Urban Flowers and Flight (19^th June):

I was in Birmingham over  a couple of days for work and couldn’t help noticing a number of flowers around my hotel growing out of pavements and behind railings and that were very much part of the urban landscape. As I was staying overnight I decided to take some photos of these urban flowers and then realised I could use it as an opportunity to try the positioning exercise again. I knew I wasn’t happy with the Robin images so this gave me a chance to try again. I found the white flowers set against the brickwork and took the images show on the exercises page. Unlike before both foreground and background were relatively static this time and the results were closer to what I think the exercise intended. In my opinion the flowers in the centre work lest well and I prefer the focal point to one side.

As I was wandering about and finding the flowers I also came across a group of Magpies who were hopping between the warehouses so I decided I would also try the panning exercise. I was highly sceptical that I would be able to do this easily and was pleased to find that I could track the birds as they flew. I need to do more work on getting the right balance of focus, shutter speed and exposure but I do feel more confident in trying it again. At least I know it is possible now.