Wildflower Diaries – Sun spurge

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Sun spurge (Euphorbiaceae) – highly poisonous

I bought myself a cheap andΒ  tiny macro attachment for the iPhone. While it was nice being able to photograph details of flowers using this, the quality is as to be expected – both by the camera on the phone and quality of the attachment. Nonetheless, I will be using this more when I don’t want to be lugging a camera with me on a walk

On a farm in Cambridgeshire

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.

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And what about the farm, a panoramic shot with the iPhone below.

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All pictures from the iPhone 4S. Processed in NIK snapseed software on the phone. Click on any picture for a larger version.

Flowers of Ice…

The temperature across East Anglia touched a chilly -6C over the last two nights. Winter is well and truly here in Cambridge. The rapid drop in temperature meant some great opportunities for photography across my place of work. The pictures below are all from my iPhone 4S. As always you can click on the pictures to see and appreciate these flowers of ice.

Ice flower
Ice flower
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This Brassica died out in the summer, but there’s this second chance to see how it would have looked!
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Extreme frost!!
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Frozen in time!
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The leaves of this plant are usually dark green except today!
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This used to be a Teasel plant..

All pictures with an iPhone 4S (it was too cold to carry anything else!). The images were post-processed in Color Effex Pro 3.0 plugin inside Adobe Lightroom 4.3

 

 

Walking on a Winter Day

Winters are well and truly here in the United Kingdom. The weather changes in a matter of minutes going from bright blue skies to dark thundery clouds and cold winds to rain. These pictures are from last friday near Hinxton, Cambridgeshire and show how the weather changed in about 20 minutes.

A fallow field near Hinxton, Cambridgeshire.
A tree precariously hanging on. River Cam (or Granta) near Hinxton, Cambridgeshire
River Cam (or Granta) near Hinxton. Using a soft-focus post-processing filter.
Changeable Weather. 10 minutes after the last picture.
Time to get indoors and escape the rain!! Hinxton, Cambridgeshire

All pictures shot with an iPhone 4S using the Camera! Awesome App. These images were then post-processed in Adobe Lightroom 4.1 to adjust white balance and contrast as necessary.

 

Stuffed Pepper

As I wasn’t close to my computer today, I decided to post a picture of stuffed red pepper that was my dinner yesterday. I am also posting this via the phone so I’ve no idea how this may look on a larger screen.

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Image originally taken using iPhone 4S, then processed in snapseed and camera awesome. The contrast between the reds of the pepper against the steel and black of the over made it an interesting exercise.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the recipe – you can find it here.

Autumn on the iPhone

The last two days I’ve strolled out at lunch time with just my iPhone. This, of course, is not the best camera in the world but it is handy. Here are a few pictures from the iPhone.

The skies in the picture below were dramatically darker than seen here. I did try to post-process this picture to enhance the black but not too successfully.

The common ivy – possibly the best signal that autumn has arrived. The vibrant reds and oranges highlight and make even the most drab of buildings come to life!!

Ivy adorns a brick garage in the village of Ickleton, Cambridgeshire
Ivy leaf

Other leaves are also changing colour at this time of the year. Soon everything will be barren.

But there is always light at the end of the tunnel πŸ™‚

Footpath between Ickleton and Hinxton villages in Cambridgeshire

All these images were touched-up in the iPhone Snapseed app.

 

Hip, Hip…. Rose..

Rose hip – funny name for the fruit of the rose flower.. As autumn sets in the dog roses are now fruiting in their bright reds and oranges.

I believe rose hips make good herbal tea and have a myriad of medicinal benefits. But I’d rather see them on the plant instead!

Picture taken with an iPhone 4s using camera! app. Edited in the app to add drama and increase contrast. Click on the picture for a larger version.