Friday 18th Feb
Went outside to check on the full moon, only to find it was behind some high clouds. But it was lighting them from behind really nicely, and I tried to capture it, but no dice - the clouds at that altitude were moving to fast to get a clean shot in such low light. However, at ground level, it was a really warm and very still evening, and the trees around the garden weren't moving at all - so I decided to try a time-exposure or two, to see what would happen. This one, at around 100 seconds, gave a good level of exposure to the clouds, and allowed the stars to shine through as gaps in the clouds passed by. It almost looks like an aurora kind of effect.
Sat 19th Feb
Was just heading out to the park while the sun was bright, to try and get some action shots for a 'freeze-frame' challenge, and I noticed this Dragon Fly around our pond. Couldn't resist trying to get a close-up, despite my lack of macro capability. I was quite pleased with this shot - managing to get down low to the ground, so that I could get the dark greenery of the water plants as a background, and yet it almost looks as if the Dragon Fly itself id in a spotlight on the rock.
Tuesday 22nd Feb
We have two royal visitors in Sydney at the moment... Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Mary 2. No, not the actual Monarchs (Queen Elizabeth has been dead for quite some time, and there hasn't actually been a Queen Mary the second as far as I'm aware...), the Cunard Cruise Ships are what I'm talking about. Queen Mary 2 has been here before, but the Queen Elizabeth is a brand new ship on her maiden round-the-world cruise.
I went along to see her during my lunch break (the two ships have to dock at different places, and I couldn't get to them both). She is quite an impressive sight, and absolutely huge - quite awe-inspiring. I managed to get a viewpoint from one of the ferry wharfs, right in front of the bow right down at water level, and only about 50-100m away. With my 200mm lens, it felt like I was right there under the overhang of the superstructure above.
I wanted to try and get a shot that not only captured the beauty of the ship, and it's name, but also, something that said "here I am, in Sydney, wish you were here...". As I walked along the quay approaching the bow, I could look across the harbour and see the Opera House between the overhanging bow and the waterline, so decided to try and capture that. The shot lined up well, but the blackness of the hull was fooling my metering, and was vastly over-exposed on the Opera House and clouds, so I had to do some renovation work in PS, to bring it out a bit more. I think it still needs more, but reckon it's going to look false if I do any more to it - I'll just have to wait until the next visit in a year's time, and try again.
Enough for tonight. I've almost caught up now... It was my nephew's birthday party today - I got some nice shots of him at the pool, but I'll save them for another day.
Happy Snappin'
Grum
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