Portfolio Two and tree sparrows...

Tree Sparrow - Calke

Busy few days - again! yesterday was such a lovely morning that I had to get and visit one of the best sites I know to see tree sparrows - Staunton Harold reservoir car park. This is a popular place as it is next to Calke Abbey so the birds are used to people - so you can get some really great views of the birds which means - great photographs. The extra bonus is that orientation of the car park means that in the morning the sun is in just the right place.

I have also just submitted my Portfolio Two submission to the Royal Photographic Society. Who knows what will happen but you have live in hope - I think???

Cotswolds in the Mist at Dawn - Illmington

Bempton Report

Is the photograph worth the risk?

It was sunny, hot and wonderfully chaotic - by the time I came away it was filling up with a lot of people.   Welcome to Bempton reserve on a hot and sunny Sunday.   Hot tip - avoid the place if you can on Sunday, and I would suspect Saturday as well.   By 10am when I called it a day there was no place at the best spots for photographs.  Fortunately I had got there at 6 am and so had a much better opportunity to capture the birds.

I have to say it was somewhat anti climatic.  This was due in part to the fact that few of the eggs had hatched and so the only opportunity was to take photographs very similar to the week before.   I found the most interesting birds were the tree sparrows and swallows.  I kept chasing after the kestrel but due to a combination of being in the wrong place, i.e. down wind and the mobbing by other birds I wasn't able to get the shots I wanted.  Maybe next time.

I found that the most interesting photographs I made are not of the sea birds but of the birds on the land of the reserve - an example is the tree sparrow and its newly fledged young.  To see more photographs click here.

Tree Sparrow

Now for the crowds.  Perhaps I am somewhat mad, I have noted this already, but the best time of day to get any reasonable photographs is first thing in the morning.  This is not just because of the light but also the crowds.  I can understand bird watchers or the curious member of the public not realising this but not serious photographers.   As I said before by 10am the places was really filling up, and one of the most conspicuous group who arrived at this time was a number of photographs with very long lens.  

Now I am in no position to say anything about this as I have 2 1D's with long lens attached, one on a large tripod.  However, I made the effort to get up early to get the best chance of a shot.  So why did these photographers not do the same?   After all some of the equipment cost as much as mine, so why not turn up early enough to make the most of this equipment?  I'm sure there are a whole range of reasons for this but I suspect that some of the reasons may not be the most charitable to the individual.  This is unfair as it does mean that I have the reserve to mostly to myself so why complain?  

One final thing on this subject.   If you wished to apply a feminist analysis there did seem to be an awful lost of men with very long lenses.  Boys and their toys I suppose.

And finally - fishing.   I was walking back towards the visitor centres when I saw two men with climbing equipment and some large poles.  Now I thought that they were RSPB staff members going down the cliffs for surveying purposes.  Little did I know that they were local fisher men who also are keen rock climbers.   As I stood and watched them decent the 300 foot + cliffs I just couldn't understand the need for this.  Surely the fish are just as good further around the coast where you don't have to climb down some of the biggest cliffs in England.  Each to their own?

So I won't be back at Bempton before the end of the month.   It will be interesting to see how things have progressed.

Bempton - some reflections

Puffin - Farne Island's not Bempton

Well I have had a good nights sleep, still feel knackered but that is another story, and time to reflect on yesterday's shoot at Bempton.  I have written in the past about the sea bird colony and that is still stunning.   Yesterday was a really windy day on top of the 300 foot cliffs and it was amazing to watch how the birds effortlessly exploited this resourse.  The lasting image for me was the way that Fulmar's backed into their nests.  They really are true masters of the air.   

Another thing that struck me about the people that went to Bempton was that they all seemed transfixed about the puffins.   Now you do get good views of the puffins but, and it is a huge but, they really are fleeting.  The birds dash out from their perch and are gone.  Perhaps the best way to describe this is that it is similar to the view you have a of kingfishers.  A brilliant turquoise blue flash and that is that.  So it is with the puffins.  They launch themselves into the air and all you are left with is a flash of orange.  That is it.   I am sure there will be better views once the birds have started nesting but at the moment it is very transient.

Tree Sparrow

Perhaps one of the less known but equally wonderful part of the Bempton experience is the large numbers of non sea birds.   From tree sparrows to kestrels the reserve is teaming with them and from a photographers perspective you can get some really close views.  It takes a while to get your eye in for these other birds given the frantic show on and around the cliffs but once you do it is really rewarding.  Considering that much of the reserve is no more than 100 metres in depth there is a wonderful variety of birds.  I even saw a deer, I think it was a roe, in the distance yesterday.  It is an amazing place to visit.

Now for the camera report.   Well the 1D didn't disappoint.  However there are a few things that I have to sort out.   The first is the focusing.  I still haven't mastered the way the 1D focusing works - not surprising has I still haven't read the manual - a common problem with me!   The second problem is that you burn through memory cards.  At 10 fps it doesn't take long to a 4GB card.  You also need to have really fast cards otherwise it can take what feels like an eternity for the buffer to clear.  Fortunately this is easy to fix and I have just ordered some new cards.   The combination of the 1D and the 100x400mm zoom is, for me, a winning formula.   The two work well together, well balanced and the results can be superb.

As for the 40D this is really good as a static camera on the tripod.   Here the lack of 10 fps is not an issue as I am not that good at panning with a long lens on the tripod.  The quality of the images, given certain constraints, are excellent.  As thing stand at the moment there is no need to change this.  Just to demonstrate this both of the photographs were taken by the 40D.

One final thought.   I have culled the 2700 images down to a more manageable 322.  It has been grueling but worth while process.  I have found that images that I would have kept in the past were jettisoned as the quality has risen.  One final final thought.  How much would this have cost if I had been shouting film!

Trial and error

Great Tit

Had a wonderful morning taking photographs of birds at Staunton Harold reservoir car park.   This is one the best places to take photographs of tree sparrows I know.   They hang around a feeding station and give you great views.  The best thing is that when the winter sun is out in the morning then they are beautifully lit.

I also want to experiment further with my new wireless remote control.   The set up was very simple.   Put some food out for birds on a wall and set the camera up to record what happened.  I initially used a very short zoom and this was fine apart from the sound of the camera going off spooked the birds.  I then changed to a long zoom lens and this seemed to over come the noise problem as the camera was further away.  This lead to other problems such as narrow angle of view which meant that I had to ensure I knew the spot where the focus was set up for.  I also wanted to use a fast shutter speed.  This meant that I had to set my 40D to a high ISO - in this case 800.  This caused problems as the camera doesn't perform too well at this speed - too much noise in the resultant image.   Anyway I persevered and appear to have captured some interesting images.   However, I need to reflect on the lesson from today and work out how best to use the remote set up.