The birds they mock me

[nellyleelephant]

Back from my Farnes Puffin trip, fantastic place! Although, I found out how hard it is to take a photo of a flying Puffin!

Well worth the trip, but go soon as the Puffins will be gone in a short while.

[DibblyDobbler]

Superb Nelly

[ExPat2B]

Great images, but it's the whites that impress me, its so hard to properly expose a white bird and get that gradient and texture.

[nellyleelephant]

Thanks, can't take all the credit though, I'm sure my 5D3 played its part!

[nellyleelephant]

One more

[jimmy156]

Kevin, that is a beautiful shot, top work.

Nelly, i love the puffin shots, particularly the coming in to land one. beautiful! How much does a trip out to the Farne islands cost?

I took this snap of a Barn Owl the other day. The chap (is it a boy or girl, not sure how to tell) was sat on a post on my way to work. My immediate thought was "that's a bloody light buzzard" as there are often buzzards sat on the same posts, it was only as a drove post that i realised it was a barn owl.

I cursed for not having my camera with me.

On my way home from work, he (she?) was still there!

I cursed even louder for not having my camera.

On the way over for a family meal in the evening, he was still there! But this time i had my camera with me. Only problem was the rain and it really was chucking it down. I parked on the verge and ventured across the road with my camera sheltered under my coat (i got soaked) and fired off a few shots before i tried to edge too close and it flew off. without the rain i probably wouldn't have got so close as the bird was all hunkered down with its eyes shut. I have seen him each day since, on the same fence posts, so i will try and go for some more shots in the coming days.

IMG_5037 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

Edited by jimmy156 on Wednesday 17th June 18:43

Edited by jimmy156 on Wednesday 17th June 22:04

[Japveesix]

jimmy156 said:

K
IMG_5037 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

Awesome shot but I feel really sorry for him, looks miserable!

[ExPat2B]

I really think you are on to something with that image, it displays a very human and recognisable emotion, a very rare shot.

[jimmy156]

Thanks for the nice comments chaps. I see what you mean about the human emotion, seems we all hate being stuck in the rain

[ExPat2B]

Seriously Jimmy, you should stick that on a stock photo site, it just has greeting card written all over it. Even has a nice defoucused area to put the text.

I have been having a devil of a time trying to get sharp shots of this chap, autofocus really only wants to lock 100% with the sky as the background. Today, he swooped down, came out of his dive and came straight towards me, and for one glorious instant he was silhouetted against the sky, allowing me an eye level shot.


Hobby_Eye_Level_Flight by Nature Ist, on Flickr

[DibblyDobbler]

Excellent

[central]

Woah!

[Handbag]

Some amazing images these past few days! Fab work all

[nellyleelephant]

The last of my Puffin shots....

[ExPat2B]

I am curious Nelly, why F8 for the flight shots ? Depth of field or to give the autofocus an easier time ?

[nellyleelephant]

Just to give a bit more depth of field. F4 at 500mm is very shallow, and these things move at you quickly, so it's all to get a better chance of an in focus shot.

[ExPat2B]

Thanks !

[GravelBen]

Haven't been into this thread lately, some good stuff posted

Kereru by Ben, on Flickr

Kereru by Ben, on Flickr

[jmorgan]

Been playing with my new toy. Well, second hand, lens as well as its happens. This fella stayed put long enough.

Taking a break by Jeff, on Flickr

[Tyre Tread]

Saw my first ever Redstart today (two actually) but no camera