The View from Up Here.

[Wendyf]

Lovely photo Tiz.

[Tizer]

Thanks. The teasels are pretty `architectural plants' but they're butch and grow like weeds in our garden, popping up everywhere, even in the lawn. But the goldfinch's like them!

[Wendyf]

Years ago a neighbour of ours in Scotland picked a bunch of teasels from the roadside when they were stuck in a long queue on the motorway. Seeds must have fallen out as she unloaded them from the car when they arrived home and ever since they have had a patch of enormous teasels on the gravel path leading to their front door....impossible to get rid of, but quite magnificent!

[Stanley]

The teazle raising gig at Helmshore. I had to replace the missing ones after I rebuilt it..... They are hard to handle as well as being architectural!

[Tizer]

They can also be very smelly. The leaves sprout directly from the stem in a way such that rainwater collects at their base where they join the stem. In effect the plant has little ponds of water at intervals up the stem. This becomes horribly smelly, probably because insects drown in it and putrefaction occurs. We've often wondered if teasels can obtain nutrients this way, like carnivorous plants do.

[Stanley]

Our biggest job at Helmshore was getting the right grade of teasels to do the repair. Most of them were too small and I had to cheat. I don't know where Ian Gibson got them from, something in the back of my head is whispering Ireland.

[Wendyf]

Went out to check on the hens this morning and had to dash back in to get my camera to catch the moon over Barlick. Unfortunately my shots don't do it justice.






After I was back in the warm I caught a glimpse of it going down over the Bowland Fells.

[David Whipp]

Lovely stuff!

[Stanley]

Cracking pics Wendy......

[Wendyf]

Salterforth blessed with a ray of sunshine yesterday!

[Stanley]

There wasn't a lot of it about...... A gloomy day overall. Is that through the kitchen window?

[Wendyf]

No Stanley it's from the living room window.

[Stanley]

You need windscreen wipers.... Get Col on the job!

[Wendyf]

Snow on the Bowland Fells this morning but it was getting confused with cloud. I took my new camera with me when I put the ponies out.





Col & Bertie returning from a cold early morning walk, Bruce (the other dog) passed me at high speed, keen to get back in the warm!



I wanted to get a new camera that was small enough to slip easily into my pocket but which had a viewfinder and a decent zoom. Eventually decided on a Panasonic Lumix TZ70 which seems to have all I need. This morning was its first trip out, but my hands were too cold!

[PanBiker]

Nice photo's Wendy, I got Sally a Lumix, solidly built with a Leica lens and full optical zoom, she loves it.

[Wendyf]

We went to have a look at a couple of others before ordering the Panasonic and they looked quite flimsy with tiny buttons, whereas the Lumix seems quite robust. I like the Canon bridge camera I have been using for the last few years but it is just too chunky to go comfortably in a coat pocket and I got fed up with not having a few finder. The latest version of it, which does have a viewfinder, is even bigger and nearly £100 more than the Lumix.
I like to keep the camera in auto mode, but this morning when I tried to take a pic of the view through the window it was focusing on a splash of bird dropping and going into macro mode! I need to read the manual and learn how to use the various functions! (Or keep my windows clean...)

[Big Kev]

My other half has a Lumix, it has a 'through glass' auto setting. I reckon that would save you a window cleaning job

[Tizer]

Does the Lumix have an `Infinity' setting like the Canon that Stanley and I use? That often gets me out of trouble. It's on a button on the back of the camera.

[Wendyf]

Mmmm. Thank you for your input Kev and Tizer, I have studied the manual and think I may need to keep the windows cleaner or brave the big outdoors.

[Stanley]

Look for a mountain symbol Wendy.....

[PanBiker]

The mountain icon in the composition settings is for scenery and will not compensate for shooting through glass. The Panasonic Lumix is a perfectly capable camera when used correctly for prevailing conditions. I think the best advice would be to go outside rather than try to get the camera to compensate.

[Wendyf]

Yes Sir!

[PanBiker]

Sally has the TZ71, not looked at what the differences are, the manual covers both

I have found this in the manual though on Page 129 it might keep you warm:

You get at the menu option via scene mode which is used for various composition styles.

[Tizer]

The infinity and through glass settings should make the camera focus on infinity but that, of course, doesn't get around the problem that raindrops on the window will distort the passage of light and mess up the photo (there are no free lunches!).

[Big Kev]

The infinity and through glass settings should make the camera focus on infinity but that, of course, doesn't get around the problem that raindrops on the window will distort the passage of light and mess up the photo (there are no free lunches!).

The raindrops will cause some image degradation but, as long as the camera is as close to the window as possible, this will be negligible.