Another Riverside Walk

  I set off from Marston Moretaine, and headed towards Bedford, and the destination on this occasion was the River Great Ouse at Willington, having parked in some shade, I put my 60-600mm Sigma into my rucksack, and mounted the Canon EOS R6 with the 24-70mm + Macro facility on the monopod, and set off past the Dovecote to the entrance to the woods and the river. I carried a spare fully charged battery, as the one in the camera was only half-charged.

  The first image I took simply appealed to my sense of humour in that the dead tree seemed to depict a Klu Klux Clansman with other bleached and petrified stumps nearby. Am I alone in  visualising faces, animals, and other features in the trees as I walk in woods? As trees age, and branches break off and the trees heal, I frequently see heads or other features form animals and birds without human intervention, and later this same day I come across examples of carving that are not simply happenstance as well as a querulous raised eyebrow that was definitely not the result of human intervention.

  I met and chatted to a few fellow walkers at healthy distanced proximity, and enjoyed a pleasant Spring walk with my camera.

Milton Ernest Flowers

Every so often, I feel blessed that not only is the sun out, but I am somewhere that really benefits my choice of venue to take photos, and this afternoon at a spot by the River Great Ouse, Spring flowers greet me. My lens of choice for such a situation is the extremely versatile 24-70mm lens with its handy macro facility. The gallery of images displayed on this occasion are taken close to the river at Milton Ernest.

The size of the flowers I captured range from the smallest, a few millimetres in diameter to clusters of full-size variegated tulips, which shows how versatile this one lens can be when used exclusively on the EOS R6, as I was that afternoon. After my long telephoto zooms this is one of my favourite lenses because of this very versatility.

What pleased me amongst these images were the interesting curves that the leaf blades formed alongside the flowers themselves. I rounded off the set of images with shots of the river bank and, as I walked back up the lane, the clouds looked ominous over my parked car, so I captured that as a fitting end to my afternoon.

Forest Centre Walk

My elder Daughter Catherine pays me a visit, and we take a walk in the Forest of Marston Vale, I use the opportunity to note the advance of the season, taking photographs of the blossom, and other incidentals that caught my eye; the trip was very short as Catherine could only spend a short time before heading back to Cambridge, but however short it is always very welcome, and I love and cherish every moment, however brief – now  that the Vaccination programme is well under way, I am hoping family life can return to some semblance of normality.

                Breathing fresh air and being outside is vital, and I feel blessed in being able to be in the open with a camera and lenses to capture whatever I can that is pleasing and interesting, and hope it is of interest to others; those who follow what I have written and experienced in the Great Outdoors – it has been satisfying to note just how many visitors view what I have put up in the galleries over the last week, I hope that is providing others who may well be more constrained than me, the chance to share in what I have seen and recorded.

                This is especially heartening considering that the content has not been as varied or as exciting as when say, the sailors have been out windsurfing on Brogborough Lake. Purely from my perspective, it ensures I keep learning how to get the most of the new camera body, which has allowed me to shoot unencumbered with a heavy tripod.

                This specific afternoon I had only the monopod for added stability, and the Canon EOS R6 body is able to provide improved images from my existing range of lenses and, for Sporting activity, a faster burst rate, so this recent investment I made in that Canon body has definitely been a good move. Being greedy, I would still like to have more sunshine however! All this afternoon’s images were taken with the 24-70mm, and its handy Macro facility when needed.

Spare Moments at Stockwood Gardens, before Eye Test Appointment

I had around an hour free before my appointment at the Opticians in Luton, so decided to utilise the time in The Stockwood Discovery Centre Gardens trying to really get to fully understand how to get the best out of the mirrorless full-frame EOS R camera; I am determined that I reach the stage where every setting that I need to make is second nature, as currently I am a long way off that state; I spend an inordinate time menu-diving.

The ability to easily and speedily place the focus point into position, and subsequently re-position equally effectively is essential. My conclusion favours using the compass quadrant tilt switch, which though slower than using the touch screen with a spare finger, is precise, whereas the moving finger over the screen, often involves collecting it from the outer regions of the screen, before being able to place it in position, meanwhile the shot is lost!

Feeling completely confident in altering settings on the fly is very much a Work in Progress, and is not made any easier by the lack of space in my ageing brain! However, this is a journey I am determined to navigate, because the improved quality the camera provides, is worth the effort. The single page gallery here gives an indication of the quality that is possible from its clean 30MB files. Most images were captured at ISO 500, at 1/200th sec. at f/7.1 - f/8 and the variations to arrive at the image quality displayed, was around a half an f-stop with the prevailing flat lighting.

From my ongoing observations the extra pixel count versus the EOS 5D MkIII, means I am getting more than either a whole extra stop of light or higher shutter speed benefit. How I take this benefit is dependent upon what I am shooting; often when taking wildlife I need speed, with landscapes it is depth of field, so I can gain more foreground, for sports, dropping the ISO speed gives me greater detail, so images can be larger. I can also afford to take the safe shots first then explore the boundaries with riskier slower speeds say for Sports for added drama, but to do this I still have to reach the stage where everything becomes instinct+give, and I am not yet there!