FALLEN LEAVES

                                                                                                                                                           There may be few leaves left on trees just now,

but you might get great images right at your feet!

Here can be see a Sycamore leaf lying on Acer leaves.

Both trees from the same family!
Sycamore = Seiceamar =  Acer pseudoplatanus.
The small Acer leaves above may be - Acer Palmatum

The Guilcagh Field 2015

TODAY'S NON-STOP RAIN!

If you think today's rain is bad,

spare a thought for the clever architect 

who decided to build St. Patrick's Church on a hillside!!!

'THE LADY'

Having another look at 'Her Ladyship'!

Winter Colours!

WINTER COLOURS
Yes, Winter colours, taken on Clonagam Road on November 4th.

Fallen leaves everywhere, slightly prematurely,
caused by some recent very windy periods and heavy rain,
now clogging roadside streams, etc.
resulting in much of the autumn foliage having disappeared early.

This scene apast Tower Hill cottages
was much more colourful seven to ten days earlier.

However,by changing position
and using landscape mode,
it was still possible to  capture
a little of the colour
normally experienced at this time.

At ground level, colourful foliage was still to be seen

in plenty because of the shelter. 

While ferns are usually at their best
at this time,
most are now a dull brown;
but in this more open area,
they still looked great despite
the reduction from dark  green,

For better images, move in closer . . . 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   . . . and isolate small clusters of leaves,
using a wide aperture on your camera, if such facility is available,
If you can use a portrait setting, this will also show an unsharp background.
(Aperture here was f5.6, as I did not have a wider option). 

Finally, the farther your subject is from the background,
and the darker and 'less busy' the background is,
the more prominent will be the important part of your image.

"Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,"

"O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing; "

Yellow, and black, and pale and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes;"

With acknowledgements to Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792-1822