+1
But don't clone out the brown edges of the leaves. It's nature as it really is, not a defect in the picture.

Steve

You can never get too close to a bird. Pity that birds don't share that view.

A good start. Much like the pictures I was taking when I got the lens several years ago. There's a learning curve, but it's well worth climbing.

Steve

And not just indoors. My wife and I were eating outdoors at a cafe along with many other people. A cat arrived with a live mouse in mouth. It walked round until everyone was looking at it. Then it put the head of the mouse in its mouth and closed its jaws... tightly.

Strange that a big cat with an antelope in its mouth is OK for a prime time TV documentary but a small cat doing it live puts you off your lunch.

Steve

There's life where there shouldn't be, too. My daughter has just borrowed a couple of mouse traps.

Steve

An insurance broker once told me that motor insurers decide how much risk exposure they can tolerate. They then decide how many of each type of vehicle and driver they want on their books in order not to exceed it. If they have enough of a particular type, they will raise their quotes for that type to discourage new business rather than say 'we don't want your type!'. This can change from month to month, so can be worth repeatedly trying the same company as well as shopping around.

A friend found that quotes for his Lotus Elise were lower if he included his wife as a driver. He's still trying to work that one out.

Steve

Taken a month ago. Mainly taken to exercise a new lens - Irix 150mm macro on K3 - and to rise to the challenge of finding something interesting in the garden. Nothing big looked interesting so decided to look small and low. This is what had settled on the remains of an ancient raspberry cane. Levels tweaked to bring out texture in the snow.




Steve

A Velbon Angle Adapter 4. One of those things you think really ought to exist, then are surprised when you find that it really does.

Steve

The vertical crop for me, but I do see the menace in the horizontal format. Just shows what experimenting with cropping can do.

Thanks for the quick response derek897.

It looks like a good afternoon for bug hunting here. Unfortunately, work has to have priority...

Steve

The warm weather has brought a few out here, too. Must be summer already.

How about a vertical crop of the third one, perhaps a bit off the top, too? I saw it as a ladybird on lookout duty - climbed high to get a good view of what's around.

Funny how different people can see the same picture in different ways.

Steve

Just had a wicked thought. The dog is always on a lead because she would head off and not come back for ages (from bitter experience...). Now, if she could be trained to come back when the light is right, she would get her exercise and I could do slooow photography ...

Yes, the Irix is bigger and heavier than most 100mm macros. But when you're used to carrying a camera with DA* 300mm f4 + TC attached, it seems small and light weight!

If you do get to the NEC show, I hope they offer you a discount.

Steve