THE CURLEW .
Having looked for Curlew before without much success i tried a different approach,I could here them but could not see them,so i got myself lower down so if they did pop up i might get a glimpse of them in the skyline,after half an hour i spotted this one quite close to a small ridge standing quite proud and un aware of me hidden behind a shooting butt for Grouse shooters .The condition's were warm with grey skies to start with so i had already chosen a ISO of 320 and an aperture of f/6.3 at 1/400 sec at 400m as this was my first shot i was pleased with the outcome and left the settings well alone .
This my third take as the Curlew started to move away it was beginning to merge in with the winter coloured grasses and as you can see soon becomes difficult to see and its own colours blended in very well (no wonder they take some spotting)but the light had changed marginally so upped the shutter speed slightly to 1/640 and now i was shooting a little bit faster if it did take to the wing i could possibly pan my camera with it and try to get it on the wing,but it walked away and that was that
The next three shots are of a different Curlew ,the first shot took me by surprise as it was asleep as i walked through the grasses up towards the ridge and their it was ,at first i thought it might be sitting on a nest of eggs so i went know further and got the camera ready (Nikon D300s with my 80/400 lense)hand held but now it had brightened up so i changed the shutter speed again ,this time up to 1/1250 sec and i also stepped down to f5.6 and took the shot with good results/sharp image,blurred background and no distractions .
Here the Culew had spotted me and started to get aggitatetid so i retreated back and took a few more shots ,now at 1/1600 secs as the light improved more.
This last one as you can see is the result of me trying not to frighten the bird but wether it was me or it had enough rest it was off,but not before i bagged this one.These were all taken hand held with changeable sky conditions on the outskirts of Buxton heading towards Leek.
THE CURLEW .
This my third take as the Curlew started to move away it was beginning to merge in with the winter coloured grasses and as you can see soon becomes difficult to see and its own colours blended in very well (no wonder they take some spotting)but the light had changed marginally so upped the shutter speed slightly to 1/640 and now i was shooting a little bit faster if it did take to the wing i could possibly pan my camera with it and try to get it on the wing,but it walked away and that was that
The next three shots are of a different Curlew ,the first shot took me by surprise as it was asleep as i walked through the grasses up towards the ridge and their it was ,at first i thought it might be sitting on a nest of eggs so i went know further and got the camera ready (Nikon D300s with my 80/400 lense)hand held but now it had brightened up so i changed the shutter speed again ,this time up to 1/1250 sec and i also stepped down to f5.6 and took the shot with good results/sharp image,blurred background and no distractions .
Here the Culew had spotted me and started to get aggitatetid so i retreated back and took a few more shots ,now at 1/1600 secs as the light improved more.
This last one as you can see is the result of me trying not to frighten the bird but wether it was me or it had enough rest it was off,but not before i bagged this one.These were all taken hand held with changeable sky conditions on the outskirts of Buxton heading towards Leek.
Hey Mick,
ReplyDeletegreat pictures again, I wish I had the patience for this! I think the first in-flight picture is good, but possibly a closer crop would improve it? I know you're supposed to leave a bit of space to add to the sense of movement, but I think you could get in a bit closer, and still maintain a sense of speed.
See you thursday. :)
Hi
ReplyDeleteWe will go through these tonight but they look great, and quite an unusual set of images as you have captured quite a rare moment as well.
Steve