Not So Old Pictures

Nature looks fairly pale and even bleak at the moment, although snowdrops and other garden flowers have adorned the flower beds for many days now. On a walk through the forest just before sunset the other day I took a few images just out of habit. What might look like dormant or dead vegetation can actually make quite a decent photograph with its subdued and understated colours, like in this picture of some naked birches and dead bracken. Almost ghostly beauty.

 

 

 

This morning the sun was out and I took the opportunity to practise with my new long lens. Sadly my feeders are on the north side of the house, which is not ideal for photographing the poor little things, but the sun shines on the very top of some shrubs and cut-off trees nearby which serve as a waiting area for the birds where they scan the surroundings before moving in on the food. Here is one of the regular customers, a greenfinch, surveying the scene.

 

 

 

One of the regular winter guests is the brambling (Swedish: bergfink), who otherwise breeds in Scandinavia and Russia. It has got rather striking colours and marking.

 

 

 

I use my tripod for bird photography, in particular with this new lens without built-in anti-shake, but it is still a challenge to get the focus right when the little so-and-so keeps moving all the time!