Going over the high road between Stirling and Kilsyth. I liked the sky, the colour of the grass and the position of the farmhouse with the hills in the background. There’s a lot to like about this place, as long as you don’t have to live here in the winter I guess.
Just a ‘normal’ Saturday afternoon in Stirling. Went for a curry. Did a bit of shopping. Avoided the madness of the Yes and No campaigners. Had a cup of coffee and came the long way home.
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I saw this rose petal lying on the front step this afternoon. The lighting was good, but it wasn’t until I was processing it that I noticed the grit in the water drops.
A wet day from start to finish with a few hours of dry weather in the late afternoon.
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I liked the layers created by the mist this morning and revealed by a bit of gentle HDR. The subject is the church in Kilsyth viewed from Dumbreck Marshes. I hadn’t realised the mist was still there until I was processing the image. An interesting walk among the blue flowers of yesterday and managed to startle a young deer on the marshes. Unfortunately I was nowhere near quick enough to catch it on camera.
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Today was quite warm with little sunshine and no wind. I decided to go out for a walk along the old railway line between Kilsyth and Twechar. It’s a decent length of walk without being too strenuous. Anyway, I stopped for a while at Dumbreck Marsh and sat among these blue flowers watching the honeybees, wasps and hoverflies feeding. Such a peaceful place. It’s hard to imagine you are only about 10 miles from Glasgow.
I had chosen to take the Sigma 105mm macro lens with me and it was a good choice. Also, because there has been very little rain it was quite easy to get down low beside the flowerheads without getting too mucky. I think this a hoverfly, judging by the way it flew and the size of its eyes. They always remind me of the HUD helmet of a fighter pilot.
On the way back, I wasted spent some time flicking the seedpods of Himilayan Balsam to watch them explode. It took me back to Larkhall when I was about 5 or 6, walking down to Daisy Cottage with my mum and dad and doing the exact same thing. A good day.
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I’ve been experimenting with the Intensify app and it was that prog I used extensively in this photo. I also used Lightroom to get the tonal balance I wanted and to create the slight vignette at the bottom corners. Some of the effects in Intensify are a bit extreme, but no more so than any other HDR or image altering progs. Lightroom remains my go-to prog for photo editing and cataloging.
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I liked the wee house behind the pond, but the image seemed to lack some depth, so I turned 90º and snapped a shot of the Campsie Hills and then faked it in with PS. Quite liked the finished article. Not a photographic record, but a more balanced shot IMO.
I took the shot(s) after visiting the school. Don’t know what’s wrong there, but there is definitely a feeling of tension, or maybe distrust. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but everyone seemed edgy.
Dull day. Milky sky with not a lot of contrast/detail. Faked in some with LR using a graduated thingy with lots of Clarity and some underExposure. Took the shot(s) with the old Oly tele-zoom.
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Went for a walk down ‘The Green’ this morning. First time we’ve been there for ages. Scamp decided that a spot of gardening was in order, so I beat a sharp exit and went bramble hunting on my bike. Managed to pick over 1kg of good fat brambles. Then went for a cycle along the usual routes. Found lots of ladybirds today. This one was extremely co-operative and after some initial dodging, gave in and allowed me to take a few shots. This was taken with the old Oly 45-150 lens with a 10mm ext tube. I’m quite impressed with the quality.
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There’s always one scene stealer who wants to be in the front and this orange lily(?) was determined to be in the forefront of this scene no matter what.
We went to Chryston Flower Show today. Weather didn’t look as if it wanted to cheer up at all, so it was a no-brainer. The flower show is always really good and this year for perhaps the first time, certainly the first time for us, it was in Chryston High School, not in Muirhead Community Hall. Flower entries were down on last year, blamed on the hot summer. Some folk are never satisfied. Stopped off at Soave’s for ice cream and sweeties on the way home. A good day, despite the weather.
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It was a disappointing rainy morning today with low cloud covering the hills. I’d decided to avoid a walk in the rain and then I saw this Jenny Longlegs – not Daddy Longlegs, we’re in Scotland! It was stretched out on the glass of the back door. I cleaned the inside of the glass as best I could, but obviously couldn’t do anything about the outside and tried a few shots against the sky. Dull, dull, dull. I tried a few shots with the garden out of focus in the background. Dull, dull, dull.
Finally I opted for the original shots against the sky, dropped the image into PS and layered a brightly coloured OOF background on top. Changed the layer type to Soft Light and bingo, it was a bright summer’s day again.
Amazing what you can pick up browsing the mags in WH Smith!
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iText, you text, everyone texts. It’s a way of life these days. This guy is texting his mate from outside the GOMA to say “Some bloke is taking a photo of me. Look out for it later on his blog.”
Went in to Glasgow today to meet an old friend for a coffee and a long catchup. It was an interesting day hearing how our lives had diverged over the intervening 40 years. Some things change, some things remain the same.
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