The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jun
1
Photo of the Week 172 – Bramble Flower
Filed Under Photography on June 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment
This week I’ve chosen my favourite shot of the lovely Bramble flower (Rubus fruticosus agg.). These beautiful flowers will grow into nice juicy blackberries in the autumn. What I like about this shot is the dark background, as well as how it shows both the leaf and the flower.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/640 sec
- Focal Length: 135mm
- Focal Ratio: f/8
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Bias: -1.0ev
Mar
20
Photo of the Week 162 – Snowdrops in the Cemetery
Filed Under Photography on March 20, 2011 | 1 Comment
This week I thought I’d post a re-mastered version of an image from two years ago that I think really captures the beauty of spring very well. This was one of the first shots I ever edited with Aperture (then version 2), and re-visiting it with the upgraded Aperture 3, and two years more experience has really paid off (you can see the original version on Flickr).
This shot was taken in the old part of Laraghbryan Cemetery (just outside Maynooth, Ireland), next to the ruins of the old church. The cemetery is still in use, but the part of it around the old church is very old, and now out of use. It’s full of very old and very worn tomb stones like this one, and is blanketed in beautiful Snowdrops (Galantus nivalis) each spring.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/1250 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: f/5.3
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Bias: -0.67ev
Jan
31
Photo of the Week 155 – Snowdrops
Filed Under Photography on January 31, 2011 | 1 Comment
Because I’m still sick this shot is not from this year, but it seemed seasonally appropriate, and I did re-edit it for posting today – adding just a little more contrast than my original rendering had.
I just love these little flowers, they symbolise the end of winter for me like nothing else does. In case anyone cares, the latin name for Snowdrops is Galantus nivalis. I got this shot next to the ruins of an old church just outside Maynooth. Any yes, I was lying flat on my stomach in the dirt to get this shot 🙂
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/500 sec
- Focal Length: 175mm
- Focal Ratio: f/5.6
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Full Manual
- Processing: Used Aperture 3’s brushes feature to dodge & burn a little
Dec
27
Photo of the Week 150 – Yarrow
Filed Under Photography on December 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment
I’m so fed up of snow and ice now that I thought this week I’d go for a more summery theme for my Photo of the Week post, a nice flower! To be more precise, a closeup of a Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) flower. These lovely white flowers grace Irish hedgerows in the late summer each year.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/1600 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: f/5.6
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Bias: -1.0ev
Nov
15
Photo of the Week 144 – Forget-me-not
Filed Under Photography on November 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment
It’s been a while since I’ve chosen a flower photo for Photo of the Week, so I decided to remedy that this week. This is a shot of one of my favourite little flowers, they have a fantastic pale blue colour, and wonderfully fine details in their tiny flowers. It can be quite hard to tell the different varieties of Forget-me-not apart, but I think this is Field Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis).
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/640 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: f/5.6
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
May
23
Photo of the Week 116, 117 & 118 – April in Belgium
Filed Under Photography on May 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment
With being sick for the last two weeks I’ve ended up with a triple post this week. I’ve chosen my three favourite shots from my recent trip to Belgium for this instalment’s theme.
The first shot I’ve chosen is of a lovely medeival castle in my home town of Duffel that is locally known as “Kasteel Ter Elst”. It remained intact right up until the first world war when it was unfortunately destroyed. You can read more about the castle here.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/400 sec
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Focal Ratio: f/7.1
- ISO: 200
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the second shot I’ve chosen is a train shot. In this case showing the work-horse combination of the NMBS/SNCB’s intercity services. Here we see a rake of M6 double-decker coaches (with an M6 DVT in front) being pushed by NMBS/SNCB Class 27 electric locomotive number 2725.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/640 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: f/5.6
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Processing Used Topaz Adjust 4 plugin to give the shot a little more ‘pop’.
The final image I’ve chosen is a butterfly shot, specifically a Green-veined White (Pieris napi) feeding on a Dandelion flower (Taraxacum officinale agg.).
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/1600 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: f/8
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Processing: Selectively applied the Topaz Adjust 4 plugin to the butterfly and the flower.
Oct
26
Photo of the Week 88 – A Common Spotted Orchid
Filed Under Photography on October 26, 2009 | 2 Comments
A few weeks ago I chose my favourite butterfly shot of the year, this week I’m choosing my favourite wild flower shot of the year. This was a really hard choice because I really got to grips with my Nikkor 55-200mm zoom lens this year, so there were a lot of decent flower shots to choose from. However, in the end, this shot won, in no small part because of how pretty a flower it is! I just love wild Orchids, and always have. When you stumble across one you feel like you’ve found a little treasure! In this case the Orchid is a Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). I’m not sure the name really suits the flower, ‘common’ implies abundant to me, and that doesn’t seem to tally with reality.
I managed to find a marshy field with quite a few of these beauties near Leixlip Louisa Bridge train station, and after much searching I found one that was blemish-free and standing out on its own enough to get a nice soft un-cluttered bokeh. The light was also pretty much perfect as I shot it in the early evening.
What I really love about this shot is that I had almost noting to do in post – it came out of the camera almost exactly like this! I Just did a few very minor tweaks in Aperture to get the crop just as I wanted it, and to pop the colour and the contrast just a little bit.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/640 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: f/11
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Bias: -0.3ev
Feb
11
Photo of the Week 51 – Marsh Willowherb
Filed Under Photography on February 11, 2009 | 2 Comments
I’m a little bit late again this week, though I’m a day less late than I was last week … so progress at least 🙂
Anyhow, the photo I’ve chosen for this week is one I shot last autumn along the towpath of the Royal Canal near Maynooth, or, to be more precise, between Pike’s Bridge and Deey Bridge. This is a closeup of a single Marsh Willowherb (Epilobium palustre) flower.
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/200 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: F8
- ISO: 800
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Bias: -0.67
Dec
21
Photo of the Week 44 – Amphibious Bistort
Filed Under Photography on December 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’m not even sure this is a good photo technically, I think the depth of field is actually too shallow, but I’ve always liked the composition and the green of the bokeh, so I’m counting it as one of my best regardless.
The flower is a somewhat strange one that grows on both land and water, hence it’s name, Amphibious Bistort (Persicaria amphibia). I really like it’s spikes of pinky-white flowers, and it’s very common in Cavan where we have no shortage of either wet soil or water for it to thrive in!
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/500 sec
- Focal Length: 55mm
- Focal Ratio: F8
- ISO: 200
- Camera Mode: Auto