Vik market

Vik is a small town outside Barcelona, and we visited the market there while we we in Barcelona.

Tour de France

We were fortunate that the Tour de France passed through Barcelona while we were there. We're big fans of the Tour, and this is the third tour I've had the good fortune to see.
So I was experimenting with shutter speed when I was taking these photos, trying to capture the movement and speed! This is one of my favourites-even if the head is cut off-I like that the focus is on the legs-which, after all, do all the work!!

So this one was using a fast shutter speed to freze the action...

and this one was a slow shutter speed, panning the camera with the bike-in order to keep the bike sharp, but blur the background. So I haven't managed to keep the bike sharp-but it's still OK.

And a collage of my favourites:

You can click on the image for a closer look.

Thistle?

Well I don't think it's a thistle-but it's thistle like! We were over near Dumfries yesterday and I was experimenting with camera settings and I learned something! Actually, I've learned a lot recently about my camera, and taking photos in general.
Now I thought to get this shallow depth of field I had to use the smallest aperture setting on my lense, which is 3.5. and stand as close to the plant as my autofocus would allow. The result was that the plant looked small and insignificant in the frame, and the background not as blurred as I would have liked. Then I experimented with standing back, zooming in with a larger aperture setting. This was the most successful at f/9.

Don't you just love it when you make progress?

Barcelona

We had a fabulous time in Barcelona-it is a perfect place for a photoshoot, so many interesting nooks and crannies, so over the next week or so I'll upload some of my favourite photos, staring with this one. I used a slow shutter speed because I wanted to try to capture the rain (we had great weather, except on one morning when it rained with a vengance). However, it gave me the opportunity to play around with camera settings, so it wasn't all bad! I love this photo for a number of reasons-the subject, the specks of rain, the graininess, the blue umbrella. Although, now when looking at it I think I should crop out some of the foreground..

Ants

I have a small slab type stone in my garden under which lies an ant colony. When I lift the slab I see these eggs . It's interesting to note the variation in size of the eggs. Anyway, the ants mobilize to protect the eggs as soon as the stone is lifted. Within about 30 seconds they have moved all the eggs down the holes. It is fascinating to watch, as the smallest eggs are the same size as the ants, and the larger eggs are double the ants' size. But they work together and get those precious eggs out of harm's way at great speed. I'm not generally fond of ants, but I leave this colony alone as I've developed a soft spot for them over the years.

Aquilegias

at Cramond Kirk.

Dawyck

Another thistle at dawyck.