Idwal Reflections and Sunset over Snowdon dec 28th 2014

After a light fall of snow that i noticed on the Ogwen web cam, i have driven down to Ogwen valley in Snowdonia with Mollster to walk up to Llyn  Idwal.
The sun is shining down the Nant Ffrancon valley as we walk up the main Idwal path from Llyn Ogwen.

                                                                     Mol is posing already :)

                                                                             and Again!!!

          We have quickly made it up to the Llyn Idwal , the sun is illuminating the Y-Garn ridge :)

                                                             Stunning reflections today :)

                                             Amazing :)    dont see it this flat calm very often!

                Cant make mind up which composition i like best.   so here is a second image.

     Using long lens i zoom in on the snowy mountains in the distance behind Llyn Ogwen.............

                                       And now Y-Garn , loads of climbers up in the snow :)

     Time to head back down now, its quite cold and i don't want to miss Sunset over the twin lakes.                                                                 Mollster is posing yet again!

                                          Looking down from the Llyn Bochlwyd path.

                                                       Llyn Ogwen and Pen-yr-ole-wen.

                The sun is still lighting up the valley looking down to Anglesey in the distance.

             Down at road level now and a quick shot looking down Ogwen valley over the lake.

                       Time to drive down to Llynnau Mymbyr to shoot sunset over Snowdon.
I have driven right down to Pen-y-pass  and now as the sun starts to descend i have gone back and parked half way between the lakes.   the sky is looking very interesting and i need to shoot fast while the light is good.    I have just shot a 2 frame panorama with 100-400 lens :)



                              Stunning light over Snowdon right now :)    view large HERE

Now down at the waters edge, i am struggling to get any decent compositions ,  this one at least has good cloud colour.

  Light has gone now,this last image of the Snowdon range  shows the difference a few minutes can make.   still stunning!     But lovely warm colour on the side of mountain tops :)
                                                                      100 - 400mm lens

                                                           The end of a great day out :)

Crosby Sunset at Antony Gormleys "Another Place" 23 march 2015 pt2

  Next stop is Crosby beach , to hopefully shoot sunset around the Antony Gormleys "Another Place" beach sculptures.   After seemingly driving around in circles  we have arrived on the promenade , time for a walk on the beach to see which will be the best statues to photograph when the sun starts to set.
       The Terrible Twosome are a bit confused!    Mol went up to this one wagging her tail !  lol

                                Haha   Chester thinks this one is a real person with a shirt on :)

After walking along the beach to the end of this section of promenade, we walk back to the car. its almost time to get my tripod out and find a good location to shoot from . I want to get reflections in water around a statue but it is fairly breezy and the pools left around the statues are quite rippled :(

            The low sun has illuminated the Edge of the channel with two statues in the background.

                                  I am crouching down low to get the sun behind the statue .

I thought this winding stream would make a good lead in to the composition when i spotted it from high up on the promenade.   and with the low setting sun it looks really good . 

                        While i moved closer in to shoot Jan has shot me along with a statue :)

                                                                             "Find Phil"

 This is the image i have just shot , as the sun was setting to the right, using my long 100-400  lens to fill the frame with colour around the Windfarm and statue :)

                    Now a wide angle with normal shutter speed showing the ripples on the water .

 And now with the Lee big stopper and 0.6 nd grad filters to give a long shutter speed to smooth out the water a bit.

                         My last image , the sun has set but no further colour has developed  :(

Formby Red Squirrels and Beach 23 march 2015

Today we are going to see the Red Squirrels at Formby Point nature reserve . Arriving in Formby early afternoon with sunny conditions after a very gloomy start to the day , we park up and after a spot of lunch head out with the "Terrible Twosome" to go around the Squirrel walk in search of the Reds :)       not to sure if its a good idea to take Mol, even on a lead she may scare them off!!!!!!!! 

Heading into the wood , i have spotted a photographer watching a Red just to the right in deep shade, no chance of getting pics of that one, so we are taking the left hand path.

                                                              There's one!     Trying to hide   lol

 Coming to a bend, the sun is getting through the trees in isolated areas, and there appears to be 3 or 4 Red Squirrels looking for food here.

                            At last one has sat down in the sun to eat a seed or something :)
 Jan keeps hold of the dogs while i shoot the squirrels ,   amazingly Mol hasn't tried to get at them!

                                                 A Portrait , cropped from the frame below.
                                                                      Soooo Cute :)

                                                                  Love their tufts :D

 They have moved into the shade, so we keep walking , pity there are not any in the sun on this mound beneath the trees , would be a good place to photograph them .

 Not a sign of any more, so back to the car with the dogs before going back to the first location. unfortunately the ground is now being shaded by the trees and its going to be difficult to get any more decent images i feel.

                                      One has come quite close and this is my last image.

 Time to take the beasts down onto the beach now , it has turned into a lovely afternoon with warm sun and clear blue skies :)       might get a decent sun set tonight!

                                               Through the sand dunes onto the beach......

                                                 Look a Chester , Mad spanner!!!!    lol

                                                     Whats with the tongue Mol ????? 

                                                                              "Mad Eyes"

                                                                            Spladoosh!  

                                                          Oooops   look at Chester!   Haha

                                                              Mollster is a bit sandy also :)

Its time to leave now ,  Next stop is Crosby beach , to hopefully shoot sunset around the Antony Gormleys "Another Place" beach sculptures.

Continued in next blog............

Garden Bug Hunt 9th March 2015

Time for a bit of macro i think , not done nearly enough for ages, so while it is dry i will dust off the macro gear and get the mpe-65 out to find some tiny Springtails :)

Moving pots on the patio i have found loads of them , but they are so fast I'm struggling to find any that will stay still long enough to find in the viewfinder lol     at x5 magnification with mpe focal distance is under 2 inch, and with the largest of these springtails at about 3mm in length is proving difficult, especially as i am out of practise!!!!!!!! 


                      Eventually i have found one on a algae covered stone ,  Isotomurus maculatus :)

                            f7.1  full diffused flash iso100   x 5 magnification and cropped a touch.

 On a piece of rotten wood i have been examining i have noticed a few of these, Tomocerus minor
the flash shows of its colours :)

At last i have found a Globular Springtail , a small one under 2mm in length  Dicyrtomina saundersi

                        this image is again at x5 magnification and cropped a bit for composition.

                                    Big crop from similarly composed frame as above , they are Tiny!
           

 I have not found any more that will stay still long enough , so a Woodlouse makes a good portrait :D

                                    A Green lacewing at x5 magnification on a piece of kitchen towel.