Miserable Day at Old Moor

Working on theme 1, I visited Old Moor again yesterday to try and improve on the images I took a couple of weeks ago.  Having practised some more with the shutter and light compensation I was sure I would come back with an improvement on the last set of images I'd taken.


The weather was miserable, dark, gloomy and non stop rain and I struggled to get good close up shots of the birdlife on the reserve.  Having to use an ISO of 800 and an increase to the Exposure Compensation this simply resulted in a lot of noise.  With the lighting being so dark it was impossible to use a shutter of around 1/400 which is what I would have liked to have used.  I had to keep the shutter at around 1/60, 1/80 with the ISO at 800 throughout most of the day.


Here are a couple of images taken yesterday, unfortunately the one's of the birds were no better than the first set I'd taken a couple of weeks ago.

ISO 800 (and a lot of noise)S 1/60

I have been back to Old Moor today and the weather has been much better than yesterday and with no rain at all I was able to get plenty more shots and being able to increase the shutter and reduce the ISO. 

I am planning to go to Old Moor one last time tomorrow so hopefully any shots that I dont yet have I will get tomorrow.  I have checked the weather for tomorrow and it looks set to be similar to today with the addition of some showers in the morning, the afternoon looks set to have some sunshine though.

After my last visit tomorrow I'll be able to start looking at my images and choose the final shots that will be used for my portfolio.

I'm hoping that the final images will give an overall look of Old Moor and hopefully give you a sense that you may have even been there.  Although the reserve is centered around the birdlife I have tried to capture the reserve as a whole including the people that visit, the areas, and other subjects on the reserve along with some of the birds.

Here are a couple of images I have taken today along with the weather report for tomorrow:

Forecast next 48 hours

Location for forecasts: Rotherham Sunday Monday Night Morning Afternoon Evening Night Morning Afternoon Weather: Description: Light rain. Mostly cloudy. Cool. Sprinkles. More sun than clouds. Cool. More clouds than sun. Cool. Mostly cloudy. Chilly. Passing clouds. Chilly. Mostly cloudy. Chilly. More sun than clouds. Chilly. Temperature: 10 °C 8 °C 9 °C 6 °C 3 °C 2 °C 4 °C Comfort Level: 6 °C 4 °C 5 °C 2 °C -2 °C -4 °C -1 °C

Research - Pavel Zahorec - Wildlife Photographer

Looking through some images in google I came across the following image which I think is amazing and just the sort of images I would love to be able to take.

The photographer is called Pavel Zahorec, aged 56 and from Bilina in the Czech Republic, however that is all the information I can find on him.  He does have a webpage with some information on but this is in Czech! 

I really like the way he shoots his subjects and I notice looking at some of his images that he doesnt always seem to be to concerned with filling the frame, rule of thirds etc.

I would assume from the above image that a fast shutter has been used to freeze the Owl and a good zoom lens which has allowed him to get closer to the Owl and has created the out of focus area in the background.

I personally find it really challenging to get really good images of birds as you really do have to be prepared, quick and ready, it also helps to know a liitle about the birds habits, favourite perching spots, hunting grounds etc.

Here are a few more of my favourites from his webpage;

Selective Focus, Zoom Lens effect

Over the last few weeks Dave has given us some top tips on camera techniques in order to achieve certain results on the final images.  I wanted to practise these and show my understanding of the techniques and hopefully the images below will reflect this.

Selective Focus:

This technique is really simple, by choosing one part of the image to be sharp and in focus whilst the rest of the image is kept out of focus.  This can be done in different ways depending on the Camera you have, my Camera has a spot focus function but this can be quite time consuming as you have to go into the menu settings each time you wish to change the area you want in focus.  Other Camera's will allow you to do this whilst shooting and is a lot easier.

As I generally keep the spot focus set to the centre another way for me to do this (without changing settings) is to focus on the subject I want sharp and then move the camera so that the subject is framed accordingly.

Another option is to use the Manual Focus, I find this really helpfull when shotting close to the subject, the following 4 images have all been taken using the manual focus;

The focus here is on the "S" in the foreground      

again but focussing on the background

Focus on the face/knee area

again, focussing on the on the shoelace.

The following images were taken in automatic focus, keeping the spot focus setting in the centre of the frame.  Onced focussed on the subject I moved the camera to the right and upwards so that the area in focus would be at the bottom left;

The next 2 images were simply taken in auto focus with the spot focus setting in the centre of the frame;

Zoom Lens Effect

This effect is achieved by using a camera with a long exposure and a manual zoom lens.  For the image below I had set the shutter to 13 seconds and whilst the image was being taken I zoomed the lens in and out.

S 13 SecondsISO 100, F/16

Night Photography

As I missed the trip to the Christmas Markets I decided to try some night photography, this is something I have played with before starting the course but at that time didnt have any real understanding of ISO, Shutter, Aperture and how to make these work for me.

I was aware that without the flash I would need to keep the camera completely still and in the past have used a wall or a another object to rest my camera on, but as I said above I had no idea how to make the camera work for me and would simply hope for the best.

The images below are a couple I have taken prior to starting the course and were taken in Budapest last Christmas, these were taken using a really simple Samsung Digital camera (not a DSLR).

So, whilst in Egypt and educated on the Exposure Triangle and a much better camera than the one used for the images above I decided to have a walk round the hotel.  I didnt take my tripod with me so had to find walls, tables and anything else that would be suitable as a steady surface.

I managed to get some really good images and then some not so good so have put them below with comments on each to say why I think they are good/not good along with settings used.  I used Aperture Priority on all of them as I wanted to get a wider depth of field as the hotel really was stunning and wanted to capture as much as I could.

Images 1 & 2 were taken at the entrance to the hotel and the problem I had was that the only surface available to rest the camera on was a small  concrete sign at the very begining of the walk way.  Because of this I couldnt take any shots as I walked through the trees getting closer to the entrance doors which would have been nice.  The concrete surface was also very rough which resulted in slight camera shake and was very low.  I dont think these are great shots and wished I had taken my tripod which would have given me much more opportunity.

F/14, ISO 100, S 15sec

F/14, ISO 100, S 20 sec

With the next 4 image's I love the reflection in the water which was really clear due to the lighting the hotel have used around the pool.  I used the wall here to keep the camera steady and again was quite low.  I am really happy with these images as I wanted to capture the reflection in as much detail as possible and feel I have achieved this.

ISO 100, F/22, S 30 sec

ISO 100, F/13, S 10 sec

ISO 100, F/22, S 30 sec

ISO 100, F/18, S 20 sec

The next 3 images were taken at the reception and restaurant area's and are quite nice images, again resting the camera on sturdy surfaces and trying to keep it as still as possible.  They are quite dark and could be edited to add some light, I have done this with the first image and have shown the edited image underneath.

ISO 100, F/18, S 30 sec

(light added in Photoshop CS5)

ISO 100, F/18, S 30 sec

ISO 100, F/18, S 30 sec

The final images below are not my favourite, I dont think framing was great here which was down to available sturdy surfaces in order to keep the camera still.  I have edited one of them to show how we can correct this.

ISO 100, F/18, S 30 sec

ISO 100, F/18, S 30 sec

(Cropped and edited in CS5)

ISO 100, F/22, S 30 sec



Shutter (with plenty of Sun)

I was lucky enough to go to Egypt last week and whilst there I pretty much spent the whole of my time with my camera practising what I had been learning over the last few months.

One thing I was able to take advantage of was the SUN, not something we see here often and often means we have to compromise where light is concerned.  With this now available one of the areas I wanted to revisit was Shutter Speeds.

For my Nature theme I want to freeze movement in the birds and this was not so easy when in poor light conditions, having to increase the ISO which resulted in quite a lot of noise.  With the sun now on my side I was able to use a really fast shutter speed and keep my ISO set at 200.  The only challenge left was to find some birds and although there wasn't many the ones I manged to find were perfect.

There were approx three pairs of Kestrels on the resort, these are usually a very hard bird to get near to in the UK and mostly seen seen hovering over motorways or fields looking for voles.  However, they were simply hoping about looking for food in the grass and surprisingly didn't seem bothered by me following them.  With a great opportunity like this I was able to get some really good shots and also catch them in flight.

ISO 200F/9.0, S 1/200

ISO 200F/9.0, S 1/200

ISO 200F/5.6, S 1/640

ISO 200F/6.3, S 1/800

ISO 200F/6.3, S 1/800

ISO 100F/9.0, S 1/200

ISO 100F/5.6, S 1/200

ISO 100F/5.6, S 1/640

Whilst down by the beach I spotted another great bird of prey, the Osprey.  Although we do have these in the UK there are only approx 200 pairs which are found in Scotland, with the odd pair in Wales.  These birds migrate to Africa each year for the Winter and return to the UK in the summer and feed on a diet of fresh water fish from shallow unpolluted waters.

Camera at the ready as always I was really lucky to see this bird and to get these amazing shots, again using a fast shutter and making the most of the sun.  I was aware that this bird was flying up and down the sea edge so it really was just a matter of waiting for the bird to come my way.  I had a really good view point and also next to me was a lifeguard look out point so I was able to climb up this and when the Osprey did appear I was sometimes looking down on the bird as he would fly quite low getting ready to dive into the sea.

ISO 200S, 1/320



ISO 200S 1/320

ISO 200S 1/400

ISO 200S 1/400

ISO 100S 1/640

ISO 100S 1/640

ISO 100S 1/640

ISO 100S 1/640

This last picture was actually the first picture I managed to get of the Osprey, it just appeared whilst I was eating so I just grabbed the camera and took a picture quick, thinking I wouldn't get another chance.  Lucky for me I was able to get the images above the next morning when going down to the sea at 06:30 and was amazed when the bird appeared with a fish in its talons.

ISO 100S 1/80