Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS - 1/200 to 1/640 second, f/5.8, ISO 80

Since I haven't posted for a week or so... This one is from the Zorbing on my stag day. Zorbing is... "a sport in which a participant is secured inside an inner capsule in a large, transparent ball which is then rolled along the ground or down hills". Basically a giant hamster ball rolled down a hill. Great fun though the harness Zorb (when the riders are strapped in) can be a little bumpy.

I created this composite in Photoshop.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 100

We see this fox quite often around the neighbourhood and this is the second time it has come into the garden in broad daylight.

It's quick though so I had to jump for the camera and use the lens that was fitted. I wish I'd had more time to use a smaller aperture though as it's a little soft. It's heavily cropped and a vignette added to try and focus attention on the fox.

I didn't want to risk opening the patio door so the shot is taken through glass which doesn't help.

I must admit, I like Photoshop. In fact I'm fascinated by the kind of changes a skilled person can make to a photograph, especially the magazine retoucher's work on people.

Here is my rather less skilled attempt at retouching a photo from last month's Digital Photographer magazine. It took me about four hours to do this. There are hundreds of tiny changes and tweaks adding up to approximately 24 major differences. Can you spot them all? (You might want to click through to a larger size.)

For demonstrations of better Photoshop skill these are worth a watch:

• The magic of Photoshop
• Extreme (Photoshop) Makeover
• Retoque com Photoshop
• Extreme Photoshop Retouch
• The camera never lies (BBC Radio 1 Surgery)

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/320 second, f/4, ISO 100

This is the last and my favourite of the architectural series from January. The photo itself is Bournemouth library in the centre of town. As usual there has been some processing because the original was very grey.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/80 second, f/11, ISO 100

The second in this series and right next door to the previous one. I have to admit I cloned out a bit of the sign to highlight the word but it summed up the mood that day. I have forgotten what the whole word said but in searching for another photo I came across lots of very good photos taken on Bournemouth beach which are well worth a look.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/100 second, f/11, ISO 100

This was taken a few weeks ago down by the beach in Bournemouth. For the end of January it was very warm and I liked the simple lines (also, it was very busy and pointing the camera up was the only way to miss the crowd).

Canon 400D, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-f/4.5 USM lens - 1/60 second, f/4, ISO 100

This is what was behind the camera... As the chalet is hanging on the mountainside there is a huge vertical drop just outside these windows. The view is spectacular and not for people that get vertigo. You can see the whole of Meribel and you feel like you are sitting in a bird's nest.

Photography wise this is the shot I'm least happy with because it doesn't have the same level of colour saturation as the others (I tried but it ended up looking fake). Also, in this series I used quite a severe vignette to focus attention on the centre of frame which gives them a bit of a 70's feel (especially with the decor).

This is the set complete. I hope you like them. There are a couple more in my Meribel 2008 set which I won't blog about. Next time I'll post some architectural shots taken whilst photowalking around Bournemouth.

Canon 400D, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-f/4.5 USM lens - 1/6 second, f/4, ISO 100

As I mentioned yesterday, the chalet we stayed in was rather unique - built hanging on to the mountainside. The entrance is at the top of the building (behind the chimney in the picture). The precarious landing and steps are not child friendly either. The living space is at the level you see here with rooms on the floors below. The fireplace dominates the room and, as the steps to the right of it indicate, has a sunken seating area in front. The really spectacular feature is behind the camera - tomorrows shot.

I've done a fair bit of processing with all these pictures as the light was truly awful for photography - dull and grey. The chalet itself was quite dark under these conditions and any shot with a window in instantly blows out the highlights. All the internal chalet shots are a blend of multiple exposures taken from a single RAW file.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/4 second, f/22, ISO 100

It's been a couple of weeks since we got back from skiing but things have been hectic with the wedding planning so I haven't had much time to process the pictures. I didn't take many because a bulky SLR is not the best thing to carry if you might take a tumble on the slopes. There are more in Claire's photostream.

This one was taken from our chalet. You will see from the next few in the series that it was rather unique and had some specatcular views.