Ghost Town
June quickly become July with a heatwave and world cup fever simultaneously gripping the UK, so the camera was out in and out of work to capture some of my goings on. With that said, lets get this busy blog post started and not dwell too long on England's semi final exit...
So kicking things off (pun intended) with a combination of world cup game and enjoying the sunshine, myself and a few friends went on a morning walk to Blaize castle followed by a pub lunch and England Vs Panama. After the game a few of us then re locating to the harbour front in Bristol for a few ciders in the sunshine to cap off the day. I did have my camera on hand but actually found myself not getting my camera out that much, the few I did take are below.
I have also spent some time down in cornwall recently, and was determined to get some more wildlife and macro shots. One such trip we found an area of natural grass and flowers in and around the edges of a coastal cliff near St Ives. I immediately took this opportunity to get some macro images of the abundance of tiny butterflies that inhabited this micro world. I soon realised that this was going to be a more difficult endeavour than I first thought, with the butterflies stopping very rarely on the flowers to be photographed. Coupled with this, the butterflies themselves were the size of a thumbnail, so getting very close was a must to capture them properly, and typically the weather had clouded over so light was not as great as it could have been.
100mm Macro stacked Image (4 images)
I took many images of the course of my time on the cliffs, but getting decent focus was very difficult indeed. The image above is actually a focus stack of 4 images. It was one of the only times the butterfly stayed in one position so I was able to pull focus and take several images that were stackable after the fact. The Images below are all non stacked images, and you can immediately see that less of the image is in focus.
common Cockchafer in sillouette 100mm Macro F/2.8
Walking the dog has its many advantages, with one of them being an excuse to explore any bridleway or footpath I come across. I had been struggling to find a place that was off the beaten path so to speak, so when I came across this place I thought I had hit the jackpot. So far I was not far wrong, with this little place giving me several 400mm wildlife opportunities and a base to watch the world go by from.
'The pond' - Iphone Panoramic
Starting with the main highlight of this little lake was my afternoon photographing a kingfisher going about its day. I had seen a flash of blue the first time I saw this spot when out walking the dog, so came back with my 400mm F/5.6, tripod, 5DMKIII and a foldable chair to stake out the banks of the lake to see if the kingfisher would come back.
I was not disappointed, and only needed to wait about 20 minutes for the kingfisher to make his first appearance. And this was how it was, throughout the day the kingfisher continued to return to the lake to fish. As I watched I noticed where it was usually landing to fish so moved accordingly, slowly getting closer and closer as time went by.
I found that getting focus on the kingfisher was not easy from the distance I was at, and I would have benefited greatly from having my cropped sensor 7D with me for just this occasion to get just that little bit closer without having to physically more closer and break my cover.
400mm F/5.6 at 1000th of a second to get images of the kingfisher mid dive.
returning to fishing perch 400mm F/5.6
Robin - 400mm F/5.6
I also tested focus on the various fishing posts along the ponds banks, using this very friendly Robin at one point, who acted as the kingfishers stunt double in this instance to try to anticipate focus for when/if the Kingfisher landed.
Of course due to the success I had at the pond, I was thinking of ways I could get closer to the wildlife and in particular the kingfisher. I looked at ordering various chair hides that were over £80, but thought this was a little overkill for what I needed, so settled for this camouflage poncho style hide thing, that would be easy for me to pack away, and at the same time would keep me hidden/looking like a murderer.
Amazon - £28
I was soon back down to the pond and made my way onto the Island in the middle to get the best view of what I hoped would be another day of kingfisher action. Sadly this time my luck was not so strong and even with the camouflage, there was no sign of the kingfisher. I did however attempt to photograph other animals that inhabited the pond from my hidden position on the island with my 4OOmm F/5.6 lens.
Emperor Dragonfly laying eggs 400mm F/5.6
The first, and most noticeable inhabitants of the pond were the dragon and damsel flies that spent their time flitting around the water at high speed. I had previously tried to photograph these insects with my 100mm Macro lens several days earlier but could not get close, so sitting with my longest lens, I tried my hand again at trying to capture them going about their lives.
Common blue Damselfly and Brown Hawker Dragonfly 400MM F/5.6
Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly 400mm F/5.6
Emperor Dragonfly in flight 400mm F/5.6
I was also lucky enough to see and photograph a woodpecker that at one point landed in the tree behind me. Due to my camouflage, the bird was none the wiser to me being there so happily went about its business while I was able to snap away hand held. Again using the 400mm lens to get as close as possible.
Greater Spotted Woodpecker - 400mm F/5.6
Of course no trip down to cornwall is complete without some gratuitous puppy pictures, so below are a few of her. Its also great that she is able to go out now so she makes for a great subject now too when out and about.
The three Images above were all taken with the 70-200mm F/4 lens, with all the images below taken with my 100mm macro lens, which just shows how versatile this lens can be.
Growing fast
looking back
FIN
