Whoops...

So I pretty much forgot about this site. I've bought a new domain which I'm going to set up as my photography site so this will probably move over there eventually. But for now, here's a few photos posted from my iPad.

Storm

A couple of days ago we had an amazing thunderstorm and I managed to capture a single image of the lightning.

Red sky

Hopefully I'll be able to update this blog more often now that I can post directly from my phone.

Here is a photo taken moments ago of the red sky over the bus stop.

October

I've been busy recently so haven't been able to update this site.

Here are a couple of new photos taken on the LG G2 mobile phone.

Next week I'm attending the awards evening for the Basingstoke in Bloom competition where I got Highly Commended in the Plant Portrait category.

Starry Night

Just a quick update today. The photo below was taken a few days ago using a long exposure (approx 20 minutes) with a 18mm focal length to get as much space into image as possible. The stars are rotating around Polaris.

I'm hoping to goto Marwell next week so will put some photos up from there if I do. It is also the Perseids meteor shower this weekend so hopefully the sky will be clear tonight or tomorrow when it is at its peak.

It's also my birthday so I've invested in some new photo gear which should arrive early this week so will no doubt have some photos from trying it out. I've bought a Vanguard 263AT Tripod with Vanguard GH-100 trigger head, a 0.45x wide angle converter which if my calculations are right should make my 18mm on DX the equivalent of 12mm, and also a Meike LED ring flash for close-up work. I'm hoping to also get a proper flashgun as well if my budget allows.

The Return

Well, I haven't updated this site for a month now. Whoops. This is mostly down to being crazy busy at work and then spending time relaxing on holiday. I will aim to update more regularly now and hope to set up a website for C Smith Photographic to display my best images at some point.

But for now, here are a couple of photos from the weekend. I visited Royal Victoria Country Park in Southampton. 

The first photo is of a bumblebee inside a flower. The bee was seemingly asleep in the flower as he did not move for ages until another bee tried to enter the same flower. The photo has been cropped slightly from the original.

The second flower shows some sort of wasp on the edge of a flower. The photo has been cropped from the original which showed a much greater proportion of the flower.

The third photo was taken at the War Cemetery and shows Commonwealth War Grave Commision gravestones for soldiers who died during WWI. The photo has been edited in Lightroom to remove the background of trees by reducing the shadows to black. 

The fourth photo shows two container ships docked in Southampton Water. The photo has been converted to B&W using Lightroom to create a more artistic image from an original which was very faded due to the distance and lighting at the time.

The final photo shows a boat on Southampton Waters from the sailing club. The colours have been boosted using Lightroom to provide a more contrasting image.

Bugs

Have had a busy time this week, but have managed to get some new photos taken over the weekend. I was hoping to goto Kew to take some photos of the flowers there but will now be going at the end of term instead so I can hopefully use a tripod as it'll be a week day.

Anyway, here is a photo for today. It was taken yesterday in my garden while experimenting with my Tamron 70-300mm and various close-up filters. This photo was taken with just the Tamron lens without any filters. I'm very happy with the Tamron lens and as you can see below it provides a nice depth of field perfect for having the entire daddy-long-legs in focus with the background dropping of quickly.