This is a photo I took with my compact camera on a visit to Ryton Gardens.  I liked the sunshine-yellow of the flowers and think they are as important as the hoverfly.  The hoverfly is sharp as is the flower on which it is sitting.  I also like the fact that it is sitting on a group of three in the foreground, with the flowers repeated in the background.  The settings that the camera chose were ISO80, 1/320 secs at f/4.0 at 6mm.

This pallet had been abandoned near the box sections left over from the building of Spaghetti Junction, and had probably been there for some time – it doesn’t exactly look in A1 condition.

I liked the fact that the flowers were growing through it, regardless of their environment.  I used my 50mm lens in order to blur the background sufficiently.  However, the mistake I made was to use too large an aperture, which meant that although the purple flowers are nice and sharp, the white flower is distractingly blurred.  Settings were ISO200 1/32osecs at f/4.0 – plenty of room to close up the aperture.

Other than that it is a photo that turned out as planned, the graffiti in the background is visible enough to show the context of the reclamation by nature, but is soft enough that it does not distract.

I wanted to get the details of the seed head whilst showing it in context with the bright, sunny flowers.  I also wanted the contrast in the colour and difference between one and many.

I am not sure if this would have been improved if I had reduced the depth of field or not – s0metimes it does make the subject stand out a lot more, but then there is nothing more likely to ruin a photo than a bright out of focus object right at the front of the picture.

I had my much loved and new favourite (move over macro lens) 50mm lens on the camera, set on aperture priority.  The settings therefore used were ISO200, 1/250mm at f/14 ( I made the decision to go with a large depth of field).

The woods (Woodland Trust’s Everdon Stubbs) are full of bluebells and stitchwort, but this one flower stood out, probably because of the way that the sun was lighting it.

I have cropped the picture in so there are fewer distractions and think that the tall thin crop reflects the elegance of the flower.  I like the way the sun catches the petals, but also the simplicity that comes from just having green and white (plus a tiny hint of yellow) in the photo.

I had my macro lens back on (although only briefly) and the settings were 1/800 secs (on aperture priority) at f/5.0 (to blur the background) at ISO200.

It was a photo that had to be taken.  I have cropped in, but that is all.  It is not an exciting photo, but I still like it.  It is an example of what is out there if you take the time to look around.

Taken on my compact camera, the settings were (in macro mode) ISO80, 1/30secs at f/2.8.

Despite being tempted to go and visit one of Northamptonshire’s snowdrop venues, I resisted the lure of the car (not hard) and decided that I would stay local instead and went to the Country Park.  Strangely enough, I hadn’t been there since before Christmas.  I have been at this time of year before and knew there would be some snowdrops out so thought I would see what I could find.

I came across a big carpet of them under some trees not far into the park.  (Funnily enough they were here last year!), but as you can see they are only just starting to open.  I took several pictures of groups of flowers, tried to get something to show a carpet of them (although this may work better in a couple of weeks when they are fully open and much more carpety) but I think this is my favourite.

Often, if you are having a photo judged there are comments about moving this leaf, cropping this bit out or rearranging the scene.  Many times though, nature comes up with something much more aesthetically pleasing – I don’t think the snowdrops on either side of the branch, with the brown oak leaves scattered around and hiding the mud, could have been better arranged.  The only thing I am not sure about in my picture is the emergence of the branch from one of the corners, although I do like the s-shape it makes across the diagonal, leading the eye into the picture.

Despite the fact that I was going looking for flowers I was deaf to the call of the macro lens and kept faith my new friend, the 50mm lens.  After all, it is Winter and the light is in a woodland setting would not win any brightness prizes.  I opened up the aperture because I wanted the focus to be on the snowdrops and the branch to disappear out of focus.  Too much depth of field could leave the scene looking a little messy.  Therefore, set on ISO200 I used f/4.5 which gave me a shutter speed of 1/250secs.

I felt that I needed to try and take some shots of something different, and so I have some shots of the estate and associated warehouses, but this is my favourite shot.

I took it because I was struck by the way the light was catching all of the mosses and lichens – it made them almost shine and look like crushed velvet.  However, I couldn’t seem to capture that in a picture, it just seemed to look too flat.  I therefore settled back to my natural instinct, crouched down and took a close-up shot.

I like the different textures, the soft, fluffy moss and the hard pavement.  But I also like the different colours, and the fact that lichens and mosses are taking over something so man made and hard as tarmac.  I also tried to convey how the moss just seemed to stretch away, covering quite a large area.  I think the photo also captures a little of the feeling of the light – it just doesn’t capture the feeling of the cold that came with it!

The settings on the compact were ISO80, 1/320 secs, 6mm, f/4.0.

One of the advantages to walking to work is that I get to take advantage of the frosty mornings when others are still in bed (you know who I mean!) or are sat shivering in their car.

I have taken quite a few frosty leaf pictures in the last couple of years, but I never tire of them.  This leaf was sat all on its own on the footpath – it is probably not there now, begging for its photo to be taken.  The sycamore/maple family of trees certainly provide their fair share of pretty leaves.

What I liked about this is the way that the frost had muted what are otherwise quite bright leaves, the frost on the tarmac and the contrast between nature and man-made surfaces.

I took the shot with my compact set on macro mode and the settings chosen for the early morning light were 1/30secs at ISO80, f/3.2 and 6mm.

My Canon S90 has a setting for low light, so I thought I would experiment and try it out despite the fact that it was a bit miserable and damp – no reason not to take pictures I thought.  The leaves on the pavement, and the pavement itself, were glistening in the rain – perfect photo material.

Basically the camera bumps up the ISO setting to 3200, but (considering my love-hate relationship with this camera) I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the picture that I got.

These leaves were lit by the yellow of the street light, so I adjusted the temperature a little in Lightroom to reduce the yellow cast, but other than that this is pretty much how it came out of the camera.

The resulting settings were ISO3200,1/50secs at f/2.0, 6mm.

I have taken pictures with a lower ISO with this camera in much better light and not had them anywhere near as sharp – definitely a setting worth playing with.

The camera was on macro setting, 1/80secs, f/4.0, 6mm, ISO80.