ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Saturday 1 August 2015

A LOT OF FAFF. (01/08/15)

I woke this morning to a misty windless world. I have been thinking of focus stacking landscapes for a while but it is generally too breezy. I do have an excellent 24mm tilt/shift lens but the tilt is virtually impossible for me to adjust accurately enough for front to back focus without having the camera plugged into the laptop. No sooner had I got set up than a gentle breeze arrived. I still went ahead and just cleaned up the stack in Zerene. It’s far from ideal but marginally better than nothing.

2015-08-01-07.05.01 ZS retouched

2015-08-01-07.11.06 ZS retouched

It was back to the van for breakfast and by the time I’d finished and washed up the sun was out and the insects were far too lively. I did catch a micro moth, these are very obliging moths and will stay roughly where I put them until I coax them to somewhere they don’t want to be.

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I popped this leaf and raindrop on a fence post and coaxed the moth onto the leaf. I couldn’t get it to sit behind the drop. Little tinker. Maybe it saw a giant version of itself and was frightened.

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It stays quite happily on the edge of the plastic tub I scoop them up in.

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It will readily sit on the bit of thin card I use to move it around but will it stay on a leaf……not a cat in hells chance. I am not sure of the ID but will go for Coleophoridae sp. For a rather dull moth it has got great eyes. These were taken at 3:1 and at 4:1 you can see the compound elements in it’s eyes but I failed to get it focussed tight enough.

I blame Andrew and his father Ken we were sampling the falling down water last night and discussing how someone as bigoted and offensive as Donald Trump could even be considered as a U.S. presidential candidate or considered for anything but certification, to give us a bit more insight into the machinations of a lunatic fringe we watched some Fox News. It was hilarious so we popped some Amy Macdonald on the music box before one of us had an accident.

Yesterday whilst out wandering I found my first edible fungus of the year.

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Slippery Jack; Suillus luteus. These are not really worth the bother of preparing as you have to peel away the slimy skin and they don’t really taste of anything unless dried and put in omelettes or mixed with rice. Edible in this case means they will not harm you though if you eat the slimy skin you will have to be fast off the blocks to get to the karzi in time. There were dozens of them so I’ll maybe make the effort and dry some. You will often see them with a black slimy ring on the stalk. That has to be wiped off as well. A lot of faff for little end result. A bit like the damn moth, Donald Trumps mother’s labours and the focus stacking.

26 comments:

  1. Brilliant Adrian, it shows everything.

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  2. I went for an early driveabout this morning, and we also had morning mist, but just a layer of it somewhat above ground level. Looked cool but photos were very so-so.

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  3. John, That's life or C'est la vie.

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  4. Love your moth photos! Such great detail - and I thought the little guy looked a bit scared. :) I really liked your raindrop on the leaf pic too. (And I totally agree with you about that windbag Donald Trump)

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    1. Linda, an upside down moth refracted in the drop would have made my month and we still have thirty days to go.

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  5. A cracking post and I have to say that I think your micro-moth images are splendid. As for Donald Trump you probably know that his mother came from the next township to the one I lived in when I first came to Lewis. He breezed in in his Boeing 727 some years ago for a visit. I seem to recall that it was a very bad hair day.

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    1. Graham, I find the bloke a complete idiot. Worse than G.W. Bush and he was far from the sharpest.

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  6. Cracking indeed. That shot with the drop is fabulous.

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  7. Thanks for the entertaining read. That raindrop on the leaf shot is amazing. I should be thankful to Donald Trump. He makes our politicians seem quite acceptable.

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    1. Pauline, thank you. It is unbelievable that Donald Trump can be considered credible by anyone.

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  8. You've found another very hairy little creature and I wasn't talking about donald Trump.

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  9. Trump for President! That's like saying Fart for Cameron! Which I would refuse to do as my farts are far too precious for that. Or maybe Fart for Cameron! is a past newspaper headline, announcing the birth of one of his whining Tory brats.

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    1. YP, it's a frightening thought. I'd like to think it couldn't happen but fear it could.

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    2. They elected Raygun and Dubya so why not Trumpton?

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    3. Yes a country with a superficial grasp of compassion and intelligence.

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  10. I like the water droplet I could imagine the poor micro moths reaction to itself. Did you think it was weird of Trump to approve of Jeremy Corbyn?

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    1. Douglas, it didn't like the look of itself.
      Nothing about Trump would surprise me. I'm amazed they let him out on his own.

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  11. The first landscape worked well. It's only when photographing we notice how much things move in even a gentle breeze.
    Great head shots of the micro moth.

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    1. John, it is the major drawback of stacking.
      It was a very good moth for once.

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    1. Monica, a pity it was so dull and damp. It's raining again this morning.

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  13. You are brave to eat fungi found in the wild but you seem have identified it so I suspect it's safe.

    Calm days with little wind have been rare here too. I have never tried focus stacking. Hmmm. Something else for my to-do list.

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    1. Tina, this fungus is not really worth eating but the season for wild mushrooms will soon be here. Focus stacking is often just as well done manually with masks and a soft brush.

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