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a quiet moment to end the week with inspiration through Photography and Words “Light doesn't ask permission — it just transforms.” Friday photo inspiration ;“A quiet reminder that the overall you is more important than the tiny details - don’t get too close.” “Nymphe couchée” (Reclining Nymph) by Léon-Ernest Drivier, Palais de Tokyo / Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris Not a simple photography tip as such, but more like inspiration through Photography and Words—a mix of visual with

The overall conclusion I'd like you to take with you is that there is very rarely a day devoid of photographic opportunity - you just need to stop and settle, and maybe imagine your'e a modern-day Monet, looking for the light to guide you.

Out for a few minutes walk before meeting Favourite Middle Daughter for a before work coffee from Roc and Floss at the market. I was able to capture a short video demonstrating how to use existing objects to cut the lens flare that occurs from bright light entering the lens at the wrong angle - this is usually sunlight, but can also be streetlights etc.

Not a simple photography tip as such, but more like life inspiration through Photography and Words—a mix of visual with sometimes meaningful reflections. Do you know anyone for whom this is true, perhaps you? Let me know, I'd be interested.

There's something hugely healing about walking through woodland, slowly, maybe with a camera in your grimy mitt. Your slower than normal pace allows you to notice the way light falls across a path, or is excluded by a tree blocking the light to form a shadow.

There are so many items around like this, with each of them, if you look long enough, and change your angle of view to allow the light to play differently, you will see a multitude of inviting images, pictures that would look great as modern art on your wall. Let's go through of the twenty or so that I took. Each image records something different, patterns of texture, contrasts of pattern, light playing on different surfaces in different ways.

I hope you don't think I'm overdoing this type of 'tips' but fungi do provide a fabulous and relatively easy source of amazing subjects to photograph - for practise, for art, for identification, and for the awesome beauty of these 'fruiting bodies' linked to the huge underground mycelial webs.

1. Fog hides distractions. Third picture, misty day is like you've slung a big sheet from a couple of helicopters; background gone, eye focuses on the tree. 2. Try black and white I've turned both images to monochrome, you can see that the colour complicates the image too much. 3. Use roads as leading lines Oh, and the road running from either sides, makes visual use of the interesting thirds, and takes the eye straight towards the subject.

This blog is my first attempt at a video where I share a few thoughts on how you can get really stunning butterfly pictures here in the Uk. Earlier in the year, I spoke of the need for long lens or long and macro. This was based on the 'flittiness' of these beauties in the height of summer when they have much more energy due to the heat and sun, As summer comes to the end, there is a late hatch, in this case, of Red Admirals Vanessa atalanta.

If you look long enough, you'll see that it's actually a basket resting on a table - funny how the eye sees things differently sometimes! It's an image that would be brighter but less rustic if you were to set it up using those ultra-bright fruits from a supermarket.

We are all very aware of the environmental nego's around replacing our old toys, for a new one's, whether it's a car, boat, or latest phone. In my case it was the temptation of a new lens. Did I need to? Not really. I did think it would be worth spending a little bit of time, for your sake as well as mine, seeing if there was much of an improvement to be made, without the material waste.

Whether you're a fellow photographer, a creative soul, or just someone who enjoys a quiet moment of inspiration, I hope these 'images with words' bring you something valuable.

In reality, although the higher the IQ the better the response to greytone, it is colour that we were created to see, and it is colour that can be a huge blessing in many ways. The effects of bright colour on the brain, and thereby the rest of that body of yours, are considerable,

I'm forever referring to the 'rule of thirds', that series of imaginary lines that sit grid-like on any scene, and indeed not so imaginary on the 'viewfinder' of some cameras and phones.

With the summer holidays in full swing, it’s the perfect time for families to get outdoors and enjoy some creative fun together. If you’re looking for things to do with young people—or just want a relaxing, activity for yourself—why not go on a photography adventure? One beautiful and accessible subject this season is the sunflower. While entire fields can create breathtaking landscape photos, but don’t overlook the detail in a single bloom.

There was I wandering alongside one of the leats in the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen, an amazing place of grown-over sand-dunes which are used as a huge water purification system to supply Amsterdam, when I saw a toad.

The Simple Photography Tips I want to share with you are based upon a handful of photographs I took as I walked down, and which centre upon using features to lead the eye.

In this case an early sunny summers' morning, and a shuffle along the beach. Why a shuffle? It's the best way to notice things, especially small things. Crouch down if you can, and you'll see a whole bunch more. Even better, crawl if it's sandy. The whole business of looking until you see is really highlighted when looking at a beach, there are truly so many things that grab your attention, that it's really easy to miss the small stuff.

Moorish architecture is beautiful, indeed stunning, and some of the best is to be found in the Royal Alcázar of Seville. Islamic modified by later Catholic Monarchs, it is one of the finest examples of Mudéjar architecture. Photographing such architecture is challenging, and rewarding at the same time.

If you're using a phone camera then you're sort of stuck with aperture, there being relatively little difference between the lenses. The is no simple photography tip that will change that, nor a complicated photography tip for that matter! With a DSLR or similar, and depending on your lens choice, you can stick the thing on f22, or whatever is your smallest aperture, and have much more of the flower up large and in focus, along with the background scene also in focus.