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The other aspect is that the insect is at such an angle that its details are not particularly clear. The photograph feels slightly hurried, as though I was trying to capture it before it took off.

There is a growing body of research suggesting that singing can have real benefits for mental wellbeing. Singing uses the breath, the body, attention and emotion all at once. It can steady breathing, lift mood, reduce stress and help people feel more connected, particularly when singing with others.

With Image One, I was down low, with my phone camera upside down to get the lens at a 'snail-height. I checked the image, everything was in focus, mind, body, and shell, but not the eye stalk with the little beady at the tip.

There was a moment in the cooking where quite a lot of moisture was rising from the mix. It provides a good illustration of one of the hazards of photographing food, but also the same thing can be a benefit.

Here's the challenge - it's time to look afresh, eyes and heart combined. Don't make excuses, it takes two to make relationship, and you can start by making your heart pay attention, and be generous in the doing.

Image One, is the original image I took before I noticed the flower poking out from the cliff. In itself made quite dramatic by the sharp vertical shadow pointing up towards the setting sun, with quite good visual balance overall - the lighter but larger rocks to the left, countering the smaller but darker ones on the right.

Image One is taken looking directly down, but with the shop lighting coming in from the top of image. What I'd point out is, that with translucent items like this worn glass, the light passes through them, so each 'pebble' contains 'inherent' light of it's own which is what gives them the beautiful nature combined with texture.

A fixed wire on a difficult mountain path is a quiet reminder that others have gone before, recognised the challenge, and left something to help. You may be walking the path yourself, but that does not mean you are alone.

What do I mean by wrong direction? Well in your imagination place them in the compositionally comfortable vertical third. If they're on the right third, their movement takes the eye into the picture, which is comfortable, but they will be adding a visual weight on the same side as the visually dense headland, sunlight on water, and the right hand heavy flowering taller gorse. If you place them on the left hand vertical third, their presence adds better balance, but th

a quiet moment to end the week My Friday Image with the words "Hope Means Hoping Even When Things Seem Hopeless' to Encourage Your Weekend Waiting for the mist over lift. I came across these words "Hope Means Hoping Even When Things Seem Hopeless" earlier this week, and thought they matched well with the image near Pugs Hole in Wiltshire, UK. There are times when life feels like this landscape. The way ahead is there, but you cannot properly see it. The wider shape of thing

A few days ago I took a number of photographs of the same small clump of flowers, initially from the same angle, to share with you the effect of choosing the point of focus by selecting a different flower to focus on, and how that alters both the whole image and our mental response to it.

There are times when I have become convinced that certain photographs simply do not wish to be taken.

A couple of weeks ago i was outside with my new puppy doing the sort of things puppy's do to profusion in the early morning. The outside table had been gently painted with a fine layer of frost, and had picked out the features of the grain to a qute remarkable degree, highlighted by the low angle of the sunshine..

I noticed this piece of broken glass on the beach yesterday morning and was taken with the whole idea that despite being essentially broken and of no value for it's original purpose, it had been smoothed by it's path backwards and forwards across the beach over many tides; and in doing so had developed a beauty of it's own for those who looked and saw, and appreciated the way the light changed it.

Seek to remove the horizon - it does things to the brain when you do. You Start to look for shape, and balance. Rowers and kayakers stop being athletes for a moment. They become lines, spacing and rhythm across the water.

Notice details of trees, moss on logs, or rocks, the way a wave surges back leaving a mist in the air. The light that shines through a hole in the cloud in the distance. Instead of concentrating only on the subject, notice the space between you and it. Notice how distance changes things. Contrast softens. Colours fade. Shapes simplify - either blending, or becoming more defined.

We were high in the Pyrenees, having risen early to avoid the heat as we climbed towards the col, leaving Spain behind us. In the distance stood Vignemale, the highest peak in the French Pyrenees at 3,298 metres. I found myself transfixed. Ridge after ridge dissolved gently into blue. It is an effect I have always loved.

With Image Two, I've changed the angle slightly, and cropped in enough to exclude the candlestick. The brain is now much more focused than previously, when it may have been rather distracted. Because of the background I didn't lower the camera angle, or there would have been too much extraneous junk in the background, and the artificial light, in the form of a spotlight, would have caught the surface of the lens and caused undesirable internal reflections leading to flare

Most of us were taught we have five senses. In reality, we also have senses that help us read our body, movement, and internal state. Sunrise and sunset are perfect moments to practise them, because the world slows down enough for you to feel what is usually drowned out.

I sent notification to my subscribers yesterday of a new Level within my Simple Photography Tips. If you've not read it, perahps have a look and see if it's of interest.