Framedlight

Seeing a lovely bluebell wood picture from Jane Goodall, I was anxious to know where exactly the wood was. A quick bit of googling showed it to be only about a quarter of an hour from my door, so we went there on a late Sunday afternoon and took a few pictures. The sun was filtering through the fresh beech leaves and the wood was a calm tidy place, giving space for the blankets of blue bells, now reaching the end of their flowering. A few more abstract images follow the main bluebell ones. Afterwards we went down to the tiny church at Strethall, which lies off the beaten track, in a farmyard. Here we saw a rather interesting grave.

I am gradually working my way through last years's photos and thought that a few bluebell ones would help to lift the spirits on a dull February day. These pictures were taken in a little wood near my house on two separate occasions. On the first day I was using my little Fuji camera and the day was overcast (the first 3 pictures). I found a red bedspread hanging from a branch. The bears had been doing more than they normally do in woods. The second time the sun was out and the floor of the wood had beams of light falling on to the bluebells. This time I was using the Nikon which has more resolution and a greater dynamic range, so it was more capable of dealing with the contrasty light.

If only, like the Frost poem, we could have some snow and a spell of cold weather rather than the dismal rain. I stopped by a local wood quite early this morning and managed to get some pictures before the drizzle started again. There were still raindrops clinging to the twigs from the overnight showers. I know pictures of disordered trees are quite popular at the moment and this wood is pretty chaotic as many of the trees are down following the January storms and it has not been tidied. I was surprised to see the tops of the bluebells already poking through the ground. I hope we do not get a late frost.

I took the dog and the camera for a walk in Wandlebury on the outskirts of Cambridge - a piece of natural woodland surrounding an 18th century house (now turned into residences). I am still experimenting with the 24mm tilt shift lens so the following are taken with that. The first was taken at f/3.5, the third at f/16 and the other two at f/8. It was fairly dark in the woods so I used a tripod.

These were taken on the D800 using a tripod in the wood at Rickling at the end of October. The trees in the heart of the wood are reluctant to turn gold, even though there are a number of beeches. They are still green now (18th November).

I have been spending a little time in a small wood fairly close to the house. These pictures were taken in October before the leaves had really turned, on a dullish day which is easier for taking pictures through the trees. A couple were also taken using the pinhole lens after I had taken the same view with a 50mm lens - so compare and contrast! I quite like the smudgy vignetted effect of the pinhole.