As I have mentioned in a previous post, our Eid for this year is tomorrow (Monday, 24th of October). While waiting for Iftar, we went for a "short" journey to Sherwood Forest, of the Robin Hood fame.
I was extremely surprised by a number of things about Sherwood Forest; one - that the forest is very far away from Nottingham City Centre, around two hours drive and two - the forest is HUGE. No wonder in the movie Robin Hood Prince of Thieves they were not able to find Robin Hood hiding in the forest.
It is now Autumn in the UK, and soon (people say towards the end of October to the first week of November), the leaves are going to turn red and photography during that time is NOT to be missed (remember that, Rosli & Arep!)
Uncle De taught me yet another thing about the 400D - that I could increase the colour saturation, which I had for these series of pictures. In my opinion, the pictures are more vibrant and alive. I'll be using that setting from now onwards i.e +1 for saturation. In the picture above, I love the texture given by the green moss, and I tried to compose the picture so that the bark of the tree acts like a natural frame for the rest of the forest. However, I think the picture would work better if the background is slightly less blurry.
The forest was full of very ancient looking trees, such as the one above. Look very closely, and you could almost see a face, with the eyes staring back at you. The branches look like limbs, very much like the Ents in Lord of The Rings, eh?
PMS pointed me to these mushrooms which would make very nice close up shots. In this picture I again feel I included too much in the frame, I still have to learn to simplify my compositions!
All sorts of fungi making interesting photos in my opinion. In retrospect, I should have photographed the above from a top-on angle as well - perhaps the patterns could be seen better from that angle.
Part 2: Second Box of Fireworks
I mentioned in my previous post of the buy-one-get-one-free offer for all fireworks from Tescos. Above is the second box, opened for your viewing pleasure. Notice the variety of fireworks offered for the minute sum of money: various shooting stars, rockets and fountains.
Uncle De was generous enough to buy several packets of sparklers. Sarah, who was afraid of the fireworks last night, braved looking at the displays tonight. Finally, she even agreed to hold a sparkler.
Then she got braver, and burnt one sparkler after another until we finished two whole packets! I'm sure she had fun tonight. Uncle De and I were finally successful in creating "light trail" photographs - relatively easy really. Shutter was set to bulb, ISO 100, F8. I held the shutter open for around 2-3 seconds for the above picture.
Sarah was also much more assertive in lighting up the fountains and rockets tonight. I carried her while lighting the rockets and after achieving ignition, we ran away together - it was fun! Above was a "bulb" mode picture, but I experimented by coupling it with fired flash. I like the picture as the garden was illuminated enough. The above is a picture of a fountain spurting 4-6 seperate shots.
Hopefully you've enjoyed the pictures.
I think it's time for me to retire for now, as we have to wake up early tomorrow for Eid prayers. Eid mubarak, selamat hari raya & maaf zahir dan batin everyone!
Wassalam.
3 comments:
Assalamualaikum Mynn!
Kita umat Islam di SEA akan menyambut Syawal tanggal 24th October. Cepat Ramadhan meninggalkan kita. Tahun ni Kynne tak rasa pun kepenatan puasa, keghairahan menyambut kedatangan Syawal. Entah eh, agaknya dah tua kot. Tapi baju kurung dah beli 3! Hahaha! Dahsyat you.
Salam Aidilfitri buat Mynn dan keluarga! Maaf zahir dan batin, jika ada tersalah kata, tersilap bahasa, dalam kandungan teks Kynne dalam masa pendek ni mengenali Mynn dalam alam siber blog-giler ni. Harap satu Syawal ini akan mengeratkan talian silaturrahim dan semoga berbahagia di samping keluarga tersayang dan kawan-kawan Mynn yang lain. Jangan lupa ambil gambar bebanyak ye! :)
Kita jumpa lagi!
Wassalam.
Seeing those fireworks ..... *sigh* .... wish we could have them in Singapore. Then maybe I won't be such a Raya grinch. Hehe! ;)
Nice pics, as usual, Mynn. You're right about the mushroom shot. Personally, I would have macro-ed (is there such a word??) a coule of them and highlighted the details on each muchroom. Those lines on them would make a nice shot.
Selamat hari raya to one and all! May you have abundance of joy and love this festive season! Maaf zahir & batin from me and the Moby/Trin houshold, especially from the two little giants, Ajab and Ayeed.
monday is 23 oct. 24 will be tuesday. that will be the date we will raya here.
i guess there were lots of fun in taking pictures of plants and wildlife that dwells the forest. a macro lens will certainly open a wider oppotunities to take more creative stunning macros.(orang yang cakap n i pun tak ada macro, just trying to get reverse rings for my 50mm f1.8). ;)
selamat Hari raya.
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