Star Trails

Tonight I tried something a bit different. Star trails.
I left my camera on for about 10 minutes (bulb setting) at aperture 3.5mm just outside in the backgarden. I knew I'd have a problem with light pollution but I was just testing to see what I would get....and here is the result (with a slight bit of fixing in Photoshop for the sky and ignoring the house detail - the house is only there for a reference point).



Now that I know how it should be done I will be venturing out to less light polluted areas for my next attempt.

Wet Nose

I'm going out to photograph using film today so the images won't be available for a while.

In the meantime, I'll show you a pic that I should've included in my last post to show you the detail brought out by the macro lens. It's a bit grotty, to be honest, but it's nature. My little Cat Features nose :)



I'm not sure cats are supposed to have wet noses, though, are they?

Chloe

I was trying to take some photographs out the back today as it was so sunny but Cat Features (Chloe) wouldn't give me any peace. Tail in the face. Head under the lens, bopping up just as I'd be pressing the shutter release button.

Sigh.

Well, I got my own back on her. When she decided she wanted to lie out and enjoy the sun-rays, comfortable in the knowledge that Spot (her nemisis) would never dare enter the garden to annoy her when I was around, I got up close to take some photographs of her happy, little face. I managed about 3 images before she got annoyed and left the scene.

Garden spider

It took quite a bit of patience and steady hand to take this image. There was a little bit of wind that caused focusing issues and I didn't have the tripod out with me. I've learned that, when using the macro, it doesn't matter how high the shutter speed you will still need a tripod. I can't believe that even less than a millimetre of movement can throw the subject out of focus. It's absolutely amazing.

This little garden spider (not fully sure what the actual species is) was only about 1cm in length. His web was in a prime spot because he seemed to be catching all the greenfly. Unlike his friend, whose web was empty. He was running about like crazy trying to fix his little web, which was obviously in a poor position compared with Mr."wind-blows-them-here-first". I wonder which spider built his web first!!

Macro =)

I am now the proud owner of a macro lens!! I haven't had the chance to give it a good try-out yet but I did take a couple of shots of Cat Features last night (that's what I call her, hehe) to see how it copes in darker conditions.

So far I'm loving it just as much as I expected and I can't wait to try out some more images on the plants and beasties outside.

I've included a few of the images that I took of Chloe (Cat Features). I love the darkness and grainy quality to them. It's becoming a regular theme in my photography.