2016 Project 52 Challenge - 1st quarter by Geoff F

[pnodrog]

Geoff I have enjoyed all of you photographs. You are accumulating a very good pictorial diary of your area. I am rather guilty of only dragging out the camera for special events or when I travel. So congratulations on your project.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

We have a particularly mild climate in this area, Bruce, where we can usually get away with a few of the more tender plants providing they are well situated. There are a few palms which are relatively hardy here such as the Fan Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) and the Torbay Palm.

I think those seeds heads are probably one of the larger forms of Phormium (New Zealand Flax). The two species are often planted together to give an exotic effect. I have phormiums in my garden which grow 6 feet, with taller seed heads.

[bnnrcn]

Beautiful place indeed and I like the shots. #3 is special for me though as it is a lively,colorful and neat composition

[Geoff F]

Thanks Binnur.

Week 07 - a couple of brief sunny spells between the rain.

Boat Reflections. Went to the Aveton Gifford birdhide for an hour before going shopping. Started off looking like this but it was beginning to rain by the time I left!



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/400 F11 Iso 200. So can you spot the person with dog? I originally said every scene this year would contain a person or animal but sometimes they may be hard to find.

Trees at West Charleton Marsh Another birdhide day which started bright and a little frosty but clouded over within two hours.



1/640 F11 Iso 400. Even more difficult to find the animal content with this scene; but there are a couple of crows there, plus a pigeon and a robin!

And a couple of shots showing my reason for being there.

Cirl Bunting. A relatively rare bird although they are gradually increasing in this part of the country.



Sigma 150-600 Sport lens. 1/640 F11 Iso 800

Reed Bunting. These are a bit more common although still rather localised.



1/200 F11 Iso 800

Also managed a few reasonable shots of the commoner garden type birds and messed up a potentially perfect shot of an egret coming in to land with a good reflection in the water!

[IzzieK]

Week 07 -- these are all good and beautiful...
#1 -- yes I saw the dog and the guy walking him/her. And I like the reflection of the boats in the water.It is a colourful shot.
#2 is OK too though not as good scene as the others you have already done. There is a bird at the left tree.
#3, the Cirl bunting looks harassed but she is very pretty...Did you intentionally left that twig at the lower left side of the frame?
#4 The Reed Bunting is pretty too. I like the colour. Can you please amuse me and clone out that purple twig? It is distracting my eyes to move to it even if it is already blurred. 'Must be because it is a different colour than the rest...??

All good shots, Geoff. My February (Week 3) submission will have to be tomorrow to be in time. I made my P52 2016 into a monthly weekly submission.

[Cantab]

Geoff, a good set of photos. I enjoyed the puzzles of trying to find the person and the birds. I cheated somewhat by enlarging the photos to full size. In the second photo I saw the two crows but the robin must've been very well disguised!.

The photo of the Reed Bunting appears sharper than that of the Cirl Bunting. According to the EXIF they were both taken at the same focal length, ISO and aperture. And interestingly, you used a considerably faster shutter speed on the photo that, to me, appears slightly less sharp. Was it a question of focus or perhaps you had to crop in closer on the Cirl Bunting photo?

I checked the GPS coordinates and targeted the bird blind on a map. What technology can tell the world!

P.S. Even photos of common garden birds are of interest to those of us who don't live in England.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the replies.

The robin, Bruce is on the right side of the left hand tree. You can just make out its red breast at full screen size; and there is another crow on top of the church tower.

That Cirl Bunting is looking rather scruffy in its winter colours. This one was manual focus. I did start with AF but kept getting false focus problems. The same applies to the Reed Bunting.

I did deliberately leave that small part of a twig in the left corner after trying various crops of several shots. If I remove the twig I think a slight crop from the top and left is required, otherwise that corner seems a bit out of balance. The purplish stem is actually a bramble stem so the colour is correct but I could possibly tone it down a fraction.

And from the same day, here is an example of one of my most outstanding failures so far this year. So near and yet . . .



It all happened at a faster pace than my thinking time!

But I just about got away with this one.

[Shadowman]

Nice bird series.

[DEAN01]

Nice diversity of shots.

[IzzieK]

Both of these are beautiful timely shots...

[joebranko]

Beautiful capture!

[Geoff F]

Thanks for commenting.

Had another go at an action Egret shot today; from the same location. Taking off this time and no reflection; plus a few other items which aren't quite perfect.



Also from today; Egret with a Red-breasted Merganser swimming alongside plus a Greenshank bringing up the rear.



A closer shot of the Merganser.



I had spent a bit of time photographing rather common birds interacting at the bird feeders - then this giant swooped down and landed on top of the feeders; so all the little birds flew away into the hedge!



Sparrowhawk.

All with 7D MkII and Sigma 150-600 Sport lens.

[Cantab]

You're getting good use out of what I believe is your relatively new 150-600 lens. I particularly like the first photo, the angle of the bird and the mud dropping off its feet.

[Sergio M.]

A great set. Fantastic timing on the takeoff of the Egret and I really like the sparrowhawk. It is so crisp and sharp without being over done.

Sergio

[IzzieK]

+1 to Sergio's comment about the Sparrowhawk. I think I had seen a Merganser once in the zoo. It is beautiful and this one looks good too...

I like #4 best.

[joebranko]

They are all great, but my favourite is the Egret. What was the exposure for this one , if you don't mind sharing?

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the replies. The egret taking off was shot at 1/2500 F11 Iso 800; and this time I had managed to widen the zoom a little to allow for a bit of movement (420 mm); although I had expected it to be vertical instead of the somewhat diagonal track which has put its head a little bit closer to the right edge than I would have ideally preferred. Possibly I could try to slightly increase canvas size and clone in some water.

Incidentally, if you go into the Exif data there are GPS coordinates which give the exact shooting position. I use this Exif display.

http://regex.info/exif.cgi

[bnnrcn]

Great set ! I especially like #1 and #4

[Geoff F]

Week 08 - Another Overcast Sunday Afternoon

Once again, I wandered down to the town for a Sunday afternoon pint and took my Fuji X20 camera in my pocket; but it was yet another dull day without much happening so I turned to some Street Photography. Although the skies were grey some people had obviously been walking on the muddy coastal paths, as their footwear demonstrates.

Fish & Chips or Ice Cream?



1/150 F5 Iso 400

Road Closed



1/200 F5 Iso 400

[Cantab]

Week 08 - Another Overcast Sunday Afternoon

Once again, I wandered down to the town for a Sunday afternoon pint and took my Fuji X20 camera in my pocket; but it was yet another dull day without much happening so I turned to some Street Photography. Although the skies were grey some people had obviously been walking on the muddy coastal paths, as their footwear demonstrates.

Fish & Chips or Ice Cream?



1/150 F5 Iso 400

Road Closed



1/200 F5 Iso 400

Two fun shots! I particularly enjoyed the second one.