The End of the Road

On our after tea walk we went right to the end of the lane. A couple of shots looking in an easterly direction towards the coast. More clouds to bring another batch of snow showers. They arrive about an hour later





and a view looking back towards the setting Sun.



This time I used the vivid HDR setting on the Canon G5X. Daytime temperatures are struggling to pass 2C and don't look as though they will improve much before Sunday. Looking at my solar radiation monitor recording at least we are having our strongest Sunlight so far this year though it soon goes down when the dark clouds pass over.

Icicle

Believe it or not I have been waiting for a few years to photograph an icicle. Winters have generally been fairly mild or dry and cold. I used the Canon G5X for this as the touch screen lets me determine which part of the scene I want it to focus on. The Nikon can get in closer but no touch screen makes it more complicated to make sure the part I want is in focus.



The end of the gutter on the Summer House has a small leak so the frozen drips gradually built up as the day went on. A closer crop of the above photo shows the individual parts as they froze. Possibly some of the surface may be made of snow flakes blown on to the freezing water drops.



As the Sun shone between snow showers it eventually melted or just fell off. I saw a new one had started to grow after dark.

Scene From the Front Door

We have had snow showers since 2 a.m. which have been settling.



Not very deep here yet though several roads over the Lincolnshire Wolds have become blocked or only passable with great care. Lots of RTCs being reported.

Photo taken using the HDR setting on the Canon G5X.

Wrapped Up

This morning we had a few light showers of hard compacted snow then the wind started to increase. Air temperature by mid-day was about 2C but the bitterly cold wind from the North Sea was biting into any exposed areas on our walk-about.





Occasional gentle snow flurries this evening but none settling as yet.

Single Photo v 3 Shot HDR

As the setting Sun was about to disappear behind a roof top yesterday I could clearly see the Sun without being dazzled. At first I used the Canon G5X normal CR3 single shot of the scene: (processed to jpg in Affinity Photo without any adjustments)



The shape of the Sun can just be seen but the strong Sunlight closed down the lens aperture leaving most of the scene dark and dull. Next I switched to the HDR (High Dynamic Range) setting where three pictures are taken in rapid succession and parts of each are used to make a composite photo. One photo is exposed as the above one. Another is slightly over exposed to bring out the darker areas. The final one being slightly under exposed to reduce the glare from the brightest sections of the scene. All this is done in the camera taking about five seconds. The final result being: (exactly as produced by the camera)



A much more realistic lighting effect. Normally I wouldn't point a camera at the Sun without a solar filter but this time the light from it was much weaker as it was low in the sky and shining through thin cloud.

Small 'Beauty'

The Clematis 'Winter Beauty' I ordered arrived this afternoon in a box about 4 inches square by about 2 ft long. Oh, great, a decent amount of growth I thought. Wrong. Pot and plant measure about 7 inches high.



That said it does look to be very healthy with three growing stems and a good root system. Anyway it is now planted next to the old Leylandi stump alongside one of the Virginia Creeper plants. As it is a vigorous climber it should soon help to fill the bareness during next Winter.



It needs a fibrous well drained soil so the bed of decomposing pine needles which fell over the past fifty years should be just the place for it. Apparently it is a native of Africa and grows in sandy areas.

Snow or Rain?

On impulse tonight I decided to try to capture a night pass from the NOAA 18 weather satellite. Haven't tried a night pass for years so I had almost forgotten how to set up the software. Anyway this is the result showing the mass of cloud about to sweep across the UK bringing snow or rain according to the weather forecasters:



Obviously the land outlines and land colouring were added by the software as there is no visible light picture transmitted at night. The horizontal grey speckles are caused by my receiver picking up some local interference. I have the same problem with amateur radio. One day I will find out what is causing it.