Off camera flash

I've always been rather unkeen on using flash on my photos, preferring the look of natural light. But from doing my research it appears that the more I can get to grips with using flash, the more possibilities it opens up. I bought a flash unit which I can attach to my camera, but more excitingly, which I can take off my camera and place it to light up the subject from whatever angle I like. One of the things I decided to try with my new light was a back-lit photo of some watery subject. The flash duration is so short that you can capture each of the tiny droplets and bubbles very clearly. I positioned the flash to bounce off the wall behind the glass so that the liquid is illuminated.

An amble beside Ambleside

 Here's a selection of photographs from today's stroll from Ambleside. I hadn't fully made my mind up about how far to go, but I ended up following the waterfall trail up through the woods, and then heading up to the top of Wansfell. It is a pretty steep walk up, so it was handy to stop every so often to take photographs!

 There was a turnstile gate which I accidentally caught somebody standing on spinning round and round like a roundabout! They hastily moved on when they saw me, but they gave me the idea for this photo. I spun the gate round before taking the picture, and had a reasonably long shutter speed (not too long though as I was holding the camera steady without a tripod). The effect is rather ghostly I think, a disappearing turnstile gate!

 The first of the Autumn colour is edging it's way in. People may complain about the end of the summer, but I for one do actually quite enjoy the Autumn when all the colours burst out.

Lantern festival

I went to the Ulverston lantern festival for the first time this year. Initially I thought it was going to be just like a torchlight procession, but the reality was far more exciting! There were so many creative lanterns, I was amazed at how many people took part and how many people were there to watch. Here are some of my favourite snaps of lanterns!

A walk in the mountains

Here are a couple of pictures from a walk I did last week. I've done plenty of walks in the Lake District before, but this one was very interesting because the views were so good and I could see many of the other hills I've been up. I feel like I have a better picture in my mind of where all the different hills are in relation  to each other now!

Bubbles and a walk in the park

 I went to the first two year old birthday party that I've been to since probably when I was that age! The children rather enjoyed the bubble making machine, it proved to be a good time for taking photos!

 Later we visited the tropical world in Roundhay Park Leeds. This was a rather splendid cactus, and the park outside the tropical world was lovely too on such a nice day.

Another photoshopping experiment

 

I'm sure there are thousands of things you can do with photoshop, but for now I've tried blending two pictures again. I thought I'd see if I could make it look as though she's walking through long grass. I don't think it really looks like she's standing next to a giant bluebell but the effect is quite nice anyway!