Fogey

It was the perfect gift, Clicker - something I have been anticipating since Christmas - and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. For those that are interested, this is the chap who runs the courses, http://naturesphotos.co.uk/ which is well worth the visit. Incidentally, Bob is a professional photographer, who gave me an real insight into how my camera works, especially regarding the histogram and ISO numbers.

I was given a Christmas present of a photoshoot, photographing Harvest Mice. After a cancellation through bad weather I finally got to fulfil the present. These little creatures, and I do mean little, (they were less than the size of my thumb), were so fast it was difficult to get a sharp image. Macro lenses, breezy days and Harvest Mice are opposing bedfellows. Anyway, a few shots from the day.

Well done Strav. Excellent choice.

Good Heavens! Thank you Polly - I too liked James' Mono Letcomb Brook, so I'm more than pleased to have got POTW. Thank you all for your kind comments, much appreciated.

Thank you Clicker. The little grey duck is a Bafflehead, for your information and yes the Flamingos are a strange breed and one of the most photogenic of birds, I've found.

I stand in awe of you, Paul.

Love the background of your painting, Fuji.

Some more.

Some shots of the day at Slimbridge.

Thanks Guys. Much appreciated.

Hello and welcome, Matt. There are a few other monochrome aficionados here so you should feel right at home.

I visited Slimbridge the other day and managed to take this shot. Another twitcher said it was an Ibis, but all the research I've done show Ibises as white.

You are suffering from diffraction. A wide aperture and a long focal length don't go well together. Closing your aperture by a couple of stops will improve the sharpness. Also bone up on hyper-focal distance, to cover all eventualities.

Ah! The power of Photoshop. There is no medium as such, Cheryl - this is purely photographic manipulation. This is a photograph I took of some Bengal Tigers in a safari Park. I opened the photograph in Photoshop, desaturated it and then applied a canvas filter background and a pencil sketch filter for the detail.

Well there's detail for you. Apart from a bird, what is it?

Excellent shot. I bet that would look even better if it were raining.

Black and white sketch on canvas.

Great image. The reflection of the clouds appear to be an extension of the clouds.

Nice thought Polly.

Thanks for the feedback, Polly. How about this rendition?

There is something about this photo that ticks all my boxes.

Thank you for your comments, Kobione.

Taken on board all the suggestions and come up with another edit. One adjustment layer to selectively apply saturation and vibrance and one to selectively apply brightness and contrast.