ponds (some of which dry up entirely in dry weather) and plenty of heather. With patience, it’s possible to photograph insects in the heather and in the reeds at the edge of ponds. The quarry closed in the 1990s and now provides space to allow the development of habitats for wildlife. Fifteen different species of damselflies and dragonflies have been identified in recent years, though they are not often in great abundance. I think I’ve seen 10 or 11 of them over the last two years. Yesterday…
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Le Weekend
Last weekend’s photography started early Saturday morning. My friends, who know I am not an early riser, will be surprised that I was up just after 5 am and on the road, with two photographer friends, by 6 am. Our destination…the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs on the North Yorkshire coast. Unfortunately, a few winding roads and a slightly foggy morning brought on my motion sickness and I spent most of the first hour sitting in the car in the car park, waiting for nausea to subside. Meanwhile, my friends went off in the fog to explore and came back with the bad news that the fog was very thick…
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Macro Water Drops with Refraction – More Attempts
I’m starting to get the hang of the technique of photographing water droplets – see Macro Water Drops with Refraction for my first attempt. Now I am looking for some different compositions. I’m not finding that so easy, because the darned droplets won’t stay quite where I want them to – I place them carefully and they run to where they want to go and, as they have a mind of their own, I am letting them choose the arrangement and making the best I can of a composition. I was most pleased to be able to hang one drop from the end of a thread from a spider’s web –…
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Macro Water Drops with Refraction
Whilst preparing a talk on macro photography to deliver at one of my photographic clubs, I became fascinated by the tiny world of images refracted through water droplets. There are some incredibly beautiful examples to be seen on the web and my offerings here are a first attempt. As with everything in life, we become better by practice and I have already discovered some of the things that I have done wrong so far, so with a little patience, hopefully my next attempts will be better. Lesson 1 learned…Ideally, pictures taken outdoors would provide more natural looking backgrounds…whereas my indoor shots, in some cases, managed to make a perfectly formed…
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Review of the Marumi DHG Achromat Macro 330 (+3) Close-up Lens
Review of the Marumi DHG Achromat Macro 330 (+3) Close-up Lens
