Not the Nudist Beach...

Thank goodness for that!

As they say, 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do!' (or did?) and as I was headed for Swanage on the bus, with my week-long bus ticket, it would have been churlish to not try the waters for a couple of minutes OK, a bit longer than that...

...and the bit that got sunburned, yes, you guessed it, it's where you just don't think of smearing oodles of suntan lotion, yes, the tops of my feet!

The bus(es) took SO long getting there - 4 hours! - I never did make it to Swanage in the end and so will have to make that another day, except that the weather has turned now, hence my keenness for a bit of beach "therapy" today....

One of the things about a 7 day bus ticket is that it includes a Sunday, when there are next to no buses running! There is a limited much reduced service to Bournemouth, but I bet half of Wiltshire (and Dorset, as well as Hampshire) all had the same idea and would have been absolute edlam. So yesterday I went for a gorgeously pretty and long walk - 12 miles - west of Wilton, which does have a skeleton service. It was so perfect, that I had to pop into a olde worlde pubbe for Sunday lunch, which cost me a fortune, but frankly, was bloody lovely! The roastiest of roast potatoes and big chunks of roast beef....

SO - to this BLIP!

The vibrant yellow of the oilseed rape round here is fading fast and has gone blotchy. On my way back from my little excursion, I thought, with the raging blue sky, with a few white clouds, how could I eek out one final image to celebrate this wonderful spectacle that many have enjoyed - and photographed - this Spring.

Well, there is no way that you can create an image like this with a fixed focal lens - even if you run backwards (forwards?) VERY VERY fast!!

So, as well as zooming the lens very quickly, I twisted the camera sharpish too! Just when an ND filter would have come in handy - ultra bright sunlight is not conducive to slow shutters speeds!, I only had a polariser, which gave me an extra two stops. Even at f22, I was not getting long enough exposure times to allow me to both zoom and twist.

In the end, after quite considerable experimentation, I over-exposed by 3 stops and darkened it all down in editing. Nothing has been added or taken away, though a considerable amount of sharpening, which gives its etched look and added contrast. Evening out the light/dark exposure too so it had a uniform luminosity all over it, so it could be one of those arty canvas prints they sell at IKEA and such like.

Anyways, I hope you all had a little titter (you've been peeking!!) at my escapades today and that you enjoy the image. Another final day of bussing it tomorrow, though where, I do not know, as it is rain solid forecast. No beach for me!

Hopefully back to normal Blip-wise after tomorrow.

Lens is Nikkor 16-85mm VR - the VR really does help with handheld shots like this. EXIF data always show focal length started off at, this was zoomed through as much as I could in the exposure time.