The earliest signs of spring in gardens and meadows around Britain are the appearance of these tough dandelions. They might be the scourge of the gardener but they do light up meadows with their bright yellow showy flowers. These dandelions were seen on a footpath along a field near Hinxton, Cambridgeshire.
Spring finally arrived in Cambridge this week. The garden suddenly woke up from its long winter slumber and burst into colour. Daffodils, Crocuses and now tulips are in bloom.
Technical Details
Nikon D7000 with external Speedlight SB600 flash in slave mode
Sigma 105mm f/2.8
1/250 f/20 ISO200
Post-Processed in Adobe Lightroom 4.4
A straight path never leads anywhere but to the objective – Andre Gide
3-frame bracketed HDR processed in Photomatix Pro
My experimentation with HDR photography continues. Over the lovely weekend we had here in Cambridge I visited Anglesey Abbey and Lode Mill in Cambridgeshire. This picture is a composite of 3 photographs at -2, 0 and 2ev of a backlit tree. The images were processed in PhotoMatix Pro using the Painterly 2 filter with further adjustments.
Click on the picture for a larger version. Thank you for stopping by!
Narcissus jonquil and Narciuss tazetta are two daffodil cultivars endowed with flowers that have a heady perfume. These members of the Amaryllis lily family are probably hybrids of Japanese daffodils. Each flower in the pictures below is about 1.8cm in diameter, but their heady fragrance can be felt metres away.
Any picture can be clicked upon to see a larger version.
Technical Details:
Nikon D700 with Speedlight SB-600 external flash Sigma 105mm f/2.8 lens Post-Processed in Adobe LightRoom 4.3 and NIK Color Efex Pro 4
I chanced upon this piece of farming equipment on a farm in Cambridgeshire last week while on a walk. The paint has peeled away and the equipment is rusty, but I’m sure this is still in use today. If I were to hazard a guess, this is probably used on a tractor to turn the soil, but not being a farmer, this is at best just a guess.
And what about the farm, a panoramic shot with the iPhone below.
All pictures from the iPhone 4S. Processed in NIK snapseed software on the phone. Click on any picture for a larger version.
“Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!”
William Wordsworth (To a Snow-drop)
Snowdrops traditionally herald the beginning of the end of winter. Delicate white flowers peeking out from a modest plant that is often overlooked when the other plants wake up from their winter slumber.
This looks likely to be the most christmas-like Easter here in England this year. Snowfall this week and more expected over the Easter weekend make it hard to believe that spring is actually here. These daffodils from my garden are proof that, whilst we may not think of spring, the plants have certainly made up their minds.
All these pictures taken outside at dusk. The black background in the photographs are a result of using an external flash combined with a high aperture setting. Final black corrections in Adobe LightRoom applied to create a fully dark background.
Juridicious 