2019 Project 52 by Geoff F - 2nd Quarter

[skitterbug]

Hi Geoff - the equipment for hay turning has definitely changed. Anything to help fluff and dry that hay is helpful. Every now and then we hear that someone lost a barn due to poor curing of hay. It ignites when not completely dry and usually the whole structure goes down before the fire can be extinguished. Sad indeed. Good pics showing the equipment in action!

What I like about the History Society pics are the dogs and the basket leaning against the post. It would be interesting to see the weaving close up. But I expect you were documenting the day for history? The first image (week 18) seems a bit un-level? Probably the way the tent is sitting? Good exposure and balance!

[Geoff F]

Yes, Sandy, that tent was on a road which slopes in two directions so I took the distant building verticals as being my upright line. On reflection, It could do with a slight skew in the top left corner. There is a bit of spare space which has been cropped so sometime I will have to give the image another little tweak there. Unfortunately nothing spare on the right side where I could have done with just a tiny bit more.

Those 'baskets' are actually the initial stages of making the old fashioned wicker crabpots.

I did notice the dogs apparently taking an interest; so that is what encouraged me to click the shutter at that particular time.

[Geoff F]

Week 19 - Ladybirds. A bit of better weather has had me out photographing and recording insect life, which means I have fallen behind with other aspects of my photography. So, as an example, here is a selection of recent ladybird species. Or Lady Bugs as they are known in other countries.

7 spot



10 spot



14 spot



24 spot



Cream-spot

[Geoff F]

And a great many other insect species, such as Bronze Furrow Bee



Beautiful Demoiselle



All with 7D and Sigma 180 macro lens, on a tripod.

[Wavelength]

Wonderful images with excellent details !!!

[Geoff F]

Thanks Nandakumar. All these species, plus a great many more, go to a national recording scheme; so identification and getting all the paperwork correct does take a bit of time, which limits my abilities for other types of photography.

Here are a couple more which may be of interest. A Common Blue Damselfly, but it isn't blue! This is a female green form which has recently emerged so the colours are still very bright.



And some more recently emerged species. Very young Garden Spiders. They all hatch at the same time and stay in a tight group for the first few days to give some protection from predators; at least for those in the centre of the group.

[Geoff F]

Brave or foolhardy?



This little fly escaped because the spider, which was looking for bigger prey, didn't move. These Misumena vatia spiders don't spin webs so it would probably have ended differently if the fly had become entangled in a web.

It almost looks as though the fly is whispering something into the spider's ear.

[Cantab]

The fly and spider make for a good action shot -- except the anticipated action never occurred! But a good capture.

P.S. I wasn't aware that there were any white spiders.

[Shadowman]

Nicely seen and captured.

[joebranko]

Nicely captured!

[Wavelength]

Very nice images

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

I think Misumena vatia is the only totally white outside living spider in the UK, Bruce. Actually they are variable in colour depending on their background and will gradually change from white to yellow as required.

[Geoff F]

This week is something of an experiment. I wanted to photograph part of the path, gates and styles etc on the way to one of the wildlife sites where I regularly make recordings. My intention is to eventually produce a slideshow of some of the flowers and wildlife which can be found there.

Week 20 - The Path to Tor Woods. Obviously, I was restricted in my choice of camera angles which meant having to work with whatever light conditions were present at that time.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens 1/80 F8 Iso 400. Merge of two conversions from a single Raw file.



1/400 F11 Iso 200



1/200 F11 Iso 200



1/125 F11 Iso 400. I also tried F8 to give a faster shutter but decided I preferred this image.

And inside the wood.



1/80 F11 Iso 800

[Cantab]

Geoff, the most recent photos are enjoyable and presumably may form part of the introductory sldes.

I'm not sure if there's any easy way of posting a slideshow on the internet (apart from a probably tedious conversion to Power Point slides) but I'd enjoy seeing the finished product if there is an easy way to make it accessible on the internet.

[Geoff F]

I use Proshow software, Bruce. Which is a Photodex product. Just the basic version does all that I require, although even that one isn't exactly cheap. But a quality product is usually the easiest to use and best in the long run. Reasonably simple to drag together images and videos then add transitions and any soundtrack etc. It can produce a DVD or a Mpg show for internet viewing.

This is the show, on Vimeo, which I put together for Andrews Wood which is another site which I regularly visit.

vimeo.com/324956591

There are several other shows/videos of mine on Vimeo, which I have put together with Proshow. But the problem now is getting sufficient time. I am photographing and recording insects at various local sites on every suitable day. Then editing those images and identifying the creatures takes up most of the poor weather days. And I am only half way through a project for the local history society which requires the photographing and naming of all the local gravestones

[skitterbug]

Hi Geoff - It has been a bit since I've been able to take some time and look at images posted by the CIC group. Your insect series is top notch. I think that the fly is a risk taker and probably fortunate that the spider wasn't hungry at that moment.

You've also set up your path project to make it interesting to me. I always find myself looking forward to the "next step" on the path to see what is beyond!

Nice series indeed!

[Cantab]

I use Proshow software, Bruce. Which is a Photodex product. Just the basic version does all that I require, although even that one isn't exactly cheap. But a quality product is usually the easiest to use and best in the long run. Reasonably simple to drag together images and videos then add transitions and any soundtrack etc. It can produce a DVD or a Mpg show for internet viewing.

This is the show, on Vimeo, which I put together for Andrews Wood which is another site which I regularly visit.

vimeo.com/324956591

There are several other shows/videos of mine on Vimeo, which I have put together with Proshow. But the problem now is getting sufficient time. I am photographing and recording insects at various local sites on every suitable day. Then editing those images and identifying the creatures takes up most of the poor weather days. And I am only half way through a project for the local history society which requires the photographing and naming of all the local gravestones

Thank you for the info. I'll have a look at Vimeo.

It sounds like you're back working full time! Isn't "retirement" great?

[Wavelength]

Nice to tour with you

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments. I did take a bit of 'thinking time' before deciding on the camera angles for those path scenes and there were some which just didn't work. Considerable difference in the colours between those shade and full sun shots.

Yes, Bruce, I find retirement to be a full time job.

[bambleweeney]

Nice images, I really miss British woodland. Here in the Ariege the woods are more like a 5km deep hedgerow, impermeable to everything. Thanks for posting and nice to see