Fireworks over Edinburgh

It was the last night of the Edinburgh Festival last night so, along with friends, we popped down to the beach where we had a distant view of the castle to watch the fireworks.  It was really quite spectacular, although it was a long way off.  The night was still and calm and wasn't too cold, so we had a bit of a picnic while we watched and generally had a very good time.  Here are one or two photos of the event, although they are a wee bit blurry even though I used a tripod.  Mind you, given the distance between the event and the camera, I'm quite pleased with the results.

Fun Photo Competition

I had been entering some photos in a fun 24 hours live photo competition on Facebook - I didn't win anything, but it was fun taking part - I have put some samples below.  The competition was held over 24 hours with a new competition being held on the hour every hour and the challenge was to take a suitable photo for the subject given, and post it to the competition page within the hour - right through the night!!  Mind you, as I need my sleep, I didn't take part overnight, but plenty of people did!

This was for the subject 'coffee time' - coffee time is a time for reflection

This was for the subject 'view from my window' - greenfinch having his breakfast

This was for the subject 'framed' to win Polaroid sunglasses - Polaroid, you've been framed!

Fisheye Lens Adaptor

My new fisheye lens adaptor arrived this morning so I have been playing with it.  It's not quite what I expected, but with a bit of practice perhaps I'll get more use out of it.  Felix, of course, was one of the first tests - he wasn't too impressed!!

Being a tourist for a day!

On Saturday we went into Edinburgh with friends to sample the festival atmosphere and, luckily, hit on a good day for doing so!!  It was lovely just wandering around and stopping for refreshments when we wanted to, and not sticking to any sort of timetable.  Here are some of my favourite photos of the day:

Victoria Street

Looking from Victoria Terrace onto Victoria Street and the Grassmarket

Street lighting

Scott Monument, Princes Street Gardens

Looking up to the Mound

Bike rider with a sense of humour

High Street (Royal Mile)

Garden produce

Although the garden in general this year is pretty poor, we have had four peaches on the tree this year, once of which I've eaten and it was so juicy!!!  I can't wait to get my teeth into the others!!

Makes you just want to reach in and pick it!!!

 

 

 

 

 

The tomatoes are also doing well in the greenhouse, although there are so many I have no idea what we're going to do with them all!!

Juicy ripe tomatoes

And the next photo is of the strawberries taken via the mobile phone - needless to say, they have all been eaten already!!

These were VERY tasty!!

Manipulating and Enhancing Photos

I was quite pleased with a photo I took at the beach yesterday, so have been playing around with it today in Paint Shop Pro (cos I have no idea how to use Photoshop!!).  Anyway, I'm fairly happy with the results so thought I'd just post them here for comparison.

Original Photo

Enhanced a little

Enhanced a little and made into greyscale

Mean and Moody Longniddry Beach

Some photos taken down at the beach today (17th August 2011)