152. Plastic

Who remembers Hungry Hippos? Just as much fun now that we're adults, apparently!

151. Silky

My mum's cat Sydney has a beautiful, silky, black coat. Such a pretty feline. 

150. Comfort

Yesterday's gorgeous little boy's equally gorgeous older brother...taking classic comfort from a bit of thumb sucking action. So sweet. 

149. Innocence

This shot was taken over the weekend when I met up with a group of my lovely school friends and their expanding broods! It is so wonderful that I am still in touch with these girls - some of whom I have known for almost 20 years - and get to share these precious moments. This little one is only 5 months old and so placid and calm. I love how the light is reflecting in his wide eyes.

148. Abandoned

A collection of bits and bobs, round the back of my Mum's garage. The stained glass panels were originally in our windows. One day they will hopefully find a new home.

147. Angles

The roof of our village hall in the sun...plus house martin. Smiles. Happy weekend, all!

146. Busy

This is a photo I know my Dad would like. Over the years he took countless shots like this so whenever such a moment arises, I think of him. This bee was very busy gathering pollen from my chive flowers yesterday evening. 

145. Summer

Finally it feels like summer is here - it's been so warm and sunny over the past few days and the skies have been a beautiful blue. Long may it continue!

144. Fragile

I'm really pleased with this shot. I was just spending a bit of time at my allotment this evening and the bees and butterflies were having a busy evening, flitting too and fro. This cabbage white landed on my bolted broccoli and stayed still long enough for me to get a sharp shot. So pretty and delicate. 

143. Landscape

Another of Dyrham Park. 

142. Critters

These guys sit in my living room. As I'm not allowed a cat in my rental property, they are my substitute. 

141. Masculine

We saw lots of lovely boats while we were on the river yesterday. This was definitely one of the most masculine. No colourful flower paintings or pots of herbs here!

140. Starboard

We had a fantastic day out on our friends' long boat today, journeying along the River Avon. Here is B, standing on the starboard side. 

139. Silence

A mute swan on the river. So serene. 

138. Round

Our chives are looking fantastic at the moment. These little round balls will pop open into fuzzy pompoms pretty soon. Delicious in salads and pasta. 

137. Little

This is Squeak, the American Kestrel - so little, she can balance on peoples' heads!

136. Sky high

Another of the beautiful peregrine falcon. 

135. Wings

134. Turbulent

This crow was not at all happy to find an American Hawk flying around in his territory. Cue aerial clashes. 

133. Fast

We watched a falconry display today in the grounds of Lacock Abbey. I tried to get some shots of the amazing birds as they flew but they were so fast - especially this peregrine falcon - that it was very tricky to catch them in flight, even with my motor-drive taking continuous shots per second and a high shutter speed! It was the first time I've ever really wished for a long zoom lens, as well. My 70mm just didn't cut it. As a result I've had to crop this in really close, reducing the image quality significantly. 

132. Depth of Field

I can see for miles and miles...

131. Boy

After yesterday's post of big sister, here is one of a very lovely little boy, who spent the day walking, climbing and playing with gadgets - as little boys love to do. 

130. Girl

Over the bank holiday weekend we met up with our friends and their two kids. This little lady was enjoying reading in the sun, all dressed in pink and sparkly things.

Tutorial Tuesday

This evening I had a very quick play around, after being inspired by Ashley Sisk's Tutorial Tuesday challenge. I'll hopefully give this a better go later in the week when I have a bit more time, but it was fun to experiment with something new. This tutorial focuses on changing background colours in Photoshop. 

I took this photo of my friend Litsa and changed the back/foreground colour in the field to a deep red hue. 

I wanted more of the red, however, and got a bit carried away! I copied Litsa to an additional layer and then worked with the background, using the 'clone' tool to add to the background. 

Although definitely not a polished finish, I am pleased that I now know how to alter background colours. 

Next step, cleaning up edges...

129. Rest

This weekend we visited Dyrham Park and these guys were just lounging near the path, resting and posing for photographs! 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

A little delayed this week - with the bank holiday weekend here in the UK, I've been out and about. Please do pop over to Ashley Sisk's page, where she hosts the Scavenger Hunt Sunday, and check out some of the other links.

1. Shadow

In the sunshine earlier this week, the lambs were casting clear shadows. They're getting big so quickly.

2. Keys

This one is from my archive as I didn't have chance to get a shot of keys this week. It was taken with my Lomography Spinner camera, which takes full 360 degree panoramas. This was in New York last year and the link is the street performer's piano keys. 

3. Smile

A lovely smile from a lovely little boy. 

4. SOOC

The scanned negatives from one of my analogue cameras - these were taken on a recent trip to Amsterdam and I just got the film developed. I scanned them in to digitise. 

5. Fish

Finally, my lovely other half eating fish and chips by the seaside. 

I hope you've enjoyed this week's scavenger hunt. 

Happy snapping in this coming week. 

128. Utilities

My kitchen tap, drip drip dripping. 

127. Plant

This is one of my beautiful orchids. I love its delicate, full flowers. It was a gift from some students, when I left my previous school and it has just started flowering again this month. It must love its sunny position on the windowsill. 

126. Lines

Two photos for day 126...of the same thing with different light sources.

Can you guess what it is?

For the shot above, I placed the item in a light box, with no artificial light. 

For the one below, it was held up against a window, with the sunlight shining through. the item.

It's a beautiful piece of stone that my Ben brought back from America. The lines are so interesting and beautiful. I love how it is partially translucent, so when the sunlight shone through, the grains became clear and bright. 

125. Fix it Friday // Lightness

Both the colour and the weight of these dandelion seed heads are incredibly delicate and light. So lovely. 

I took lots of photographs of them, around my garden, earlier this week and this shot was actually one I was about to discard, in favour of clearer, sharper images. In the end I thought I'd use it for a 'Fix it Friday' post. 

Here is the original shot...pretty uninspiring and flat...

However, I realised that the centre of the dandelion clock was actually sharply in focus and created an interesting contrast with the blurred background and seeds. I edited the shot using the following steps:

1. Open in Adobe CameraRaw and adjusted the exposure - by bringing this down the details became clearer.

2. Still in CameraRaw, I pulled the blacks up significantly - to about +50, as well as the contrast. This helped to define the seeds and create more striking colour. I didn't need to up the saturation as the increase in the blacks created this effect. 

3. I then opened the image in Photoshop Elements and cropped it in tight around the dandelion clock, so the focal point of the shot was the central seeds.

4. Finally I added the Pioneer Woman 'Boost' action to really make the colours pop. 

A big improvement, don't you think? 

Happy Friday everyone - and happy snapping this weekend. 

124. Fire

This picture was actually taken earlier in the year, but I had completely forgotten about it. I opened it up yesterday, looking for an image to represent the May fire festival of Beltane. With a quick edit, I thought it would do for this theme as well. 

123. Beginnings

With all the rain, we've not really been able to get down to our allotment. We have planted some seedlings on the windowsill though, which we'll be able to plant out when the weather improves. These are the beginnings of some pak choi!

122. Small

As I mentioned in Sunday's Scavenger Hunt post, this ring was my great-grandmother's. She must have had tiny fingers, because it is so small, I can only get it on my little finger!

Happy 1st May, everyone! I can't believe how quickly this year is whizzing by. We're already four months - a whole third - of the way through!