Tiny spiky pink flower covered in raindrops

This is a weed growing amongst the plants in my flower beds - I've no idea what it is. I'll be pulling it out with the dandelions etc when it finally stops raining, but in the mean time it looks brilliant covered in tiny raindrops!

I've posted 2 versions of the photo here for you to decide which you like best - the only difference is the depth of field.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200; 1/10s at f/16 / 1/80s at f/6.3; 90mm; tripod & cable release.

Raindrop on a Sedum leaf

I took this one today in my garden. It had been raining all morning and the Sedum plant is great at catching and holding onto raindrops.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/8, 1/100s, 35mm, hand held.

Red peony bud covered in raindrops

I took this photo in my garden just after a heavy rain shower about a week ago. There were also lots of flowers in full bloom which, due to their size, ended up weighed down to the ground by raindrops. I cut all the flowers and put them in vases inside, just leaving the new buds behind.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/80s, 90mm, hand held.

Bluebells.

A memory from Spring this year - some lovely bluebells in my garden.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/160s, -1.3step exp bias, 90mm, hand held.

Pink and yellow mesembryanthemum flower

I photographed this lovely flower in my garden in July 2014.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/500s, 90mm, hand held.

Dandelion clock (5)

Another view of a dandelion clock, photographed in my garden in May 2014. I like the shallow depth of field in this shot and converting it to monochrome further simplifies it.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/250s, 90mm, hand held.

Peony in full bloom.

I took this photo in my garden last year (this year's peonies didn't do so well). The flowers are huge, but their petals are so intricate - quite a contradiction.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/8, 1/125s, 29mm, hand held.

Black and white cat stretching out on a garden wall.

This is my cat, Spook, stretching out in the sun on our garden wall. This is one of his favourite spots, right above the bird feeders!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/5, 1/200s, 35mm, hand held.

Little blue and yellow flower.

I only bought this plant recently, but I lost the name-card that came with it, so have no idea what variety it is (I'm guessing some kind of daisy??). There are lots of little flowers on long stems above a thick, green mound of leaves - it's a lovely, cheerful plant!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/1000s, 90mm, hand held.

Sparrow snacking on seeds.

I took this in my garden in June last year, having set up my tripod on the patio and sat very still to wait for hungry birds.  I really want to do another bird photography session, but for some reason they seem to have got bored with seeds! I'm planning to get a new feeder soon and try them with something else, so hopefully some new photos will follow soon....

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/250s, 170mm, tripod.

Purple and white mesembryanthemum flower

I took this photo of a mesembryanthemum (one of my favourite flowers) in my garden in July 2014.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/800s, 90mm, hand held.

Sparrow picking up seeds on my garden wall

I took this one in June this year. I'd scattered a few seeds on the wall close to the bird feeder and set up my camera and tripod a few feet away on the patio. I then sat very still with the remote release in my hand and waited for the birds - a good lesson in patience (which I really don't have much of!).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/250s, 165mm, tripod.

Glass butterfly in the sunshine

A macro shot tonight - this is one of those little glass butterflies that you put around the base of plants as decoration and/or protection from frost etc. This is one of several scattered around the base of my blueberry bush - they shine beautifully in the sunshine.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/1000s, 90mm, hand held.

Red admiral butterfly on pink Sedum flowers (3)

Here's another one from the series I took about a year ago in my garden. I chose this one out of many others because I really like the underside of butterfly wings. This picture showcases the colours in both sides of the wings - the fact that the head is out of focus also helps to draw your eye to the wings.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/1000s, 90mm, hand held.

Dandelion clock (4)

Another one from my garden tonight - taken in May last year. This was part of a group of dandelion clocks - I wanted to use a shallow depth of field to isolate one of them. I cropped the photo down to change the orientation to portrait and reduce the number of flower heads in view. Converting to black and white also helped to draw your eye to the main flower head.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/320s, 90mm, hand held.

Sunlit raindrops on a blade of grass

I took this one in April last year on the lawn in our garden (a last opportunity before we replaced it with artificial grass). I really like how each little raindrop has its own shadow. I also love the little part-open daisy - another thing I miss about having a real lawn (although I don't miss the mud, bare patches and mowing!!).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/500s, 90mm, hand held.

Young wood pigeon on a garden wall

This is from my first attempt at photographing birds in my garden a few weeks ago. We have some lovely big chubby wood pigeons that visit the garden - this is one of their 'babies'.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/200s, 90mm, hand held (resting camera on knees!).

Moonlight in the garden

I took this one on the 1st July this year - the first time I've tried photographing the moon. It was the hottest day we've had in ages, so still warm enough to be sitting in the garden taking experimental photos at 10.30pm! There were some really fine, hazy, little clouds passing in front of the moon, giving it a bit of an eerie effect.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/22, 3s, 90mm, tripod.

Unfurling Hosta leaves

I took this one a few weeks ago on my patio. I rescued this Hosta from my flower beds last summer as it was being ravaged by snails - each year it would grow up from nothing like the leaves in this picture but would be ragged and full of holes a couple of weeks later. It's now in a tall chimney pot and is flourishing - lovely to see!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/36, 1/2s, 90mm, tripod.

Blue tit perched on a garden feeder

Up until the end of last year, the only birds that came near our house were usually in the mouths of one of our 3 cats! Now that we're down to only 1 cat, we decided to try to encourage some 'live' birds into the garden, so bought a bird feeder in January. It's been a slow process, but they've gradually learned that it's (fairly!) safe to visit and this week I started to photograph them.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/250s, 155mm, hand held.