Today I am continuing my highly disciplined approach to blogging by sticking to one subject. As the title suggests the theme is disparity.
Last night or early evening the rain pounded down. The hens went to bed early for once and my other charge the barley grew some more. It’s gruesome barley.
I was going to go out looking for moths last night, I put new batteries in my head torch but it was too wet so I had a play with a selection tool I found in Photoshop. You can select fast with the selection brush then go to refine edge and smart select bits it has missed and you would like it to take another look at. Excellent it is.
This morning dawned bright and sunny so I went bugging. Lots of beautiful little picture wing flies but they were too quick for me.
I found a couple of Brown-lipped Snails so had to get my mirror out again.
That is all for today, plenty of diversity and disparity.
I love your snails on the mirror photos! And your first shot of the dewey grass was cool.
ReplyDeleteLinda, the first was taken this morning after heavy rain.
DeleteOK, I'm in love with your very first image. So moody, and the beautiful bokeh circles of light just make me giddy!! Now about pulling out your mirror for the snail shots. Do you use an actual mirror while taking these images or is this part of post editing?? If you use a mirror, how clever, and why didn't I think of that!!
ReplyDeleteKaren, the bokeh comes at a price this is the Canon 50mm f1.2 lens which is a beauty. Would be better for having an aperture ring but lenses don't these days.
DeleteYes, a real mirror you can't Photoshop this as if you look you can see the underneath. I shoot against a black cloth and do post process to drop the black to black in levels and then spend ages geting rid of little spots of this and that, mainly snail slime.
A normal mirror does work but you get a ghost reflection from the front surface. This mirror is first surface coated. It is aluminium coated not silver as silver tends to tarnish badly. These are float glass mirrors not ground glass which is what they use in big telescopes and costs a fortune. I got mine as offcuts from a firm in London who make autocue mirrors. You can get first surface plastic but it isn't as sharp but it is cheap.
So beautiful macros and spectacular colours. Always like to see your great works.
ReplyDeleteThat's very kind Kovacs.
DeleteOh dear, that poor innocent Tachinid Fly! Instead of taking photos of his brutal demise, you should have been rescuing the little fellow! Such bravery could have won you an award in the New Year Honours list as you missed out in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List.
ReplyDeleteYP, I think I can manage without any gongs from the Queen.
DeleteI guess that Barley is a bit too damp to harvest just yet then Adrian?
ReplyDeleteI like the Toyota, maybe you should clean it before you park it on the shed next time!
The picture flies were too quick for me yesterday too.
Nice 'finds' with the bugs.
I bet those snails move a lot faster than you would imagine when you're trying to take their photo?
Oh!..and well done for sticking to a theme, it works well! ...[;o)
Trevor, the barley still has a bit of growing to do.
DeleteThe Toyota is better as it is, it has an aura of dilapidated charm.
Both snails and flies move fast. It takes the snails a while to get going but when they get in top gear they are quick.
Again brilliant photos, Adrian. The bokeh in the barley, wow, and the snail! - and your humour's not bed, either. Now, would this be MacBrian? (Brianson's cousin, I'm thinking.) You're in Scotland, Laddie!) McGregor
ReplyDeleteMcGregor, I suspect they could be MacBrians but suspect I'd run out of Macs as I still have a few snails to find.
DeleteYes it is several times gezecht Adriaan but it's just the way they are just brilliant
ReplyDeleteBas, thank you. There is always room for improvement.
Deletei like the barley shot......very nice.
ReplyDeletepeter
Thanks Peter.
DeleteThe barley shot is very good!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bill.
DeleteI might also say that there was plenty of hard work! Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteRed, an hour or two spread over a couple of days.
DeleteSorry, Adrian, this year I'm growing vegetable and lots of flowers that snails like so they are not my friends because they are multiplying here in numbers I've never seen before.
ReplyDeleteGraham, it's all the rain. At least the wet weather will slow the caterpillars down.
DeleteDid a women park the Toyota? Very cleverly done makes you look twice. Great macro shots too, however my favourite is the Barley, exquisite image. Whats wrong with Barley then?
ReplyDeleteDouglas, no a Jaguar driver parked it.
DeleteNothings wrong with the barley. Not as far as I can tell.
It was the description 'gruesome barley' which made me wonder as I couldn't see anything wrong either.
DeleteDouglas, I should have written grew some. It's shot up this week.
DeleteAh, make sense lol.
DeleteWho would have thought wet barley could look so good. Well, you obviously! To me it's a lovely surprise. The old toyota looks sort of ghostly hanging there on the side of the shed.
ReplyDeletePauline, I was a bit idle with the pickup. I really ought to have made a displacement map for it to put it on the shed properly.
DeleteHI Adrian My favourite today are he snail imags but the barley shots is very interesting and gives a moody feeling. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteYou too Margaret.
DeleteAre you sure that's barley? It looks awfully liked wet grass to me.
ReplyDeleteFrances, it is barley. It isn't ready for harvest yet but is coming on a treat.
DeleteNearly repeated the old Dr. Findlay 'gruesome' quip, Adrian, but resisted on the grounds that it might offend some of your more sensitive readers!
ReplyDeleteLove the barley shot and the macro work. The snail images with the mirror are s(ub)lime - Thanks for the info about the mirror you use. Sorry, but the pickup on the shed doesn't work for me as an image (just a personal thing), but I do appreciate the work that you put in and the technique it illustrates.
Have a great weekend - - - - Richard
Richard, the pickup doesn't really work at all. I should have made a displacement mask but tried to cheat.
DeleteThere is a fair bit of cleaning up to do with the mirror shots. Flowers work, snails work well and frogs look good but they always hop and ruin the shot. A toad may be better as they don't hop.
Good old Dr Findlay.....aye it's gruesome more.
Yes, that selection tool works very well on the right subjects.
ReplyDeleteJohn, it can take ages to get a good selection. It's always best to shoot the shot with selection in mind.
Delete