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Thursday 30 May 2013

End of May Blog.

I want to start first of all by giving my opinion on speedlite vs continuous 
mainly because i purchased some cheap continuous lights £50 got me two 135watt lights,light stands,shoot through umbrellas.
I got them thinking they would be better for pet portraits,i just didn't want to use flash on animals mainly.
So this as you can see is the kind i bought and my speedlite below it.
The examples below without going into too much detail on settings and such,are taken with one light in the same position,same room with the same ambient light.
First off the speedlite shot manual mode shutter speed altered to darken the backgraound,
I liked the speedlite,the photo has more depth to it.This is my first time using a speedlite so if it looks amateurish my apologies. 

The continuous light shot just seemed flat i couldn't really do anything with it,i may as well have been using window ligth.They really didn't throw that much light out,so if i were to do any pet portraits in the future i would probably take it outside or use window light.

Now a few shots i've taken in May.
First up was the Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Amur Leopard

Painted Hunting Dog

Amur Tiger
More picture from this day out can be seen Here

Next i went to Twycross Zoo

Lopori the baby Bononbo

Red Faced Black Spider Monkey

Lowes Guenon

Ringtail Lemur
More pics from this day out here

Next up flying Black Headed Gulls at RSPB Old Moor.
The day was a grey overcast day and this is how i set my camera up to get the flying shots.
First i put the camera in Manual, ISO 400,drive mode AI Servo and Continuous Shooting,Focus Point i have selected on the Canon 7D is called AF point expansion but on a lower end camera unless your really good at tracking flying birds i would select all focus points.
Widest aperture you have,mine was f5.6 at 400mm.
Shutter speed i set at 1/800 then i take at test shot then either speed up the shutter or slow it down but i would never go below 1/640 at 400mm i'm not that good so i would move the ISO up and down on brighter and darker days but i would be looking for a shutter speed of around 1/1000.








Black Headed Gulls
More pics from this day out here

And lastly a couple of shots from the shed and the garden birdwatch list.

This Stock Dove keeps coming to the garden and now i've seen it with a mate in the garden.
It's also Ringed 12254 GB 12 R





Collared Dove.

My garden birdwatch was done on the 25/5/13 between 10.30 and 11.30 here is the list.

Blackbird.
Collared Dove.
Dunnock.
Goldfinch.
Great Tit.
House Sparrow.
Starling.
Stock Dove.
Woodpigeon.

Again Cheers and thanks for looking.


Wednesday 22 May 2013

RSPB Old Moor 20/5/13

Warning this blog contains lots of Black Headed Gulls,
it was about the only thing i shot all day,well 3 hours anyway.
The garden hide had less action than my own garden,very quiet.
Did visit a lot of the hides but the path to the reed bed hides were closed,not exactly sure why maybe the bittern was nesting.
All shots from the Field Pool West Hide.

Was mainly practicing my flying shots.

 This little fellow (Little Grebe) was being dive bombed by the Gull.




Family outing for some Canada Geese.

Perfect form from a Black Headed Gull.







Long Tailed Tit wasn't really set up or expecting this
 but managed to snap a shot before it took off.


Again Thanks for looking.
Cheers al.

Sunday 19 May 2013

Twycross Zoo 19/5/13

Just had a few hours at Twycross Zoo.
Went to see the new enclosure for the Amur Leopards,all they have done is put the Chimps in one of the Gorilla houses and moved the Leopards to the old Chimp enclosure.
Still needs money investing into updating some of the enclosures (IMO).
That said it was a nice hot sunny day for once.
The highlight was the baby Bonobo Lopori,very active and loved coming close to the glass to see everyone.
Only took 12 pics and decided to keep just 6 of those so not a good day picture wise,but enjoyed it all the same.


This is Baby Bononbo Lopori


 Lowes Guenon



 Red Faced Spider Monkey 


And a Ringtail Lemur.

They now have a walk through Lemur enclosure.
Hope you liked the shots and thanks for looking.

Thursday 2 May 2013

Yorkshire Wildlife Park 1/5/13

A few shots from the Wildlife Park from Wednesday including my first sighting this year of a Mistle Thrush,new addition to the Park a not so very old Eland and the Black Kite had a quick training session.

 Mistle Thrush
 

Baby Eland

Black Kite

Painted Hunting Dog

Amur Leopard (Nice to see him upright for a change)



Amur Tiger




All in all a nice quiet midweek park visit,enjoyed every minute.
Thanks for looking.