Bee on Cotonester

Has to be viewed LARGE!

Really hot in the Lakes again today, although the temperature only climbed to 20 degrees in the shade, it was blisteringly hot in the sun. Mike woke up coughing and with swollen red tonsils, so the first job of the day was a trip to the doctors for some TLC - and some antibiotics - as he's off on a school trip to France next week.

We had a day without power, - work on the cables (the trouble when your power comes from overhead lines), so no Radio, Facebook or Blip! - It's 4.15, and the power has come back on. Gave me a chance to get on with technology-free jobs, like painting the white lines in the car park (which has been needed since it was resurfaced some time ago).

Photographically, I looked out of the window at 4.15am to see mist hanging in the valleys and amongst the trees, I was so tempted, but at that stage had only had 3 1/2 hours sleep, so I went back to bed - pity, as with the power out I could have spent the day sleeping!

I was looking through a cupboard of camera stuff and came across a blow-up diffuser for a flashgun that I had bought on Ebay for about £2.99, so I had to give it a go. Old flash on 1/4 power was enought to give me f32 at closest focus at ISO 400, so spent a while trying to capture small bees on a Cotonester (I think) on the patio. Makes you think, from the result of this how favourably a £2.99 diffuser works, is it really worth hundreds for a smart ringflash?