Clouds, glorious clouds!

I used to love watching clouds go by when I was kid; who didn't?

Just been stuck inside all day and looking out of my skylight only to see the wonderful fluffy cumulus clouds float past the sun, set off by a rich blue sky. I thought I'd keep this moment and shot 3 exposures which I then used for tone mapped HDR, which I keep meaning to explain. I will later, I promise. Anyway, the HDR in this photo really brings out the depth and texture of the clouds, I think without this treatment the photo would look a little flat.


Oh by the way, in case you haven't heard of the "Cloud Appreciation Society" the link is here:
http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

Falcon in Birmingham

So all week I've been hearing from people that the Falcon has been pretty active lately and has chicks now.

A couple of Peregrine Falcons have been nesting around Birmingham for a number of years now. A friend, (also an ex bird watcher) mentioned to me a couple of years ago that they nested on the Birmingham BT tower as it was so high. We used to work together on the 8th floor of our building and at time we'd catch them diving at the pigeons.

Anyway, it appears they also have a nest in the University of Birmingham's Chamberlin Clock Tower. Last night I finally had some time to get my camera out and try and get a shot or two. I saw it flying around and setup the camera and tripod. As soon as it was all setup, it was out of sight for the night and back safely in the Clock tower.

Anyway, I'll keep trying, but for now I'll leave you with a HDR (high dynamic range, more of this another day) of Aston Webb sunset (inc poppy) and a different angle of the clock tower: