Walks in the woods.
Photographic wanderings in the English autumn.
By Ian Walker.
The following pictures were all taken on a hand held Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera, to keep file sizes down for the Internet most of the pictures are quite heavily compressed therefore some compression artifacts can be seen.
sometimes we can overlook some of our more common plants and trees.......
seed heads come in all shapes and sizes, here I have used minimum depth of field and simple back drops to give the subjects a more dramatic effect.
I think the effects of a little rain on flowers and leaves can be very beautiful, here the Nikon swivel head and tiny minimum focus distance can be very useful.......
The autumn months can be excellent times to look for fungi, surprisingly they don't always prefer hidden away corners, you can spot them amongst short grass and along the branches of old trees, it's always a good idea to have your camera since many fungi are easily damaged by excess rain, get eaten by woodland animals and may only last a day or so in prime condition.
One of my favourite places to look for good macro shots is along old dry stone walls, here we can find tiny plants catching a hold on life with mosses and lichens vying for space, you can also use the wall as a good support when taking the pictures, instead of carrying around bulky tripods....
I hope this short photographic tour will encourage you to take your camera when you visit your local woods and parks, all the above pictures were taken in small wooded areas and open spaces just outside a large industrial town in the north of England.
Next month I hope to be returning to the microscope to show some photomicrographs of my growing slide collection including some famous name mounters.
the end.
All comments to the author Ian Walker are welcomed.
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