Now that Babooshka's back in town - Skywatch

My clouded view

Skywatch

Yep that's right, the teeth are sharpened along with the pen and lens and Ramsey had better look out....Babooshka's back. Her pearly whites are ready to draw those scarlet billows with nevah a trace of red in the aftermath. Isle of Man bigwigs cowering at the thought I may be coming for them (verbally of course) are quaking in their three legged boots. Lets be 'aving ya then. What's been occurring in my absence?

Ah. My absence? That was my little sojourn to the South of France, with purposely a computer free zone. It was of course fabulous. Very hot, laid back, fun, and so relaxing despite the bruised knees. Blame in on the Baltic. Even spending the day photographing St Cyprien Plage for work was not a chore. How could it be. Have you seen that beach! Man alive it's gorgeous. Want to see it? Want to know why the bruised knees? Well not here, you'll just have to wait for my new blog sweeties with a French flavour. Back to Ramsey.

Needless to say we arrived to the tail end of Hurricane Bill. Yes as if it doesn't persist down with water enough here we had to catch the back end of that. Not happy with Bill. Spent a day working sodden through to the bone for a company I should have known better than to work for again. Only for two weeks, but lets just say what a complete bunch of ungrateful, rude, ignorant, incompetent Bankers.

Well the bridge is still swinging, the clouds still rollings, more shops still closing. Same old scene. Stop press exciting news, the Grand Prix, (more motorbikes to you) is here and we have, whoopie doo, a new ice cream parlour. So I do then have something new to show you. In the meantime today is all about the skies and I have somewhere up there on this page my offering of Sky Hill this week or for other skywatchers see here

Thank you all for the lovely emails and comments in my hiatus and forgive my lack of going anywhere near a computer to respond. Time out over and normal service has been resumed. Hand me the soapbox, duck and cover, Babooshka's back in town.

Ramsey Swing Bridge - Skywatch

Twenty three


Skywatch

So while I'm not here I just had to leave with the most iconic bridge in the world. Well the most iconic bridge in my world anyway. You all know by now what this about, why the bridge again, and again and of course again. This then would be twenty three shimmering and shining in a blue glaze. For those of you who know what I'm else I'm on about you can also see a dolphin, but not your usual kind. The clouds just obliged nicely by planting themselves at varied intervals around the sky just for aesthetic effect.


Again I hope you are seeing these OK. I'm not here, I'm lost in France on holiday. I know lucky girl, but I do have a photography assignment while I'm there, so not all fun. Who am I kidding. Photographing France, never a chore.


For more skies around the world do take a peek here

E is for elegance - abc

Swan lake

Abc this week is an taking a E

Well hopefully these scheduled posts are working out and you should be seeing an elegant swan glides effortlessly in an eclectic mix of floating debris for my E this week. Well I hope that's image you've got. Why scheduled, I'm not here folks. Hopefully having lots of wine, and crepes while you lot slave away on me jolly holiday.


You know where this is my now the harbour. The floating debris might not be the most graceful setting but I'm sure you'll agree swans are always elegant. Well that is when that are not being bad tempered about a camera being shoved in there face for a photo to be captured.


More abc' s can be found here

Name the alien finger plant. Monochrome. My world

Pizza!

Monochrome

My World

Most of you know as this post is published I am on my way to Merry Old England overnight, then onto wonderful, wonderful France for a week. Hallelujah. Can't wait. In the meantime just leave you with a few simple images. Today I am killing two nemes with one stone, Monochrome Weekly,
My World. I'll obviously not be around to catch up with you, but I may just take a break from the French sunshine and find an internet cafe.


Following on from yesterday, another question for you. Can you name this plant. I know it's in black and white, which it not the best for identity purposes, but do your best. It was a creamy yellowish colour with sage greenish colours stems. It was also covered in a very peculiar red insect, which I will show you another time. It could of course just be an alien outstretched finger. Phone home anyone.

For more Monochromes see here
For more My World see here

Butterfly in a depth of field - Critters

How to capture this image

Critters

Can anyone identify this butterfly? Not a clue this end. As you can see by it's wings the poor thing is a little worse for wear, quite small and flat, dull brown throughout. Can't tell you what the underside of the wing looked like as the little blighter never flipped or fluttered for me. Also at quite a distance so this isn't a macro image. That though leads me onto what kind of image we would call this, and that would be use of depth of field, or as you may often see it abbreviated to dof.

It sounds far more scary and technical than it actually is. Not at all. If you were viewing this image with your own eyes rather than through my lens then your eyes and brain would adjust the sharpness and clarity of everything you see in the frame, so all would be in focus. With depth of field all you are doing is concentrating focus onto one point. In this case the butterfly. As the eyes move back through the image and around it you will notice the softening or blurring(usually referred to as soft focus) of the leaves, giving a 3D effect to the photo. Easily done. As I was at a distance I just adjusted the lens until I got the desired focal point for the butterfly. Needless to say this was on a manual setting. You can do this on any part of the image, but one thing you must get right is the sharp focus on the subject. If you don't get that right then the image will just be flat and blurry throughout. Easier to demonstrate and more dramatic on two opposing colours, but chose a nature image with muted colours as it's a shot often used in nature photography.


A while since we've had photography tips on the blog, but this is a question I get asked a lot, so there you go. Quite a sensible post for me too. Now go and practice and remember people I want results or you could just go and click Misty to see more cute critters.

Au revoir - Skywatch

Beyond the sea

Skywatch

Au revoir for a week or so my little Bloggers. This time next week I will be in France not lost in France, though I would like to be. Yes finally off to the South of France, St Cyprien and Perpignan for a week. Never been to this particular part so anyone been this way shout out. Simply can't wait now 'til Sunday. So next week I will hopefully have some scheduled posts appear but I won't be around to link in to anything. You'll have to check out the blog for me instead and amuse me with your comments and questions. While you do that I will have travelled beyond the sea, over to England, the strip of land you see on the horizon and under the low cloud and then onto France. I don't expect to see this lilac haze sky reflected on the water we get here for another week or so. Instead I'll be swapping it for azures, aquas, a pea greens and of course a darned sight warmer that the somewhat bracing chilly water we have here. Don't be fooled by the lapping silky smooth gently rippling tide rolling in. It's freezing. As you can see too the scene was disturbed by the onset of rain, those little dots in the centre of the image. That of course is when the Nikon goes back in the case. Of course we do not expect any rain in France. The Nikon will be happy.



Off to do some chores before we go. Of course I may not actually come back. Anyone want to offer me a job out there absolutely fine my me, and of course Gary the artist click here too. Artists and photographers like us need live and work in France. Simply the best. I digress. This is about skies, and to see more of those around the world click here.

Drainpipes are a slim fit.

Were you expecting a pair of Jeans

Wednesday into Thursday seem to have turned into the unofficial ugly (or to be politically correct, pretty challenged) part of town photograph. Not the intention just the way the images fall when I am mooching for a daily pic. So once more unto the alley. Well another alley. Instead of going all the way inside and down into the bowels of the damp dark back passage we stand on the edge looking up, Parliament Street side. Slim isn't it? All the alleyways are here. You lose weight or your walk round. Simple as that. 19th century passageways were not built for 21st century fast food diets. I'm sure the sky would have the same delphinium (fancy named purple shade to you don't ya know) hue peeking above and through the two building. Sure the dilapidated hanging basket would not have been there then either or the drainpipes to catch and release the rainfall. Those are the grey pipes in case drainpipes confused you.



Not exactly the most drop dead gorgeous photo of Ramsey, but part of the fabric of the town nonetheless. Besides I am sucker for a purple haze sky and I am preparing for a holiday. Oh yes. It's France.