More rain today, and although it eventually stopped mid afternoon the light remained poor. No hint of yesterday's sunshine. On days like this you have to make do with the little light that's available, which means long exposures and a steady hand (or in this case, a tripod).
I started out by taking some shots of the sea. The numbers indicate the aperture and shutter speed used. I was aiming to get a reasonable depth of field, and to smooth out the flow of the waves.
The technique isn't ideal for birds in flight, plus I was wary of getting too much spray on the camera (I must get a protective filter for the lens), so although I took a few shots of some black-headed gulls on the beach, I decided to head off to the local pond where I was fairly sure to find some ducks (and generally calmer conditions). This first shot is the general scene, and again I used a relatively slow exposure to make the best of the available light.
Finally I turned to the ducks which, helpfully, were dozing on the grass at the edge of the pond. For these I made use of flash (so much easier).
There are about a dozen shots from today at the beginning of the Rottingdean album.
Camera note: all the shots here taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, with the exception of the pond. For that I used the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM.
zetorres
4 Aug 2008Nice, to know! Thanks.;)
Vulpes vulpes
4 Aug 2008Particulary like the action of the the water shots!
cakkleberrylane
4 Aug 2008Beautiful!! But do get a filter for your lens, and soon. I set my wide angle lens on the kitchen counter for a few seconds, the cat knocked it off and smashed the filter – lens was just fine though, so it's excellent protection!
Words
4 Aug 2008Vulpes, thanks. I'd like to try those on a brighter day when the colours will come out a bit better.
Words
4 Aug 2008ZT, you're welcome :up:
Words
4 Aug 2008Lois, yes I know. I always put the hood on which protects against most things, but sea spray is a problem.
SittingFox
4 Aug 2008Love the water pictures, especially the second one :up:
Birds in flight in poor light = nightmare :insane:
Cynthia23
5 Aug 2008This rainy day and you created some really beautiful photographs! 🙂
Words
5 Aug 2008Adele, thanks. More rain forecast, and judging from the weather map we're not due any more sun until Friday night :confused:
Words
5 Aug 2008Cynthia, thanks. I think I'm going to get plenty of practice in bad-light photography.
Words
8 Aug 2008Thanks Mickeyjoe!
Mickeyjoe-Irl
8 Aug 2008Another great bird close-up :up: