Barbary Macaque perched on a log in woodland.

This one's from our visit to the Monkey Forest on the Trentham Estate in April this year. It's a small woodland area inhabited by around 140 Barbary Macaques - you walk amongst them on the open pathways, watching them play, feed, groom and, like this one, watch you back!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/200s, 35mm, hand held.

Toadstools growing out of a log in woodland.

I took this one at Hardcastle Crags in early November last year. I love how there's so much going on around this fallen branch. It may be dead itself but it's now the home of all kinds of other plant-life (and, no doubt, insects too). When writing the title of this blog post, I wasn't sure whether to call the fungi mushrooms or toadstools, so I looked up the difference - apparently the general difference is that mushrooms are edible and toadstools are poisonous. Still no idea what this one is!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/60s, 18mm, hand held.

Bluebells flowering around a fallen branch.

Another one from yesterday's wander round Hardcastle Crags. I find it quite difficult to get pictures of bluebells that I'm happy with - they always seem so stunning when they blanket everywhere around you, but it's hard to scale that down to a photo that still captures the effect. In this case, this log helped with the composition, scale and context.

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

Roots entwining a fallen log on a river bank.

Another one from Hardcastle Crags, a local National Trust propery and one of my favourite haunts. I took this one in June last year - the River Hebden is sparkling in the background.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/125s, 34mm, hand held.

Crumbling log

Another log photo! A decaying one this time, photographed in June 2013 at Hardcastle Crags.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/5, 1/20s, 34mm, hand held.

Hollow log surrounded by foliage.

I found this lovely natural 'still life' arrangement in the woods at Crimsworth Dean, Hebden Bridge, on a walk in June this year. The log looks like it would make a cosy home for a little rodent!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/5, 1/100s, 22mm, hand held.

A stack of cut logs in woodland

Today's picture is from the woodland surrounding Ogden Water, taken in early March this year. I love the vivid colours in the logs and the different textures in their surfaces. Looking at the picture also makes me remember the strong smell of sawn wood that was in the air.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/200s, 18mm, hand held.

Dappled sunlight on leaves and bluebells beneath a tree in woodland

This is by the river at Hardcastle Crags, taken in June this year. It was midday, so the sun was at its highest and brightest, but only specks of it were getting through the thick foliage to the woodland floor.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/50s, 26mm, hand held.

Foliage growing in and around a fallen tree trunk

I took this one in the woods at Crimsworth Dean, near Hebden Bridge, in June this year. I love the shapes and textures - it's like a natural still life arrangement.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/5, 1/60s, 32mm, hand held.

Tractor and log pile with a wind farm in the distance

I took this from the road next to a farm at Wainstalls, not far from where I live, a couple of months ago. The wind farm is at Ogden, a few miles away over the moors.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/125s, 32mm, hand held.

Colourful, textured log in sunlit woodland

I saw this log lying in the woods around Ogden reservoir earlier this year. Even from a distance I could see the different colours on its bark, lit up by the sunshine - really striking!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/250s, 26mm, hand held.

Sawn logs on the ground in woodland

This is a photo from May 2013, from my first trip to Hardcastle Crags with my new DSLR camera. I've nearly deleted it many times but something always stopped me. This time I didn't pass over it when looking for a picture to use and instead decided to try some different crops and colour adjustments. Making it monochrome, adjusting the grey hues and cropping out some messy background really made the difference - I'm glad I kept it now.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/80s, 20mm, hand held.

Bluebells in the woods at Hardcastle Crags

I took this one at Hardcastle Crags in May last year. It was a lovely little scene, but there's quite a lot going on - the big contrasts from the bright sunlight and shadows, the bluebells, grass, wall, trees, logs etc. I took a few photos from different angles and distances to see which best captured it. So this is the first one to be processed...others to follow.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/10, 1/40s, 18mm, hand held.

Moss-covered log surrounded by bluebells

I took this one at Hardcastle Crags in May last year - I like the mix of textures and colours between the moss and the bluebells, and how the straight edges of the log cut across them.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/40s, 22mm, hand held.

Fallen branch among trees at Hardcastle Crags

This is another shot from my final Photography Btec work. I found this log in the middle of the wood at Hardcastle Crags and was intrigued by its shapes and textures. The top end reminds me of a snake's head - other people who've seen the photo say it reminds them of other things. I like how you can have your own interpretation of it depending where your imagination takes you!

I converted to monochrome, increased contrast slightly and added a slight dark vignette to draw your eye in to the branch.

Log framed by ferns and bluebells at Hardcastle Crags

This is one from April 2013, one of the pictures I took at Hardcastle Crags for the final piece of my photography Btec qualification. I had already taken the photos I went out looking for and was on the way back to the car park when I passed this log. It was just like a still life waiting to be photographed!

I made no post production changes at all to this image.