Lisas skydive

Paul had treated Lisa to a skydive voucher for her birthday earlier in the year.

I picked her up from work on Wednesday and dropped her to the airport. I then drove to the beach to watch her landing.

The weather was lovely and Lisa enjoyed this jump over previous skydives she has done mainly down to the fact she could see.

I thought that was because it was such a clear day but possibly, what she had meant was that since her eye operation she could actually appreciate the views.

Unfortunately these were the clearest photos I have as my main camera is getting fixed.

Blackberry and apple pie

Blackberry and apple pie

On posting this I remember I've been here before.
Click on recipe link for earlier post.

One of the first posts I made on this blog was of the same dish.

I'll try and suggest Chris gets a bit more imaginative with his cooking but then again you really cant beat a traditional pudding.

Brown turkey fig

Brown turkey fig.

Updated photo

Capsicum

Container peppers

The above plant was started from seeds I saved from a supermarket pepper last year.
Not only is it a healthy looking plant I also have quite a few peppers on it.



Container pepper.

The same plant as above.

Practise practise practise.

Cape daisy

The above photos show the results of practice I've given to taking photos using a large aperture, (small f/number)

I aim to achieve a narrow depth of field with a blurry background.

Disregard my background scene of, garden fence, concrete pillar, plastic red trug and a garden trellis, the ''effect'' is where I am concentrating at this stage. I am happy that I am on the way to achieving this end.

If I was to critique myself on the above photos and please any comments can be submitted.

This is where I would start.

1. Aim to get more of a consistent background subject either green shrubbery grass etc.
2. Try and get slightly more distance between background and subject in focus.
3. Make sure subject in focus ''is in focus''
4. Don't take photos in bright sunlight

I deleted plenty photos before I was able to achieve the results in the two photos above, due to me picking or placing the focal subject too close to the background.

My main reason for wanting to be able to understand and use the narrow depth of field with a creamy (blurry) background hopefully is that it is a nice way to isolate a subject and allow the subject or focal point to stand out. Nice for portraits also.

I find it confusing when reading and trying to understand, alien (to me) terminology used. The numerical side of speed, aperture ISO and relevance of f/number. Then remembering and understanding how to put this all into practise.

I do have a knack of over complicating the simplest of tasks. I am not saying this is a simple subject but I am sure the bits I am struggling with could be ''simple'' to some.

I need to work on achieving one aspect at a time. This is meant to be fun.

I have to say, I do enjoy it when I get it.

Sweetcorn

Sweetcorn

I would like to grow these again but unfortunately my little veg patch is not deep enough approx 10'' not allowing them enough room to grow. They reached a certain height then stopped growing.

Possibly it was the fact I was away for a week and they were not watered.

Next year I will re-think about what to plant.

The taste was lovely it very sweet and soft. Sadly I only picked two.

St. Catherines woods.

Taken today using TV mode giving me control of the shutter speed.

I chose 0''8 with the given aperture of f/7.
The ISO at 200

I had never noticed this small waterfall in the woods previously and on reviewing the photos on the computer will go back for another 100 or so attempts



Taken in AV mode giving me control of the aperture.

I chose the aperture at f/4.0 with the given shutter speed 1/250

You can clearly see the sky is overexposed. As a result of using the aperture picked I can see the narrow depth of field in the blurring of the bank.

I do like the reflection of the reeds.

Digbys walk

Digby on the beach.

Container aubergine

Container aubergine

I have approximately six baby aubergines on this plant.

Clematis

Clematis Chantilly

Here is the final clematis from the collection of three ordered online.