Photo Tools App

A week and a half ago, in this post, I mentioned about a great photo tool app that I had found for my new Samsung Galaxy S2 phone.   I mentioned there were a lot of tools but didn't go on to list them all, and you probably thought I was being lazy.  Well that is probably pretty much true, but I thought there would be a better way to share than just write them all out.

One of the things you find when you upgrade a bit of kit is that sometimes you don't know what you don't know.  In this case, I just googled tips and tricks for the new phone and came up with a whole array of great features.  One of which was getting screen grabs as photos.

So having learned that, I can bring you the full array of  tools in this great little app.

I expect there is a similar one for the other phone as well.

I will test a number of these tools out in the future and let you know

Martin

Saved by the flash

I went into the garden at the weekend and watched a huge digger wasp making a hole in some sand that i had put down, It must have been 3-4'' long, I grabbed my D7000 and Sigma 150 macro and tried to get a shot, In hind sight i should have grabbed the 200-400 and some extension tubes to give myself some distance as i just could not get close enough with it flying off, I even waited for it to go down the hole and then quickly got into position but it was too fast, I will keep an eye on the hole and hopefully get some shots, As i was laying on the floor the dragonflies buzzed overhead as i was near the pond, One landed on a thick stem and i slowly approached and too a shot, The background was quite bright and it was making the dragonfly dark, I cursed for not having a reflector or my SB900 flashgun, Then i realized that i had the pop up flash on the D7000 so up it went and it made all the difference, I never use the pop up flash but on this occasion it saved the day

Without the flash

With Flash

Dave

A few Moths from the Garden

I put the moth trap out on Saturday night for the first time in a couple of weeks (Last weekend it was hammering down with rain).

It was a poor catch with very few moths,but I did get another couple of garden firsts again which is always nice to see.

Scalloped Oak, which I have seen before, but a nice specimen anyway

 Poplar Grey ( I think)

Swallow Tailed (tatty version)

If there are any moth experts viewing and my i/d's are wrong, please do let me know, as I am very much a novice at these confusing species and would always welcome a correction

Martin

Virtual Space

It seems i will stuck at home for at least 3 weeks due to not having a driving license until the government sort the paperwork out, It could actually be over 2 months unless somebody foots the $2000 to get it pushed through quickly, So i will have plenty of time to pack boxes and get ready for the move as well as plenty of time to go through images and get some processing done,
In the last couple of weeks i have noticed images on the web and even sent to me that show a flaw in the composition and that is the lack of space for virtual legs, Thats right virtual-you cant see the legs but your brain knows that they are there and without space in the image for the legs the image just looks wrong,
When i lived in Switzerland i got to know a small group of young Ibex-a mountain goat that have huge horns when the males reach adulthood, The young ones were easy to approach once you managed to find them which was the hard part, I remember getting up close and personal with one young male and getting some nice images, I put the image up on some forums and got some nice comments but one guy said that i should have left some extra room for the legs which were hidden by grass, As soon as i re viewed the image i could see his point and he was correct
Here is the image

Looking at the image now its not a great image, The light is quite harsh and the wildflowers in the distance are a bit distracting but the biggest flaw to me is that i have not allowed enough room  at the base for the virtual legs and to the left, It does not matter if its a bird standing in water or on land if you cut the legs off or do not leave enough room for the legs that you can not see the image will look right-Give and image room to breathe and it will look more pleasing to the eye

Dave

Southern Hawker in the Garden - at last

It has been a relatively quiet year for Dragonflies in the garden this year so far, with very few sightings.

That changed on Thursday when this lovely immature male Southern Hawker showed up and was very obliging for the camera.

So here are few for you on the first of the teasels that have grown in the garden, that I am hoping will be attractive to the Goldfinches when they are ready.

All taken with the 5Dmk2, Canon 180 f3.5L macro, on the tripod, plus Live View.

Meanwhile, as I write this, It is great to have some warm sunshine in the garden at last, so don't forget your Big Butterfly Count while you are at it.

Martin

PS - Best UK dragonfly book below and App for your iPhone - yuk!  :-)

All Change

Get ready for a rant-My driving license runs out today as thats when my visa runs out, I was told that if i came along with a form 797c i could retake my test no problem so i was at the DMV at 7am today, It opens at 8am and i was number 3, I go in and the 797c form that i had was the wrong 797c-how fucking stupid is that, So i was turned away and as from midnight tonight i have no driving license-So thats the weekend away screwed and money lost, Why has my visa extension not been done well in advance-well life is sometimes out of your hands and put in the hands of others, If those other hands cant be arsed to fill in said documents your life gets screwed and there is absolutely nothing that you can do, So now its going to be lots of phone calls and waiting, I hope it does not take too long as my wife does not drive so we are house bound, Apart from that we can not leave the country as we would not get back in and so if i have a family emergency which happens i cant go and help out, Just keep in mind if its your job to fill forms in that affect other people please do it, We started chasing this last December as i was afraid that something like this would happen, Now i all can do is put the kettle on and have a cup of tea-how very British, Did i mention that life is very stressful at the moment

Dave

Cooking

Whilst NC is cooking in 100 degree heat and with all the stress caused by selling and buying a house we have decided to have a couple of days at the beach, We are going to an area that we have not been to before but looks good on Google Earth!! so i will tell you if its a good move or not in my next blog-either way it should be a little cooler and a welcome break


Dave

Badger Culling-Again

For more years than i care to remember the British government has been trying to eradicate one of Europe's most evocative animals and one if not the favorite European mammals of mine -The Badger-due to pressure from farmers, Lets not forget that the badger in the UK is a protected species and yet here we are gain with another culling about to begin, I remember reading an article many years ago where scientists actually put the boot on the other foot and blamed the farmer-why-well why do you think that badgers hang around farms and especially dairy farm? Well the answer is simple-easy food, They found that farmers either left the sheds open at night or that the doors etc were in bad repair and made it easy for the badgers to enter, Whilst i am not in the UK anymore i find it appalling that this still continues to happen, More details here