Tricks of the light

Lighting the subject makes a world of difference to a photographer, but you don't always need a load of expensive kit to achieve some interesting results. I recently photographed some fungi that help make the point.

I spotted these growing in a hedgerow and noticed how the fast moving clouds and occasional bright sunlight gave them a complete makeover.

Quite an amazing difference isn't it? But nothing compared to the diffence a conveniently placed neon sign can make.

Before:

And after:

I loved the surreal appearance the bright neon reflection gave these fungi. Completely artificial of course and probably something I'll never be able to recreate, but still interesting I think.

End of the road

This sort of thing always saddens me. It's not just that someone's pride and joy has been destroyed, it's the damage done to the environment.

The vehicle has obviously been stolen and driven deep into Wentwood Forest on one of the service tracks until it has become stuck in the mud before being torched. An act of complete stupidity and environmental vandalism in my view.

Spot the birdie!

Victorian photographers often used the expression "Watch the birdie" when taking portraits of children. The idea was to attract the child's attention to a stuffed bird held either above or to the right of the camera, thus getting the subject to inadvertently look into the camera's lense.

History lesson over. Here are a couple of images I grabbed with my Canon G9 X pocket camera this morning from inside my dining room.

This is a long tailed tit hanging upside down in one of the acers beside my pond. Can you spot him?

Long Tailed Tit

I have no idea what the little guy had found to pick at, but he was definitely busy grabbing some kind of bug from the tree.

I've always enjoyed watching our garden birds and am pleased to say the family of long tailed tits have become recent regular visitors. They have joined our resident blue tits and great tits and I'm hoping they will also become residents.