Here i was trying to capture Gannets in flight

 shot with a Nikon D300s at Bempton Cliffs East Yorkshire.

conditions were excellent with bright sunshine anabeling me to use a fast shutter speed so freezing the image which gave me sharp images

All the photos were taken free hand with panning

At Bempton you are right on the cliff face so making sure you are far enough from the edge before you loose yourslef in your eyepiece or you could be over the edge,a good sense of health and safety is very important at this site and you must respect the rules and obey all the signs and warnings as you could fall a good 2-400ft to the bottom of the cliff which could be fatal,so make sure you read all the signs as they are clearly visable and you must obey them .

You can get really close to all the birds so a standard lense would be ok.

 

Abstract

Here i was trying to capture oil on water as seen in Digital Photo magazine issue 139 Feb 2011.I used my Nikon D300s Camera and fitted a Nikon 2.8/105m macro lense with VR (vibration reduction) and SW (silent wave motor) .I attached the camera to a tripod and then turned the VR off on the lense as the camera was supported enough as not to warrant the VR .

 Here i used a focal lenght of 105m ,ISO200,shutter speed F/3.5.

With the aperture wide open the coloured cards behind the water have merged together giving a pleasing result.

I used a large glass bowl filled with water and placed several coloured cards under the bowl .the lense was set to manual and i placed a match stick in the water and then manually focused on the match's head untill the image was sharp.Ialso connected a cordless shutter release to the camera so when firing the camera their would be no movement to the camera. I opened the flash unit on the camera but coverd it with card and then placed my Nikon speed light 600 on another tripod with a slave unit which would also fire the flash which i bounced of a wall as i did not want a direct flash hitting the water and reflecting the light ino the cameras sensor .if i were to do this again i would take more phots of the set up as it would explain more for other people so if they tried the same experiment they could see the set up.

Lapwing/pewitt

Here are a couple of love birds ,actually Lapwings in a courtship ritual taken inbetween Buxton and Leek .Having spotted them ,my next problem was cathing them on my camera and they dart and dash everywhere at really high speeds.Right the light was in my favour plenty of sunlight against clear skies so a fast shutter should be ok 1/1600 sec i chose with an aperture of f5.6 at 400mil with 320 ISO hand held at a tripod at these speeds would have been imposible as the dont fly were you want them to go and they can tuen in an instant,so panning was my only option so moving with the birds in my viewfinder and setting the camera to 7 shots per sec i started and not quite as sharp as i would have liked but not ruined by being to blurred ,my only concern was i had no background in the frame to compare the speed of the birds as there was nothing to blur out which then you would of seen the movement more,insted they look as though they have been stuck  their.

Once the had settled down and landed i could see that the female shown here was being entertained by the male below and its obvious intentions ,

The male here was parading round after the Female above with out a care in the world and i was not on his list of priorities and so therefore i could get closer and take the shots as they strutted their stuff.The colours are striking as the sunlight hits there plumage.

The last shot was taken just before the deed was done and then he flew away.

Curlew

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.

Comparisons with Richard Ford Wildlife Photographer

I took the lower image and to me there is no comparison ,i have beat him hands down with this one ,mine is clearer,sharper,brighter,relaxed,nicely composed with a clear blurred backdrop.I should of cropped this picture with the bird more to the right as to give a better composition,I also think that the texture of the feathers stand out against a clean backdrop.

The two Little Owls are both sharp but the top photo by Richard Ford although slightly darker than mine (as pictured below) has better composition and the tap is not interfering with the picture ,instead it adds to the picture were mine is sat on a electric cable which spoils my photo.I do like the tap in the photograph as it gives the viewer the scale and size of the owl ie (little owl) .The focal point of each image is the owls eyes,sharp,clear with good colour and the too shots have the eyes spot on and extremely similar.

Here the top photo taken by Richard Ford has a relaxed Robin with good composure and no distractions ,a good sharp image with good colour ,i took the one below which is slightly over exposed on the log on which the Robin was stood on ,but the Robin itself  has a good posture with good colour tones with no distractions and still nicely relaxed.The top Robin has less distractions and has good space to move into and works well with the rule of thirds.

The top Bullfinch by Richard Ford is rather dull with the bird squatting down and looking a little agitated and cautious,it also has a branch at the front of the picture which is a little distracting as it leads the eye away from the subject.The Bullfinch below which i took is a lot sharper ,more relaxed and a more natural look altogether, i did have better light on this occasion and i think i got this one spot on. (but i would say that would'nt i) It looks like we both used the same focal point (its eyes) and the lines on my shot lead you down the slope and contour of the land.Not only is the Bullfinch's feather texture good i also think the grass in the forground has also got good colour and texture,in my shot i have the rule of thirds,texture,lines colour and composure.

The two Chaffinches i have chosen here  were taken in different light conditions,the top one i took and the tones are a lot richer as the light was duller the bottom one was taken by Richard Ford and although he had better light the bird looks duller in comparison,they both look nice and relaxed with good posture but the tones are to me quite different considering the light ,if i had had the same light i think mine would of stood out more as the colours are more richer.

Here are two shots of a Nuthatch,The first one is done by myself and the second one was taken by Richard Ford,I actually prefer my shot as the colours look more natural .The two shots are very similar with the birds stance ,as with the blurred background.The tones in both shots work well and the composure of the two shots are similar with good lines to follow and both images lead you to where the Nuthatch is going next,What i could of done was to give more space at the left side as to give the Nuthatch more space to move into.

Bullfinch

p4Male Bullfinch taken at F5.6at 1/250 with an ISO of 250 at 400m.Surprisingly low shuter considering the conditions.

A female Bullfinch again the same settings but i had to change shuttrt speed down to 1/200 sec to get it.

Perfect they have come down from the trees to get some seed that i have scatterd in front of my hide but they were so nervous i had to be quick but i am pleased with the result .The female was taken at 1/400 sec and the male at 1/1000 both at f5.6 at 400m with an ISO of 320.these two shots have to me cosidering the pair were on the ground a good colour and a nice composition as there  are no distractions in the pictures,just the birds that i had set bout to get.

The male here was getting slightly bolder and flew a bit closer but i still needed the full zoom of the lense to get him,this was a rare chance to get him without any branches in front of him.but with a clear sky behind him i managed to raise the shuttrt speed a little to 1/640 .

The skys darkened and this Female tones in nicely with the greyier sky behind her as she feeds on new shoots in the tree,again a change of shutter speed now down to 1/320 sec as the light changed.

This last shot looked stunning as it happened a perfect place to land with a dark background so the male here would stand out , i again slowed the shutter to 1/80 sec ,looking back i could of raised the ISO from 320 to around 800-1000 so i could of used a faster shutter but doing so could of led to a grainier picture which i did not want.

My mission today on the 18/3/11 was to photograph Bullfinches at Cannok Chase,the weather was perfect bright and sunny with little cloud (perfect)The plan was to use my Nikon D300s with a Nikon 80/400 telephoto zoom lense hand held as the Bullfinches are quite nervous and get spooked easily so setting up my tripod and then getting a fix on the birds might of been to long to fire some shots.With good light i could set a fast shutter speed and a low ISO as there was plenty of light.

Tree Spparrow

Here are a slection of shots from Attenborough Nature Reserve on the out skirts of Nottingham were you can find a large and varied amonnt of waterfowl and all other birds.Here i have tried to capture tree Sparrows in flight before they landed on a bird feeder.I used my Nikon D300s with a Nikon 80/400 telephoto lense hand held in a hide with a fast shutter speed of 1/1000 sec to 1/1250th of a sec with an aperture of f/8 and an ISO set at 400 and the focal length also set at 400.I could of reduced the ISO but i would not of been able to shoot at the speed i did as the hide was poorley lit and the backgroung was in the shade with plenty of dark vegitation.I selectd a cotinuios shutter speed ot 7 shots per second and i also set the focal point to the left hand side of the view finder.With my right eye looking through the viewfinder i tried to look for the sparrows approaching from the left hand side with my left eye at the same time as looking through the viewfinder with my right eye and pressing down on the shutter button whilst keeping the camera as still as possible.with VR set to on it reduced the camera shake whilst being handheld leaning against a window sill.