Project 52 - Weekly Photos from Geoff F - Part 2

[Geoff F]

Once again, I will be attempting to post at least one photo per week throughout 2025. Part 1 is here

Project 52 - Weekly Photos from Geoff F

Week 14 - I washed my feathers and now I can't do anything with them.



7D with Sigma 150-600 Sport lens. 1/1250 F10 Iso 320

And a bit of intensive wing maintenance



This is the hide from which I was photographing birds

[Cantab]

A successful shoot. The first one is wonderful!

[billtils]

Super shots! Who says "bird on a stick" photos are boring!

[Cantab]

Geoff, I've realized I don't know the name of the bird. Although probably common in the UK, there's nothing like it here on the west coast of Canada. Is it in the chickadee family?

[Geoff F]

It is the very common Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) Bruce.

They frequent garden nest boxes including my garden and I look after 50 boxes in a woodland reserve.

[Geoff F]

Week 15 - History Society AGM. One of those 'what else could I have done' situations. I didn't want to be 'lumbered' all night with a large camera and external flash so I shot with my pocket sized Fuji X20. Last year this worked OK but they have changed the room lighting. The new tubes may be more environmentally friendly but they produce a terrible yellowish light and there are down looking spotlights above where the speakers stand which produce a poor light with serious shadow problems. Image noise was a persistent problem although I have used a bit of AI noise removal in ACR.

Anyway, I did what I could. Starting with an overall view of the room.



Fuji X20 1/30 F4.5 Iso 320. I have edited the colour balance but I'm still not happy with this result.

The President and Chairman



Flash used

Chairman's Address



Flash used and I tried to edit out some of the shadow issues.

Speaker for the night. I tried to also include the screen to show the purpose of her talk but she mostly stood at an impossible angle so this was my best attempt. Other shots suffered from motion blur due to a slow shutter speed.



Flash used

[Geoff F]

Another view of the speaker. She tended to get excited about her subject and kept moving around which produced motion blur. So eventually, I switched to my wildlife shooting methods which meant manual settings plus flash.



1/160 F 3.6 Iso 640 plus flash. But the shadow problem is still there.

[Geoff F]

Week 16 - Salcombe Boats returning to harbour. My intended shooting position was out of reach because builder's vans occupied all the parking spaces; so I went to a nearby beach and walked out on the rocks. I seem to have gained a few weeks against the calendar but I expect time and other limitations will eventually balance things out.

Claire Louise



7D with Canon 70-200 lens

1/640 F10 Iso 320

Davrik



Sigma 150-600 Sport lens 1/800 F10 Iso 320

Mayhem



Sigma 150-600 Sport lens 1/800 F9 Iso 320 hand held.

[Cantab]

Geoff, I like the way you "froze" the spray generated by Mayhem. It appears to be a catamaran?

In the first photo, are the folk in the anchored boat recreactional fisher folk?

[billtils]

Kudos for a nice hand held shot - well done you!

[Geoff F]

Yes Bruce, a couple of anglers in a small boat without much room to move about so simply standing up would be tricky.

Thanks for the comments.

[Geoff F]

Week 17 - Some Macro shots of insects and flowers. We have had a spell of bright sunny weather, albeit with a bit of a breeze, so I have made a start on insect recording.

A pair of Aglaostigma aucupariae sawflies. They were in a breezy spot and I needed at least two shots to give sufficient focus depth merge so I slowly managed to place my backpack in a position which created a windbreak.



7D with Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/200 F10 Iso 400 flash used.

Common Field Speedwell - Veronica persica. All wildflowers shot literally in the field.



1/640 F 11 Iso 400

Field Pansy - Viola arvensis



Groundsel - Senecio vulgaris



Sea Campion - Silene uniflora



1/800 F11 Iso 320

[Geoff F]

Week 18 - Some shady sheep. From where I was recording insects yesterday.



7D with Canon 24-105 lens. 1/200 F14 Iso 320

And moving to another field.

[Geoff F]

Week 19 - Andrews Wood. We are currently having a spell of warm spring weather so I spent a few hours recording insects at this nature reserve.



7D with Canon 24-105 lens. 1/200 F11 Iso 250. Merge of two bracketed exposures.

Brimstone Butterfly on a Dandelion.



Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/2500 F9 Iso 500 hand held. Not the settings which I would have ideally chosen but I had to act fast with whatever was on my camera at the time, plus quite a bit of negative exposure compensation to allow for the butterfly brightness against a dark background. By the time I managed a bit of thinking time the butterfly was gone.

Also on a dandelion - A Dark-edged Bee-fly.



1/200 F11 Iso 250 plus flash. Not quite the ideal angle but by the time I slightly moved my position the fly was gone.

[Cantab]

Geoff, I was puzzling over what look like very long legs on the bee fly but then noticed that the very front extension may be a proboscis. Is that correct? The other puzzle is whether taxonomically this is a bee that has characteristics of fly, or whether it's a fly with characteristics of a bee.

[billtils]

... by the time I slightly moved my position the fly was gone.

As is their way. Not sure if it comes naturally or their mothers teach them

[Geoff F]

It is technically a fly, Bruce. Only one pair of wings, although this one is rapidly beating its wings in a semi hovering state so the wings are just a blur. The scientific name is Bombylius major. The very long proboscis allows them to feed from difficult to reach flowers like dandelions and primroses.

They have an interesting life style where females flick eggs into the nest burrows of Mining Bees, where they live as parasites until emerging the following year.