Mudeford Bay is accessible from three main points and offers the photographer access to an unspoilt natural harbour, which offers opportunities to photograph wild birds ( especially sea birds in the winter months), water sports & landscape shots of the bay, Mudeford Quay and Hengistbury Head. The two main places to park up and walk near the bay are at Hengistbury Head Car Park, and also at Mudeford Quay (
Nature is amazing, and often amusing, like this young Starling that today, whilst pulling of an impressive Balancing act – see the video for this, managed to pull of some great expressions that could certainly make it a contender for inclusion in the popular game Angry Birds.
A freezing cold end of January afternoon called for a walk around somewhere coastal & exposed. The place to do that nearby, was chosen to be Normandy Marsh, part of the Keyhaven – Lymington Nature Reserve, where it is really exposed. Armed with a folding seat and my 300mm lens and 1.4x converter, I set off on a hunt for some wading winter birds. As the tide was out, but
As a visitor to Radipole Nature Reserve on occassions, I have only once before seen any of the Bearded Tits that are resident there. This afternoon was my second fortunate occassion to see and photograph these pretty birds. The only downside being the light was not the best – however seeing these birds is a treat whatever the weather. Here are my best three shots of them. Of course they
A bright but very windy Sunday afternoon, helped slow the gulls down in flight as I walked around the headland to Mudeford Quay. These gulls – juvenille herring gulls I first spotted overhead. This first one was almost directly over me. Before lowering a bit – unfortunately the wing is slightly chopped off. I need more practice at it 🙂 And this one is just not quite there again –
Handa Island is a Scottish Wildlife Trust nature reserve located in the far north west of Scotland, and is home in the height of summer to close to 100,000 seabirds gathering to breed including guillemots, razorbills great skua and puffins (Information as published on the Scottish Wildlife Trust site). The reserve is accessed by a pedestrian ferry service that runs from Tarbet on demand during the visitor season. Tarbet and
To start the New Year 2015 – A short photo study of a Male Teal. These small pretty ducks are always nice to see up close, and with the sun out look at their best. Taken at Stanpit Marshes Nature reserve on the a small pool.
A wandering walk from Tuckton, over towards Wick on a dullish but dry day saw me keep three completely different types of picture. Firstly a contrast in size shot of two birds on the river bank. Further round I found a bouy tied near to a post. I took this intentionally to play with Topaz Glow later, as well as some of some reeds which did not work so well.
On a post Christmas visit to Blashford Lakes, to try out a Pro Viewfinder Loupe ( a loupe that fits on the LCD screen on Canon Cameras that enables easier videoing, as it acts as an eyepeice ), I was fortunate to see a very beautiful kingfisher. Not only was the kingfisher fairly close to the Ivy North Hide window, but it stayed around for a fair while, enabling me to shoot some photos of the bird, as well as video it.
The Loupe worked very well and I was able to use my Canon with a 300mm F4 Lens, plus 1.4 x Convertor much easier in video mode, as I could hold it up to my eye to video & not have to have it at arms lengths.
Here are a couple of photos of said Kingfisher.
Pardon the pun, but here are some more Topaz Glow effect images. Most of these are colour infrared images with Topaz Glow used upon them. Some of the effects are extreme – and others more subtle. As I start to use the plugin, I note the sliders to adjust a preset are useful, but most importantly I find playing with the blend mode and strength makes a big difference. The
