MG Car Club Races

Peter and I went to Snetterton, where the weather was, unusually, not too hot and not too cold.  Peter joined the MG parade and took Mollie on two laps of the circuit.

Cakes, Coffee and Kingfishers

Visitors to Lackford would have been disappointed by the fact that the visitor centre was closed today, but the third item on the menu, the little blue and orange bird, was a frequent visitor to the perches outside Bernard's Hide.  

Air Show

Apparently Duxford forgot to book the Red Arrows for the Battle of Britain Air Show, but the nine Tiger Moths were fabulous trying to keep formation in the gusty wind, even doing a 'bomb burst' towards the crowd - priceless!  The WW1 replicas did their scenario to 'ack-ack fire' - that's a BE2c.  The Triplane has a VW air-cooled engine - you can see the silver alternator behind the prop.  The light-coloured triplane is a Sopwith.  The Blenheim and PBY displayed staunchly.  

Re-enactors

Getting into character at Duxford today.

More Macro Tests

I tried the 90mm macro with various lighting systems.  An LED ring light was good but not powerful enough at the 30mm distance between subject and lens.  These are crops from images taken with the same single flash as the previous test, this time with a tissue for a diffuser, giving f/13 at ISO 200 and the right level of lighting.  The diffuser makes a lot of difference by reducing the contrast.  

Macro Test

Same lighting but a shorter lens than I used before - 90mm.  Focus is on the figure on the left at, from top, f/2.8; f/5.6 and f/16.  The first two are auto stops, the third full manual flash, which is a bit over-exposed.

A Wet Wedding

Rain forced a change of plan to our photography of the wedding, doing the group photo in the church and shooting from the organ loft.  The reception was in a rustic barn with a corrugated iron roof and drinks in jam jars with straws (see the left side of the cake pic).  Ann used a candle to light the happy couple, as flash was not allowed during the service.  Tables were named after Lakes.

Private Air Show

The Plane Sailing PBY was over Toft today, and its manoeuvres indicated that it was flown by a pilot under training.  The light was bad, and constantly changing, but the aircraft was a delight to watch.

Waiting for the Kingfisher

An early start at Lackford Lakes and a crowded Bernard's Hide, some of whom had been there since six in the morning.  We saw Willow Warblers, Swans, Jays, Wrens, Migrant Hawker dragonflies and Little Egrets.

Finally the Kingfisher Arrives

The rattle of mirror and shutters didn't faze the female who arrived with a dragonfly larva, which she had to locate properly in her mouth before she could flick it back - note the nictitating membrane moving to protect the eye as this happens.  She is in the top three photos, distinguished by the 'lipstick' on her lower mandible.  Then a juvenile (white tip to his beak) turned up and flew round the pond several times without catching anything, and posed as close as six metres from the hide, basking in the attention, it seemed.