Sometimes ...

... photographs don't turn out quite as you hope or expect!

This is a case in point!

The weather here has been quite variable. In some ways it's been a bit like that expected for April with showers and some sunshine. So sitting in my usual place at the kitchen table I looked out at the rain streaming down the window glass and saw our weeping willow tree simply covered in flowers of the Clematis, 'Montana Alba'.

Interesting! Go grab a camera. Try to take a shot and realise that the automatic focus locks onto the window pane rather than the garden tree!

Looking at the result I rather like the streaky glass but I would have had a bit more definition to the flowers. Do they look too much like 'balls of cotton wool'?

And as I sat there wondering how to kid the camera into focusing on the tree I realised that I really needed to 'manually focus' the camera - and I didn't know how because I had never thought I needed that feature. 

'It's bound to rain tomorrow' - the thought went through my head.
'Go find out how to manually focus your camera'.
'Take another photo tomorrow'.

Now I do know how to manually focus my little Lumix LF1.

It did rain today.
But the light wasn't the same - it never could be!
And the rain didn't beat across the window! 
Opportunity gone!

And what am I left with?