Family Sneek Peek

Fail, but with Results!

More experimenting...

Today, with yesterday's success giving me lift, I thought I'd have a go at this... http://www.love-bug-blog.com/

No, I don't have a prime lense, but according to a thread on Flickr, it is possible with a kit lens, so I thought I'd give it a go...

I couldn't get it to work, despite my 'shape' being no more that a pin hole in an attempt to get it small enough!

All the same I got these ...

I think they're rather cool, don't you ~ almost like pin-hole ?!! :D

Communal Global ~ ATW Tuesday

 
Today, let me take you on a little tour of one of our local towns.
This is Crewe ~ a railway town, and a place best known as a large railway junction and home to Crewe Works, which was for many years a major railway engineering facility for manufacturing and overhauling of trains, but is now very much reduced in size. From 1946 until 2002 it was also the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. The Pyms Lane factory, on the west of the town, now produces Bentley motor cars exclusively.
These are pictures I took on-commission for my brother-in-law, who has set up his own 'urban renewal' business (Urban Flow), with a partner - and they needed some fresh images for their website and publications. What a privilege!
 This is some of one set that I took.
Main road into town

Railway interchange, looking North.

Derilict areas

Back Street parking (and a traffic warden)

Council efforts

War Memorial square ~ library and town hall in the background

Festivities :D

Town Centre

Market Hall

Bus Station

Symbol of the town's engineering past.

Shopping area.

I hope you've enjoyed a little taste of English town-life.

Now join in and show us a little bit or your corner of the world today ~ over at CommunalGlobal.

Experimenting...

It has long been on my wish list to own a 'Lightscoop'. Right now I can't afford a fancy off-camera flash, or even a hotshoe flash, so I have to make-do with the pop-up. Now lets be honest, the light is AWEFUL from any pop-up flash and almost impossible to control in any way. I HATE it ~ with a passion! So much so that I would rather embrace the grain on noisy pictures, than use it. I'd love a prime lense, and yes, that is on my wish-list too, but for now I think a lightscoop would be the cheapest and most easy solution, but guess what... I'd have to have one shipped from America! Nowhere in the UK sells them (yet) :-( ~  So what to do..? Well, I found this little thing on Amazon for just £3, including postage :D. It came with three different colour shades, but I  doubt I will use any other than the white one. Problem was, although it did improve the pop-up flash slightly, it was not quite enough to convince me that I wanted to use the pop-up flash any more, only in emergencies maybe...


Then Sunday night we had a little shop-bought chocolate cake, and it came on a piece of shiny card ~ silver one side, gold the other ~ you know the kind? Bugs suggested he wipe it down and add it too the 'card making' materials. I thought that was a good idea and agreed. Well, it got wiped, but never quite got put away, so this morning I found it sitting on the kitchen table ~ and as I picked it up a light-bulb went on in my head!!


Remember this... 

well I just wondered... 


I'd been looking at the Lightscoop online just last night, and thought how simple the idea was. I was wondering then if I could make something myself that slotted into my hotshoe without doing any harm... With the design of the real thing in my head, my light-bulb idea was definitely worth a try...


I cut a strip off the shiny card and did this...

The diffuser shade is quite tight, so it sort of grips the sides of card nicely, such that it stays put really well.


I experimented...

And so did Bugs (with the cross bar from a broken chair) ...

And well... I think we can say that works!!! I couldn't be happier :D  ~ now I am all set to take shots for Baby's 1st birthday (in 19 days time) with the pop-up flash if I wish too, and not have to worry about editing out a stack of grain (and with it the details), or blowing the picture completely out!


And here's some more from today's play with it ~ just look at the catch-lights in his eyes to see how spread out that flash is :D. These are virtually SOOC (except for the BW conversion)...

That'll do me nicely  ~ for now at least!

I♥Faces ~ On Your Feet! ~ OPEN TABLE

'Open Table'

"Come to me, ALL who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
(view on black)


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

This week's challenge at i♥faces is to "enter a creative photo that includes human feet in it (no faces necessary)."


I have a bazillion 'feet' pictures, but I wanted to choose something a little 'different' from what I think most people will enter...

I figured there'll be a lot of perfectly adorable baby feet ~ I have LOTS of those!

I figured there'll be quite a few 'funky shoes' & 'bench' type shots ~ yup, got a fair few of those too!

But I thought MAYBE this might be a bit different...

 I love that there are different genders, generations & personalities represented around this communion table 
~ and you can read them all by the feet :D

ATW Tuesday ~ Minnie Madness!

The easiest way to share my silly hoons with you today is with a slideshow ~ enjoy :D

I♥faces : Photo Challenge ~ Autumn Splendor

What's to say ~ this time of year is so pretty!

Head on over to I♥faces for more Autumnal Glory :D

ATW Tuesday ~ Guy Fawkes Night

A True British Tradition...

"Remember, Remember,

The 5th of November

Gun-powder Treason and Plot.

I see no reason why gun-powder treason,

Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 

'twas his intent,

To blow up the King and the Parliament.

Three score barrels of powder below,

Poor old England to overthrow.

By God's providence he was catched,

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys,

God save the King!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!"

(I found fireworks a real challenge to my photography skills. These were the best of a not brilliant bunch, but maybe I'll do better next year! Could really do with practising a little more often ~ I think I might be retired before I get anywhere near good at it! I just wonder how anyone ever managed with a viewfinder ~ I got NOTHING until I put my live-view on. I don't use live-view much, but it was a life saver in this instance ~ that and continuous shoot!)