2017 Project 52 - 4th quarter by Geoff F

[Geoff F]

Thanks Nandakumar.

Almost caught up now.

Week 50 - Another volunteer day at the wildlife reserve. Dull day with showers so I just put my Fuji X20 camera into a waterproof plastic bag which was inside my backpack. Sudden burst of sunshine with an excellent light colour; but in the two minutes it took me to get the camera out and set up to shoot, the light opportunity had passed.

Anyway, I had a go at what was available but the conditions were really too much for this little camera so there is quite a bit of noise and a lack of best quality clarity. However, I didn't want to risk better equipment in questionable conditions.

Cutting back and clearing the undergrowth.



1/200 F6.4 Iso 400

I know which side my bread is buttered.



1/100 F6.4 Iso 400

King of the Rock



1/70 F6.4 Iso 400

[skitterbug]

"King of the Rock" - Wonderful pic. He's been playing hard or he wouldn't have a muddy belly! Does he belong to someone in the group or was he just overseeing the work being done in "his" area?

[Cantab]

Geoff, a good set of shots despite the less than ideal light conditions. In looking at the photos on my iPad, I don't see any noise.

Were you shooting in manual or in aperture priority? Partly as a carry over from my film camera whose only automation was matching the needles, I shot in digital still in manual for a good number of years until recently when I've discovered that auto exposure often can get decent results.

Your first shot is a good action photo. As with Sandy, I like the dog portrait. And the second photo has a bit of a story to it: dog hopes for food.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the replies.

All shot in aperture priority but keeping a close eye on the shutter speed as well.

That dog (third image) belongs to the group leader but wanders around the group looking for anyone who will throw a stick or hand over a nibble of food.

[Wavelength]

Very nice images; enjoyed

[Geoff F]

Thanks Nandakumar.

Week 51. Tried a bird hide on the estuary at Aveton Gifford but not much happening so I took a quick snap of some ramblers on a tidal road across the creek. Serious walkers striding along looking straight ahead and never glancing sideways at the scenery. I like the way they have sorted themselves into similar looking small groups.



7D with Sigma 150-600 lens at 200 mm. 1/800 F11 Iso 800. Maybe I could have reduced the Iso but I was set up for bird photos and I wouldn't really have wanted to go much slower with the shutter on a moving subject.

This is the only bird photo which came anywhere close to being successful and even this one is only just about acceptable. Some Black-headed Gulls having a wash and general feather clean up. Took several shots attempting to find an interesting scene with uncooperative subjects.



1/640 F11 Iso 800 and a bit of cropping after 'moving' one bird a bit closer to the group. A bit of 'fringing' problems as well.

And some of those 'if only' shots.

A Kingfisher was flitting about and landing on boats but, besides the subject only landing for a few seconds, this was simply too far away so these are substantial crops.



1/400 F11 Iso 800



1/1600 F8 Iso 800

[Geoff F]

Another one of the 'if only' shots of that Kingfisher.



So near and yet so far from being an acceptable shot.

[Cantab]

Geoff, these are an enjoyable set of shots.

When I first saw the kingfisher photo, I thought I was looking at a hummingbird! This is what our kingfishers look like: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belted_kingfisher (belted kingfisher).

The sailboat that the kingfisher landed upon looks like it has seen better days!

In the second photo, I tried to detect which bird you'd moved but you did too good a job so I failed.

[Geoff F]

Your Kingfishers have a similar beak but the colours are certainly different. The back colour of our birds changes colour depending on the light angle and can vary between a bright blue and green when the birds are flying fast and changing direction. They rarely settle for more than a few seconds so I mostly just see a patch of colour as they flash past.

With the gulls, I moved the right hand bird closer to the others. I took quite a bit of background with it as I pasted into a new layer than used a soft low opacity eraser brush to work around the edges and gradually blend it into the background.

[Shadowman]

Nice "if only" shots, ramblers and bird watchers don't mix so good for you.

[Geoff F]

That is a strange site for wildlife. The road is fairly busy, at least when the tide is out, and people/dogs regularly walk there, but most birds take little notice of the activity. However, if on the other quiet side of the creek you so much as pop your head above the hedge everything flees in great alarm.

[Geoff F]

Week 52 - Typical English Weather. I started week 1 with images of fog so I'm finishing with rain and gales. Actually a slight improvement this afternoon! A lot of problems trying to keep my camera from getting too wet and it was a case of just taking one quick shot then wiping the lens dry for another attempt.

Looking seawards.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/200 F8 Iso 800.

Seawater is wet so never mind the rain - let's go surfing anyway.



Canon 70-200 lens. 1/100 F8 Iso 800. Too slow a shutter speed for sharp surf but I didn't want to increase the Iso and the rain made sharp images impossible anyway.

[Wavelength]

Very nice additions

[skitterbug]

Hi Geoff - Week 51 has some nice photos especially the first two of the kingfisher. In the third one, he must have tired of you snapping pictures of his lovely profile! <lol>

Week 52 - nice finish given the conditions you were in. You can look on the bright side - at least the water isn't frozen in place!

[Manfred M]

Geoff - the fact that the water is still in the liquid state looks like a bonus to me. I've been out in places where the 1/4" / 7mm mm thick neoprene wet suit is mandatory for any adventures involving water. Count me in as one of the crazy ones....

The kingfisher looks tiny compared to the ones I've seen (I think) how large is this one?

[Geoff F]

UK Kingfishers are fairly small and measure about 6 ins in length. Most of the time they just show as a sudden flash of brilliant blue (or green depending on the light angle) as they zoom past at a considerable speed. I often see them perching on those distant boats for a second or two but I have only ever managed one decent photograph of a Kingfisher; which was last year from a different hide.

So as we now come to the end of another year, thanks to all who have commented on this project.

Each year, I have tried something slightly different to stretch my way of thinking and experimentation into different styles of photography. A few years ago I concentrated on botanical subjects, last year I included a person or animal in every image and over the past year I have used different image size ratios which has considerably changed the manner in which I now view potential scenes.

At the moment, I still haven't decided what to do for 2018.

I did think about including a few more B&W images, which is an area that I have been neglecting, but I still have a couple of days to mull over and consider my options.

[Cantab]

Geoff, I enjoyed your week 52 photos.

I was pleased to see in post #56 that you're continuing your weekly posts in 2018 and I look forward to reading what theme or technique you'll choose for your 2018 thread.