Natural Wildlife

This one of the photos that I had taken on my trip to the local duckpond earlier his week. One of the swans came quite close to the side so I thought I could get a close up of just its head. I thought by concentrating on a small area it would an interesting and different composition.

To get narrow field of view I used a focal length of 300mm; the maximum for the lens I was using. I had the camera in shutter priority with a shutter speed of 1/400^th of a second. To capture the correct exposure the camera used an aperture of F7.1; this also ensured that enough of the swan was in focus but with the background out of focus. I had to use an ISO of 1250 to enable the use of the narrower aperture.

To edit the photo I increased the contrast but I also turned down the highlights because the white feathers where starting to white-out. I also decreased the colour temperature to make the whites look purer. I also sharpened the photo a small amount to counter the noise that had been generated.

I really enjoyed taking photos at the duckpond, I really like wildlife photography. You have to be very patient, but it pays off because you get fantastic photos of animals in their natural habitats. The weather looks ideal for wildlife photography this weekend so if I get a chance I will be out again taking photos of whatever wildlife I can find.

Mat

Small Wildlife

I had this morning off so as I didn’t have anything to do I decided to go for a walk to the nature reserve to see what wildlife I could find. I’m glad I went because there was a lot of wildlife about; in particular there were a lot of birds around.

I heard this bird calling from one of the trees and I looked around until I found it hiding on a branch in the middle of the tree. I zoomed in to 300mm on my telephoto lens until I got the composition that I wanted. I was using the camera in shutter priority and I had selected a shutter speed of 1/500^th of a second, and I over exposed by one stop. This gave me an aperture of F7.1 which gave me a large enough depth of field for what I wanted. I didn’t use the flash as I didn’t want to scare the bird away and it wouldn’t have been powerfull enough to reach the bird.

When editing the photo I cropped the photo to enhance the composition and I also adjusted the light levels. By cropping the photo I placed the bird into the top right corner, as the bird was looking down and to the left I feel that it creates a more open composition than before. I increased the overall brightness while bring down the highlights to control the sky. This increases the contrast by quite a bit as well which I think makes the photo a lot more vibrant while keeping the colours faithful.

I enjoyed my morning at the duck pond watching the wildlife around me. When I next get a chance I will definitely go down again to capture some more wildlife in its natural habitat.

Mat

Fly Away

I attended a friend’s wedding recently, and of course my camera came with me!!!! Although I was taking pictures of the happy couple, I couldn't help but slip a few arty shots in along side!

The theme of the wedding was based around birds; it was mostly white and cream with roses, white birdcages and doves as decorations. They were stunning and really caught my eye (and my camera…). As we walked out of the ceremony, I noticed that at the tables, paper doves were perched on each glass with a name written on it, which served as a place setting.

It caught my eye because it stood out; all the paper doves were placed on the same side all the way around the table, with white roses in the middle. I decided to take a close up of the glass to focus on one dove. I used a wide aperture to get a shallow depth of field so that the glass and the dove were the main focus of the picture.

I love the opportunities that are presented with different types of events. I’ve done a lot of event photography recently and the opportunities are endless!

Bex

x 

Ripples

Mat and I took his dog for a walk today; I had my camera with me as ever. We walked down through the local nature reserve towards the lake. As we were walking, I spotted this bird on the edge of the water. It kept putting its beak in the water to drink, and while watching I noticed that as it’s beak emerged, droplets fell and created ripples on the surface.

The ripples caught my attention so I decided to try and capture it before Mat’s dog chased it away! I had my telephoto lens on, which saved me time, as I didn’t have to change lenses. I used a fast shutter speed to try and capture the ripples without them being blurred.

I was really impressed with this picture, as I accidentally caught a droplet just as it fell into the water. I also like how if you look carefully, the reflection of the bird can be seen, slightly distorted by the waves. Later, I sharpened the image and increased the contrast to make some of the smaller ripples more visible. I regret not using a smaller aperture as the bird is slightly out of focus, but at the same time I think it points the attention to the water.

I love this picture; I was really impressed by managing to capture the detail of the water. I have a busy few days coming up, so Mat will be doing most of the posts. I’ll be back in a few days- hopefully with plenty of photos in tow!

Bex

x

Tree Vista

We’re still on holiday and having a great time! We went for a quick walk today in the park. The view was fantastic; I saw just a single tree on the horizon. I really liked the view of the tree on it’s own on the side of the hill.

I thought that having the tree in the right hand third would make a more interesting composition. I managed to expose the sky, the tree and the foreground correctly, which really enhances the photo. I like how the wispy clouds in the sky can still be seen clearly travelling across the bright blue sky.

The only editing that I did was to crop the photo down and to rotate the photo slightly to ensure that it is vertical. Apart from that I didn’t change anything else, because Bex’s camera had chosen all the right settings (once again!).

We’ve still got two more days left of our holiday, and I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Mat 

Seeing Double

I was looking in a photography magazine I regularly read this evening. A regular feature of the magazine is a section in which they pick the best photos from readers around the world to publish.

In this month’s issue they featured a picture of a herring stood on a small rock in the middle of a lake with the reflection of the bird in the water. It reminded me of this shot I took this weekend at the lake I mentioned previously. Ok, a goose isn’t by any means as glamorous as a herring but I loved how the colours of the goose seemed to compliment it’s surroundings and how the reflection was disturbed by the ripples that the current created.

Perhaps in the future I might capture something a little more sought after, but for now I’m pleased with this.

Bex

x

What's up?!

Mat and I went for a walk today in the centre of our local city. We were walking back from an indoor market and saw a small church as we were crossing the road. An old woman, the kind that seems to belong in a Mary Poppins film, was sat by a tree feeding the birds. She threw some bread on the floor by a tree and all was fair game. This lazy bird decided hopping to the bread was best until the smarter gull tried what birds do best and scooped the prize! I was only aiming to take pictures of the gulls flying but I couldn’t miss the look on the bird’s face. If only they could talk, although I think it may not be the most polite conversation….

Bex

x