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

Tuesday 20 May 2014

BLUE. (20/05/14)

I’m struggling a bit at the moment. On Sunday I tripped and banged my hip on a rock. It could have been worse. There was no camera damage and there wasn’t anyone around to laugh.

I’ve spent two days playing in Photoshop and reading.

I have sorted the time lapse workflow now all I have to do is use the technique to create something with artistic quality. This will be the hard bit for me. I have been doing time lapse for a while and video off and on for a few years. I’ve never been happy with my videos. Come to think I’m not all that enamoured with my photographs. I’m more A William Topaz McGonagall than a Roger McGough and not only because I have two Christian names. Topaz? He was born in the early 1800s. I thought it was a modern affectation to give children daft names. I used to curse my parents for Christening me Adrian John. I quite like them now that I’ve learnt to spell.

At vast expense I purchased a book by fellow Blogger NEIL THURSBY. ‘The Headland’. Once I’d got a chapter in I really enjoyed it. It’s a book to be enjoyed by children and big children. I was a more than a little awed that someone that is kind enough to read my rubbish can write a proper book and a good one at that. If you don’t like a Kindle book then hard luck. I’ve spent much more on a bad pint and getting rank beer swapped takes more skill than a hostage negotiator has.

I decided to take the MP-E 65mm out for an airing. I took the whole caboodle, tripod, macro plate, cable release and ring flash. I took an angle finder. I should have plugged the whole job lot into the laptop so I could see what I was doing. I was going to do some focus stacked images but it was too windy. We naturists have to watch the weather. It can play havoc with dangly bits and things like flowers.bbell Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Not a favourite of mine but they do put on a good show and smell much better than wet dog. Non-scripta is Latin for unwritten. I guess you can’t make ink out of it. I’m happy with that. I only use ink for making notes and filling in crosswords. I get my ink free from the giveaway pens in the dog food supply shed. A sack of working dog food costs £15.00p to £19.00p per 15kg. A  sack lasts my two about six weeks in winter and two months in summer. Cheap dogs to run. The pens seem to last as long as a sack of dog food. Synchronicity I think it’s called. Whatever, it is fortuitous.

germander Germander Speedwell; Veronica chamaedrys. I hope. It is a Figwort of some sort. There are quite a lot of Figworts. I pinched the idea for these digital matts from TREVOR but as is my wont went much too far with them.

Have fun, tomorrow it looks set fine so I will go Ottering. The water levels are a bit high at the moment but should drop by the morning.

38 comments:

  1. :-) Adrian please take care when you are going around...
    Anyway your pics and the yesterday's video are great

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    1. Laura, I got a bit down and ditched my back catalogue. I still have about twenty prints but got rid of those as well. I'm not an artist. I just love the technology. I shoot and post. With the next video I'll shoot over a week and save. Then edit. This Blog is a diary to me.

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    2. -) But Your foto are artistic

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  2. I have tripped and fallen many times also, specially on uneven ground. Both are gorgeous but I love the Bluebell!

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    1. Maria, I take very few shots but this was the best of five. Take very few? I am happy shooting two or three thousand for time lapse video. Not to worry a new shutter is about £180.00p and the camera comes back spotless.

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  3. Adriaan can now not only on stage?

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    1. Bas, I have thought of a road show but what will I do with the little dogs?

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  4. I should look after yourself, what about Alfie and Molly?????

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    1. Bob, they are fine, swimming every day now the weather has warmed up. It doesn't do a lot for my finding Otters but I'll take a video of them.

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  5. Adrian, I hope that fall wasn't because of over consumption of a certain liquid the night before? The good thing is that your reflexes were working well and you managed to save the camera.
    I really like the Speedwell image...it looks like a water colour painting, Down to great camera skills, I guess?
    Good luck with the Otters!...[;o)

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    1. Trevor, no it wasn't. I got my first bottle today, I've not even opened it yet. The first in over a week. I just have....cheers.
      The Speedwell image is down to me not being able to focus right at getting on 2X. That's why it is a bit watery. When I used olympus not only did they have a tilt screen but their view finders were superb. Canon angle finders are rubbish. It was reflected in the price I paid for them. Two for fifty quid.

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  6. I find it amazing the number of times I have stumbled or fallen but never damaged the camera. Hope your hip is OK.

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    1. Pauline, it is just a bruise. I'll be fine soon.

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  7. I'm sorry to hear about your fall. Old guys( people like me)(I wasn't saying you are old!) are somewhat fragile so a fall is serious business. You've got some super flower photos.

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    1. Red, I'll get some more flowers as it looks as if it will be a bit wet here for a few days. I feel better this morning.

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  8. Preciosas flores. Que guapa viene la primavera Adrian!!!
    Buen miércoles.

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    1. Son Laura. La primavera es buena, pero me gusta el otoño y el invierno también.

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  9. Sorry to hear about the fall but looks like you are keeping busy with Photoshop. Love the blue flowers.

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    1. Gillian, thanks, no serious damage. I'll soon be back to normal.

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  10. Hi Adrian... Sure glad you didn't do anything serious with your fall., but saving the camera is real important !!
    I laughed when you said there was nobody to laugh at you lol!! What is that about anyway ,it sure isn't funny to the one who falls!!

    Love the Speedwell shot , wonderful detail !!

    Grace

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    1. Grace, people falling is funny. I can't help but laugh at them.

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  11. Catching up, and have enjoyed looking at your previous posts as well ~ great macros and time lapse. Hope you are on the mend, but I laughed when I read in your reply to a comment that you'd soon be back to normal...;) That would be a shame...

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    1. Glo, there is normal and there is my normal. Don't worry.

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  12. Just letting you know I drop in now and then.
    Adrian John - no problem. How would you have liked to have been Clive John???

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    1. John, I may have done all right with Clive, I spent my first four years at school transcribing the 'A' and 'I' in Adrian.

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  13. Thank you for promoting my e-book. My creative juices are flowing again...a story about a retired man in a camper van who picks up lone female hitchhikers and transports them to remote corners of Scotland for unwholesome physical activity...such as ironing! Who is this Neil Thursby fellow you referred to? I like to keep my true identity somewhat secret

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  14. YP, Neil Thursby is the pen name of Yorkshire Pudding. It says so on the front of the book.
    You are welcome.
    I don't own an iron. Do ladies hitchhike with an iron? There has got to be credibility in even the most unlikely of tales.

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  15. I thought I'd left a sympathetic message several days ago, Adrian. Anyway, I do hope the hip is better (I love the flowers),

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    1. Frances, I'm on the mend. I long since stopped thinking, I now just guess and have found it makes little difference.

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    2. You do know that Frances Garrood is also a published author of several books, don't you?

      Well, she is.

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    3. Bob, I do, I have got them all and am saving Dead Earnest until the new one comes out.

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  16. Hey Adrian it could be worse due to the cycling I have done I developed perianal abscess and went under the knife on Tuesday...A real pain in the butt..

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    1. Douglas, I really wish you well. I trust everything turned out alright. At least your trauma has an amusing aspect to it.

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  17. I think it's fair to say that most of us don't like our own photography. I look back and cringe at some of mine. you do a good job and inspire.

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  18. Jay, I suspect all of us. I just do my best. It is never good enough.

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  19. I know how you feel about the wind getting in the way of outdoor nature photography. Saw a lovely red beetle on the end of a blade of grass t'other day and would it stand still long enough for a decent photo?

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    1. John, I used to have an umbrella which really helped but I drove over it and keep forgetting to get another.

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