I love ‘em. And clouds make great photographic subjects. Simply put – they are impressive.

Taking photos of clouds is a good way to practice using the various settings on your camera. The light can be so different from day-to-day that you will be able to flex those creative muscles and try out exposure and speed settings, and compare the available auto settings to manual modes.

Daydreams

Big, white fluffy clouds provoke day-dreams and whimsy. Lying on the grass and staring up at the clouds is a past-time I rarely make the time to enjoy these days. But how much fun did it used to be finding animal shapes in clouds? It’s also an incredibly easy – and free – way to de-stress from the daily grind.

Sunset

Clouds at sunset are gorgeous. The array of colours can be breath-taking. Especially at this time of year, with the soft winter sun setting. And with the rain we have finally had (yay!) there are countless numbers of clouds in the evening, all catching the colours of the setting sun.

This is my view on the way home from work each day during the winter months.

A thin layer of cloud produced a beautiful pink sunset.

A Queenstown, New Zealand sunset.

Storm clouds

Still a while to go until storm season…

Do you like to photograph clouds?

Flowers make great photographs and are a popular subject for many photographers. The hoya plant is the perfect subject to experiment with the macro setting on your digital camera.

I don’t recall ever seeing a hoya plant until a few months ago, when I discovered it on a visit to my parents’ house. Hoya is a new addition to their garden and completely compliments the home-made pergola (reminder: I will get a photo of that on my next visit).

There are many species of hoya, some are climbers and some are more shrub-like. They have shiny deep-green foliage and beautiful flowers which look amazing close up.

Try the macro setting on your flowers

The photos below show two varieties of hoya plant, one grows well in a hanging pot and one grows as a climber. The macro setting on your digital camera is usually identified by a flower image (like a tulip). Just get up nice and close to your subject – the camera won’t focus if you are not close enough. Your digital camera my also have a ‘flower’ setting which you can combine with the macro setting and is used to accentuate the bright colors of the petals.

The hoya flower up close

When magnified (or macro-fied) the hoya flower petals are furry and detailed and look similar to the ‘hair effect’ in a 3D animated movie. I only took a couple of photos at the time and am keen to get back and take some more macro shots.

Check out the photos below (links take you to larger Flickr photos) – there are ants crawling around on one of the flowers.

Have you photographed hoya plants using the macro setting?

It really is quite an amazing site. Beached so close to shore, the Pasha Bulker looks as though you could walk out and touch it. At 225 metres in length it is a massive addition to the beach at Nobbys Headand everything else appears dwarfed by comparison. The whole area is abuzz with activity: spectators, photographers, news crews, SES workers fixing the roof of the beach club and helicopters. Helicopters delivering goods to the ship, removing goods from the ship – it’s fascinating to watch.

Some of the images below are also available in larger sizes on my Flickr account.

I just had to write about the Mr Lee CatCam website that I stumbled across. It takes the concept of ‘cat cam’ to the extreme.

What’s a cat-cam? A camera around a cat’s collar which takes photos every few minutes and shows the cat’s travels. It’s a real Day in the life of… by Mr Lee, the cat in question.

This particular cat owner has the technical knowledge and skills to actually put this ‘cat cam’ together and provides detailed how-to instructions on the website. For the non-technical, cat-lover types out there it’s simply worthwhile having a look at the photos – taken by the cat himself – some of them are fabulous!

What a great idea. Mr Lee’s owner was so curious as to why Mr Lee would arrive home in the evening in all manner of states that he thought he would try to document the day’s adventures. I have to say, it’s incredible how many other cats Mr Lee meets along the way…

UPDATE 25 September: I believe you can now purchase your very own ‘cat cam’ on the Mr Lee CatCam website.