oh so dreamy

I've been rather fed up a lot lately.  The fact that I can no longer do what I used to be able to is really getting me down - even after all these years of getting used to things, and even small bouts of exercise are causing me a deal of pain and discomfort.

Still, I've been ignoring my body's messages to my brain and escaping into nature a lot lately.  Around my home are some lovely little patches of wild flora and fauna that are luckily easily accessible to me.

At the end of a recent ramble, I found myself in an old graveyard (don't judge!) full of wild flowers like daisies, buttercups and forget-me-nots.  Of course, with my camera in hand I just had to capture the scene before me.

This first image was shot by getting right down to ground level and using my wide-angle lens to warp perspective.  I shot two frames, one focused on the nearest daisies and the other on the first buttercup and blended them in Photoshop later.  I could have used a smaller aperture and got it all in one, but I wanted the background to disappear into a dreamy blur.

Fujifilm GFX100, Fujinon GF 23mm f4
1/250th of a second at f4, ISO 100
tripod, self-timer release
2 shot focus stack

For this next image, I returned to the graveyard with my macro lens to capture some forget-me-nots that I'd spotted.  Again this entailed me getting down on the damp ground as I wanted to shoot the delicate bloom through some grass and give a really (here's that word again) dreamy feel to the scene.

Even though I shot this at f11 to get both the flower and buds reasonably sharp, I got so close to the flower that the background is completely blurred out.  I had to increase the camera's ISO to 800 to ensure a fast enough shutter speed as there was quite a wind blowing even at ground level.

I also had to place the camera on the ground as in the rush to beat the incoming rain I'd left my tripod at home for my return visit.

Nikon D90, Nikon 105mm f2.8 Macro
1/80th of a second at f11, ISO 800
handheld (well, ground held!!) self-timer release

And for the final image in this week's dreamy portfolio, I shot some bluebells I'd grown in pots in my garden.  It's illegal to dig up wild bluebells so the only way to get some in my garden is by cultivating them.  Well worth the effort though and hopefully they'll return next spring.

Nikon D90, Nikon 105mm f2.8 Macro
1/640th of a second @f3.3, ISO 200
tripod, 3-shot focus stack

Who says there aren't fairies at the bottom of the garden!!

And as if this post isn't already long enough, you can join me on my excursion to the graveyard by clicking on the video below.  Please do, and leave a comment, a like or even subscribe to my channel - it needs all the help it can get.