Image Location : The incredible variety of trees all nestled in together at Firestone Copse in Wootton Bridge on the Isle of Wight.

We have really been rewarded with some lovely misty mornings lately and this location is a very short distance from our home. Firestone is an attractive area of forest, notable for its wide-ranging tree species, it is fringed with English Oak, Ash with under-stories of Hazel and on up to the soaring spires of Grand Fir. Beyond the broadleaved are coniferous Douglas, Cedar and Scots Pine providing evergreen year-round interest. Visitors may explore trails to Wootton Creek or delight in flower rich grassy rides. In summer, these are particularly good places to glimpse the many butterflies found here; amongst them White and Red Admirals, Marbled Whites, Small Tortoiseshells, Gatekeepers and Fritillaries.

This image was captured using a Panasonic Lumix GX8 with a Lumix G Vario 7-14mm F/4 lens set to 7mm (equivalent to 14mm on a full frame camera). The camera was hand held and autofocused on the tree. The camera was set to Aperture priority f/8 giving a 1/125th of a second exposure at ISO 200 with daylight white balance. The RAW processing and final adjustments were all done in Photoshop CC but I did use Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and color Efex Pro (which are now free from Google and I heartily recommend them) filters with several layers to get this highly stylized look.